Weekly Writing Ideas with Suzanne Murray

[Dixon]

...Dixon, that was a good one about being a rationalist, and taking offense at put downs of rationality. How irrational.

Hmmm...I don't see how it's irrational, but maybe I'm missing something. Could you clarify how it is?

I'm way over my head here, not being very rationalist, more on the creative side...

FWIW, I don't see rationalism and creativity as being opposites or incompatible in any way. [Not that you were necessarily implying that.]

[Richard Nichols]

Me niether. To me existence is expressed in creativity, and rational thought is one of many humal expressions of that.
I thought the joke was, since you are a rational reasoning person, that taking offense at a put down of rationality is a little illogical.

FWIW, I don't see rationalism and creativity as being opposites or incompatible in any way. [Not that you were necessarily implying that.]

[Timothy Gega]

The “Belief Bubble”
What is in your head?
Is it:
Believing or thinking?
Intuiting or imagining?
Deluding or hallucinating?
Instincts or fantasizing?
Dreaming or avoiding?
Asking or expecting?
Wanting or needing?
Wishing or hoping?
Loving or lusting?
Faith or conviction?
Gospel or dogma?
Fiction or fact?
Giving or taking?
Caring or ignoring?
Growing or shrinking?
Absorbing or exuding?
Projecting or listening?
Curiosity or resistance?
Connecting or severing?
Empowering or depriving?
What are we really doing?
Living vicariously or in reality?

A College Level Edition of the Dictionary can create a solid memory bank to refer back to.

©2009 Alpha Moonprayers

[Dixon]

I thought the joke was, since you are a rational reasoning person, that taking offense at a put down of rationality is a little illogical.

I understood that you meant that. I just don't see the illogicality you infer.

[Richard Nichols]

Since I'm sort of thin skinned, I've been offended personally many times, but I realize that induldging in feeling offended has little value, for me at least, and since it has no value, it seems illogical. But of course this is a very personal opinion, so please don't attack me or I'll feel offended!

Anyway, I've enjoyed the thread.

I understood that you meant that. I just don't see the illogicality you infer.

[Dixon]

...I realize that induldging in feeling offended has little value, for me at least, and since it has no value, it seems illogical.

For me, feelings aren't something we choose; they arise automatically. The only choice I seem to have about them is to acknowledge them or to deny and repress them.

[creativity]

For any writer who wants to keep a journal, be alive to everything, not just to what you’re feeling, but also to your pets, to flowers, to what you’re reading. – May Sarton

TAKING NOTES - PLAYING IN THE FIELD OF CURIOSITY

Keeping a journal or notebook to record not only your inner landscape but you observations of the world around you can make your life much more vibrant and alive. There is a long list of famous people who kept journals or notebooks. Anthropologist Margaret Mead, Charles Darwin, Thomas Jefferson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Winston Churchill, Franz Kafka and Virginia Wolfe are just a few. The great geniuses and innovators kept their child-like sense of wonder and curiosity alive. Keeping a journal can help.

It’s easy to start. Get a bound blank book, or you can start with a cheap spiral notebook. Date your entries. Begin by describing your surroundings, the current state of your life as well as your hopes, dreams, desires or questions. Put down anything you are curious about or whatever wants to spill out on to the page. If you are a writer, this is a good way to loosen up.

Leonardo Da Vinci actually carried a notebook attached to his belt and recorded anything he was curious about, any image he saw that drew him, any ideas that popped into his head or any questions that came to him. He insisted that passionate curiosity about all of life was one of the keys to his genius and remarkable accomplishments.

Short-term memory only retains information for three minutes. Unless committed to paper, an inspired idea forever can be lost forever. You can use your journal to record all the ideas and inspirations that flash into your mind. Plus paying close attention to the world and asking questions actually invites the subconscious mind into play increasing your creative and mental capacities.

So try what Leonardo did. Keep a notebook with you at all times. It could simply be a small spiral bound one that fits in your back pocket. Do it for a week and see if it doesn’t awaken your sense of amazement for the beauty and complexity of the world.

