Last night I sat at my kitchen table, chatting with Tony on the telephone (and wishing I was doing almost anything else) when I remembered I hadn't taken my daily self portrait.
I took one, anyway, because I am, if nothing else, devoted to my goal, not to how pretty things look on the way to my goal.
Not pretty. Ick. Completely.
This morning I woke up and looked over my shoulder at yesterday.
I created again, from the same self portrait.
There is a sense of power which comes from experiencing and creating passion even though in the moment before, one was uninspired.
It sounds paradoxical, yet creating even in a space of "not passionate" yields surprising and impressive results time and time and time again.
Pause a moment, and consider, What saps your passion?
What deflates your sense of inspiration?
I don't bring this up so that you endlessly think about being sapped or uninspired, but to recognize the red-flags so that the next time you are there, you recognize it.
I hear this from beginner poets a lot.
"I can only write poetry when I am emotionally charged." I remember when I was that way as well.
Seasoned creative professionals or people choosing the path of creativity need to stretch beyond whim and riding the energy into creating a context to continually write, paint, photograph, sing - even and perhaps especially when it doesn't feel imperative to do so.
The photos here are examples of exactly that - and a combination of some of the tips below I will share with you to help you stay on track the next time your passion or inspiration is flagging.
1. Create assignments and schedules for yourself, just like an employer would. Sounds constricting? Let go of that thought. Schedule walks, yoga classes, coffee dates, anything that provides "get up and go" when you don't feel like "getting up and going". There is power in moving when you don't feel like it. Believe it and do it.
2. Goals. I use the 43things.com website as a Goals Headquarters. I have long-term goals in there but most effective are my daily goals and my monthly goals. I have goal buddies there who expect me to show up, so I do. Part of the reason for the continued creativity with the photo you see here is due to my May Goal which is to daily Merge Poetry, Photos and Prayers. Having Goals and looking at them regularly naturally draws you towards them. Feels like magic AND it is a Passion Strategy that works.
3. Games/Challenges: Create these when the passion is surfing through your veins. My 365 Self Portraits is a great challenge. Meeting a friend daily to exercise, a great challenge. A daily art journal - a great challenge. Make them up, do them. Buddies really help this one to work.
4. Musical accompaniment. Radio Swiss Classic and YouTube provide my tunes as I write, oftentimes. Yesterday I hit REPLAY on Samuel Barber's Adagio so many times I lost count. It worked.
5. Creative Buddies - See #3. Friends who are also creative who understand the ups and downs of creativity are the best friends to have. Network, reach out to new people, watch your art expand.
6. A Treasure Chest of Prompts - Prepare these from any programs or classes you are taking. If you poke around this blog you can find questions all over the place. These are perfect prompts. I asked a couple here, in this article. You might choose each paradoxical couple in the photo as a prompt. Prompts are everywhere. Make a chest and when the time comes for you to need inspiration, draw one out and use it to form your current or next project and then, take action on the prompt. Choose action. It always works.
7. Begin and continue a spiritual creative practice. Morning Pages, a la Julia Cameron are my favorite. Daily haiku. Daily Sentence Journal. Daily Art Journal Page. Daily Collaging. Daily walk-and-pray. There is juice in the daily-ness of sacred practice. Don't knock it until you have tried it consistently.
There - that absolutely, you better believe it, just right.
This essay was originally published in Daily Passion Activator, Why not Subscribe today? It's free.
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