Filling the Well

I have been in need of ideas for my blog and after looking over what I have already written, this blog helped me and I thought it might help you so I am reposting it here.

 

If you are just starting your creative life or have been in it a while, you will find there are times when you come up empty.  You have nothing to create, no ideas whatsoever.  It is almost like putting a bucket in a well and coming up with dust.  Your well is dry.

 

The well is that part of us that collects all the drops of ideas, inspirations, dreams, joys, every little part that goes into our creativity.  It is not a matter of just picking up a brush and painting we must have something inside to paint.  It does not mean putting down one word and the rest follow, there must be a thought and emotion behind that one word for all the rest to come. 

 

This well can be fed by anything: working in the garden, going to a movie you want to see, reading a book, wandering through a flea market, listening to your favorite music without interruptions, smelling a lovely bouquet of roses, doing needlework or even cooking. How you fill your well may differ from how someone else fills theirs.  The variety is endless.  And the choice is yours.

 

You may find that ideas come when you are not even searching.   How many of you have come up with ideas while in the shower?  I occasionally get entire poems while soaking in a bath.  I hated that because I would have to get out of the tub to write down the poem before I forgot it.  (My brother has helped with this by finding some water soluble crayons for me to use in the tub.  Now you are just as likely to find poems on my bathroom tile as on paper.)

   

Where ever and what ever you do to fill your well, the important part is that you fill it.  Don't wait until the well is dry and you're scooping up dust, continually fill the well.  Make sure that you include on a regular basis those things you enjoy, that fill your soul.  Don't worry about what any one else thinks, this is important to your creativity, so it is important for you to do.

 

You might want to keep a notebook of the ideas you come up with.  If you record it somewhere, just a word or a brief description, you then have it for safekeeping and your mind can move on to gathering more drops for your well.  (If you are one who gets ideas in the car, take a recorder - don't try to write it down while driving.)

 

 So now go out and gather your drops and get that well over flowing.  

 

© 2019, 2021 – Cheryl Fillion