Break Through Creative Block in Nature
Are you dealing with creator’s block? Feeling a little uninspired? Whether you’re stuck for something to write, paint, draw, or you need a creative solution to your challenges, nature can hold your answers. Since the beginning of time, nature has been a boundless source of inspiration. Early men and women drew animals and their daily activities on cave walls. Monet painted the garden he worked to create for 40 years. John Muir documented his insights and observations in nature.
Nature speaks to all our senses. Colors and textures please the eye. The caress of the breeze on your skin can cool you on a hot day and fill you with gratitude. The aromatic scents of herbs can give you ideas for a new recipe or stimulate your mind. The softness of a rose petal or a pet’s fur can comfort and destress you. Sounds are everywhere in the crickets, frogs, and birdsong.
Nature’s Restorative Ability
Nature stimulates our imagination and fuels our creativity not only with how it impacts our five senses, but also in how it speaks to our souls, providing a feeling of peace, connection, hope, and gratitude. Immersing ourselves in nature unlocks new ideas, evokes emotions, and sparks a sense of wonder within us. All of nature seems to be conveying our Creator’s message: I love you! Come to Me! I can heal you! Nature is an optimal place to connect with our Creator, receive His inspiration, receive answers to our perplexing problems, and feel the presence of the Prince of Peace.
Nature Inspires Art and Literature
For authors, nature serves as a rich source of symbolism, metaphors, and life lessons. One of the key conflicts written about through the centuries is about mankind dealing with the challenges of nature. Think of the struggling family dealing with the Dust Bowl in Grapes of Wrath. Even animals have been the main characters. Think of Buck, the domesticated St. Bernard, who finds himself in the Yukon territory where he must develop his observational and instinctive skills to handle the frontier in Jack London’s “Call of the Wild.”
Nature creates a backdrop for characters, obstacles, and story arcs. The classic Heroes’ Journey is played out every day in nature. The crossing of the threshold, ordeal or death in the middle, resurrection theme, and returning with the elixir plays out in the setting sun and morning sunrise. Every day the sun resurrects and returns with the elixir of a new day with new hopes and dreams. The moon also “dies” and “resurrects” in its 28-day cycle.
Every seed planted into the ground goes through a “dark night of the soul” as it is buried in the underworld of dirt and finally emerges, resurrecting into a new realm where it “returns with the elixir” that serves others with its flowers, fruit, nuts, and seeds.
Even if one does not write or create anything nature-related, the peaceful solitude and tranquility found in nature can be an ideal setting for anyone seeking inspiration or seeking to clear his or her mind, and focus.
Create Sacred Spaces in Nature
On our property at Spirit Tree Farms, we have created several spots where we and our visitors can walk, sit, contemplate, meditate, journal, and reflect. We have a cedar circle which offers a sheltered womb-like canopy that is rejuvenating, healing, and invites reflection. We also have sitting spots along the banks of the West Chickamauga Creek where the flowing water emits negative ions that makes your heart swell with wonder, joy, and gratitude and puts you on a channel of inspiration and rejuvenation.
In many ways nature can be a sacred space where you can connect with the sacred in all things – including yourself!
One of my favorite spots is sitting on our front porch by the pond watching the ducks swim and the goldfinch flit through the wildflowers or the hummingbirds sipping nectar. It’s a wonderful way to clear the mind and rest the soul. It helps me silence the mind chatter so I can connect with what I call my “Core Sacred Self” so I can return to my writing refueled and refreshed with inspiration flowing.
Whether you consider yourself a writer, a journaler, an artist, or someone who wants to tap into creative solutions to your perplexing problems, there is perhaps no better place to access this creativity than in nature.
Swap Technology Time for Nature Time
Consider spending less time in front of technology and more time in nature. This could be a walk in the park, a drive through the country, growing a small garden, planting a flower in a pot on your patio, or simply putting a vase of cut wildflowers on your kitchen table.
How will you incorporate nature time into your life? What would you like to receive in nature? More peace? More joy? More gratitude? A sense of wonder and awe? Ideas and insights? Perhaps you’d like an adventure – like a hike or rock climbing? I’ve had hours of enjoyment as I’ve picked up a birding hobby. In fact, birding has changed my life! It’s made me more observant, taught me to step outside my comfort zone, improved my photography skills, and fostered my love for nature in ways I never imagined.
Learn more about finding peace and connecting to your Core Sacred Self and your Creator in nature in my book, “Finding Peace in a Turbulent World: Living in Sacred Nature.” It’s available on Audible and in Kindle and print formats here.
Featured Image Copyright: Goldfinch on cone flowers at Spirit Tree Farms – Photo taken by Marnie Pehrson Kuhns
