”Be still and observe – the earth is dancing.”

I am ”I just want to sit in front of the ocean for a little while” kind of person. Whenever I need to find stillness I go to the ocean. The sense of calmness, as well as the sound of crashing waves always bring peace to my soul. I’ve always lived close to the sea; I grew up on the coast, in a small town in Finland, and I’ve always seen myself living close to the water, also in the future. Wherever I move there needs to be water.

Water is life.

”A quiet mind is able to hear intuition over fear.”

I’ve noticed that the quieter I become, the more alive I feel. My mind is one of those who like to constantly chitchat about this and that, and usually about weird, irrelevant topics. To be able to still the mind, and listen to what lies underneath is, however, my main purpose while seeking stillness. When the mind is turbulent it’s difficult to hear or see anything; when it’s calm, everything becomes clear blue sky.

I believe, that within the stillness you find home.

I read somewhere that ”to spend time in nature is to witness a thousand miracles”, and isn’t that true. Nature is the best place to visit when one wants to get in the ”zone”, find inspiration or simply just be. I felt a lack of inspiration coming over me, but after some well needed time – listening to the sound of the waves, the feeling of the sun caressing my cheeks and the fresh air embracing my skin – my mind is clearer and filled with more space for creativity to enter. Thank you, dear Nature.

There is nothing more relaxing and rejuvenating than observing nature. Finding stillness while for example hiking in the forest or in the mountains will do wonders for your entire being. Escaping the real world for a couple of hours, or even days, might boost your creativity and feed it with new flourishing insights.

Below you’ll find some other ways which might help you spark your creativity.

• Tap into your body through movement. Working out has many health benefits, not only does it affect your body, building up your cardiovascular health and slowing down your ageing, but your headspace will feel much clearer. When you’ve crushed out a great workout you’re ready to crush out even more things during the day – to accomplish the tasks you’ve at hand, getting more productive. Soon you’ll notice that your body and mind will start to work with you, rather than against you.
•  Read. I advice you to read something totally different from what you’re used to. If you’re used to reading fiction, read some kind of study or scientific research. Or if you mainly read scientific studies; read a novel. Change things up. I read three books last week; one was a thriller, the second one a self-help, and the third a non-fiction. A little bit of everything, in order to challenge the brain.
• Free write. If you’re one of those who suffers from writers block, and writing is your job, then I would advise you to just write. Write about everything, and nothing – put down all of your thoughts on a piece of paper. It doesn’t have to be great – get rid of the pressure of having to constantly deliver something awesome all the time. However, many times when we get rid of stress, and stop being so hard on ourselves, things start to work with us, rather than against us.

• Reconnect with your why. It’s very easy to get caught up in every day life that we tend to forget about why we’re doing certain things. Reestablish your why and the reasons you’re doing what you’re doing. Connect with your purpose – write down why you like to do the things you’re doing, what would you like to accomplish and why would you like to accomplish it? If you end up realising that you hate what you’re doing than look at it as a tremendous opportunity to tap into yourself, to find your why again.
•  Change up your routines. Spice up your life by making small adjustments; wake up one hour earlier every morning, try out a new hobby, meet up with a friend you haven’t seen in a while, read a book instead of watching a movie, try out new foods, take a different route to school or work. These tiny things might not end up having the greatest impact in your life, but changing up your habits can keep you from getting into a rut.
• Clean. For me, personally, cleaning is rather therapeutic. When I feel unmotivated and uninspired it helps a lot to either rearrange things in the apartment or to get rid of junk I don’t need. When things are neat and tidy around me I feel refreshed, and ready to get on with my day.

• Write your future. Before doing this exercise I like you to get rid of self-doubt and thoughts such as ”I’m not good enough, I can’t achieve my goals” etcetera. Just for once, for 20 minutes, allow yourself to dream freely. What are your deepest desires? How would you like your future to look like? While doing this exercise write as if it has already happened. Don’t use words such ”I want” or ”I wish”, rather use the word ”I am”. If you could have the life you’ve always dreamt of what would it look like? Be as detailed as possible. You might feel silly while doing this, thoughts might pop up in your head; ”Do you really believe that you could do that?” Why? Why are we doubting ourselves all the time? Wouldn’t it be nice if we once and for all allowed ourselves to be exactly who we wished to be? And you know what, you might not end up achieving all of your amazing goals, but at least you dared to dream, dared to believe in yourself. And that, my friend, is bloody amazing.

❤

Linda