When the creative river runs dry My creative drought
There’s a drought. The sun has been shining for a couple of months. It’s been hot. There has been no significant rainfall in several weeks. The ground is parched here and there. Green fields are turning brown. The levels of lakes, rivers and streams are falling. Farmers are becoming more pessimistic than usual, concerned about feeding livestock and their parched crops.
But things are not too serious. The shops are stocked. The taps still provide when they are turned. A little rain is even in the forecast. A little rain has fallen too. And eventually, summer will turn to fall. The clouds will form. The rain will come.
There’s another drought, a creative drought. I am in a creative dry spell. I haven’t created anything significant in several weeks. There are parched areas with no new music, fiction or even ideas.
Yeah, the material’s been good so far, although I’m sure there’s got to be a drought coming someday. John Goodman
There are many reasons. It could be a sign from the heavens or lack of anything from the heavens. It might just be natural forces. Changes in the local weather pattern, soon to change again. Little is permanent. Little that is new.
The big fear is that it is something major. Is it down to a bigger ‘something’? Is the drought due to climate change, the warming of the earth and is this down to human (in)activity? If so it could, or more than likely have ongoing changes and effects. And to think we might have been able to do something about it, and/or perhaps still can.
Is my creative drought caused by similar wider reaching events; age, other people, natural changes, excessive creative pollution or by-products in the atmosphere and/or beyond?
Technology has allowed us to have more drought-resistant crops. The spotty nature of drought, the spotty nature of rains can sometimes result in better yields than anticipated. Tom Vilsack
What can I do? I can make changes. I can ride this through. I can make offerings. I can make invocations. I can wait. I can pick up the guitar. I can use new techniques or technology.
Like the weather, my creativity goes through seasons, and seasons change. There will be droughts. There will be floods. There will be times of sunshine and showers.
Like the climate, I hope my creativity is not going through a major change that I can do nothing about.
Like the weather forecast, the first step is to take a look, see what is happening and then write it down; as a script, as a weather report, or in this blog post.
Then plan and do.
My July journal and planner set-up
It’s July and time to set-up my Journal system for the new month. This is my July journal and planner set-up. It’s also a new quarter and halfway through the year, but let’s not get too excited. A quick walk-through of how I am using and setting up my journals for the new month.
Plan with me My week and Planner Woes
I have been out of the loop for a little while. Getting back into things by sitting down and blocking out my week. But I have an issue, I’m not happy with my calendar and how it fits with my planner, or just not using it properly. Pop in and you’ll see what I mean.
The Full Moon, projects and productivity
The full moon is about to orbit and reveal itself in all its full glory. This means my previous New Moon Intentions Ritual (or just another way to plan my time), should be bearing a little fruit. As you can see in the image of my journal notes, I didn’t really go to town this lunar cycle. However, and perhaps because of that, I have pretty much succeeded.
I am blocking off time for major work projects. More importantly, I am sticking to those blocks. One thing I needed to help this was making sure I had next actions available. I am quite good at thinking big projects and dreams. I am also quite good and knowing that something, an action, needs to be done. What I am not so good at is linking the big with the little steps. I have been working on that this lunar cycle and I am getting there.
Knowing what I have to do (the next actions) and why I have to do it (the big picture projects) has helped me avoid drifting. I can easily run off down creative avenues and get lost. Sometimes these detours lead to new imaginative locations, but more often than not it is at the expense of something I should be doing or would be better finishing first. I still want to get lost creatively, but only when I have the time.
This has led me to be a lot more positive with things. The less anxious about getting stuff done, the more I am able to do. The new work pattern, a little bit of time discipline (not excessive), has had an exponential increase in my productivity. I often find that a little control offers more freedom. There is a fine line though and in isolation might not have such a positive effect – it is only because of the next actions work I have done that it is really working.
The next couple of weeks, as the moon wanes, I’ll be tweaking and continuing with my intentions for the Hare moon. The way I keep my projects clear and related to my goals and daily next actions still needs some work, but I am pleased with the progress so far.
May this Full Moon be a spring tide1 for you.
1 Spring tide is the name given to the higher and lower tides caused by the new and full moons. There, educational as well as inspirational – ha! More here
Thank you for reading this post. Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
namaste
d
xox
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