The Cellar - Creative Expression AWOL

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- - Creative Expression AWOL (http://cellar.org/showthread.php?t=13679)

Creative Expression AWOL

Ever lost your mojo?

I must say I’m a little worried, when i look back on the art, and literature that i used to produce 12 months ago and previous to that, im astouded at the quiality i could produce back then. Lately I find it hard to get inspired, and when i am inspired i sit in front of a black (page/ screen/ canvas) and out comes... NOTHING.

It is possible to have your creativity blocked for this long or have i lost it forever.

Ive tried vitamins, early nights, late nights, going sober, getting wasted, nothing is helping. why have i become creatively vacant?

What i want to know is how my fellow cellarites out there GET INSPIRED

What makes you overflow with artistic ingenious? what kranks your keel and makes those creative juices flow?

A trip to the bookstore, a good movie. Read a biography of somebody you admire. Write a story about something you hate writing about - sometimes that will unclog the drain so to speak. Sleep late one day and call in sick to work and go to the museum or the local college and take in a lecture.

Rent a kayak. Go on a hike. Get pissed off about an issue and write a letter to the editor. Write a story about a worm or a fly and make it worth reading.

Of all the things you tried, you left out the most important thing: some new stimulation - go find something new or rediscover something old. Your brain is stuck in a pattern and you need something to jar it loose.

Get a book on Japanese calligraphy. Try it but with English. And don't forget the incense.

I sometimes go to a museum or library. Tonight I went to the ARC. I know that feeling, though. I go through that sometimes, too. And have had that problem for a year or more. You might locate the book called "The Artists Way". I started reading it this last weekend and I really enjoy it.

Go somewhere, or do anything, that removes you from your normal focus.

You could go out of your comfort zone. Meet new people. Do something (mundane but different) you've not done before.. but Collect the details. Sleep on those memories. Then the next time you stare at a blank, reflect on your recent new experiences.

Good luck....

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Originally Posted by Scopulus Argentarius (Post 327198)

These are good suggestions. I would offer one change, though. Go somewhere, or do anything, that removes you from your normal distractions.

Getting away from the things that I habitually give my attention to permits me to devote my energy to the task at hand, rather than diffuse my energy among many small (or large) diversions. There are some times, and some situations where I can be juggling several different ideas/projects/thoughts at one time. When I am at work, for example, this is the normal state of affairs. When I need to focus my creative energies there, I have to take explicit steps to block other inputs I normally permit.

I turn off the email notification, I take the phone off the hook, I close the door, I turn on some music to mask the chatter bombarding me over the cube walls, you get the idea. This strategy has a big impact on my ability to direct that creative energy, literally to deliberately focus my energy on a given subject. By not spreading it across multiple subjects (even thinking about other topics), I'm able to increase my chances of making progress.

BigV, for me, its the exact opposite. Maybe it's the ADD, but when I try to concentrate on one thing and one thing only, I can't concentrate on anything. If I turn on my music, flip on the TV, get my laptop and get on AIM, and get some food... I pay little attention to the distractions and happily concentrate on whatever it was I was s'posed to be doing. If I turn them all off... Then the couch, or the window, or that bird chirping outside, or the wood of the table will distract me too completely as I try to avoid concentrating on it - kind of a 'Quick! Don't think of alligators!" thing, you immediately think of alligators.

Ibram: Your experience will likely change. Here's a section from a parallel thread:

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The young, according to conventional wisdom, are the most adept multitaskers. Just look at teenagers and young workers in their 20s, e-mailing, instant messaging and listening to iPods at once.

Recently completed research at the Institute for the Future of the Mind at Oxford University suggests that the popular perception is open to question. A group of 18- to 21-year-olds and a group of 35- to 39-year-olds were given 90 seconds to translate images into numbers, using a simple code.

The younger group did 10 percent better when not interrupted. But when both groups were interrupted by a phone call, a cellphone short-text message or an instant message, the older group matched the younger group in speed and accuracy.

"The older people think more slowly, but they have a faster fluid intelligence, so they are better able to block out interruptions and choose what to focus on," said Martin Westwell, deputy director of the institute.

At risk of jacking your thread... did I ever lose the mojo? Let's flashback to a year ago . . .

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