I’ve started doing this, making note of the reflection of trees on the surface of a pond, the hawks crying out as they circle overhead, the newborn baby asleep in a stroller rocking back and forth with the motion, and the power of horses racing across a field.

I’ve kept a journal for over 40 years. It’s added so much to my life and my writing. Carrying one with me everywhere has me opening to appreciating the world around me on a whole new level and making connections I would have missed otherwise.

Suzanne Murray is a writing teacher and creativity coach with more than twenty years of experience in helping others to access their creative fire. Her book The Heart of Writing based on her decades of experience is available as an ebook on Amazon Kindle https://amzn.to/174WIU9 or on her website https://bitly.com/1ctY6M9. For info more about all her work or to read her blog go to www.creativitygoeswild.com

[creativity]

HOW CAN TAKING A WALK ENHANCE YOUR CREATIVITY?

All truly great thoughts are conceived by walking. – Frederick Nietzsche

Me thinks that the moment my legs being to move, my thoughts begin to flow. – Henry David Thoreau

When you are engaged in a project and feel the creative inspiration has dried up, take a break. Anything that occupies the consciousness mind in a physical way can open you to the flow of fresh ideas and insights. Doing the dishes or taking a shower are good ways. One of my favorites is taking a walk. You could simply stroll around the block or walk deep into nature.

I have not been alone in my awareness that walking opens creative channels. There is a long list of well known creatives who walked to allow ideas and connections to flow . Charles Darwin, Virginia Woolf, William Wordsworth, Nikola Tesla, Aristotle, Sigmund Freud, Thomas Jefferson, Ernest Hemingway, Charles Dickens, Beethoven to name but a few.
Scientific studies have now found that creative problems can indeed be solved by walking, especially in nature. While walking the brain undergoes physiological changes that lower frustration and stress, increase your awareness and engagement with the world, allow for a natural meditative state and improve your mood. All of this helps you to experience more creative connections and flow.

Walking also allows you to balance two states that enhance creativity. Mindfulness, where you are present in the moment, and mind wandering or daydreaming, where you allow ideas, connections, dreams and visions for the future to come to us from the deeper realms of consciousness.

Try it. Next time you are looking for some creative inspiration take a walk. If you aren’t used to walking or don’t have a lot of time, simply start with a walk around the block. Find a park or a trail in nature and see how your muse opens up for you. Your body and health will love it too.

Suzanne Murray is a writing teacher and creativity coach with more than twenty years of experience in helping others to access their creative fire. She will be doing an in person workshop Writing in Nature on October 15 for more info https://creativitygoeswild.com/writing-in-nature/. For info more about all her work or to read her blog go to www.creativitygoeswild.com

[creativity]

The earth has music for those who listen. – George Santayana

CONNECTING TO CREATIVITY AND NATURE CAN SUPPORT OUR WELL BEING

Nature and creativity are doorways to the sacred. They can help us connect to the deeper parts of ourselves, the knowing of our hearts and souls. They can assist us in being more present in the moment and give us access to expanded capacities of intuition, inspiration and imagination. Connecting to the natural world, which is inherently creative, opens us to our own creative gifts, which allows us to bring forth new possibilities and solutions for our own lives and our troubled world.

The ongoing tragedies in the world combined with instant access to these events through the news and social media can leave us feeling helpless and hopeless. Our psyches and nervous systems overwhelmed.

Spending time in nature as well as with creative play can be a balm for heart and soul and help us ground our lives in an expanded sense of self. They relax our body, bring us more into the moment where we can breathe more deeply and release our worry about the future. They can increase our sense of well being allowing us to connect to a sense of peace.

Here’s a bit of inspiration from Pulitzer Prize winning poet Mary Oliver from her poem Praying from her book Thirst. She explains how to connect to nature and creativity wherever your are and how the deeper threads of knowing can find you in the process.

