{"id":3800,"date":"2011-12-16T07:43:27","date_gmt":"2011-12-16T12:43:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/dreamgates\/?p=3800"},"modified":"2011-12-16T08:16:37","modified_gmt":"2011-12-16T13:16:37","slug":"nine-keys-to-creative-flow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2011\/12\/nine-keys-to-creative-flow.html","title":{"rendered":"Nine keys to creative flow"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
"Blue Iris Portal". Photo by Kirsten Love Lauzon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The springs of creation are mysterious. Goethe said that nor only were the roots of his creative power veiled from him, but that he did not want<\/em> to know the source of his tremendous gifts. What can be said is that creative flow comes in a state of relaxed attention \u2014 or attentive relaxation – analogous to the condition you are in when you are playing in the twilight zone between sleep and waking. Looking over my own experiences as a writer and occasional artist, and at the lives of creative people in many fields who have shared their experiences with me, I have identified nine keys to entering creative flow. Though I have written these with writers especially in mind, these maxims apply to many areas.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Play first, work later.<\/em> Do you ever give more of yourself than when it\u2019s all for fun? On a book tour, I was once asked by a left-brain type, \u201cWhat can you tell me about becoming a writer?\u201d I told him, \u201cRemember to play.\u201d As he solemnly recorded my advice in his notebook, I added, \u201cI don\u2019t think you\u2019ve gotten the message.\u201d It is not about scheduling<\/em> an hour for play! It\u2019s about giving yourself to what you love, and letting the work flow from that unnoticed.<\/li>\n
  2. Sidle toward your story.<\/em> Australian Aborigines say that the big<\/em> stories \u2014 the stories worth telling and retelling, the ones in which you may find the meaning of your life \u2014 are forever stalking the right teller, sniffing and tracking like predators hunting their prey in the bush. Or like dreams. You don\u2019t want to startle them away. So, if you want to write, start by writing something other than what you are \u201csupposed\u201d to be writing \u2014 anything<\/em> but your writing assignment. Letter writing and journaling are ideal; but even a grocery list will do.<\/li>\n
  3. Every force develops a form.<\/em> Don\u2019t worry about structure! The structure will reveal itself organically when you follow the energy.<\/li>\n
  4. Keep your hand moving.<\/em> Work at increasing speed. Let the flow of associations carry you along.<\/li>\n
  5. Release the consequences.<\/em> The best things you will ever create or perform are things you do for their own sake, the things you would do if you never got published and never received a check.<\/li>\n
  6. Don<\/em>\u2019t ask for permission.<\/em> There is a time to check in with editors and producers \u2014 or simply to share with friends \u2014 but that time is after<\/em> you have released what is trying to be born through you, not in the midst of conception and gestation. Never ask permission when you don\u2019t need it!<\/li>\n
  7. Your real story is hunting you.<\/em> Use peripheral vision. Be attentive to what is bobbing up on the margins of your awareness. Be canny as a traveler in the wood: don\u2019t turn abruptly to stare at these new creatures directly. They\u2019ll come closer if you let them. These might be the stories, or story elements, that will make your day\/month\/year. Remember that they may be hunting you<\/em>. You made yourself easier to find by entering these thickets, by going down the writer\u2019s trail without following a route map.<\/li>\n
  8. It<\/em>\u2019s as natural as breathing.<\/em> In the language of the Tewa Indians, the three-syllable terms that is translated as \u201cart\u201d or \u201ccreativity\u201d actually means \u201cwater-wind-breath.\u201d This is a beautiful evocation of the creative process. It\u2019s about catching the current, about breathing in and breathing out. In-spiration is literally breathing in spirit; exhalation is releasing it into the world.<\/li>\n
  9. Spread cornmeal for butterflies.<\/em> Many years ago, I had a dream in which a wise Native American woman told me, \u201cIt\u2019s okay to make money, but remember to spread cornmeal.\u201d The last phrase was a mystery to me until I learned, during a visit to the Southwest, that the Pueblo Indians spread cornmeal to feed the butterflies in some of their rituals. Cross-culturally, the butterfly is a symbol of the soul. Indeed, the Greek word psyche<\/em> means both \u201csoul\u201d and<\/em> \u201cbutterfly.\u201d It\u2019s all about feeding soul<\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    ~<\/div>\n
    Adapted from Dreamgates: Exploring the World of Soul, Imagination, and Life Beyond Death<\/em> <\/a>by Robert Moss. Published by New World Library.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The springs of creation are mysterious. Goethe said that nor only were the roots of his creative power veiled from him, but that he did not want to know the source of his tremendous gifts. What can be said is that creative flow comes in a state of relaxed attention \u2014 or attentive relaxation –…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":224,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,34,3,29,16],"tags":[420,847,849,848,846],"class_list":["post-3800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-conscious-living","category-creativity","category-imagination","category-story","category-writing","tag-attention","tag-creative-flow","tag-creative-relaxation","tag-creative-writing","tag-flow"],"yoast_head":"\nNine keys to creative flow - Dream Gates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2011\/12\/nine-keys-to-creative-flow.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nine keys to creative flow - Dream Gates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The springs of creation are mysterious. 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He is the creator of Active Dreaming, an original synthesis of dreamwork and shamanism. Born in Australia, he survived three near-death experiences in childhood. He leads popular seminars all over the world, including a three-year training for teachers of Active Dreaming. A former lecturer in ancient history at the Australian National University, he is a best-selling novelist, journalist and independent scholar. His nine books on dreaming, shamanism and imagination include Conscious Dreaming, Dreamways of the Iroquois, The Dreamer's Book of the Dead, The Three \"\"Only\"\" Things, The Secret History of Dreaming, Dreamgates, Active Dreaming and Dreaming the Soul Back Home: Shamanic Dreaming for Healing and Becoming Whole. His most recent book is The Boy Who Died and Came Back: Adventures of a Dream Archaeologist in the Multiverse. Over the past 20 years, he has led seminars at the Esalen Institute, Kripalu, the Omega Institute, the New York Open Center, Bastyr University, John F. Kennedy University, Meriter Hospital, and many other centers and institutions. He has taught depth workshops in Active Dreaming in the UK, Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, France, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Romania, Brazil and Austria and leads a three-year training for teachers of Active Dreaming. He hosts the \"\"Way of the Dreamer\"\" radio show at www.healthylife.net. He has appeared on many TV and radio shows, ranging from Charlie Rose and the Today show to Coast to Coast and the Diane Rehm show on NPR. His articles on dreaming have been published in media ranging from Parade to Shaman's Drum.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.mossdreams.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/author\/rmoss"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/224"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3800"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3800\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3804,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3800\/revisions\/3804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}