I think it cross pollinates. I mean I think we each have a bunch but that it grows exponentially if we’re brave enough to do a few simple things. Here are 18 practices you might want to try out to help you be more creative!

1. Make space for creating: in your schedules, literally in your place somewhere, in your beliefs that you CAN.
2. Get to work and start doing stuff. Make and keep regular appointments with your muse.
3. Identify all your pursuits as worthy ones – this includes the ‘mistakes’ and the ‘mundane’. This sets the right tone from which to draw creative flow wherever you are; whatever you’re doing.
4. Identify all your pursuits as potentially creative ones. Folding laundry, baking cakes, changing your oil, raking leaves, painting signs, addressing hopes, grappling with sadness, searching for Truth. i.e. what can be done differently, or what can you add to the situation that makes it better, more fun, more pleasing? Music? Audio book? Video Call? Photo-document the task for future generations, lol?
5. Fear no art; not your own, not the work of others, not the stuff that’s slapdash or high falutin’ — beyond your capabilities, nor below them.
6. Be open. Good stuff is everywhere. I know, so is junk. But even junk can be inspirational on any self-proclaimed Opposite Day!
7. Try not to worry about what others will think, nor the resale value of items you own. This frees you up to paint your bike, jam your room with found objects, sew crazy stuff on a pair of jeans or cut apart your old sweaters and sew them back together into capes! BONUS: usually almost every time you break free from the mold doing stuff like this the resounding yeas will outweigh the nays by a very large margin. In case that matters at all (and sometimes it seems to – and that’s ok!)
8. Do your best. Give it your all. That’s absolutely, unquestionably and totally enough!
9. Connect with people who inspire you. Listen to the ones who support you.
10. Listen to the ones who don’t, too, because you’ve gotten through their shell and have threatened them somehow – there’s gold in that information! You’re rabble rousing at that point! Always a good thing to shake up the status quo.
11. Give yourself a break. Take a day off from trying to be creative. Take a week off. Just don’t give it up forever!
12. Indulge! Read up. Kick back. Take a hike. Do something unexpected, unpredictable, off-the-wall. Reward yourself for good intentions regardless of productivity!
13. Go out and get supplies. Go ahead get some of the good stuff. The stuff you’d feel bad about wasting if you didn’t use it. The stuff you know your art is worth! Doesn’t have to be the highest quality – because sometimes maybe it’s gonna be the biggest quantity. For some there’s nothing so inspirational as a whole lotta something. No mater what it is. Mr. Imagination, whom I met in Chicago, uses bottle caps! I buy the “Oops” paint whenever there’s a halfway decent color at Home Despot because it’ll come in handy for something eventually.
14. Crash! Mope, avoid, get trapped. Just don’t absorb the negative mood long term. Know that this too will pass – and let yourself off the hook.
15. Those voices in your head? Listen to the ones that support you and dump the ones with the ugly comments. Seriously, you don’t need that noise. Oh, and Big Secret Revealed:every artist has those too. The meanies inside. Successful creatives know to shun their bad advice. Or at least not let it direct their efforts. Unless you’re good at turning around bad advice into something positive and useful. So maybe a voice that says: “This painting I’m doing sucks!”, is really just an impatient part of your muse that’s really saying “Where’s the pink? We need more pink!”. Kinda like “More cowbell!!!!”.
16. Find ways to be accountable for your creative pursuits. Make some public. Post pix, write blog posts, document your process, join forums and discuss, slam some up into an album on your Facebook page or Google+ profile. Show your work: in galleries, online, at art fairs. Start making public art. People will notice, and you’ll start believing what you’re doing exists and even matters! I have a friend who’s as busy a person as ever there was with her horse racing career – yet this whole year she’s making 365 “Mailed Art Projects” and sending them via USPS out into the world to random people. She’s made it public in a Facebook album. I mean she gets up at 5am has this whole crazy-busy day taking care of and training 24 horses and then comes home and makes her art.
17. Make your struggles public too. You’ll be amazed at the support that will come out of the woodwork.
18. Identify + Interact With Your Tribe.Interact with them. Your tribe wants you to be happy. These are usually other creatives, but don’t have to be. Besides interacting with Facebook, I watch TED videos, subscribe to blogs (like this one and also very different from this one), read books & magazines and participate in events where “my peeps” come together: actual or virtual. I invite you to join our Online Art Club. Comment me your Facebook name for an invite.

