Joy is the key that unlocks the power of my creativity.
When I’m joyful, I feel creative, new ideas are born and I feel empowered to step up to act on them, however much I’m stretched.
Though joy can be elusive. It takes a bit of focus to coax joy along.
One way I coax it along is being sure I’m doing what it is I love doing, as much as possible. In my case, I like lots and lots of time with just me. When I feel joyful I also feel more connected to higher energy, my intuition. I love feeling connected to what is always present, supportive, and guides me to stretch myself to become more me. For my joy this morning, I head off to the gym, then I head back home to create topics for a conversation group I’ve created. Sadly today is also the day we have to take Alberta to the recycling center. Alberta was our Alberta Spruce that we planted and then overwatered, as was evident when we dug up the roots. After Alberta, I’ll make time to start a new painting, from the photo below. We bumped into this home when spending a weekend in Chincoteague Virginia.
We recently met two women, very different artists, who are owners of a gallery. 
While their work is very different from each other, we loved each of their pieces. I shared that I paint from photos but I’d love to be so inspired to paint an idea, rather than a rendering of a photo. One of the women offered me great advice. She suggested I look at the photo I want to paint, put it away, and just start painting what I feel. It may not end up looking like the photo. She said I may want to add different colors, objects or whatever else I feel at the time. I am so trying her very cool advice and using my intuition to boot. Let’s see what happens. To me, she was talking about the power of cultivating joy and allowing intuition to bubble up.
Joy doesn’t have to look like full-out giddiness. It can be as simple as painting while feeling I’m in the zone. This also happens when I write, spend time outdoors, sail, and cook.
There’s great benefit in the power of coaxing joy along.
For me, I sometimes encourage it along by feeling into what’s best for me in any one moment. Once I’m experiencing that mindset and feelings, that’s when creativity, dreams, and ideas abound.