Tempting Your Muse to Break Creative Blocks
Hello my Mossy Moons,
I am back from my final show of the year in Oregon and it left me absolutely starving!
Have you ever been somewhere that made you feel almost desperately inspired? The kind of creative intensity that it gives you an adrenaline rush? This happens to me fairly frequently on trips.
Long hours of driving lead to many ideas and inspiring thoughts but when you couple those long hours with an intensely beautiful location, for me at least, the combination becomes nearly explosive.
From the hauntingly foggy forests, to the silver, moody coast and the towering bridges in the city, I could not stop finding little bits of inspiration everywhere I went! I have to say, the only downside of this trip was not being able to sit down every couple of minutes to write or sketch!
This type of feeling reminds me of the sensation of not being able to eat for some time, and how much the food is appreciated when it is finally received. Tempting the muse, in the form of being exposed to a great deal of inspiration and not being able to do anything about it for a period of time, seems to lead to a build up of ideas and creativity enough that I feel I could never run out of concepts.
I am sure many of you have experienced this sensation, whether it be from an epic trip to somewhere unfamiliar, or even a simple walk in the park, or an unexpected song popping up on Spotify. Being open to these moments of inspiration is so important. But perhaps just as important, is remembering that after tempting our muse so much, we actually feed them with work, the product of all that tempting inspiration.
It can sometimes be easy to enjoy these magical and inspiring moments, only to let them drift away into the ether when you return to the studio either because you are overcome by other tasks, or because it feels too overwhelming to accomplish work when it comes time to put pen to paper, fingers to keyboard, or to string and ivories, etc.
I think this is a fairly common struggle for a lot of creative people. We have the inspiration but we may not always feel we can apply it when the time comes. I so wish there was a quick answer to this problem, but, I think for many, it is a long process and a build-up of habits over time. The good news is, this particular block CAN be overcome.
Be well~
~Aria
