Ever find yourself in a creative funk? One where you want to be creating something with ease and flow, but instead find that you feel like you’re out in a desert, without water to quench you, let alone a mirage to spark your imagination?

I have had those days too.  In fact, I think every one of us has experienced this feeling of being stuck. Some call it a “creative block”.  I’m not  convinced though that it is actually a block.

I was thinking about this recently when writing up some of the reasons people may want to come to my Painting With Your Muse workshop and I asked “Are You feeling creatively blocked?” You may be wondering why on earth did I ask about creative blocks then, if I don’t believe in them, right? The way I see it is that we have been conditioned to believe that we have these creative blocks anytime there is a lull.  In this “modern” society things can get to be so go go go that we begin to perceive anything other than constant outward movement as a sign that something is wrong or broken.  In other words if one isn’t continually producing and creating then they must be stuck.  So many jobs are set up this way, with a focus on productivity.

This is not sustainable.  Just think of all the times that you are ready to go on vacation or you have some time off work and you find yourself becoming sick.

I wrote about the idea of the creative lull in The Space Between the Jump.  I believe that in order to sustain our creativity there needs to be some lulls.  These lulls are needed for us to replenish our body, mind and spirit so that we can connect with our creativity.  They are not blocks in and of themselves.  However, they can become blocks if we insist on resisting them and trying to force past them without listening to the message they may be trying to convey to us, namely, the message of listening to our inner voice instead of the outer projections of the world.

I believe that there is often profound work that goes on in the process of doing for the sake of doing. The sitting in silence, the lull before the storm.   If we ignore this, then we miss out on the importance of allowing ourselves to experience things as we push ourselves to attain things.

I know it can be frustrating to be in that place where you feel stuck.  Where it feels like there is no movement.  Where you just want to get to the end already and finish whatever it is that you have started. BUT know this: it is all part of the process, every last pause and silence and apparent stillness. There is always something going on underneath it all.  Like the seed that has been planted and remains unseen until after it germinates and pops its happy little sprout head through the soil.  On the surface it looks like nothing is going on, however, underneath there is an amazing transformation happening that will be seen in its own time.

It takes a lot of trust in one’s self to allow this process to unfold.  Sometimes the unknown can be scary, however it can be equally exciting!

When you are feeling “stuck” and have an urge to push through it, try to sit with it a little and listen to what it tells you.  Here are some ways to play with “stuck”:

• Ask Stuck what it would like to do & like a good secretary write down Stuck’s response.

• Paint a portrait of Stuck. Allow yourself to focus on the process of painting rather than an end product or portrait.

• Go through your magazines and pull out pictures of what it is like to have Stuck living with you.

What do you do when Stuck comes to visit?