10 Ways to Daily Creativity
Many people find themselves overwhelmed with the things they want and need to do everyday. They need to work their full time job for eight plus hours. They need to take care of their children. They want to spend time with their spouse, and maybe even, their friends. They want time for their own personal projects. All of these responsibilities, and other desires, can often make it seem impossible for someone to wants to find the time to create in whatever capacity that fulfills them. But there are a few simple things you can do every single day they will keep that creative spark in you alive.
1. Journal. Journaling is easy to do everyday because it doesn't take a lot of time, and it is an extremely flexible activity. You can write for however long or short you want. There are even one sentence journals! There are innumerable exercises you can look to if you're not sure what to write, or you can write anything that simply comes into your mind. To start, try journaling for fifteen minutes every morning or night, either about what you would like to accomplish during the day, or what you did accomplish during the day. For a more creative approach, write out your perfect day every morning. If everything that day were to go just to plan, what would your day look like?
2. Meditate. Meditation is extremely beneficial to many parts of our bodies. It helps to relieve stress and tension, focus our thoughts, and provide a convenient source of relaxation. Meditations can be as simple as quietly focusing on your breath or five minutes, or you can follow a more elaborate guided meditation that takes you deep into the center of your self. To start, try meditating every morning for five minutes. Sit comfortably and count three breaths in and out, letting any pressing thoughts or troubles float by your mind. Check out these tips for beginning meditations.
3. Take a picture. Take at least one picture everyday. This picture can be anything. It can be something that caught your attention during the day, or something that sums up what your day was about. There is a special project for this called a 365 project. You can learn more about these here.
4. Perform a random act of kindness. When you think of small, simple things you can do for others you open up your mind to all sorts of possibilities. Perhaps you can open the door for the stranger behind you. You can smile at someone and compliment their outfit (might want to pick someone of the same sex, unless you're also looking for a date). You can let someone who seems to be in a hurry get in front of you in line. There are always simple ways to make someone else's day better. Look for creative opportunities!
5. De-clutter a small area of your home. It's hard to let our minds be open and free when our environments are cluttered and dirty. Spend ten minutes de-cluttering some part of your physical environment. Clean off your desk in your office, or clean up your dishes as soon as you eat dinner instead of letting them sit in the sink. This is one of my favorite organizing sites.
6. Try something new. There are opportunities to try new things everyday. Try a new food, a new TV show, a new book, a new section of the newspaper, a new topic of conversation, a new anything! Trying new things opens up our minds and provides us with different perspectives we may never have known otherwise.
7. Change your routine. When we do something out of the ordinary we may discover lots of new things. Change your route to work and you may discover a store you want to visit. Change what you normally eat for dinner and you may discover a new food you love. Change what you usually wear and you may find a new style that looks great on you.
8. Create. Create something, even if it's a small something. Create a new page in your art journal. Create the first line of a new song. Sketch our your next painting. Creating doesn't mean you have to take hours to do it. Just do the first step. This will keep you in a perpetual creative motion. At the end of the week, you'll have seven steps done towards your next great work!
9. Dream. Keep a list of things you'd like to do/be/have. Every day think of something to add to this list. If you see an ad for a cruise you'd like to take someday, add it! If you see a scene that inspires you and think you may want to paint it someday, write a description. If you see a new product you'd like to try, add it.
10. Keep an idea notebook. Carry it with you everywhere. Inspiration strikes when we least expect it. Make a point of adding at least three things everyday. When we set goals for ourselves we're more likely to be open to finding new inspiration instead of being sidetracked by all of life's "shoulds" and "have-to's." Check out this link on keeping one: Keys to an Effective Idea Journal.
