Do you know your creative sweet spot; that space where you feel free, empowered, and clear to create anything? Where all the pieces of the puzzle fit together in a way that makes you confident, and inspired to create without burning out?
If you do, keep rocking it!
For the rest of us juggling lots of interests and passion projects, the creative sweet spot moves. A lot.
At times it’s easy to find and nurture. Our vision is clear and feels on point. Things are flexible and fluid, but simpatico. New inspirations come in and find their rightful place without distracting attention or too much energy from our path and progress.
Other times we start to question what we are feeling and seeing. The road gets a little washed out, or we find ourselves unexpectedly in cruise control, going through the motions while staring at the boring, flat, Kansas landscape – nothing for miles.
Over time, we may also get discouraged or lose passion for the creative path we’ve crafted because “results” are negligible or underwhelming, and mirror our disappointment right back at us. Then, with mixed feelings in hand, we have to contemplate, reevaluate, and segue into mentally and emotionally examining what’s up.
When you hit this point, it’s also a creative sweet spot. A creative sweet spot of reinvention.
The learning and growing we experience as we live into our authentic self expression shifts what we value from a creative perspective, as well as a personal one. This is an opportunity that invites us to refocus on the latest version of who we are, sort of like a required software update. If you want to run at optimum performance, an update is needed.
To prepare for the inevitable shifting winds that will impact a creative sweet spot, keep things simple. One of the best ways to do that is to assess your core creative values and how they guide the way.
Creative values act as guideposts to help us stay grounded like a great old oak tree, secure in its roots and expanding into it’s purpose, while realigning in fresh ways with what we need and want, in the now, to keep thriving.
Here are some of my creative values as an example. I use these as a yardstick to look at what I’m creating and the direction I’m heading.
I value:
- Inspired insight and action
- How something feels
- My level of motivation
- How determined I am to pursue it, or hide from it
- How much courage I have to be afraid and do it anyway, gremlin voice be damned
- Persistence to work slowly towards a goal, while trusting in myself and abilities
- Quality of my self-care practice – is it consistent or lacking?
Here’s a simple list of values to explore if you want to examine your own. Between 5 – 7 is a good amount, otherwise it becomes a list of words you feel good about, instead of valuable concepts you feel deeply about.
When I hit a roadblock in my mind, body, or spirit, I circle back to this set of values to do an energy check on my creative sweet spot. How far am I off center? Am I stuck in my head, or is my heart trying to tell me something? Does this “piece” make sense in the big scheme of things, or am I pushing to make something happen that’s no longer in alignment?
These aspects of what I value keep me focused on what’s important, and guide me let go of what can fade away. They help me stay connected to the passion and the fun, while making sure the work continues consistently, even when I get bored, frustrated, or annoyed with the progress of transformation or the way things are unfolding.
When we can get drill down and clearly see what we value under all of the stuff we tell ourselves or think we need to emulate to succeed, we hit pay dirt. We discover the most important part of keeping our unique creative sweet spot flowing with us as we shift and expand our creative reach in many powerful ways.
To read more on a similar topic, check out Working Through Creative Growing Pains. Want some coaching support or an intuitive reading, please check out my services. Love podcasts? Check out mine, called Flirting With Enlightenment, where I give you tips for tapping into your inner wisdom.