It doesn’t have to be
the blue iris, it could be
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
small stones; just
pay attention, then patch

a few words together and don’t try
to make them elaborate, this isn’t
a contest but the doorway
into thanks, and a silence in which
another voice may speak. . .

It doesn’t have to be a poem or even words. You can draw or doodle or dance or sing or cook what comes to you. The key is to reclaim your child-like sense of wonder where you are playing with creation free of any expectations. Relax and have fun. Who knows what inspiration might come.

Suzanne Murray is a writing teacher and creativity coach with more than twenty years of experience in helping others to access their creative fire. She will be doing an in person workshop Writing in Nature on October 15 for more info https://creativitygoeswild.com/writing-in-nature/. For info more about all her work or to read her blog go to www.creativitygoeswild.com

[creativity]

Do You Let Distractions Get in the Way of Your Creativity?

I started writing before the development of the personal computer, when cut and paste meant I was down on the floor with a pair of scissors and a jar of that thick white glue that smelled vaguely of peppermint. It was in many ways a simpler time with far less pulling on my attention.

Every morning upon rising I would make my single cup of French roast coffee, dripped through a Melitta, and then sit down to write. There weren't any thoughts like I’ve got to check my email or Twitter feed to interfere with putting words on the page.

If I needed to do research, I went to the library, the sacred hall of actual books. I would flip through the cards in the small wooden drawers of the card catalog to find the book I needed, check it out and carry it home.

Now I love my laptop. It make revision including cut and paste so much easier. It connects me to a larger world. I can Skype my friend in Australia and feel like I’m sitting in her living room talking. I can connect to the web to find wealth of information I need for my work.

Yet lately I’ve been thinking about the issue of distractions. The fast pace of our times pulls us in so many different directions at the same time. We can lose ourselves in the swarm of emails, the compulsion to engage social media, surf the web or check the notifications coming in on our phones.

I’m not suggesting that we need to give those things up. Rather what if we brought more awareness to what we really want to be doing with our time in each moment. What is we asked ourself the question “What would bring me the most happiness and joy right now.” If the answer is to post something on Facebook, great.

Bringing consciousness to our lives on a regular basis helps us chose the activity that feeds us and helps us create more of what we really want in our lives. Asking “what would bring me the most happiness at this time, can help us overcome procrastination and the distractions that can get in the way of our creating.

When I asked myself that question this morning I got that I wanted to write a blog about distractions. Writing is one of the things that always brings me a satisfaction as I tend to be more present and lose myself in flow.

What does this for you. Start being more mindful of what really brings you happiness. Maybe set an alarm on your phone to go off every hour to remind yourself to stop and ask the question and be more conscious of your choices. Play with it. See what shifts for you.

Suzanne Murray is a writing teacher and creativity coach with more than twenty years of experience in helping others to access their creative fire. She will be doing an in person workshop Writing in Nature on April 22 for more info https://creativitygoeswild.com/writing-in-nature/. For info more about all her work or to read her blog go to www.creativitygoeswild.com

[creativity]

Learning to Let Go Is Essential to Your Being Creative

We can’t force creativity. We know this intuitively. If we told a painter that we wanted a masterpiece by five o’clock tomorrow, they would look at us like we were crazy, that we clearly didn’t understand what being creative was all about.

An important part of being creative is learning to surrender to the flow of the universe, allowing something greater than our everyday self to move through us. It’s not something we can figure out with our linear mind.
Of course, if we want to paint we need to learn how to work with our chosen medium and studying the work of the masters can help. If we want to write it’s really valuable to read widely and deeply, to show up daily to put pen to paper and perhaps take a workshop on the form we want to work with.

Yet at the heart of being creative is letting go and allowing the ideas, the inspiration to move through us. This is where practice comes in. As Flannery O’Connor said of her writing experience, “I show up at my office everyday between 8 am and noon. I’m not sure that anything is going to happen but I want to be there if it does.”

