Creating Consistently and Artistic Flow
Horace Pippon “Amish Letter Writer”, 1940. Oil on canvas, 12 x 12
As a writer, I’m constantly haunted by the idea that no matter how hard I try, I’ll never be able to properly express the message I’m trying to convey through my articles and overall writing voice. That somehow, my words and sentences add up to make one jargon-y, bland and long monologue.
Can any other creatives out there (of similar or other art forms) relate?
That idea is completely untrue, but my Monkey Mind (or MM; the constant negative chatter in our minds, also known as the Negativity Bias) is deceptively convincing. More often than not, I listen, and obediently put my tools away.
The primary MM line is, “someone already wrote about writer’s block. So many people have already told this story. What makes yours unique?” Oof, nothing waters down a spark quicker than comparison.
Writing and self-publishing my work is truly important to me — using my voice, writing, sharing tools and insights with others, creating a sense of connection and community — and when I go to do it, I freeze.
It’s an annoyingly exhausting circus of start/stop/start/stop… so, a question worth asking is: what would it be like if I was willing to allow myself to write?
It would be like cultivating a flow state of writing, imagining, wording. There’s a poetic essence to finding the right words and arrangement causing impact on the reader. It would be crafting a story, fulfilling my identity as a storyteller (which is who we all are at the core).
It would allow me to explore my thoughts in a new way, perhaps a more conscious and meticulous way. I could feel successful, by doing what I always say I want to do. Getting around to it immediately, and not procrastinating.
After visualizing these desired outcomes, it became pretty clear that it’s way more interesting to allow myself to write than it is to stay trapped in the start/stop circus in my mind.
And now I know why I stop, it’s because when it comes to large or important life choices, MM reliantly swoops in to chatter me off the ledge of potential great-ness (or, according to my brain, danger). “I want to write!” is quickly followed up with comparison, scarcity thoughts, and defeat.
The next question to ask is, how do we go from knowing something to doing something? I’ve wound it down to a four step process:
Look: pay attention to what your mind is saying about a certain situation that is bringing frustration, annoyance or uncertainty.
See: take a moment to discern that negative or worry-based narrative as different from what it is you have set out to do or create. You are consciously discerning between that spark of inspiration (ex: “this would make a great short story!”) and the negative and worry-based chatter (ex: “no one’s going to read it anyway, why try?”).
Tell the truth: Look at the facts of the situation. Is what your Monkey Mind saying actually true? If yes, in what way? Keep following this train of thought until there is no more truth to tell. If you weren’t focused on that Monkey Mind conversation, what would you be focused on instead?
Take authentic action: authentic action means you are making choices and choosing steps that are in alignment with what is important to you. Notice that when listening to Monkey Mind, you usually stop doing what it is you set out to do. If writing that short story, for example, is interesting and important to you, what is a small step you are willing to take in order to demonstrate that?
I know that after the visionary stage of my project, the effort it takes to get ideas off the ground takes 10x more energy than expected in order to produce results. This is the stage when our self-limiting inner conversations can get very loud. When it’s difficult to produce results, you may fool yourself into thinking the project is a waste of energy.
Now that I know what thoughts were getting in the way of writing/publishing (and where they were coming from), I could make the choice to look at what excites me about writing, and begin to cultivate an ongoing practice. I do this by taking small, sweet and consistent steps towards my goals: starting out with one article a week for a month, then moving up to two articles a week for a month… and so on.
It’s changing the lens from negativity to possibility, clarity, grace, and ease.
And lucky me, I get to choose which conclusion dance with.
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