How often do you toss well-crafted plans out the window to try something new or accept an unexpected invitation – letting the spark of spontaneity guide your creative flow guide towards more fun?
The connection you feel in the moment to a potential creative seed or the tug you sense in your gut feels intoxicating and inspiring, but this happens less and less if you consistently keep a practiced life that never changes. When you leave a little space for the “what-if” you are inviting your creative flow to open up, to guide you to something you can never dream with your mind.
Creativity doesn’t start as an act, it starts as a seed inspired by something. The more you open up to being spontaneous with little things throughout the day, you will be surprised how much lighter and inspired you feel.
Activities like taking a walk to grab a coffee, chatting with a neighbor, doing some yard work or even listening to a new podcast are simple things that act as a new outlet for your creative flow and have a surprising, if subtle, impact.
Unexpected Experiences Take Creative Flow from a Trickle to a River
“Through spontaneity we are re-formed into ourselves.” Viola Spolin, Improvisation for the Theater
This quote is so interesting to me because it explains how the moment reshapes you, opens your eyes and heart so you can see and experience yourself in a new way. A spontaneous experience can create a lasting connection by allowing you to see everything differently, offering a fresh direction to explore and play.
I had an experience just like this with my own family years ago.
My parents are not very spontaneous people. They plan, balance risks and costs and calculate all the angles of an opportunity – all before they even considering saying yes. Yet, we took a spur of the moment trip to Vermont to visit friends when I was about 11 – and that is one of the best memories I have with my family.
We piled in the car filled with snow gear, snacks and anything we might need for the long weekend, heading north from Connecticut to Vermont and piles of fresh white snow. My parents’ friends had a large trailer they were staying in while they built a custom home out in the woods, so we shared a room with their two kids, played a bunch of computer and board games and had hours of fun outside in the quiet snow.
I also had my first ride on a snowmobile at dusk, and can still feel the the spark of adrenaline paired with freezing cold air on my face, flying over snow piles and through countless evergreen trees.
Despite all the well-planned and calculated trips we took as a family after that, this spontaneous trip is still one of my favorite times. In lots of little ways, the memory of this short trip sparks my own creative inspiration tied to snow, winter fun and a time when I felt really connected with my family in a loving way.
Stop Trying to Know it All and Just Say Yes
Creativity means stepping into the unexpected in an unplanned, uncalculated way. If you can look at being spontaneous as something you can do in small ways every day, instead of something huge, frivolous and over-the-top, you fire up the pace of your creative flow and lighten your heart.
And to quote the wise words of the beautiful Tina Fey, when it comes to moving past the fear and embracing spontaneity – “Say yes and you’ll figure it out afterwards.”
Photo credit: Mark Chadwick , Nomadic Lass, horizontal.integration