I recently sat next to a young man in Starbucks who had a set of watercolors laid out and quickly produced a couple of small paintings that were quite lovely. We spoke of creativity and how so many people think you either have it or you don’t. “Yeah,” he said, “really it’s a muscle, you’ve got to use.” He went on to say “No mater how lousy I feel, if I do even a couple of little paintings I instantly feel better.”

I feel the same way about writing, even if it’s just a page of free writing where I let the words flow out of the pen. Being creative feels good and lightens our mood because we become more present to the moment, quiet our chattering minds, and allow for the awareness of our heart and knowing to do the work. In the surrender we find ourselves in an expanded state of consciousness were we can do things we didn’t think we could.

Suzanne Murray is a writing teacher and creativity coach with more than twenty years of experience in helping others to access their creative fire. For info more about all her work or to read her blog go to www.creativitygoeswild.com. To get your free copy of her Creativity eBooklet: Setting Your Creativity Free go to https://creativitygoeswild.com/free-creativity-ebooklet/

[creativity]

Creating with All Your Heart

If I create from the heart, nearly everything works; if from the head, almost nothing. - Marc Chagall

Love is a sacred reserve of energy; it is like the blood of spiritual evolution. - Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

I recently saw a short film tribute to Chuck Berry, the undisputed father of rock and roll, with comments from John Lennon of the Beatles and Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones both saying how much they admired Berry and tried to emulate his guitar work. Berry himself said that his secret was that he felt the music. Berry played with all his heart.

In my own creative work, especially with my writing, I have long been aware of the importance of connecting to the heart; both in the context of finding subjects and themes that make our hearts sing but also creating from the feeling place of the heart, from what we love and care about.

As Robert Frost said, “No tears for the writer, no tears for the reader.” I always know that if I am moved in my own heart by a piece of my writing then it will genuinely touch other people.

For whatever you want to create, imagine dropping down into your heart and drawing on that feeling place for your inspiration and guidance. One of my clients envisions a wooden staircase leading from her mind to her heart and sees herself walking down them and when she reaches the bottom she immediately feels the clarity and expansiveness her heart has to offer.

Centering in our heart gives us access to our connection to all of creation which inspires and informs the highest expression of our creative self. It allows us to live and create from the place of expanded possibilities.

Suzanne Murray is a writing teacher and creativity coach with more than twenty years of experience in helping others to access their creative fire. For info more about all her work or to read her blog go to www.creativitygoeswild.com. To get your free copy of her Creativity eBooklet: Setting Your Creativity Free go to https://creativitygoeswild.com/free-creativity-ebooklet/

[creativity]

Where Do You Find Inspiration

I recently spent time in Cedar Breaks National Monument in southern Utah. Besides having a colorful canyon and subalpine meadows filled with wildflowers, it is a designated International Dark Sky park with a wonderful night sky program provided by highly knowledgeable and committed astronomers volunteering their time. Much to my surprise spending time watching and learning about the night sky opened new doors to wonder for me. It fueled my imagination and inspired the poem you’ll find below.

It got me thinking about how we can open to new possibilities for inspiration for our creativity and lives now when we need it more than ever. Where can we find resources that uplift our spirit and help us create the positive future we all yearn for.

Appreciating the night sky certainly expands our view of our world and our place in the universe. Even if you don’t live with a dark sky you can still find inspiration. When you have a chance, step out after dark and look up at the moon and the stars. Pay attention to what inspiration comes to you when you do.

Stargazing

Constellations picture
the night sky,
line drawings sketched
by an imaginative hand.

Connecting the dots
we discover
a lion, a scorpion
an eagle, a ram.

As night descends
planets pop out first,
Jupiter and Saturn
shimmer
in the last twilight.

The Big Dipper points
to Polaris, the North Star
ever-present compass bearing
should we find ourselves lost.

As darkness deepens
mythic ones wander the heavens.
Draco the dragon, Sagittarius the archer,
ancient Greek tales of their exploits
sizzle the imagination.

Away from city lights
we gaze up at a black sky
glittered with stars.
Open to the wonder
of billions of other worlds.

