Journaling for Creativity
Journaling for Creativity
and questions to jump start your creative connection
For many people, creativity is connected to meaning and enjoyment, both of which are inseparable from well-being. Many artists and creatives of all backgrounds swear by having a habitual journaling practice that helps ideas be generated, expressed, and developed.
Everyone has the potential to be highly creative, and mindset is the biggest factor determining whether people realize their artistic or creative ambitions or not. Much of our creative potential is inhibited by limiting beliefs around the artistic process, fears of failure or being judged, and uncertainty about what to express and how to express ourselves.
Fundamentally, creativity is about growth and being playful in that growth. Journaling should not be seen as a daily chore, but as a daily play date with yourself. Your journal can be your muse, your BFF, your place of playing with colors, concepts, and words. Remember, the key to building a journaling practice to support your creative well-being (and well-being in general), is to keep it regular and sustainable. Make sure it is something you enjoy. Make it fun.
Do you feel tapped out? Are you scoffing at the idea you are creative? You need no writing skills or drawing skills to be creative. But here are a few questions to promote self-exploration and creative expression.
Creativity Questions
1) What creative things did you enjoy as a child? Do you still do them? If not, why not? You can still play with fingerpaints.
2) If money were no object, what would you spend your time doing? What is your passion?
3) Are your fears or your ego blocking your creative path? Draw, paint, or describe them. Do they have horns? Sharp teeth? Gnarly fingers? Don’t let your worries of judgment or failure stop hindering your sense of creative play.
4) Emotionally, where do you feel most at home?
5) What kind of music do you love? Why? How does it make you feel? Do you have different music for different moods?
6) What would you do with your life if you were a bit braver?
7) What would you do if you were stuck on an island alone with a year’s worth of supplies?
8) What were you doing the last time you felt truly creative? Why then?
9) Who has encouraged you creatively in your life? How so?
10) Who has discouraged you creatively in your life? Why?
11) What really matters to you in life? At a level deeper than the day-to-day things, what really brings you alive?
12) What do you have to say about things that really matter to you? Why are they important? How could you make space for more of them in your life?
13) You can be more creative. What are the five most obvious barriers to your creativity? Are any of these as significant as they initially feel writing them down?
14) What are creative people really like? (Beware that some limiting beliefs may rear their heads here!) Is this 100% true, all the time?
15) Where in your life do you express yourself the most? Online? At work? In your fashion sense? In your relationship? In your cooking? Singing in the car in traffic? What forms of expression come naturally to you?
A habitual journaling practice helps you generate, express, and develop ideas. Creativity is about growth and being playful in that growth. If you are feeling disconnected from your creative juices, hopefully, some of the questions above with dispense any feelings of inadequacy or judgment. Your creativity is a well you can tap into at any time, and regular practice can build an even greater connection.