by Barb Kobe

This article is part of a Personal Learning Course called

EUPHORIA!: The gift of a healthy, balanced, and energetic life.

Created and produced by
Learning Strategies Corporation from Wayzata, MN.

For more information about Learning Strategies contact
www.learningstrategies.com

     As an artist assisting others in the discovery and rediscovery of their creative self, I found that euphoria emerges from a natural, blissful state of creative expression.  I have witnessed this state of creative euphoria in each person I have worked with and believe that we are all capable of experiencing it.  The variability seems to lie in how a person accesses their creativity.  Each person who engages in creative thought or activity has their own strategy that leads up to entering their euphoric state of creative flow – they engage in a personal creativity ritual.  Susan Perry, social psychologist and author of Writing in Flow defines it as “your unique way to lure yourself into a state of flow in order to access your creativity.

    Rituals are consciously structured acts that are used to influence the subconscious mind.  They strengthen the desire to work toward and achieve a specific goal. These rituals take time and if you are like me, with a busy, demanding, over-scheduled life, time is a scarce, treasured commodity.  I wondered how a personal creativity ritual could easily fit into my life.  So I began to purposely notice my behaviors.  I felt pleased to discover that I already had a pattern of behaviors that nurtured me.  I just needed to recognize and acknowledge that this was my creative ritual and then affirm and honor it as such.  My suspicion is that you too have a preexisting creative ritual of which you may not be aware.  To explore this, try changing the order in which you do some of your daily activities—say, your typical morning activities—and see if it indeed does not effect your mental rhythm and state.

    There are four elements of a ritual that can be applied to getting prepared to enter the euphoric state of creativity.  These elements are declaration, preparation, performance and closure.

DECLARATION – getting started.  Declaration is consciously stating your intention, verbally and/or mentally, to begin your creativity ritual.  You are declaring time for yourself and setting a goal to devote a specific amount of time to be creative.  You declare, “I am going to be in my creative space from 10:00 am until noon.” Or “I am going to focus on creativity now”, or “I am going to create ________today.”  My declaration is mental; although sometimes I will declare to my family “the mother is off duty for the rest of the evening.”

By declaring your intention you change your energy, shift your awareness and give yourself permission to step out of any roles and let go of any “shoulds” that demand your attention.  It would be wonderful if each time you declared your intention that you would progress uninterrupted into your creative, euphoric bliss.  But this seems to not be the way things work in the real world.  Unless you have turned off the telephone and locked yourself up in an isolated space, chances are you will get interrupted sometime in the process.  This does not mean, however, that continuing on with the ritual does not have value.  I have found that by simply stating my intention to create, I begin the working of my creative ritual.  Even though it may be an hour, a day, or a week later before I can prepare and perform the other steps, by setting the intention, I honor the part of me that creates. Perhaps this intention setting is the most powerful aspect of the ritual, in that by doing so, I create a sacred holding space for my creative self.  How do you declare your intention to create?  Try it and notice how it feels to do so.

 PREPARATION -- building momentum.  In this state you gather the materials, you need to perform your ritual.  This preparation may include making a list; gathering pictures, words and ideas that you have been collecting; putting on the coffee or lighting the fire for tea.  It could involve taking out candles, choosing incense and music, or bringing out the vacuum cleaner and dust rags.  Can you think of what you typically need to do to feel ready to create?  What materials will you need?

 Each action taken in preparation gives permission to your creative self—permission to shift into your creative energies.  Eventually, with practice, these actions become creative triggers that will immediately invite your creative self to work the ritual.

MOVEMENT -- taking action.  Movement ignites your creative spark.  It is how you ask your creative self to play.  I call this cleaning house time.  Many of my artist friends clean, or at least straighten up, their homes or studios before they will allow themselves to move into their creative state.  It is important that their environment looks, sounds, and feels right before they summon their creative muse.  This it the time to light the candles, play the music, pour and drink the coffee, page through notes or magazines, or clean your environment.

 I have noticed that during the movement phase of my ritual that I let go of worries and other non-creative thoughts.  I begin to get ideas and answers to questions that have been on my mind for some time.  Each personal creativity ritual has a distinct design, pattern or rhythm to its performance.  You may notice that you move through your space in a certain order.  I clean off the kitchen counter, turn on the water for tea, light candles, and move through my space straightening up and de-cluttering.  Your actions may include puttering in your space or surveying your garden waiting for the impulse when the creative spark is ignited.  What actions do you take that ignite your creativity?

TRANSITION -- incubation ends.  This is the time when incubation ends and a door opens ups to creative focus.  Your creativity is fully engaged in creative action.  All other workings of this ritual lead up to this point. You are now committed to your creative flow.  How will you know when you have moved into your creative flow?

From personal experience and testimony from others in their creative flow, you will feel a shift in your awareness.  What you focus on becomes brighter or sounds louder and clearer.  Your body feels different than when you began the ritual.  I experience a higher level of energy, almost a vibrating from my core.  I usually do not feel tired, hungry or thirsty, and I am unaware of time.  My intuition partners with my creative self, offering images, words, and feelings that seem to come from outside of myself.  It is almost as if I become a vehicle for creative expression and a host welcoming energy to spend time with me.  For it is the best high in the world.

As you work each element in this process, you affirm and honor the creative person that you are.  The personal creativity ritual has no distinct boundaries.  Once you acquaint yourself with your ritual and make it conscious, you will become aware that it is a process that free flows from one action, one thought, one idea to another.  Now that you know the elements of a personal creativity ritual, what is your unique design? What actions do you take to access your natural, blissful state of creative euphoria?