It’s not something that most people like to admit, but there are days when inspiration is hard to come by. You wonder why you bother getting up in the morning, and that big idea you were so passionate about a few days ago seems to have gone on vacation without you. When that happens, it’s no wonder that it seems like your inspiration, along with your motivation, your creativity, and your energy jumped in the suitcase and went along for the ride.

There are ways to end your inspiration’s vacation early. Journaling is one of them. Writing gratitude lists is another. Other times, it’s an inspirational quote or photo that really helps to fire up the creativity engine. But when nothing else works, sometimes all it takes is an affirmation to wake me up and get me inspired again.

1. Affirmations are yours and yours alone. You choose them or create them based only on how they feel to you.

One of the reasons that affirmations seem to do the trick when nothing else does is because they come from you. When you think about it, inspiration that comes from within really is the best form.

Sure it’s nice when others say things that get you thinking and moving in the right direction again, and that card or photo that you received might have touched the right chord inside. But when you can motivate yourself and remind yourself why you are passionate about your purpose and why it used to excite you to jump out of bed first thing on a cold winter morning, you will be that much more inclined to believe it. It doesn’t matter how much others tell you that you’re smart, funny, beautiful, or worthwhile if you don’t believe it yourself.

2. Affirmations get you creating again.

You may be asking yourself how this works. Affirmations work best when you either write them out, or read them to yourself. When you start writing your affirmations down every day, just the act of writing daily unlocks something inside of you. I’m no expert on exactly what happens here but I know it works. Writing affirmations has jump-started more than one article or blog post for me when nothing else worked to break my lack of motivation.

3. Affirmations encourage you to keep going.

Since affirmations are, by their very nature, positive thoughts — after all, who would want to affirm something negative — they encourage you to keep going when the journey gets a little rough. And isn’t that what inspiration is all about … taking that extra step when you really didn’t think you could go any further?

4. Affirmations can change your life.

Some of the best affirmations I have ever used have ended up having life-changing results for me. In the last article I talked about living in the moment and you you get to choose how you live each moment. Affirmations are a great tool for helping you make that choice. Simple statements like:

I AM happy
I AM at peace
I AM full of energy
I AM healthy

repeated over and over again can change how you feel in the moment. String enough of those moments of being happy, healthy, energetic or peaceful together and you may find that there is no room for negativity at all because you are choosing only positive thoughts.

5. There’s an affirmation for every situation.

It doesn’t matter if you are feeling totally uninspired, unmotivated or just downright unhappy you can create an affirmation that helps you to move beyond those negative feelings.

How To Use Affirmations

Once you’ve decided that affirmations are a tool you can use, there are several ways you can use them.

1. You can write them out or say them out loud first thing in the morning to start your day. Some people (me included) do both.

2. You can make a screen-saver for your computer out of them.

3. You can write them on pieces of paper and tack them up in places where you’ll see them all day long.

4. You can write them on pieces of paper and carry them in your pockets or in your wallet, so if you need them during the day you can pull them out and read them quickly.

Affirmations are one of those tools that everyone can use, are completely personal and based only on your needs. They can be used in a moment and can change the energy of that moment and the ones that follow forever. You can write your own, or use ones that others have created if they resonate with you. Regardless of how you do it, using affirmations will help to re-ignite your inspiration and your creativity.

If you’d like to writing your own affirmations, here’s an article to get you started: How To Write Affirmations.

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When you choose to be happy,a big part of that is also choosing to have a positive attitude. It’s hard to be happy when you’re always looking at the negative side of life.

It takes work to maintain a positive attitude in today’s society. Outside forces like the media always seem to focus on the negative over the positive. Good news stories that make headlines are few and far between. So if you want to make sure you keep your outlook on life positive, it means that your positivity has to come from within.

Here are a few things that you can do to create and maintain a positive attitude.

1. Get Clear on What You Want

One of the best ways to grab on to your positive attitude is to be focused and committed to your goals and dreams. It’s so much not to be distracted by negativity when you have a clear focus about what you’re trying to do.

My dad was a music teacher, and after explaining anything whether it was a simple phrasing suggestion or a convoluted (to me anyway) piece of theory, he would always ask, “Is that clear?” If you were still confused, he’d explain it again until you could say yes, it’s clear. If you looked particularly confused when he was done talking, his question would be “Clear as mud?”

It took me a long time to really get his choice of words, but I think he had it right. There’s a difference between understanding and “getting it” on a surface level, and being clear in what you know and want. When you’re developing your positive attitude, it’s so much easier if you have a clear focus on where you’re going and what you’re doing than if your focus is “clear as mud.”

