💡6 Ideas to Nurture Creativity Amidst COVID Captivity

One thing is for sure, 2020 has left us navigating through a seemingly constant state of “fight or flight.” Caught in a state of lock down, bombarded by negative media, unable to reach out and see loved ones, and the uncertainty that even the next week holds can easily paralyze our ability to think, decide and act.  It’s difficult to just get through each day, let alone attempt to be creative. Just when we think we’re through the fog, we are hit with another dose of social media that sends us retreating. Neuroscience helps us understand what’s happening when under threat, and why feeling this way is completely normal; all that oxygen and glucose in our brain is redirected to prepare us to protect ourselves, and diverted away from our prefrontal cortex which requires a large amount of resource to think, create and innovate.  

As coaches, we seek to empower thinking, using techniques to help clients dampen down that fight or flight reaction, and facilitate a psychologically safe environment to be able to think, ideate, and solution a positive way forward. Even skilled coaches need a special thought partner to break through the constraints of a limbic system on fire, and tap into and unleash creativity. Connecting with the right thought partner that you trust and inspires you is key.  

I would never have launched my website during this COVID time without the help of my creative marketing thought partner, “Website Wonder Woman,” Jocelyn Lu of Rainfield Marketing. I met Jocelyn on a SwellWomen Retreat in Maui, and learned of her talents, in and out of the water. Serendipitously, we met again, 5 months later atop Whistler Mountain, snowboarding got our creative ideas flowing before COVID quarantine hit a week later. Over the past few months, Jocelyn has been able to truly get inside my head and help me pull through insights to visualize and bring to life a site that represents me holistically.  I would never have been able to break out of the quarantine-fog without my thought partner.  She helped me to limit all the distractions swirling, focus on the most critical aspects of building a website, put me on a schedule which kept my attention focused on specific goals & deliverables – delivering the right ideas and decisions at the right time, focused my attention through questions and alternatives in creative reviews and gave me ample time to process, reflect, and ideate. With my creative sounding board and the right conditions established, I was able to tap into my creative juices and have her help bring them to life.  

Some brain-friendly activities we can all try out, even during quarantine, to put our brains at ease, and free up resources to be creative.

• Clear the Space:  focusing on what you are feeling, the emotions, and putting words to them, and stating them out loud helps to calm.  This helps clear what’s buzzing around in your head, like an etch-a-sketch screen erase, and welcome new space to think.
• Do Less.  Focus:  carve out time to be completely focused on on task or mastering an experience like learning to play a new instrument, cook a new meal, master a new yoga pose, in a goal-oriented way; this allows us to develop deep connections in our brain
• Play More:  tap into your inner child, be spontaneous, creative, and allow yourself the time to playfully enjoy a new or novel experience; this helps us make new connections in the brain which increases creativity and memory.
• Connect:  with a thought partner who is a great listener and helps you elevate your thinking, inspires new ideas, and grows your perspectives.  
• Unplug: stop analyzing, surrender control, and detach from stress producing thoughts.  Turn down the volume on the executive function of your brain, and allow yourself to disconnect and daydream.  Allow yourself the luxury to wander and daydream, your brain will recharge, and provides space and precursor for sparks of insight and new perspectives to emerge.
• Mindfulness:  not just for yogis or a passing fad to enlightenment, being able to truly focus in the present moment, and non-judgmentally, creating awareness on sensations, images, feelings, emotions, promotes many healthy benefits, including enhanced attention and creativity.  This takes time, and skill to master, a consistent activity over time to develop the meditation-muscle, but allows for a level of grounding, and ability to hold space for yourself and others; through silence and presence, insights emerge!