Cooling the Creative Fire
I love all the different phases of the creative process and over the years I’ve learned a great deal about consciously managing each one so I can maintain a consistent, productive and joyful stream of creative self-expression.
Creativity is such an important part of my life and work that it’s essential for me to know what truly supports me to create – and live – in an enduring state of deep flow.
This is the essence of what I call Conscious and Creative Living, and is how I’ve come to avoid the extremes that used to knock me off track sometimes for weeks at a time.
Intensity
In the early days I struggled to manage the intensity of the creative fire that increasingly coursed through me and which had the potential to inspire and burn in equal measure.
This was especially the case with projects that required commitment over extended periods such as developing ideas for teaching a whole new topic, writing a book or creating engaging courses and classes.
Of course, always working to deadlines inevitably adds fuel to the fire!
Integration
As my experience of being a fully fledged working “conscious creative” matured, I was intuitively drawn to integrate the practices I use to remain present and aligned with my creative process.
The positive effect this had at every level was a revelation and led me to develop the holistic approach that I now teach to others.
Yet there are still moments today when I feel the “fire in the head” and know that “cooling” actions are required to rebalance the energies and complete whatever I’m working on without ending up with a headache!
Heat
Creative inspiration may arise from a source that is beyond your ordinary mind but it’s still processed through electrical impulses firing in your brain.
All the activity of ideas pouring in, playing with possibilities, focusing your attention and taking creative action creates a kind of heat that can leave you feeling “heady” and disoriented.
When taken to an extreme, prolonged experience of this borderline state will lead to a degree of creative burnout.
Solution
Experience has led me to discover a simple and practical solution.
You can cool the creative fire by drawing the heat away from your head through moving and reconnecting fully with your body to rebalance yourself and ground the energy.
The way I approach this is to…
- Notice: first of all you need to cultivate enough awareness to realize that the heat is building up to uncomfortable levels by remaining in a conscious state as you create.
- Stop: it may feel counter-intuitive when you’re deeply engrossed in whatever you’re focusing on but it’s important to stop, take a break and return yourself to flow.
- Walk: ideally this will be in nature where you can release the heat by using your intention to send the energy down into the earth to clear the excess that has built up within you.
Restored
As you walk, you may like to turn your hands so your palms are facing down (horizontal to the ground) to guide the release of energy into the ground.
This is the first position of the Mudra Sequence* which is part of the Conscious Writing Process and also serves as an effective stand-alone technique for bringing you into a state of alignment, harmony and connection.
When you adopt this approach, by the time you’ve finished your walk you’ll be centred, restored and ready to pick up the thread of your creative task when the moment feels right.
Igniting v. Cooling
I realize that in the early stages of developing your creativity the focus may be more on igniting your creative fire rather than cooling it.
However, most substantial creative projects include phases of real intensity so learning a simple technique now for feeling the force and riding the fire without negative consequences will serve you well.
As a result you’ll be able to create what you’re here to create through the many forms that will undoubtedly take and enjoy the process over the long term.
What experience do you have of creative intensity and how do you manage it? Please share your reaction and comments below.
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* Watch a video of me leading you through the Mudra Sequence by registering here.
Very cool! It reminds me of my old yoga teacher.
Sounds good to me Lyle!
This is really useful Julia. I’ve experienced the ‘fire in the head’ on longer complex projects. I hadn’t named it as such, but that’s exactly what it feels like. it seems to happen when my unconscious mind is working to compute and resolve a lot of unknowns. When my computer does this, the fan comes on! So cooling activities seem entirely appropriate. It sometimes helps me to scribble some of those unknowns on to a piece of paper before I go for a walk too. I rarely refer to the piece of paper afterwards, but it helps ME clear my mind and notice my surroundings more quickly. Thank you for naming this phenomenon and sharing how you work with it.
Hi Vicky, I’m glad that this post helped to name something you’ve experienced and yes, it really does feel like “fire in the head” doesn’t it. I think your comparison with the fan in your computer is spot on! Thanks for sharing your process of scribbling down the unknowns and I hope my suggestions for how to manage it will make a positive difference for you going forwards.