5 ways to cultivate creativity through solitude

“Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul.”

– Marcus Aurelius

Creative intelligence is developing a sensitivity to your surroundings and tuning into the inspiration available to you.

Part of developing and expanding your awareness of your external world is turning inwards.

Here are 5 ways to retreating solitude and why self-introspection is so valuable for creative cultivation.

1. Take a day of silence
A powerful practise I have done once a month. Make sure you choose a day that suits without necessary commitments. Dedicate yourself to following through. I usually practise from sunrise to sunset a day on my moon cycle. It is a great time for rest at reflection. Let those you live with of your intention. Only write and communicate with others if an emergency.

Notice how powerful silence. See how much more you can hear when you listen. Sometimes practising silence opens up space for creative ideas.

2. Reflective writing
On your day of silence, it is a great time to write and reflect. If you have been feeling like a lot of your energy has been exerted with others or work, writing is a great meditation of emptying.

I practise free flow writing daily when I wake up. If I’m feeling the need to express thoughts or emotions, it doesn’t even have to be neat. Sometimes in the act, subconscious thinking may be revealed.

3. Technology detox
Being always around people can be exhausting and energetically draining. So can spending hours on social media and on the computer. Delete your social apps for a week. Detox from using technology. Read a book, write, draw, paint, cook, walk out in nature.

4. Practise thoughts of gratitude
Moments of overwhelming thoughts about work, the future, relationship etc. can feel like too much. When you are having negative thoughts or feelings, replace these with thoughts of gratitude and positive thinking. What are 3 things you are grateful for in your life?

Being thankful for the things you have in your life can help expand your perspective and zoom out from the identification with your mind and into a positive mindset.

5. Have a regular meditation practise

We practise and cultivate the meditative state through practise. What the practise teaches you is how to let go of the noise of the inner critic that says you aren’t good enough or worthy enough. During the practise, we step beyond the reactive mind into experiencing the witness, a state of being as it is.

This state is the experience of what we truly are. The state of the unbounded, creative Self.