Three Final Ways to Live Your Best Creative Life, Part 3

by Cathy Baker @CathySBaker

Today, let’s close out this three-part series on specific ways to combat resistance and maximize our creative power. If you missed the previous installments of this series you can read the first Three Ways to Live Your Best Creative Life Part 1 and Three More Ways to Live Your Best Creative Life, Part 2. 

“Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and he unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance.” – Steven Pressfield, The War of Art

Forget what your teacher said. 

During my elementary school years, I was called out more than once for daydreaming. If only my teacher could have fully appreciated what was truly happening. Erin Schumacher, an associate psychology professor at Georgia Tech, states, “People with efficient brains may have too much brain capacity to stop their minds from wandering.” Okay, so that may not describe me, but there is a definite link between daydreaming and creativity. Amy Fries, author of Daydreams at Work: Wake Up Your Creative Powers, says that when our minds are able to wander, we are accessing memories, emotions and random bits of stored knowledge. 

It’s the word ablethat catches my attention in Amy’s statement. Adults sometimes see daydreaming as a waste of time or a distraction. I did so for many years, but now I’m learning to befriend the part of me that thrives when I drift off in thought. 

As writers, we can’t deny the power of accessing our memories, emotions and stored-up knowledge, so this once, let’s forget what our teachers said, and give ourselves permission to daydream. 

“You get ideas from daydreaming. You get ideas from being bored. You get ideas all the time. The only difference between writers and other people is we notice when we’re doing it.” –Neil Gaiman 

Embrace the fear.

Steven Pressfield, author of The War of Art, reminds us, “The more scared we are of a work or calling, the more sure we can be that we have to do it.” It’s because we feel the tension of resistance that we know how important it is to us. If it meant nothing, we would feel nothing. 

Do you feel the knot of self-doubt tightening in your stomach when you sit down to write? I allowed the very same knot to keep me idle for years. Who was I to write a book? Who would want to read a daydreamer’s words? It wasn’t until I embraced the fear and wrote throughit, that my books became a reality. I accepted the fact that while I may not be the most talented writer, I did have stories to share, truths to be told, and One who was cheering me on at every turn. And so do you. 

“Are you paralyzed with fear? That’s a good sign. Fear is good. Like self-doubt, fear is an indicator. Fear tells us what we have to do. Remember one rule of thumb: the more scared we are of a work or calling, the more sure we can be that we have to do it.”– Steven Pressfield, The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles

Take a walk. 

Lacking inspiration? Stanford recently conducted a study that found creative thinking improves while a person is walking and during the short time after they return. Other researchers conducted a study that noted how regular exercise is directly associated with improving two major components of creative thinking. During this study, a person’s creative output increased a whopping 60% when walking instead of sitting. 

Grab your pocket-sized journal/pen or access the note-taking app on your phone to capture ideas as you head outdoors for a walk. 

“Solitary walks are great for getting new ideas. It’s like you’re in a video game and you pick up idea coins on the way.” –Joyce Rachelle

Is there one idea in particular you feel will help you live your best creative life? 

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Cathy Baker is an award-winning writer and author of Pauses for the Vacationing Soul: A Sensory-Based Devotional Guide for the Beach as well as Pauses for the Vacationing Soul: A Sensory-Based Devotional Guide for the Mountains. As a twenty-five year veteran Bible instructor, she's led hundreds of studies and workshops. She's also contributed to numerous anthologies and publications, including Chicken Soup for the Soul, The Upper Room, and Focus on the Family’s Thriving Family. In addition, her poetry can be found in several popular anthologies.

She and her husband, Brian, live in the foothills of the Carolinas.
Subscribe to Cathy’s blog at http://www.cathybaker.org and receive a free e-book, “Praying In Every Room of Your Home.”