320 Holly Worton ~ Feeling Stuck? Open Up to Receive Creative Downloads Through “Nondoing”

Today’s Guest

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What You’ll Learn

• How to give yourself permission to make time and space for creativity
• How to open up to receive creative downloads
• How this differs from alone time, downtime, and meditation
• How to let go of the guilt that might be keeping you from making this happen
• Other things you can do to help the creative juices flow

Things I Discussed

• 279: Holly Worton ~ Downtime: Are You Getting It?
• After the Ecstasy, the Laundry: How the Heart Grows Wise on the Spiritual Path, by Jack Kornfield 

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Related episodes

• 328 Holly Worton ~ How to Add More Adventure to Your Life
• 321 Holly Worton ~ How to Balance Your Focus Between the Journey and the Destination
• 314 Holly Worton ~ How to Practice Self Love: Actual Steps You Can Take Today
• 313 Holly Worton ~ How to Practice Self Care Even When You Think You’re Too Busy
• 279: Holly Worton ~ Downtime: Are You Getting It?
• 271: Joanna Hennon + Holly: Fun For the Sake of Fun

Transcript

The transcript for this episode can also be downloaded here (no opt-in required).

Holly: Hello and welcome to the Into the Woods podcast, episode 320, this is your host Holly Worton and I am back with another solo episode. Today I am talking about how to give yourself permission to make time and space to let creativity and creative ideas come through. So, I have talked a little bit lately in recent podcasts about how a lot of my goals have kind of wrapped up and I am in this weird space. I kind of have ideas, I have plans, I have not been as driven, as focussed, and doing as much of my own creative projects as I would like. However I have been starting to realise that I think this is a necessary kind of dormancy to let new ideas come through.

Today I am going to talk about how to give yourself permission to make time and space for this creativity, for these creative ideas to come in, and I am going to talk about how this differs from normal alone time, down time and meditation time. I am also going to talk about how to let go of the guilt that may be keeping you from making this happen, because I always feel guilty, I don’t know if that happens to you, but I feel really guilty when I give myself permission to just not do anything. And, unlike most episodes, I haven’t planned this episode very much before getting started, which makes me kind of nervous because I usually do a lot of research, and thinking and bullet points and note-taking before I get started. But today, I have decided to just roll with it, because this is something that I am very much in the middle of myself, so this is another one of those episodes where I am learning as I try to help you, helping myself at the same time that I do this podcast.

So, let’s get started. This was inspired, as I said, by recent events in my life where I have just been…there is a certain amount of work that I have to get done and I have been getting that done and I have been really focussed on that stuff, and really efficient about getting that stuff done. And then the second half of the day which is kind of where I would normally devote to my own creative projects, I am not really doing much and I feel like sometimes I waste that time because again I feel guilty, I feel like I have to look like I am on my computer, look like I am on the computer to who, to myself? No one is monitoring my work and so I waste time sometimes just fiddling around on my computer. Sometimes I will get off the computer and go to my room or go downstairs and sit with a book and read, but what I haven’t been doing, which is what I really need to be doing, is giving myself space and time to do nothing. Not to go on a walk, not to meditate, not to have my morning routine, but to just do nothing. And I am very much reminded of this because a couple of years ago when I channeled my heart centred energy work process, it might have been three years now, two or three years, whenever it was that I did that, I was really struggling to bring it in. And what my guides told me was that I needed to make space and so what that looked like was me just sitting on my bed, open to receive, with a journal where I could write it down when it came through. I wasn’t sitting there meditating, I wasn’t sitting there visualising my goals, I was just sitting there waiting. And that is really hard for me, just kind of sitting, seemingly with no purpose but with the purpose of receiving, and that is what I needed to do to allow that new process to come through. And I am very grateful that I did, the moment — not the moment I had to sit there for a while — but the very first day that I did this, that I gave myself the space to allow this creative process to come through it happened, I just needed to make the time and space. And I think this can be applicable for a lot of other things, if you are looking for your next project, your next hobby, your next business thing, I think sometimes we need to just sit and be quiet and have some place to record the ideas and thoughts when they come through but just give ourselves the time and space for those creative downloads to come in.

