Earlier this week, I found myself in a creative twist. While attempting to work on a project that I know in my soul is wanting to be birthed through me, I kept. getting. stuck.
And the more stuck I felt, the more pressure I felt mounting to get it right. And the more pressure I felt to get it right, the more stuck I felt.
In my twisted state, I was uptight.
I knew I had to loosen things up a bit.
Clear the decks.
I rescheduled a call for the late afternoon, sent a group text to my team letting them know that it was Clarity Day and I’d be offline and in my zone, and put my phone on airplane mode. Sweet space.
LESSON:
No one will die if you slow down. Unless you’re an ER surgeon, perhaps. But even then, maybe a deeper breath would help every once in a while? Take some space.
Get undressed.
I changed into my sexiest stretchy clothes, made a fresh cup of tea, anointed myself, lit some incense, threw on my get-unstuck song du jour, and threw myself on the floor for a dramatic interpretive dance in the living room. Out of my head and into my body.
LESSON:
To change your mind, change your state. Staying crunched-up with your laptop isn’t going to miraculously open the gates of creative flow.
Make a mess.
Sweaty and softened, I pulled out everything I had that might help with clarity. Crystals. Notebooks. Colored pens. Big sticky paper. Flower cards & Goddess cards. Laptop for research. Water. Girlfriends on speed-dial. I dug in with curiosity.
LESSON:
Your mess will set you free. Go off-road, off-script, off-schedule. Get messy and see what unfolds.
Planning and organization won’t always untwist you. Sometimes, you’ve just gotta get messy. {tweet it}
In the comments below, I’d love to hear what you’re in a twist about, and how you’ll embrace the space and state from which you can make the mess you need to, in order to find clarity. I’d love to cheer you along. xo
The biggest of amens to this today. Getting unstuck.
Amen, amen! Thanks for reading, Emily 🙂
With Love,
Nisha
SO needed to see this today. Thank you! I look forward to embracing the mess ; )
You’re welcome, Em! Thanks for reading.
With Love,
Nisha
Yes…feeling into this message with deep gratitude and surrender. I lost my little fur baby (a Pomeranian name Figment) this past Monday…and allowing myself to surrender to the unknown has been my only saving grace. I remember thinking to myself so many times “OMG…I can’t even think of the day I will lose my dog. It is going to kill me.”
Well…I can say that as I watched him take his final breath, my first question was “How do people get through this?”
What is the protocol for handling this situation at 4am on a Monday?
I was lost…and all I could do was surrender and receive as much support & help as humanly possible.
I am realizing with each day that the question is not “How do I get through this” but instead “How can I stay present and feel this?” THAT has been my anchor. The present moment.
As I deepen into this unknown, and explore what was once my greatest fear…I feel simultaneous strength and weakness, clarity and questions, trust and fear. I continue to allow the waves of grief to wash over me as they come. Laughter turning into wails and memories turning into the realization that the future I pictured is no longer the same.
Messy mess mess wrapped in unconditional LOVE.
That is where I am in this moment.
Thank you for this piece.
xxo
~ J
Jenn, I’m so sorry to hear about Figment. Sending you so much love, sister.
“How can I stay present and feel this” – YES
When we learn to surf the wave, rather than fight through it, things flow.
Sending you so, so much love as you unravel and wrap yourself up again.
Thank you for sharing where you are.
With Love,
Nisha
Oh, how I love this post! Great examples and tips on how to change your state, which I definitely struggle with sometimes (er, maybe often). Thank you. x
You’re welcome, Nat, and thanks for reading!
With Love,
Nisha
Nisha – I love the honesty here. It’s so important to understand that we’re not always going to be in a state of flow…that sometimes we’re in an ebb and that’s ok. Right now I have a lot of big transitions happening in my life and I see my business taking somewhat of a shift in direction too as I’m learning so many other different healing modalities. Instead of allowing myself to get frantic that I don’t have it all figured out, that I’m not sure how it will all come together…I’m embracing the process, honoring it, and giving myself permission to be patient. I repeat that “I trust the answer will come to me and the Universe will guide me when the time is right.” I’m taking it day by day. I’m also making sure I get out and do other things. I think we are all creative beings and the more we can explore our creative sides whether it be through art, song, dance, writing, cooking, etc. the more we come alive, so I’m making that much more of a priority as well!
Tina, what a wonderful mantra you’ve created for yourself.
I, too, have been practicing making more space for creativity
to flow. Unplanned, unstructured space. What a gift!
With Love,
Nisha
Can’t wait to see what you are creating !!
Loved this post!
Loved this post! I can definitely relate and find myself getting way stuck in planning and organizing. Making a mess sounds great!
Although, I would have to make my mess without a computer, working with my computer tends to dig me deeper into a sticky muck, I find.
I was just talking about this very topic to my husband today. There are so many ideas, programs, books, offerings I feel need to be birthed by me but I cannot seem to get unstuck. You are so right when you said that sometimes we need to get messy. I need to let go of the hows (which is how I stay organized) and just do it (which to me seem disorganized and messy). I need to dig into these ideas and see where they take me.
Nisha! Your dedication to live in the truth of your experience anD then actively embracing it With a shift in approach is such an epic celebration for me and all of us who reads your words! So grateful that you found your voice, your calling and your way to heal and strengthen us all! I promise to nakr a mess today at some point! In solidarity and love, genevieve
I signed up for your emails awhile ago and I admit to not really clicking through. Except for today. Today I went through my emails and I saw the title of this post and I felt compelled to read what this was about. I found a message I was needing.
I just started my own business. My personal blog has faltered. I have so many ideas rolling through my head, all wanting to come out and exist and insisting they have to be first. My spirituality has been in need to attention. add a daughter, a husband, a 9-5 job and my own needs to stay sane and it just all feels like too much.
So thank you for the reminder to take a step back. I think, maybe, I might have found a place I can be for awhile here.
I am grateful for this post, brings much needed reassurance that it’s ok to be stuck and allowing oneself to become messy to reset is inspiring. I always beat myself up for getting stuck and not understanding why ?