So there’s 18 ways to be inspired and it looks like I could keep going. But I’ve already dangled this post way off the end of your screen enough for one day. I’ll go ahead and finish up.

So, yep, I am a Facebook addict and here’s why: I have a ton of fellow creatives and other inspirationists that through our apparently casual comments on each other’s wall and under photos and stuff help me buoy up for finding, creating, moving towards another effort. I’m a blogger for much the same reasons.

I’ve been talking to you about how to find what others say is impossible; we’re looking for unicorns. So how CAN you find what is hard to be certain actually exists? You start to learn how to discern your environment different than usual. Here are some ways to begin to practice this amazing craft.

On a trail or at a park:

• sudden lull in sounds (birds and young children, if present, startled by unicorns)
• a healed gash in a tree truck (old horn would – unis have been known to be a bit clumsy about this)
• faint unaccounted for noises (whip your head around – one’s following you!)
• a weird –but not creepy– sensation that you’re being watched (you are, you are)

In an urban setting

• anywhere there are sparkles – sidewalks in front of old movie theaters, fountain splashes on the sidewalk, near little girls
• the sudden flight of pigeons unassociated with loose dogs, loose boys or loud noises.
• carved graffiti tags of a vaguely positive nature
• outposts of hope (those Salvation Army holiday bell ringers are always surrounded by unicorns for starters)
• soup kitchens
• groovy coffee shops in blighted areas
• artists’ spaces anywhere
• planted plots
• rescue facilities of any brand
• poles with flyers attached to them

“Whoa! Hang on there. We thought you were going to show us how to find unicorns. You know, equine thingies with the one horn in the middle of the forehead sort of creature.”

Yeah, ok, you’re right. What we’re going for here are ways to find their habitats, the places they hang out; the intersections of hope and the will to be, to thrive, to grow. Once there, you see, the unicorns find us! When we come at this search sideways like we are, our luck increases exponentially because now we’re not seeking the physical embodiment of a being but it’s far more influential essence. So here’s the thing; unicorns as literal interpretations of themselves are at the very least impractical and at the most just some sort of equines with pointy sticks coming out of their foreheads. Kind of a one trick pony if you know what I mean. Not very interesting after a minute or two, and pretty dangerous almost immediately!

We’re going for something larger. Much larger.

Creating Unicorns

When we expect we will find unicorns we become surrounded by them wherever we are. We create unicorns by seeking them. That is the magic, the alchemy of hope. In its elemental forms optimism inspires possibilities of grand and enduring scale. It reaches depths of existence right into the quantum of what connects us to each other and everything else.

Activities

Habitats of Hope
Reflect on places in your own experience that could well be the natural habitat of hope and hence unicorns. List as many as you can. You don’t have to do this all in one sitting. Come back and add new thoughts as you go. See above for inspiration as to where to get started looking.

Talisman

Acquire a unicorn charm object of one kind or another that is pleasing to you. Put the desire to find it ‘out there’ and see what shows up for you. This is applied unicorn thinking in action. You’re looking for the perfect symbol, so believe it will show up. Make notes of this process. Put it someplace you’re bound to see it every day to remind you of your success in finding unicorns and to get you thinking about finding more!

Collage-a-corn
Using your super powers as a unicorn creator you will now turn ordinary equines into unicorns!

(Note: there is no such thing as an ordinary equine – that was a test). Oh and one more thing: Horses that are descended from unicorn lineage will have a whorl pattern on their forehead where a horn would be. Now you can spot true unis wherever you find horses!

You’ll need:

• horse magazine(s)
• paper – something nice and stiff
• scissors
• glue stick
• optional – glitter!

Cut out regular horses and stick them to your nice stiff piece of paper. Then cut out separate horn shapes for each head and glue that in place. >viola!< instant unicorns! Add glitter as you see fit. Now put that baby somewhere you’ll notice it so you can remember how awesome you are – awesome enough to be able to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary. Now go out and do that in your head to everything around you that needs some magic.

Unicorns have been a part of human folklore for many centuries. Their mystique is captivating. BUT from what I know of equine nature, the practicality of a thousand pound creature with a propensity to skedaddle in perhaps unpredictable directions with a saber coming out of his head is questionable from a handler’s point of view. I’m thinking it might go something like this:

“Hey! Can I pet your unic—AAAARGHGH!” as the startled equine whips his noggin around to get a gander at his now punctured petting benefactor. A fresh victim to the unicorn’s flighty nature and gold and ivory head piece.