So how does this differ from along time, morning routine, downtime, meditation? So, for me, in my perspective, this isn’t just time alone to relax, it is time where you are not doing anything, it is time where you are just open to receive. It differs from meditation in that you are not repeating a mantra, you are not purposely clearing your head of thoughts and your mind of thoughts, and releasing thoughts when they come in. On the contrary you want to be paying attention to the thoughts that come in in case they are a creative download.

It is different from downtime in that it is not about integrating healing, so a while back, last year, last November, I did episode 279 on Downtime Are You Getting It?, and what I talked about there was what is downtime, what is integration time, why we need to allow integration time for doing the inner work and the healing and  how to know when we need downtime. So if you feel like you need downtime, or integration time, go back and listen to that episode, 279, which I will link to in the show notes. But that’s not what I am talking about here, you might need some downtime in order to prepare yourself for this creative download time, but what we are doing here, we are just sitting in the peace and the quiet, with the intention of opening and relaxing to receive creative downloads. So it might help you to have an idea of specifically what creative downloads you want to receive, if you are looking at rebranding your business, rebranding your website, and you want to download the look and feel so that you can tell your web designer, or your graphic designer. Are you working on writing a new book and you don’t know what the topic is? Are you working on creating a new online program and want to receive the details? Are you working on stepping into a new identity and want to get a feel for what that might look like? Creativity shows up in all areas of our lives and we all have different forms and different ways of expressing our creativity. And sometimes we get blocked, sometimes we get stuck, sometimes we are not really blocked or stuck but just haven’t made the time and space for these creative downloads to come through. And I think that is what is happening to me with my upcoming book, I want to do a second edition of my South Downs Way book, I want to still update my business mindset books, I have this new personal development book that I want to write, I have just received a message from my guides about another book that I need to do and I don’t know, none of it feels quite right. I think that is because I haven’t given myself the time and the space to really see what is the right next book for me. I haven’t received the creative download of what is the next best thing for me to be working on, I think this is time to just slow down, disconnect, and go within, look within, and be open to receive the flow of this creative energy, of these creative ideas.

So one of the things that stops me from doing this, like I said is guilt, it is really hard for me to give myself permission to just sit and “do nothing”. And I think that is the thing that trips me up, because sometimes doing nothing is the thing that we need to do and doing nothing is doing something, if you are doing it with the intention to give yourself the time and the space to receive creative ideas. It might look to an outsider like you are doing nothing, but you are doing something and I think that is something that I need to remind myself over and over. And so if you also struggle with guilt over not giving yourself permission to sit and receive, remind yourself that this can be a very, very, important part of the creative process. If I hadn’t done this I wouldn’t have received heart-centred-energy work and that was a really, really, important process for me to receive because it completely changed the way I worked with clients, the way I help people on my Patreon, it was really, really, important for me and I really struggled, until I gave myself the time and space to receive.

I have been reading this book by Jack Cornfield called, After The Ecstasy, The Laundry, How The Heart Grows Wise On The Spiritual Path, and this was recommended to me on a retreat I did a couple of weeks ago. And I finished it yesterday, but there is this little bit that I just want to read to you, because when I read it I thought, that’s what I want to do for the next podcast episode; the second I read it I knew that this was what I needed to talk with you about!

So this is what he says:

“The wider community of being tells us that without the winter chill months of dormancy there can be no apples. Stillness, non-doing, listening, are as important and essential as action in the mandala of awakened life.”

So, again, I will link to this book in the show notes, it is called, After The Ecstasy The Laundry. So let’s pick this apart.

I of all people as someone who is studying Druidry should know there are cycles in life and you need the winter chill of the winter air, the crisp coolness, the dormant months for the apples to grow on the tree, it looks like nothing is happening but it is.There are cycles to everything and I think it is easy to forget that, it is easy to forget that sometimes we have really productive phases where we are doing a lot of stuff and then sometimes we will have cycles where we need to slow down and open up to receive the creative energy, the creative ideas for the next phase of our creative process. And, this is all about slowing down and getting time and space for this to come through. So, as he says, stillness, non-doing, and listening are as important and as essential as action. I forget this all the time, I know it, but I forget it.

