Inner Soul Reflections

Winter Wellness: Part-Three

The final week of nurturing ourselves during the winter blues. We will be chatting about creativity and how it can help with combating winter blues. Also we will touch as to why creativity can slow down in winter, and how we can nurture it into something.

Wintering a time of self-reflection. A time where we are resting in all ways, especially with creativity. It’s not that we shouldn’t be creating during the winter, but rather creating at a slower more steady space. Taking time to reflect, nurture, and watching something grow slowly can actually can create something more powerful when the time comes to be shared.

Now the question is, how can we keep the creative flow flowing without it getting stagnant? With that being said, I don’t know if I have the exact answer for this because I get in creative ruts a lot and have been in one with writing this post. Haha. When I am stressed or have to much going on where I am in my head a lot, I get out of creative flow. Let’s look at a couple tools I have used to help get creative juices flowing again.

Trying A New Hobby

Trying new things is a great way to get out of a creative flow funk and enhances growth of the mind. I love taking different art classes that are not related to what I already know. For example I had never made pottery before up until about 3 years ago, when I decided to take a pottery class on my birthday. I had always wanted to try it, but I didn’t know if I would actually like it. So I took a class and ended up loving it! Something about working with my hands is very satisfying and fulfilling. Maybe it gets mostly all of my senses involved such as touching wet clay, smelling the clay, watching my hands shape and mold the clay, and hearing the spinning of the pottery wheel.

Winter is also a great time to explore more creative techniques that are similar to what you already know. For instance I have been looking at different photography techniques and have found a few that include utilizing developing paper. I might eventually play around with this since I have some of this paper lying around my house. I just need to collect some developing chemicals to experiment with. Maybe I’ll share some creations that I create once I get the supplies.

Journaling/Writing

One thing that seems to be consistent for me to help open my mind is Journaling. I do know that for me it helps relive heavy feelings that weigh on my mind. It’s almost as if transferring my thoughts onto physical paper clears my mind and makes room for more space to absorb more knowledge. It aids in my process of reflection and stillness which is a great during the winter. Journaling has been very healing for me and there are many ways one can journal. The way I was doing it, was more free flowing where I just allowed whatever thoughts were coming to my mind at the time and wrote them down.

Another way I’ve read about but haven’t done, is called bullet journaling. Basically what you are doing is writing the past, organizing the present, and planning for the future by logging thoughts with symbols or short notes. It’s suppose to help clear mental clutter by organization. I find this intriguing, but also daunting. I like the idea or organization but also get stressed out thinking about it. Haha. Maybe it will work for you!

Writing with prompts is another great way to get unstuck creatively. I started doing this a few years ago, when I joined a writing group and learned this skill. We all got together about once a month, wrote with writing prompts for about 10 minutes that someone came up with, and then we all shared what we wrote. I find it to be very therapeutic and healing.

One last writing outlet I want to share, is that I have found a love of writing haiku poems. I love them because they provide a structure and challenge. They are set up by writing 3 lines and each line is written with a certain number of syllables. The first line has 5, the second has 7, and a last one has 5 again. I find them the be fun and actually kind of easy once you start making them. When you write your first one and then reread it, you kind of question weather or not it makes sense. Then the more you think about it, it can have a nice flow to it. Recently I combined one concept or thought and wrote multiple haikus on the one thought. Let me share a few of the many:

Language reveals

How much polarization

We interact with.

I am trying to think about what else to share, but my mind has now become quiet. My wintering brain seems to be kicking in. Thank you for joining me on this wintering journey and I hope you have enjoyed it with me!

I am going to be doing some chair massages this month on Friday February 13, so I thought next week I a can chat about the superstitions around that day and how the energy of that day doesn’t necessarily mean anything negative. I’d like to make a post on the spiritual aspect of it and how it is beneficial for us energetically. Not sure if I am making any sense, but yea. Haha.

Anyways, What are some of your hobbies or interests that you want to explore? How has this winter been for you? Let me know in the comments if you feel called to do so! If not, that is ok as well.