2. Get Inspired

Once you have your clarity and focus in place, it’s time to get inspired. Staying positive comes naturally when you are inspired to achieve your goals and dreams. It doesn’t matter where your inspiration comes from — whether it’s from reading a book, watching a movie, listening to music, or watching a sunrise — every artist has their muse, that point of inspiration that just thinking about it motivates them to create great works of art.

Your positive attitude is an integral part of the great work of art you are creating with your life, so it’s important to do whatever you can to find and hang on to your own inspiration.

When you’re searching for inspiration, don’t be afraid to trust your intuition. If you listen to that little voice inside you will know whether you are on the right track or not. When you are on the right track, you can’t help but feel positive and inspired because everything will fall into place just the way it should.

3. Take Action

Sitting around and thinking about what you want to do is a sure way to let the negative thoughts creep in. The more you think about your goals and dreams, the more likely you are to overthink them, and end up not actually doing anything to make them a reality.

Let yourself take a leap of faith, call on your powers of positivity and self-belief to give you that initial push and take action. Because here’s a little secret…

The more positive your attitude, the more positive your results will be. This will in turn lead to an even more positive attitude, which will lead to even more positive results, and so on, and so on… It’s a wonderful circle of positivity that you create by always looking for and taking action on the good things that come your way.

4. Celebrate Your Mistakes

That’s not to say you won’t make mistakes along the way. You will. But if you celebrate your mistakes and look for the lessons in them, you will grow your positive attitude even more.

I know I probably sound like a broken record when I say don’t beat yourself up over your mistakes, but it’s true. Beating yourself up only encourages you to focus on the negative aspects of a mistake, and that’s not conducive to keeping your outlook positive.

Even when mistakes do get you down, the more positive your attitude is, the easier it will be to pick yourself up and dust yourself off and move forward again.

5. Hang Out With Positive People

When you need a pick-me-up find some positive people to hang out with. Whether in person, or online having a network of positive people to talk to will encourage you to remain positive. You take on the characteristics of the people you hang around, so if you’re in contact with people who are always positive and inspired, you can’t help but be that way too.

And it works… I was feeling really down about something the other day, and having an awesome little pity party, and one of my good friends just flat out told me it wasn’t allowed. In a two-line email she conveyed enough positive attitude to turn my negative mood around and get me back on track again.

It works both ways too… There are days when you might be feeling on top of the world, and your positive attitude will be able to turn someone else’s day around.

When you have a positive attitude, all things are possible. And exploring those possibilities makes for a very happy life.

Clear as mud?

Photo Credit: http://www.sxc.hu

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Contrary to what many people believe, there is a spark of creativity inside every single one of us. It’s not limited to artists and poets – they just show theirs a little more overtly than other people do.

Creativity is really just the ability to think in unique ways. Any time you try to come up with a new solution to a problem or challenge you are thinking creatively, even though it may not seem like it at the time.

If you’re still thinking that you don’t have a creative bone in your body, here are five tips that you can use to tap into your hidden potential…

1. Let Yourself Be Inspired

Inspiration can provide the necessary spark to light your creative fire. When you act on what inspires you, new ideas and creative thoughts seem to flow almost effortlessly. The key is to let the inspiration flow and not cut it off because you’re unsure of what it might bring.

2. Follow Your Bliss

I borrowed that phrase from Joseph Campbell because it’s the best way I know to tap into your creative powers. If you have an idea of what you can do creatively, and you know it will make you happy, you owe it to yourself to at least try. So many people allow the fear of failure to stop them before they even get started. Don’t be one of them.

3. Expand Your Thinking

Always keep an open mind to new thoughts, ideas, and ways of doing things. Your creative juices will flow as long as you are willing to accept that there are always more ways to accomplish things than the “way it’s always been done.”

4. Never Give Up

When you find something that you feel compelled to do, don’t let others talk you out of it. Always keep learning, practicing, and improving because as long as you are happy with what you are creating, you are also creating your own success.

5. Take Time to De-Stress

Most people find it easier to be creative when they’re feeling calm and relaxed. Try to avoid getting into situations that make you feel stressed out and on edge. When you do find yourself feeling stressed, take the time to de-stress so you don’t choke off the flow of creative energy.

Tapping into your creativity takes some practice. And if you’re not used to using your creative energy, you will definitely need to practice. Try to find a few minutes each day to allow yourself to create. You’ll be amazed at what you come up with!

Photo Credit: © Bjørn Hovdal | Dreamstime.com

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It’s ironic that when I started to put together an issue on creativity that I entered the worst creative slump of the year for me so far. There’s a definite cycle to my creativity sparks and slumps that roughly corresponds to the changing of the seasons, and while I always end up learning something about during the downtime, I have to say the timing on this one really sucked.