Stars being birthed.
Stars exploding and dissolving
back into the fabric of space.
Stars like our Sun
generous with their fiery light.

We experience
the living pulsing galaxy
we call home,
find ourselves part
of this sparkling swirl of stars
our Milky Way.

– Suzanne Murray

Suzanne Murray is a writing teacher and creativity coach with more than twenty years of experience in helping others to access their creative fire. For info more about all her work or to read her blog go to www.creativitygoeswild.com. To get your free copy of her Creativity eBooklet: Setting Your Creativity Free go to https://creativitygoeswild.com/free-creativity-ebooklet/

[creativity]

HOW DOES IRELAND INSPIRE CREATIVITY?

I take small groups to the West of Ireland and I am always struck for the support for the arts in Ireland. On my last trip I discovered a poetry walking tour in Galway City that honors a couple of dozen prominent Irish poets.

One of my favorite stories about the support for creativity in Ireland comes from an experience I had in the village of Doolin, County Clare which has been the epicenter for Celtic music revival in Ireland. Some of the best musicians in the country live there and play in the pubs.

One evening I went up to McGann’s pub to listen in. At one point a young boy about ten years old joined the group with his tin whistle. I learned that his parents brought him now and then, a two hour drive from their home, to encourage his desire to make music.

As he began to play the entire pub went quiet and as he continued one of the experienced musicians picked up his own tin whistle to support the lad through the places he couldn’t quite carry the notes on his own. At the end of the song the entire pub erupted into wild applause.

What if we all got that kind of support for our creative urges? What difference would it make? In Ireland with this kind of encouragement people come together in pubs all over the country to make music. It is a vibrant part of the culture. Three years after first hearing the boy with the tin whistle I was back in Doolin in a different pub and the same boy stepped up to play with a great deal more skill than before.

It’s not just music that is supported. In Ireland up until recently writers didn’t pay income tax and still artists don’t pay tax on what they make on the sale of their work. This honoring of the writers and poets has produced per capita more Nobel prize winning writers than any other country. With a population of 4 million, Ireland claims four Nobel laureates in literature along with a number of other writers of great stature.

How can we find ways to support our children, our grandchildren and ourselves in this vital part of being human. How can we honor the creative gifts that each of us hold in our own way and the world so deeply needs now.

What if it was as simple as a willingness to open up and play with however the creative process calls to us. Can we honor these creative yearnings and find community that supports our explorations. What would this look like for you? How would it feel?

Can you sense of joy fluttering in your heart at your willingness to play and create for no reason and see where the process leads. That will help you unplug from the pressure of feeling like you have to produce something. Rather being creative feeds our spirit and inspiration and support can show up for us in wonderful ways.

Suzanne Murray is a writing teacher and creativity coach with more than twenty years of experience in helping others to access their creative fire. For info more about all her work or to read her blog go to www.creativitygoeswild.com. For more information on her Ireland Journeys to join me for music, magic, myth, mystery and more https://creativitygoeswild.com/west-of-ireland/

[creativity]

HOW HAS THE HISTORY OF STORYTELLING IN IRELAND INSPIRED WRITERS AND IMAGINATION?

On my first visit to Ireland, I went to Matt Molloy’s pub in Westport, County Mayo and had the delight of hearing a traditional storyteller. I could feel the enchantment woven through this oral tradition. The same way I have witnessed people’s attention held in a wondrous way from my own involvement with spoken word poetry in my community in northern California. There is something in the human psyche that is brought to life by stories.

Ireland has produced per capita more Nobel prize winning writers than any other country. With a population of 4 million, Ireland claims four Nobel laureates in literature: William Butler Yeats, Seamus Heaney, Samuel Beckett and George Bernard Shaw along with other writers of great stature like James Joyce, Jonathan Swift and Oscar Wilde.

