Creativity Part 3
May 25, 2025
Creativity Part 3
Tapping into the creative flow is easier than we think. But it takes a willingness to stop our ego’s thinking and planning and to “shush” our inner critic. And one of the best ways to do this is to doodle. We can enter the creative flow with a simple pencil and paper. We begin with the blank sheet and, with our hands, make any mark without thinking about it. This one mark sparks us to add another and then another until we are drawing. The doodles don’t have to make sense, and we do not critique whatever comes from our hands and lands on the sheet. The drawing can be shapeless or symmetrical; it can resemble a person, nature, a cartoon, or anything unrecognizable.
Our doodle can be tiny or fill the entire sheet, but one thing’s for sure— something inside us (not our ego) guides our hand. As we draw, the drawing pulls us into it; without our thinking or planning, the doodle creates a picture of our inner flow. Doodling is just one of the many activities that facilitate the creative flow. There are many others.
Another entryway to creative flow is Julia Cameron’s “Morning Pages.” Julia, author of The Artist’s Way, begins each day by writing special pages, similar to a journal, but not precisely. She suggests starting each day by writing your mental flow without thinking. It could be as simple as the following example: “I do not know what to write this morning, but out my window, I see a hawk flying in the distance… What does the hawk stand for? Today, I will find out… Now I feel a draft in this room and must check if all the doors are closed… the heating bill has been high lately, but I am dwelling on problems. I made a New Year’s resolution to not dwell on the negative…but here I go again… Let’s see, what are some positive things going on now? I may lose touch with the positives, but I am thankful for them.” Morning pages can include drawings, doodles, and anything that expresses our energy.
These thoughts come from within and break the spell of thoughts imposed by the ego mind. It leaves you in another, more creative state of consciousness.
When we write and draw our morning pages, we leave our normal thinking processes and join an inner flow from our depths. The first thoughts written will be surface, but just like our doodling, we are pulled inward and deeper with every line we write. It’s like writing down a dream as it occurs. We have tapped into our unconscious and have drunk from the deepest part of our creative well. Now, we are ready for any creative endeavor.
Actually, what Julia asks of us in morning pages are to tap into and follow our own subconscious thoughts down to our soul’s home. Some other activities for arriving home are walking the labyrinth, drawing mandalas, writing, playing music, and dancing.
Spiritual practice: Try a morning page right now. After you finish, notice the difference in yourself between the beginning and the end of the activity.
Self-inquiry: What inside do you need to create?
Dear God,
I pray to tap into my creative flow because I feel your presence more in it than at any other time. That feeling is the most precious feeling I can have. Amen.