Thank goodness that when my writing spark was acting seriously un-spark-like, my reading ability wasn’t impaired at all. In my search for something — a word, a quote, or even a picture — to jumpstart my own creativity, I found a great bunch of blogs devoted to the topic. So here is the first Acorn Stash blog roundup featuring ten posts on creativity and its sparks and slumps.

1. The Breath of God Inspiration Method by Leo Babauta

Whenever I’m in need of a shot of peacefulness, Zen Habits is one of the first places I head. In this post, Leo shares a wonderful short three-step method on finding the inspiration to create in little, everyday moments. I’ve used this method myself (although I never realized it actually has a name) when I’m out hiking and taking pictures.

2. Creating In the Dark – Your Sacred Dance by Marelisa at the Abundance Blog is a wonderful post that talks about what to do when you’re creating outside the spotlight of fame. She profiles seven famous people who continued to create even though their art was totally unappreciated in their lifetime. I especially like the section at the end where she talks about finding the work that you were born to do.

3. In Smart Living Rule 11 – Travel, Explore and Try New Things Jeff Nickles writes about travel and how it can help to broaden our horizons and unleash our creativity.

“Getting out of our ruts gives us the opportunity to use our minds in new ways. We gain confidence by facing the small challenges that inevitably arise with travel.”

4. Turning to the more philosophical, Dustin Wax ponders the question Where Do Ideas Come From? on Lifehack.org. I’ll admit to having wondered more than once how some writers, artists and composers keep coming up with new ideas. I love his explanation that

“…we get ideas from within ourselves and from without, or more to the point, from the interaction of the two. It is in the active engagement of the artist with his or her world, through preparation, conscious attention, curiosity, effort, and a dash of serendipity, that ideas are born…”

There’s a lot more than I can do justice to here, especially on the differences between creative and non-creative people, that really deserves a thorough reading.

5. James at Organize IT makes some great points about creativity and practicality in Unleashing Creativity: Think Big AND Small. He also introduced me to a kindred spirit when he wrote:

“I never just type something up, whether it be a blog post or a chapter in my book. I prefer the freedom of writing and brainstorming on paper and that’s always where I start.”

That’s a sentiment I can identify with 100 percent. There’s just something about actually putting pen to paper that sparks my creativity much more readily than staring at a blank screen will ever do.

6. One of my favorite blogs is UrbanMonk.net and this guest post by Celestine Chua on How to Pursue Your Passion is a wonderful look at identifying and expressing your passion in life. She offers a five step plan that is very easy to put into action and will have you creating in no time. :)
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7. This short post On Inspiration, Creativity and Ideas by Meredith Morgan really gave me an aha! moment when she commented that she was almost 50 before she started writing fiction. Considering that I’m closer to 50 than I’d really like to be, I had to include this one just because it made me wake up and really consider my options.

8. Anyone who knows me, or follows me on Twitter knows how much I love quotes. So when I came across the list of 75 Blog Quotes For Inspiration, Creativity & Success that Smart Boy (aka Christian Hollingsworth) posted, it was pretty much a given that I’d include it here.

9. In Looking Within for Inspiration Jon Hu asks “”But why is it that whenever we, as people who wish to be creative, wish to be inspired, we always look to things around us?”

It’s a great question, and a timely reminder that “We must remember that in addition to looking around at objects surrounding us, we must not forget to look back inwards, towards the very reasons why we do what we do.”

and finally,

10. Over at Life Set To Words, Maegan Beishline talks about what happens when you get into a non-creative slump in Sharing Thoughts on Inspiration and Creativity. “…creativity has an ebb and flow all it’s own,” she writes. “It’s best not to push it or get angry with yourself. Take some days to rest & re-fuel, gather sights & scents, and prepare yourself for the massive creative wave that surely coming your way!”

Great advice, for sure. :)

That does it for the first edition of the Acorn Stash Blog Roundup. I’d love to hear your thoughts on creativity and being creative, so please feel free to leave a comment!

Have a creative day,

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Stick around here long enough and you’ll find out just how much I love quotes. They pretty much run neck and neck with affirmations as my favorite tools for motivation and inspiration. So to start the weekend off right, here are ten of my favorite inspiring quotes.

Enjoy!

• Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones that you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. – Mark Twain
• Well done is better than well said. – Benjamin Franklin
• Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go. – T.S. Elliot
• Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step. – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
• All that we are is the result of what we have thought. – Buddha
• People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily. – Zig Ziglar
• Begin with the ending in mind. – Stephen Covey
• If you don’t go after what you want, you’ll never have it. If you don’t ask, the answer is always no. If you don’t step forward, you’re always in the same place. – Nora Roberts
• Experience is not what happens to a man, it is what a man does with what happens to him. – Aldous Leonard Huxley
• Don’t go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

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