The reverence for words, stories and poetry runs deep in Ireland tied to the oral tradition of the Celts who had no written language. For centuries in Ireland, the itinerant Seanchai,the Storyteller”was the person who kept the legends, the history, the traditions of the people alive. Up until the 1950s there were still storytellers traveling from village to village housed and fed along the way. This oral tradition was especially important in holding on to Irish culture during the eight hundred years of British occupation. Writers and storytellers are revered. Poet, William Butler Yeats, was instrumental in helping to spark the rebellion that lead to Irish independence in 1923.

My father, son of two emigrants from Ireland who settled in San Francisco, came home every evening and read the great works of literature. Shakespeare, Thomas Hardy and W.B.Yeats were among his favorite. So I was raised with this love of words and stories that runs deep in my bones and I suspect is part of why I became a writer and why Ireland has such a strong pull on my heart.

While the storytelling tradition isn’t so obviously present in modern Ireland, support for writing and the arts is strong. Ireland actually gives a tax exemption to writers, composers, visual artists and sculptors for income made from the sale of their work. Traditional Irish music has remained vibrant through the 20th, and into the 21st century, despite globalization. Musicians gather nightly in pubs all over Ireland to play together.
I have long felt that Ireland hold something for the world.

There is an ancient wisdom that run deep in the land, the feel of magic and mystery present especially in the West where the Irish language is still spoken. It holds a reminder that a love for words and stories can bring the world alive. You don’t have to be Irish or travel to Ireland to experience this. You can embrace it wherever you are.

. . .to understand the Irish, mere facts can never be enough; this is a country that reprocesses itself through the mills of its imagination. – Frank Delaney


Suzanne Murray is a writing teacher and creativity coach with more than twenty years of experience in helping others to access their creative fire. For info more about all her work or to read her blog go to www.creativitygoeswild.com. For more information on her Ireland Journeys to join me for music, magic, myth, mystery and more https://creativitygoeswild.com/west-of-ireland

[creativity]

SPARKING YOUR CREATIVITY IS GOOD FOR YOUR BODY AND WELL BEING

One of the loveliest words in the English language is the word “inspiration”. It signifies again the creative breath. It also has to do with spontaneity, with the arrival of the unexpected image or idea in the mind. Inspiration is the flash of connecting light that suddenly comes from elsewhere and illuminates. – John O’Donohue

We don’t all find inspiration for our creativity in the same way. For me walking can open things up and let the ideas pop in. In my writing, starting with a word or phrase without thinking about where it’s going and allowing what wants to emerge on the page with a willing to be surprised gets the inspiration going.

For you it may be cooking or playing with your kids or grandkids or walking in nature or sitting in meditation or reading poetry or taking a class or dancing around the living room. Take a minute and consider what brings your inspiration alive. Plan to include more of that in your life.

There is tremendous value in sparking our creativity, not only for our work and personal lives but our bodies benefit as well. Research shows that when we engage our creative capacities we produce endorphins, the feel good hormones, along with boosting our immune system and the neurochemistry that increases brain function. We have an overall sense of wellbeing and an ability to solve problems and engage projects in expanded ways.

I know this is so true for me. Even writing a short draft of a poem or haiku immediately lifts my spirit. It doesn’t even need to be something I think is good. The act of opening to the creative flow even in small ways opens us to more flow and possibilities. Play with it and see if this isn’t true for you.

Suzanne Murray is a writing teacher and creativity coach with more than twenty years of experience in helping others to access their creative fire. For info more about all her work or to read her blog go to www.creativitygoeswild.com. For more information on her Ireland Journeys to join me for music, magic, myth, mystery and more https://creativitygoeswild.com/west-of-ireland

[creativity]

FALL IN LOVE WITH CREATIVE PROCESS

A lot of people think that when it comes to creativity, inspiration is the key. Yet those moments of insight or revelation never occur without the willingness to commit to the work and continue to show up. This perseverance is just as important. You get a creative flash. You show up to the work and what wants to be born becomes more clear.

Nobel prize winning Canadian short story writer Alice Munro once said, “I threw away all my early writings and it wasn’t because I was the mother of three small children. It was because I was learning my craft and it took a long time.”

