How to be inspired and get creative

Sometimes, life can get mundane and you feel like you are simply trudging through the same routine, the same challenges and the same STUFF over and over. Such a cycle will suck the creativity, vitality and motivation out of our joie de vivre, aka, joy of living. I highly recommend a weekly or biweekly session of recharging those tired ol' batteries within our spirit. Some ideas to get you started and feel free to let us know what gets your creativity going-

First and foremost, take a seat, close your eyes and forget about your annoying boss, all that administrative life stuff that you still have to do and all the social engagements that you still need to meet. And breathe.

Now ask yourself, what is it that you have been wanting to do purely out of interest but haven't had any time for? If it's bum around and watch TV then you haven't succeeded at the first instruction (above) because bumming around and watching TV is an act of subconscious procrastination. Go back and attempt the first step again.

Your interests may be...

-Cook a certain meal

-Learn a musical instrument

-Learn a language

-Learn a dance

-Go for a jog

-Clean your house (yes, this is extremely relaxing for people like me)

-Read a factual book, read a fictional book, read a magazine, read up on Celine Dion, read up on Genghis Khan...

-Construct a chair, a table, a desk

-Sew a dress

-Try a home remedy

-Do yoga

-Do Tai Chi

The sky is the limit.

Now whip out a pencil and paper and list out what you'll need to start on actually doing what you want to do (tip: keep the list short). For instance,

-Cook a certain meal: ingredients list, tools list, timeline

-Learn a musical instrument: an instrument, a teacher

-Learn a language: a book, a teacher

-Learn a dance: dancing shoes, some space, a teacher

-Go for a jog: running shoes, an MP3 player, space

-Clean your house (yes, this is extremely relaxing for people like me): cleaning utensils, patience
-Read a factual book, read a fictional book, read up on Celine Dion, read up on Genghis Khan...: text

-Construct a chair, a table, a desk: materials, tools, a teacher

-Sew a dress: materials, sewing machine, a teacher

-Try a home remedy: instructions, materials, tools

-Do yoga: space, a teacher

-Do Tai Chi: space, a teacher

Now, in our world of information overload, a teacher does not have to be the classical teacher in the form of a paid human being showing us their trade. With the wonderful existence of youtube and the internet, you can pretty much do plenty of self-learning on your own. The key to realizing and excelling in all of your interests is to break up the challenge into small chunks of dedicated time, fit them into your schedule by replacing procrastination time with creativity time!

Which brings me to another point- figure out your subconscious procrastination activity. For many of us, it's watching hours of TV, stalking on Facebook, spying on our neighbors or eating. Ok, I don't know if those are most of your procrastination activities but I know the first is definitely mine >_< Damn that movie channel...

Remember, recharging is important not only because it renders our minds fresh and sharp but it also reminds us what it means to live. So go out there dear Orientellers and remember how to live :)