I always talk about mindset work and practical action going hand-in-hand, but there is kind of another side to the coin of practical action and that is stillness, listening, giving yourself time and space. Non-doing, except you are doing, because you are making that space, giving yourself that time to receive that creative information and those creative downloads. So if you are feeling stuck, frustrated, with your creative projects and life in general, maybe just give yourself permission to sit and receive. And set the intention of what it is that you want to receive in terms of your creative downloads. How long will you need? I don’t know: 20 minutes, half-an-hour, an hour, multiple sessions? You will know once you get started… 10 minutes maybe, maybe try 10 minutes. Look in your calendar and see what space you have or what space you can make. You might have to wake up a little bit earlier to add some time to your day, you might need to go to bed a little bit later, you might need to say no to some things, you might need to cancel some things that aren’t essential. You might find that you get super-efficient in doing some of the work and you have got some time left at the end of the day. You will also know what is the best time of the day for you to make this happen, is it morning, is it afternoon, evening, is it nighttime? Do you need to do this inside sitting in your favourite chair, outside, sitting in the woods? Don’t overcomplicate this, don’t think you need to create a small production ceremony, really what you need to do is give yourself time and space for the downloads to come through and have some place to record them. Have a notepad, a pen, I would probably say don’t bring your computer with you, I think when we disconnect we need to fully disconnect, I think sometimes having your phone, or your computer or your tablet having those electronic elements that we use for work, business, and sometimes creativity, having those with us, when we have this creative time and space can keep us in that work mode. So I would say bring a piece of paper, a notebook, somewhere where you can write it down, but not necessarily electronically, do it on paper, but maybe I am wrong do whatever works for you, whatever advice I give is always adaptable to what feels write for you and what you need.

So I am being very strict that what you need to do is sit and do nothing and I do believe that there is a time and a space for sitting and again “doing nothing”. However you can also combine that non-doing, or apparent non-doing, with other ways of accessing your creativity and receiving creative downloads. You might try journalling, just free writing and set the intention to get creative downloads and see what comes up. You could try art journaling, it has been ages since I have done that, but I find it really, really, useful. A nice journal with thick paper and just paint whatever comes up it could just be splotches of colour on paper and see what that does for you. You might dance, you might sing, play music, there are other ways of accessing your creativity and receiving creative downloads and that might be whatever works best for you, but f you haven’t tried giving yourself time and space to just sit still and not doing anything and set the intention to receive those creative downloads, I really, really, recommend that you give it a try. It has been really, really, powerful for me in the past and that is probably what I will be doing when I get off this podcast.

So I think this is going to be a short one because that’s pretty much all I have to say on the topic. I encourage you to give it a try and if you do please let me know what you thought of how it worked for you. You can find me at: [email protected] and email me or find me online and get in touch. If you find this a way of accessing new ideas please let me know and get in touch and of course. And of course this non-doing, this time and space to receive creative downloads can be combined with anything else, maybe you want to meditate to relax and clear your mind before you start the non-doing, maybe you want to do a guided meditation to relax before you start the creative downtime or the creative non-doing. Maybe you want to dance, maybe you want to do the creative art journaling or other stuff beforehand. Maybe you want to just sit and open up to receive those downloads.

Let me know what works for you, what works for you in general, what you tried and what your results were, I would really, really, like to hear from you. And as always I am open to your topics for the podcast. I hope to be back with Jo and Joanna very soon now that summer is over and approaching the end, and I am open to receiving your topics. Not looking for other guests at this time but I would love to hear if you have any topics or ideas that you would like me to talk about, I really, really, enjoy speaking to the subjects that I get from listeners so please drop me a line and let me know.

And that is all for now, it is a short one this week which is good because last one was a long one, than you for listening and if you enjoyed this episode please subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts or leave a quick review, they mean the world to me.

So, remember to visit http://HollyWorton.com/320 for the show notes and links for this show. Thank you very much!