5 Tips to Transcend Procrastination with Creative Projects
If you're a writer you have experienced procrastination when faced with a blank page or if you're a painter a blank canvas can feel daunting. Procrastination can make you tired, listless, and confused. It can cause you to question whether you should continue writing or paining so you beat yourself up when you are not engaged with your projects. It's as if there is a film or veil shielding you from your creative expression. Sometimes the static energy of your thoughts keeps you from reaching in to claim your organic creative energy. You feel you need to penetrate that veil to reach your source energy.
What is this block and where does it come from? Creative blocks are rooted in the thinking mind and come from self-doubt. A seed that was planted long ago telling you that you have to get it right the first time or you should give up. As a writer or painter we know this is a fallacy. Books are rewritten many times and paintings are adjusted and corrected. It is the acceptance of our mistakes and process that moves us forward and melts the veil. There are 5 paths to moving the energy of avoidance and freeing up your energy.
1) Pushing through- This method requires ignoring what the thinking mind is telling you. Ignore the chatter and gradually you'll find the mind will quiet as you focus on the creative task at hand. This can be extremely challenging because we believe what the voice is saying: you're too tired, you don't have the skills, and you have to wait.
2) Movement- Yoga is a proven remedy for a creative block. Some creatives thrive after exercise or yoga. Movement helps to bypass the thinking mind and become embodied, which is where we need to be to express what we need to express. There are exercise and yoga videos on youtube of you need a boost.
3) Meditation- Sitting still and facing the static in the mind is another technique for dealing with procrastination. It will help you to trace the origins of the block. While meditating and grounding your energy you will feel how frenetic your thoughts are. Ask yourself if these are thoughts you want to think or have in your energy field. If not, visualize them draining out of your tail bone.
4) Create in Small Increments- If you have having difficulty with procrastination, instead of telling yourself you will spend the day working on your novel or painting, commit to one hour a day for seven days. If you feel you can keep going over an hour then that is a organic breakthrough, This is a great way to trick the thinking mind that wants to keep you stuck.
5) Support of a group- There are many writing and painting groups out there. Find a group that meets regularly and paints or writes together. Sometimes to breakthrough your blocks you need to be around other people who have the same goals. Find or create a group for yourself that can also become social. Many groups meet at coffee shops and talk about challenges and successes. Make sure the groups you choose is solution oriented.
Bio
Carmela Cattuti is a painter, novelist, and yoga instructor. Her first book "Between the Cracks" can be purchased on amazon. Her second novel "The Ascent" will be out in early summer 2018. Her art work can be purchased on Fine Art America https://fineartamerica.com/artists/carmela+cattutiu. Please visit her website at www.ccattuticreative.com and like her facebook page here.
