Welcome to THE CREATIVE PRESENT , a show that’s dedicated to expanding your creative self expression. And at the same time getting your projects done. And I’m your host, Joshua Townshend

There is no such thing as a creative block, it doesn’t exist, it’s completely made up, it’s a label that we’ve put on something that absolutely positively has no, meaning, we create the meeting that we want to bring to it, we make it the writer’s block, oh, this is a writer’s block. This is a creative block, I can’t go any further. I’m just, I’m just so stuck. Right. And that, that is a narrative that goes right along with the starving artists and all those other self limiting beliefs that our culture our society has propagated. And sometimes we do it ourselves. And I’m here to talk about that today. Because there is no such thing as a writers or a creators block, we have made that up. But there is I will tell you what there is, there is an imbalance going on, there’s something that’s out of flow out of your flow state, that you’re not able to navigate or you’re being pushed up against a challenge area. And you’re going into a repetitious mindset. That’s what’s happening, something is out of balance, there is nothing wrong with you, you, you are working beautifully. And then you get to a place where you hit a repetition, I can’t seem to go any further, right. So then you get into a loop. And in that loop is the anger and the frustration and all those other things because you’re not looking at possibility. So let’s talk about what could be out of balance. There’s a lot of things that could be out of balance. But here’s some things just to consider. Here’s three. One is to create, release, relax, right? You’ve heard me talk about all the time, create, release, relax. So there’s something in that balance that is super helpful with your creative process. So are you creating? Are you thinking about creating? Are you actually creating? Are you getting inspired before you create? Are you watching your state of being? Are you moving into that creative jam session that you’re going to be doing whatever it is, remember, this works for everything this works for music, this works for writing this works for performances works for literally any creative process works for someone in the kitchen? The chef?

So are you actually doing it? Or are you thinking about doing it? Or do you wish that you could do it? Are you regretting that you didn’t do it? Are you creating and if you are creating Are you showing up in that creative space for yourself, whatever that means for you, are you in the state of being that you need to be in, in order to create the thing that you’re working on? That’s vital, especially if you’re working on narrative? Yes, you need to be in a creative space for yourself as an artist, but you also need to be in the creative space have of the character or the project that you’re working on. So you can really dive deep. So that’s one another one is judging, I’ll bet that you’re judging, you have to be judging yourself if you’re in a in a creative block, right? Because that’s what a creative block is, it’s a judgment like I shouldn’t be here, I should be further along. So there’s some thing going on inside of you, where you’re hitting up against a problem area. And that’s real, I’m not talking about this part, you’re hitting up a resistance spot, you’re, you’re finding an area where there’s a growth that’s being required. And that growth could either be personal, and it could also be project based. So it’s both right. So I can be pushing up my own personal edge as an artist, or I can be pushing up against something that’s for this project that’s more maybe more technical or a skill set that’s needed in order to to to burst through this area of resistance. But at the end of it all on this particular the thing we’re talking about right now is judgment, there is a judgment going on and you need to drop out like a bad habit. You need to drop it like

I’m sure there’s a joke there somewhere. But you really need to drop that whole thing about judging and judging yourself and judging your process and judging what’s going on. And really take that same energy and reinvest it back into the moment. And also to take that judgment and to let it go. Because if you’re judging yourself, you’re going to judge others and vice versa. The third thing we’re going to talk about today is