It was the same with David Guterson who wrote the award winning novel Snow Falling on Cedars. When critics acclaimed that a brilliant new writer had just come out of the Pacific Northwest as if he and his book had arrived by magic, he responded “excuse me but I’ve written in the early morning hours for 25 years before going to my job.” It took him ten years to write the novel.

Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winning poet, Mary Oliver wrote for twenty five years before putting her work out into the world. She refused to take an interesting job because she didn’t want to be distracted from her work. It was only a few years after she started publishing her work that she won the Pulitzer. Her perseverance clearly paid off.

One of the favorite essays I’ve ever written is thirteen pages and it took five years to write. I started from a clear place of inspiration but then I had to do the work. I needed to do research. I needed to continue my writing practice. I had to put the draft away for a couple of years while I developed my skill as a writer because this essay was very complex and when I started it I didn’t have the level of ability to finish it.

This is why as a writing teacher and creativity coach I teach people to fall in love with the process. It is true for any form of creativity. You show up, you start playing around and you find yourself in the flow where time stops and you taste of the joy of being creative. This allows you to persevere. Even when things aren’t going well, you can find pleasure in showing up and being willing to play with what wants to be born out of your effort. This provides its own sense of satisfaction.

Suzanne Murray is a writing teacher and creativity coach with more than twenty years of experience in helping others to access their creative fire. For info more about all her work or to read her blogs go to www.creativitygoeswild.com. For information on her book on writing The Heart of Writing: Jumpstart Your Writing, Find Your Voice, Calm the Inner Critic & Tap the Flow https://bit.ly/1ctY6M8 For her Ireland Journeys to music, magic, myth, mystery and more https://creativitygoeswild.com/west-of-ireland

[creativity]

DO YOU LOOK FOR INSPIRATION IN UNLIKELY PLACES?

Recently on a trip to the Montana mountains, where we spent a week camped near a river that slowly snakes through a broad meadow, I noticed a pair of baby ducks who were clearly without their mother. I walked down to the water several times a day to check on them and was always relieved when I found them actively feeding and looking to be in good health.

I have been interested in birds since I was a teenager and enjoy simply watching them. The more I watched these two ducks I was startled to realize that they were two different species, two very different kinds of duck. One was clearly a diving duck as it keep arching it’s body down into the river in search of food. The other was a dabbling duck incapable of diving, feeding instead on the pondweed and aquatic insects floating on the surface.

I have never seen anything like these two orphaned ducks so different yet so a home with each other. They never strayed more than a few feet from each other’s side. Baby ducks instinctively have a strong urge for the sense of safety in being part of a flock and they had somehow found each other to satisfy that need.

It occurred to me that nature was offering me a wonderful example of creative problem solving and inspiration for how we human may benefit from forming unlikely alliances in these challenging times. The ducks reminded me of the importance of letting go of how we think things should be and opening to being surprised by new possibilities.

This really is the heart of creativity, a willingness to play outside the box, to try new things and imagine new ways of being. Since this experience I have found myself more open to conversations with strangers who I might have previously perceived as quite different from me.

Along that same river I spoke with a stock broker from Chicago who has been fly fishing the region for 40 years and has a deep commitment to the environment. I met a rancher from South Dakota who is on a treasure hunt with his daughter and grandchildren, who explained that the directions to buried treasure was left in the form of a poem that, to my amazement, he recited by heart.

Being more open allows for more inspiration to flow into our creativity as well. I am finding it’s enriching my life in wonderful ways and new ideas keep popping into my mind. So try this. Consider the ways that you can be more open to unexpected inspiration and play with it. See if it doesn’t bring more joy to your life.

Suzanne Murray is a writing teacher and creativity coach with more than twenty years of experience in helping others to access their creative fire. For info more about all her work or to read her blogs go to www.creativitygoeswild.com. For information on her book on writing The Heart of Writing: Jumpstart Your Writing, Find Your Voice, Calm the Inner Critic & Tap the Flow https://bit.ly/1ctY6M8