Friday, February 24, 2012

Friday Five - Emptiness

Today's Friday Five is, by design, a bit empty. There's a lot of freedom in the instruction to give five things we do when we aren't feeling the creative juices flowing or need to be inspired.

Get Frustrated - not gonna lie, I hate feeling uninspired. I especially hate it when I want to do something. Not saying this is a productive response, but it's definitely an honest one! Sometimes this frustration turns into action, and sometimes it just turns into pouting!

Do Something Mindless - if I'm in a crafty mood but not feeling a ton of inspiration, I'll head out to my work bench in the garage and take care of some of the little details of general projects like priming wood pieces or sorting various supplies or labeling containers. Often I'll discover something I had forgotten that can inspire me, or at the very least feel good about how everything is ready to go when inspiration does strike!

Play around on Pinterest - I probably waste way too much time goofing off with pinterest, but I'm completely hooked. And in fairness, it really is a great source of inspiration!

Use Prompts - in the case of wanting to write/journal, I will often turn to prompts of some sort to get me going. I found some neat printable journaling pages thanks to pinterest, and while, as a whole, they're not my style, they do usually have at least a couple of inspiring quotes on each of them that can give me something to begin reflecting upon. I've also used some books of poetry and prayers in the same way.

Get Started - This is often the one that I have to use in sermon writing. After a while, if nothing seems to jump out at me, I will just start writing and see what comes out. I usually wind up discarding the first hour or so of work, but I often wind up on a good path (and it ends up taking less time once I know where I'm going!) instead of sitting doing nothing for twice as long and still not being happy with the first thing I stumble upon!

What do you do when your creative flow has slowed to a drip? Don't forget to leave me a comment if you stop by, even if just to say hello!

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