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Getting stuck, or being blocked in some way is something that all of us who are creative come up against from time to time in our creative efforts.
Whatever you wish to call it, there are many different variations of feeling we’re unable to create what we wish to create, and these manifest themselves in a variety of ways.
What we’re focusing on for the purpose of this article is being stuck with a particular creative project, having reached a certain point, or a critical stage, and feeling like we just don’t know where to go next with it.
It could be that the menu in your restaurant is looking tired and uninspiring, without having had a new dish or course for ages. You don’t know whether to just add one or two new dishes here and there, or radically redesign the whole menu with a new regional theme.
Or, maybe you’re partway through a new novel and realise you’re not sure if the characters you originally intended to be the lead players are actually strong enough to carry the novel. Do you develop some of the minor characters and hope they become deep enough to take the novel forward, or focus all your attention on making the lead characters more colourful. Or do you bring in completely new characters?
In another scenario, your hand crafted jewellery, which began as an exclusive range with each piece being highly unique, now more resembles a factory line of identical products. Do you design fewer, yet completely individual pieces and sell them at a higher price, continue along the higher mass production route at the expense of exclusivity, or begin work on a completely new range?
This position of being stuck for ideas and direction is unavoidable, and one that we’re all faced with now and again, for however short a time it lasts.
So what’s the solution, what are the approaches we can take to gain the insight or the vision we need to move forward?
We could have a major brainstorming session, call in our key creative allies and collaborators and throw down as many possible ideas and options as possible as to how we can go forward. This can be a fantastic way to get fresh impetus and motivation.
But then we still have to make a decision on how to proceed, then take the appropriate action. At this point, another approach, one that can be highly effective but that’s rarely used, can be called upon.
By “Sitting With The Silence”, the aim is to just sit with the project and the problem, ask what it needs next, and see how it guides you.
Sounds a bit vague doesn’t it! But if we can let go enough of the maelstrom of fears and ideas in our thoughts and truly listen to what the creative project is asking for, we’ll find the answer often leaps out and becomes quite obvious.
The key is to cut through the interference and the clutter around the project and find a way of connecting to its core. As if you’re literally reaching in through its chest with your hands, touching its heart with your fingertips and letting the message of how best to go forward flow into you.
Here are some extra tips you can try, individually or in combination, to help make “Sitting With The Silence” as easy as possible:
- Find a place where you can be still, away from interruptions, clutter and distractions. Use a Do Not Disturb sign if necessary!
- Adopt the belief that you know what’s best for this project, you always have known and always will know what the next step is, and by sitting with the silence you’re allowing yourself to connect more strongly with this belief.
- While you’re sitting with the silence, use a simple manual activity to occupy your hands, like washing up, sewing or reorganising your record collection, and do it with care and attentiveness.
- Take some physical representation of the project, and literally hold it in your hands, then close your eyes, be as still as possible and focus on listening. From the earlier examples this could be a menu, a sheet from the manuscript of your novel or a necklace you designed.
- Imagine the project communicating you from a point in the future when it’s evolved and even greater than it is now. What does it look like and what does it tell you about how it got there?
Experiment with other ways of sitting with the silence and letting the natural evolution of your project make itself obvious to you.
Sometimes it’s not about how many new ideas we can fill our heads with, but how clearly we listen to what we already know.
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