You know that feeling where you wake up really early, but it’s on purpose and for something you’ve been waiting for? Maybe it’s a fishing trip with your friend, or to catch a flight somewhere you’ve been dreaming about, or to play golf at that new course? There’s a certain giddiness to the anticipation that overcomes the resentment of an early wakeup call. I love that feeling. Eager, ready, and excited for what I know is about to be something great.
It turns out that very feeling is the same key to my own creativity. I’m guessing the same is true for many, but I haven’t collected the data. When I'm in the zone, in the flow, the songs come through effortlessly. When I’m not in the flow, I can work a song for days or weeks and all I end up feeling is discouragement.
The big secret to the universe (though it’s not a secret, it’s just not overtly taught) is that if you make peace with where you are right this very moment - if you can find a way to feel good about your present set of circumstances - then that is the key to staying in the flow. And staying in the flow will take you downstream towards everything your little heart desires. I’m serious. It’s that easy.
Get happy now, no matter what it takes. The universe does not care what you use as your excuse to feel good right this very moment, it simply knows that you ARE feeling good, and it responds accordingly. The opposite is of course true too, if you get yourself focused on something that has you feeling crappy.
So use anything - your favorite memory, or something you’re looking forward to; your favorite song or thinking about your favorite animal. It doesn’t matter. Just get things moving in any sort of positive direction by thinking thoughts that feel good.
Have you ever made a mistake? Yeah, me neither. And you know how good it feels when someone helps remind you that it’s not a big deal, no problem, we can fix it? Instant relief. Well that’s what you’re looking for, but you’ve got to give it to yourself.
Then it’s just a practice, and you can get really good at it. Pretty soon you’re spending most of your time in the flow, feeling great, moving towards all of the dreams you’ve set in motion. And that, my friends, is the sweet spot for creativity. I have found that once I’m already in that zone, the songs flow like wine. The great ideas come easily. The new ways of saying something are fun to discover, not something to be agonized over.
I tell you what, I love being in my 50’s. I’ve never known all that I know now. And putting all of this together, figuring where I want to aim my joyful creative light, is the whole reason we’re here in the first place. Because doing that, over and over, is So. Damn. Fun. At least, it’ supposed to be.