Creativity and the Art of Napping

I find that when I am making beads and things aren’t going to plan, I get frustrated and super-focused on that “if you first don’t succeed, try, try again” adage. Well, I can tell you that I have a lot of “Oh Sh*t Flat Fish” from that type of attitude.  Sometimes trying harder doesn’t make it better.  Sometimes you just need to walk away and take a nap.

I have two sleepy places in my house.  First, of course, is my bed.  It has fluffy pillows and smooth, soft cool sheets and it is my favorite place to dream.  It comes complete with a hot water bottle I call “The Puppy”.  Puppy is very inspirational, by the way.  I have lots of dog related beads I make and I can thank her for all of those.  Yes, it does border on obsession.  I’ve come to terms with that and she’s more than happy with the arrangement.

The other place I like to nap is on the couch.  Not quite as comfy but it does have the added appeal of being very close to my computer so when I wake up with an inspiration, I can quickly Google something that has caught my creative brain.  I love Google image search.  I have searched for things such as “sprinkle resin pendant” and ”photographic rainbow” and “color combinations for fall”.  Try it yourself and see what Google images can show you!

Another thing I’ve decided to do is to keep a notepad by my bed.  I never remember what I dream at night but I always remember my dreams when I am napping so I figure it would be good to start writing them down and using them for beadmaking or murrini making inspiration, somehow.  I mean, the dreams where I am falling out of a plane might not be useful but the dreams where I am walking by the sea might find their way into a bead or murrini sometime soon.

Honestly, I’m not an over-thinker.  These habits may seem obvious to the more analytical types out there but they don’t come naturally to me.  I kind of live in the moment.  I call it “Goldfish Brain”.  ”One swish around the tank and it’s a brand new day” for me.  LOL!  I think it would be good to deliberately think about what I want to make rather than just winging it all the time so I have to take baby steps toward being more aware of things that inspire me.  I think that in doing that I will be more on the alert for possible  inspiration as I go about my day.

I’m Lori Peterson and you can find me at loribeads.com, loriandkim.com , loribeads.etsy.com, loriandkim.etsy.com for murrini and I am also blogging here and twittering there.