Why Fun is the Answer to Your Problems
Every day I get clients in my office who feel “stuck” in life. They want to move forward but have no idea what they want to do or what the next steps are. Basically, most of these clients are suffering from the scourge of boredom.
The reason I call this a scourge is that like a real illness it saps away at your energy and your creative musings and makes you feel a bit depressed.
Clients have told me they tried to answer the question “what’s next for me?” by sitting on the couch thinking hard about it and waiting for the inspiration fairy to bring them the answer like a gift from heaven.
I SOOO badly wish that was how it worked because it would be so much easier, wouldn’t it? But the answer, the real answer, is deceptively simple, which is why so few people know it.
Get out of the house!! Get out of your business, your home, your life for a day or two, and you would be surprised how much more easily inspiration finds you.
I love the show Mad Men for lots of reasons but mostly for all the quirky things the writers added to the main character, Don Draper. His trips to the movie theater when he felt stuck on a project, taking a nap when he wasn’t coming up with ideas, and the drinking … scratch that last one but the others are good advice.
These are the tips I usually only give my private clients on how to get inspired again.
Think about your life question like “What should I do about … or what are my next steps?” then put the question aside and go do something playful.
-Go outside, go to a movie, go to a nice restaurant, go on a hike.
-Spend time in nature.
Museums are your friend. One time when I was completely stuck, I decided to make the two-hour drive to the Getty Museum in LA. I walked around for a few hours, ate lunch, then on the drive home the final piece to the puzzle came to me and I was able to finish something I had been working on for months. I wrote most of the outline for it on the drive home while stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic (don’t do that, it’s dangerous).
That’s how inspiration works. The left side of the brain wants to analyze the situation and come up with the answer but that’s not really its job. It’s better suited to the “how” part of the problem. The “what” part of the problem is in the right brain, which is more creative. People forget that in order to solve a major problem you really need to work with both right side and left side.
In my example, the right side of my brain got stimulated by looking at a really ugly Jackson Pollock painting and said, “this is what you should write about!” and the left side, the part whose job is about organizing it, laid the whole thing out in easy steps while trying to get me home safely.
You are never going to “figure out” the answer to your challenges in the same environment you were in when they were created. You must get out and get inspired. I know it seems counterintuitive, but when you don’t have the answers to a challenge, it’s time to play hooky from them and watch information come your way.
Jill K Thomas CHT
Soul Connect Hypnotherapy
760-803-2841
Jill@soulconnecthypnotherapy.com
www.Soulconnecthypnotherapy.com
Author of the books “Tales from the Trance” & “Feed your Real Hunger”
Appointments available Globally by Video Chat