I thought I’d kick off the first blog in my new series under the theme title of “Monday’s Musings” with a few ideas around how you can become your own magickal muse. A muse by definition is a creative influence – this can be a “person or a personified force who is the source of inspiration for a creative artist.” But this can also simply be you, which makes the process empowering to realize you have within you the ability to inspire yourself. And guess what? This doesn’t just have to be isolated to influencing yourself purely with writing, but can be a way to inspire any aspect of your life.

Here are some thoughts to help get that creative fire lit inside of your heart, but don’t stop here, as there are so many ways you can ignite inspiration:

• Indulge your child at heart and engage that child-like wonder about everything with curiosity and fascination – what the heart is encouraged to explore will become a grand adventure of ideas streaming through
• Find a process that helps you to create a well of flowing ideas that move you – journaling ideas, taking photographs of things that are interesting or beautiful, clipping out images and words in magazines to create idea boards with or folders of inspiration, collect little trinkets and treasures that spark imagination or a part of your inner child, gather and write down words, phrases, thoughts that you hear and that float through your mind – what you find fascinating in some way can act as a seed to grow ideas from
• Go on a creative excavation about yourself and your life to discover what inspires you. Ask yourself what truly invigorates you and fuels your passion and really engages your imagination – what you uncover will be pathways to easier flow and streams of thought
• Be inquisitive about that feeling and nudge that is bubbling inside of you and wants out. Rather than just push it aside, judging it, fearing it, or keeping it as a constant thought, write it down, speak it into a recorder, draw it…just move it out and through – what you invite to dance with you will begin to reveal where your energy wants to go and rather than stay stuck, will start you on a journey
• Let your writing run free and perhaps allow this to be one part of your life that doesn’t have structure, if in fact all other parts do. Don’t over-think things, just write what comes up right away as a feeling no matter how weird and don’t edit – simply flow. There’s plenty of time for that later – what you surrender to will take you on an adventure
• And if you don’t have structure in your life, perhaps creating a ritual or sacred practice around writing and creative flow will help make it a more natural part of your life – in either event, once you do have a practice in place like a specific time to do it, area to be in that inspires, a ritual to invite the process to begin and be separate from the rest of your life, then go back to the point above and let it flow without judgment – what you create consistency with will become an extension of your creative flow and life
• In line with sacred practice and ritual is creating a sanctuary of inspiration or invent a way that supports and nurtures your writing. This can be surrounding yourself with things you love, have a particular energy, make your inner child feel safe, that inspire and cultivate thought flow and imagination, or could be noticing what kind of things or where you are that help more, like traveling, being by the ocean, tucked away in a cabin in the mountains, or in a closed room with specific music playing – what you cultivate will bring enrichment to your process
• Always look for meaning in things – what you are curious about will reveal many potentials and creative ways to express or solve things
• Work at it. Creativity is a process and for many isn’t flowing quite as freely as it once did when we were children. And even if it is flowing, we need to keep encouraging and nurturing it to greater heights. Making a committed effort to keep at it will bring it back to being a natural process again – what you focus on building, will come more freely
• Become conscious about everything and embrace a real caring – what you are present and passionate about will create momentum and connection
• Engage creativity, imagination, and ideas. Invite it, cultivate it, nurture it, and encourage it out – what you fertilize and cultivate will grow
• Ask yourself what wants to be written and what story is aching to come forth, rather than asking what you feel like writing. They say everyone has at least one book in them…what’s yours? – what you surrender to will reveal gifts and make the journey flowing and fun even when challenges arise
• Empty yourself of all knowing and let your inner vision and heart guide you to the truth within you – what you stop controlling will be able to fly
• Remember yourself as the child you once were and can be again – what you retrieve will flourish where once it was constrained
• Explore childlike fantasy and flexibility – what you open up to will make the impossible possible
• Listen to your instincts – what you trust will open you to the most natural flow of expression
• Feel what you feel – what you embrace will reveal the most meaningful things that will engage others to feel as well
• Take chances and write as if you’re the first person ever writing the story and writing in the way that you are – what you risk will bring innovation as your best friend on the adventure
• Be your own heroine/hero. Find the things you like about yourself and cultivate more gratitude around them. Create your own style and image that helps you to feel more alive, authentic, and cultivates the writer you – what you fertilize will blossom
• Believe in yourself and what you have to say – what you believe about you, others will too
• Allow mistakes and realize that there aren’t any – what you let go of will draw to you hidden gifts
• Surrender to the story and lose yourself – what you immerse in will bring that reality to the heart of others through you
• Keep writing. The thoughts will flow and your story will find its way, but won’t unless you write – what you put energy toward will take you on a journey, create a result, and a destination to begin again from

I’d love to hear from any of you on any additional thoughts and ways you engage the muse within.