As resources, sometimes we don’t have enough resources. And that’s a real thing. And we need to be able to resource our resources. So what do I mean by resource your resources? Well, there’s the obvious one, which is time and money, time and money, right? Everyone talks about, you gotta have time, you gotta have money, you don’t have a time running out of time running out of money. So that’s a resource. There’s also the resource of resourcing yourself. And what I mean by that is, are you taking care of yourself physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually? Are you taking the time that you need not someone else, don’t judge yourself against? Well, so and so only takes one five minute break every three hours? And they do just know that’s not going to help you? We’re talking about you and where you are today. So what resource do you need to resource for you to be at your best? Now this has, could have to do with with time, it could have to do with money. But it also has to do with opening up possibilities? are you connecting with people, places, and things that reinvigorate or re inspire or recharge you? Are you going into nature, even if you live in the city, you can lean up against a tree and go to a smaller Park? You can stand on on grass? are you connecting with nature? Are you going and being around other inspirational artists are going to see their work at galleries or, or open mics or going to different restaurants that do find culinary cuisine that inspire you, it doesn’t really make a difference? What you go to to to reinvigorate yourself, it’s more about you on this one. So what what inspires you do you’d like to be around musicians around visual artists around spoken word artists? Auditory, what is it? What is it that’s going to move your dial?

Because everything that we’re going to be doing here is about reconnecting yourself to yourself, so that you can be reinspired reinvigorated to get going so that you can expand, what we’re really talking about here is, ultimately is expanding the range of possibilities, because that’s what’s missing, what happens is, is that the, the creative block becomes bigger than you are.

And that is insane. Because as a creative, you are the creator. Yep. And if you’re the creator, then you’ve created that block. And that also means that you can make that block that block that creative block larger, so it’s insurmountable and that you can never go past it. Or you can make that creative block smaller, and smaller and smaller, as you increase your range of possibilities getting bigger, and bigger and bigger. And then pretty soon, that will use the thing of a block that create a block is now fitting in this in the palm of your hand.

And if you’re sitting there holding your creative blog that’s in the site, it’s in the palm of your hand, and you’re like I can’t move forward, I have this creative block, you know, we start to see the absurdity of that. And so that’s what we want to tap into, we want to really tap into our self empowerment as an artist, putting things into perspective, seeing that block for the opportunity that it is, because it’s helping you that creative block is actually helping you, it’s helping you go to the leading edge of your growth. It’s giving you new levels of self discovery or discovery about your project.

It’s about tapping into your intuition and trusting it and seeing where that can go. As opposed to being stubborn. And sitting there hitting your head against this creative block blaming the creative block that you created so that you can’t go any further. That’s crazy. So you got to just let it go. Let go of  that creative block and move into your own self empowerment. In fact, you can do that right now. You can have a creative block a creative block, kind of like kind of like hold the creative block in your hand, create it, feel it, how heavy how big, whatever it is. And then literally put the creative block down after you felt it. I’m doing the fast version here, step aside, and then feel what you feel like when you’re not holding that creative block. Or that creative block is not standing in front of you.

So if we can really get into dropping this label or self diagnosis of like, oh, I have I have I have writer’s block or I have creative block or I have a cold I have right. It’s like that’s a limitation. So if you drop the label, you drop the limitation. See it for what it is which is an opportunity to be at the leading edge of your growth, asking you for more development of … itself, in tapping into your intuition and tapping into trusting your own self, as to what’s next and learning new ways to resource yourself. I mean, this is a beautiful, beautiful blessing. So take it for what it is.

And ultimately, ultimately, ultimately notice that there’s a couple times today but ultimately, what it’s going to lead you to what the what the result of all of this will be, will be an increased awareness of who you are as an artist. It’ll increase your sense and sensibilities, in terms of fine tuning who you are in how you navigate your world of creativity. It will help you be more discerning around your thoughts and feelings and states of being in order for you to set yourself up for your best possible work.

And what will this do for you in the long term is it’ll actually make your work more personal, more relatable. And it will go beyond time and space, because that’s one of the most limiting resources. It’ll go beyond time and space and make your work literally priceless. Because no one else could do it. Say it, be it the way you do.

And when you move into that space, as an artist as a creative when you move into that space, it is fulfilling at untold levels. So I wish you well. This has been a fantastic time. I really appreciate you coming by. Please listen to more episodes because you never know it’s gonna like Spark you and pick you up and take you to the next level. There’s only three things create, release, relax, enjoy yourself and keep creating.

Thank you for listening. If you love what you’re listening to please subscribe and then share with fellow creatives. For more, go to JoshuaTownshend.com

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

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