So below I offer “Exhibit A”:

We may not actually want to find unicorns.

I think that we’re after, our ‘Holy Grail” of unicorn seeking is the notion that these marvelous animals are enduring symbols of the fantastic in nature and what we actually hope to find is more evidence of that. In this, with the right attitude, we can never fail. Thus we can be and are ever surrounded by unicorns of every size and color. For the so-enlightened they are ubiquitous throughout every landscape. Every ecosystem is lousy with unicorns! Forests, seashores, mountain tops, gardens, yards, parks, trails, rivers, empty lots, moonscapes, underneath rocks — all loaded with unicorns.

For the really clever among us, the well practiced, the open minded, the seekers of joy — unicorns show up in even more places:

• class rooms
• communication exchanges (letters, tweets, Facebook posts)
• parties
• in books, magazine articles and blogs
• the shopping mall
• certainly every farmer’s market out there
• artists’ studios
• stages
• in every melody, drum beat and rhythm
• in math equations
• strange conjectures
• good design
• bad design
• menus
• fashion…..

You get the idea. Wherever there is a garden of ideas in various states of growth or dormancy there are potential unicorns.

Beginners Guide

To get up and out of our ‘normal’ selves with our ‘regular’ point of view we’re going to have to get up and out of our conventional routines. This will help set the frame of mind necessary to successfully find these unusual beings.

Prep Activity A

De-Routinize the Day

• Eat dinner for breakfast Starting with dessert
• If you shower in the morning — don’t. If you shower at night — do it now.
• Outside Influence
• Do you usually log on, link in, check your email/messages/voice mail, etc? Not today.
• Watch or listen to the news? Nope, not today kiddo.

Positive Armor

• Mix up your clothes. Wear that thing you usually save for special occasions; a pair of shoes out of daily rotation, a necklace that usually sits there waiting for its chance to shine. What I’m talking about here are items that you got because you out and out had to have them – not for any practical purposes really, just delightful ones. These are your own ready-made personal power emblems. You see, this is the perfectly nonsensical thinking that unicorns find so irresistible!
• You are also encouraged to create your own unicorn finding outfit. Special shoes, jeans, earrings, top, tie, belt, socks you catch my drift.

Prep Activity B

Now plop down and write out all the reasons you will NOT find unicorns. You know what I’m talking about. Stuff like:

Because they don’t exist.

No one’s ever seen one.

They’re invisible.

They’re scared of people.

I don’t know what-all. Go ahead be negative. Give it your best shot. Phew! Feel better? Feel all grown up and smart? Right-o. They can’t say you’re crazy now — look how sensible you are with your list.

Prep Activity C

Argue on paper with your sensible list. If you’re with a group doing this activity, shoot holes in everyone’s ‘realistic declarations’. e.g. “No one’s ever seen one.” YET. “They’re invisible.” So are atoms. So is air. You get the gist. If you don’t get it, just call it “Opposite Day” and go with that for now. The ol’ up is down, left is right routine. You get the drill. After all Rome, and it’s zoos full of unicorns, wasn’t built in a day.

It is my joyful duty to inform you that you have direct access to any wonderful worlds you care to dream up. Below are some suggestions for how to go about visiting them. Oh, and let me mention that most kids know how to do this instinctively. We sort of get it taught out of us as we grow up.

• Be quiet.
• Allow.
• Listen.
• Feel.

(a little like meditation)

Play with thoughts..

• Imagine your personal
• best-case scenarios.
• Visualize every
• positive aspect*

( a lot like goofing off)

Look out for:

• Naysayers
• Second Guessing
• Feeling/Looking Foolish
• “Reality”

These are among those that will blow you off track.

Have a world in mind?

Make it real!
Start collecting & creating your own proof:

• draw
• write
• compose tunes
• make stuff
• remember your dreams
• make up best-case outcomes for everything
• compost negativity
• leave notes to yourself from your alter-ego.

*This is key to the whole operation. Working on the premise that “thoughts become things” here, what we think about is what will become real for us.

Through the ages humankind has spent a ton of brainpower thinking about Unicorns. Are they real? Were they ever? Are there some for the finding in this crazy world?

