Submitted by Mara on
A consistent connection with your muse is hardly possible if your days are filled with hectic client engagements. When you pen articles related to every aspect of living, from washing machines to debt and everything else in between, you can quickly burn out. When we plunge to the darker corners of our bad-assed conscience we lose touch with our muse.
To re-connect with our creative self we first need to still the busy mind. When the mind is still, we can focus on our dreams, our aspirations and our journey while getting rid of useless mind clutter all the same. Sometimes we hardly recognize that we are stuck because we are too busy getting ahead. So how do we become aware of our need for a mental break – a much needed shift to re-align ourselves with the muse? Read on to find out…
Typical signs of impending burnout
A classic sign of being overworked is when you are restlessness at night. If you have trouble going to sleep, and wake up in the middle of the night screaming because of nightmares or simply find yourself consistently tired – even after a long night of sleep – then these are all very strong signs to stop and take note of your current situation.
Other indicators of possible burnout could be a short fuse; you might blow up easily; nervous energy, you can’t sit still for even five minutes; or you feel depressed without any apparent reason.
Dealing with the situation
To first thing you need to do if you find yourself in this situation is to stop and analyze what brought this on. Perhaps you are battling an increasingly hard to handle workload. It could also be a case of constant distractions in your home, making it hard for you to think and concentrate.
Once you know the culprit/s you can take pro-active measures to deal with the situation. The following suggestions are ideal exercises to claim back your muse if you find yourselves stuck:
- Listen to guided meditation.
- Go for a long walk.
- Keep a diary or daily pages.
- Work out.
- Take a short break (it doesn’t have to be the weekend either).
- Spend some time in solitude.
- Start a creative journal (stick mementos, write prose, brainstorm ideas, etc.)
- Dance like a mad man/mad woman.
- Sing at the top of your voice.
- Meditate.
- Do yoga.
- Cuddle a pet.
- Indulge.
- Luxuriate.
- Insert your own ideas…
Regardless what you end up choosing to re-connect with your muse, the most important thing you can do is to distance yourself from your current problem; the one that is keeping your mind hostage. By keeping some much-needed space between you and the issue at hand you will learn to recognize what is important and what isn’t. Once you get rid of this mental clutter you are once again free to write.
http://www.thewritersmanifesto.com/blog/2009/06/25/how-to-still-the-mind-to-connect-with-your-muse/