Stuck Finding Creative Inspiration? Keep This In Mind
Frustration Will Get You Nowhere
If I haven’t written anything for a while I find it’s hard to be inspired, and when I get frustrated, I find myself mentally stuck.
Take today for example: I’m feeling frustrated as I haven’t written anything for a week. Rather than open my laptop to capitalise on a creative spark like I usually would I’ve been sat on my bed, frustrated that I couldn’t think of anything to write about.
It’s like the more I try and think about what to write about, the more “stuck” I become.
Then I remembered something important about inspiration and creativity from my years of writing and research, backed up by science.
Here’s why frustration can block you from feeling inspired:
Why Our Frustration with A Lack of Inspiration Blocks Future Inspiration
When we’re too focused on finding inspiration, what we’re really doing is drawing our attention towards our thoughts.
We’re looking into our mind with a magnifying glass, searching and hoping for a thought to come in that might strike that golden nugget of inspiration.
This is a futile way of finding inspiration, I’ve found
My most creative thoughts don’t come to me through force, they come to me when I’m calm, and when my minds eye isn’t fixated on finding inspiration — like when I’m taking a walk, or meditating, or going about my day doing something entirely unrelated to writing.
To help explain this, let’s talk about the science of thought:
When Focus Inhibits Wondrous Thought
In your brain there is a network of brain areas that work together to help create what scientists call “wondrous thoughts” called the default mode network (DMN). This brain network will spew out random and sometimes invasive thoughts throughout your day automatically.
The thing you need to know about this DMN of ours is that it is most active when our brains are relaxed, when we aren’t focused on anything.
To test this out, notice how your brain goes quiet as you’re reading this. If I’m not boring you and your attention is focused on my words, your brain should be relatively quiet. This is because activity in your brain’s default-mode-network is turning down. Without this happening, we’d struggle to focus on anything.
If I am boring you, and you’re struggling to focus, you’ll likely notice random thoughts popping in and out of your mind. You might randomly start thinking about what you’re going to do with your day, or what you’re planning to have to dinner — it can be anything. The wondering mind has one foot in the conscious and another in the unconscious.
To tie this all together, this is why getting frustrated at yourself for not feeling inspired doesn’t help.
You’ll fixate on your mind, deactivate your default mode network, and get more frustrated because your brain has gone quiet.
So, here’s what you need to do:
Making Space for Inspiration
Feeling frustrated this morning I knew I need to step away from my laptop and relax. My frustration wasn’t helping me find the inspiration I needed to write, and I kept drawing a blank when I tried to will myself to think (because of what we just spoke about).
To help myself, I dragged myself away from the laptop to go eat some breakfast. I then did some stretching and spent a short while meditating.
When I allowed myself the room to just BE, and wasn’t so focused on feeling inspired, inspiration naturally came to me and here I am.
Part of this process comes in relinquishing the control we think we have over our mind. We can’t control each and every thought that comes in, and we can’t force creative thoughts into our mind.
It also means relinquishing our attachment to productivity. We can get ourselves into knots when we are relying on our output to make us feel good. We stunt our own creativity, and spiral in frustration.
To find inspiration, then, it’s important you take your minds eye away from the concept of needing to be inspired. Let go of your need for control, focus on self-care and stop worrying that you’ve lost your spark.
It’s there and it will come to you when you least expect it.
Look after yourself first.
Thank you for reading this article. I appreciate your time and interest in my work!
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I really like this theme, and I can relate to it. Creativity comes from letting everything go and trusting that something will show up. And somehow, it always does :)