I think it all comes down to how you form your reality. Oh, didn’t you know that? Yes, we all form our own realities. It’s our thoughts that do it you see. It’s how we think about stuff that causes us to process what our life brings to us. “What?”, you ask, “Seriously? You’re just blown’ smoke!”. No, no I’m not. I know a lot of adults would like to think that – but kids know better. Kids know exactly what I’m talking about. Kids use the power of imagination All. The. Time. Kids are the Masters of this!

This is how a kid can be wearing a dish towel in the neck of her sweatshirt and be able to use it as a flying cape and be baking magic cupcakes in her castle that is under a blanket tent in her living room when adults can only just see ‘the untidy mess’ of that reality. Not all grown ups suffer this sad affliction of limited point of view, however. Some escape its grip. Some even leverage it to grand new heights that can benefit everybody! What kids know as “Imagination”, some adults practice as “Visionary Thinking”. It’s all the same stuff.

The goal for those who choose it is to keep the imagination limber enough to survive the rigors of adult testing that inevitably come, usually in middle school. Sometimes sooner and almost always by the end of high school. Here are some handy mottos: “Thoughts become things, choose the good ones.” “As you believe, so it becomes.”

What we’re talking about here is that what you spend your time thinking about is how you set the energy of your life force in motion which then starts attracting what you’re thinking about to you. Huh? What? Try this: Right now, do NOT think about a pink elephant. What did you think of when you read that? A pink elephant, right? How could you not? We’re trained to picture what we read, and even though there was the word “not” in front of the pink elephant – you couldn’t help but think about it. If you got stuck thinking about pink elephants for too very long sooner or later you’d start even seeing them. Maybe in magazine ads, or picture books, a game, on someone’s Facebook wall, or a tv show — whatever. Why? Because you’ve sort of trained your brain to find them.

So what you want to practice is to set your thoughts thinking about the things you do want. Like this, you’d think to yourself: “I want good grades.”. Now in the back of your head there’s this little buzz of that thoughts “I want good grades, I want good grades, etc”. That one little thought starts coloring how you make a bunch of your other choices. It sort of acts invisibly in your background thinking.

Here’s the opposite – and dangerous part – about thinking. You can also start thinking this “I don’t want bad grades.” Means the same thing right? Nope. Not to your brain. Like the “don’t think about pink elephants” advice what your brain latches on to is the “bad grades” part. It’s true. It’s how we humans operate. So our task with this mindful thinking is to make sure we think about what we DO want, not what we do not want. You may have heard this called ‘positive thinking’. That’s what it is.

Your goal is to phrase everything you tell yourself into what you DO WANT terms and focus on those instead of the other.

This is how you can come to start finding Unicorns. When you start thinking that you will, instead of how ‘they’re not real’ and stuff maybe your mind adjusts a bit to define what a unicorn maybe is into newer broader terms. “That’s not really finding unicorns!”, I’ve heard people tell me after I mention this stuff to them. Oh really? I beg to differ my friend. I live with unicorns. They’re everywhere for me! In fact, I am a unicorn myself! I can picture it. Here’s a photograph of a felted wall piece I made recently that shows just that. I get a big kick out of telling people “Hey look, I made a self portrait, what do you think?”. And they go: “Nice! You look good with pink hair.” And I say “Pink hair? Nu-uh, I have a rainbow mane and tail!”. Then they smile. Because when you’re around me you have to get used to this sort of answer.

Project for YOU: Make a list of TEN things you DO WANT. Write them nicely on 10 little cards or post-its or something. Even better draw them or find and add actual pictures of what they look like and how getting them in your life is going to make you feel. Put these where you can see them every day. Keep track of when they come to you.

HINT: be open about how you describe what you want. Example: “I want a pony.” Better: “I want to spend time with an equine somehow, some way.” Maybe you include a photo of someone petting a horse, or riding a horse. See with number two you open it up so that your chances are hugely increased that this will happen for you and from this can build to the other! Maybe you get to take some riding lessons. Maybe the lady who’s horse you get to ride likes you and thinks you can help her take care of her horse! Maybe someday you have a part time job and can afford to lease that horse! Or a different one! Viola! You have a horse! See how you made it happen? Your photograph has come true for you!

Confession: This is how I got my horse. Years ago I lived in the middle of a big city. No horses there. Not a one. But I bought a little horse figure and put him on the dashboard of my car. It was a pinto. Fast forward. Life changed. We moved to the country. Horse country. I met a foal in a field who had been neglected. He was for sale at a price I could afford. I had a little barn. Guess what happened. See photo.