Igniting the Spark of an Idea
- maxchristopher6
- Jun 3
- 9 min read
written by Lucas Sherman, edited by Ethan Crosby
Where do ideas–the seeds germinating into creative flourish–come from?
I have no clue. I am not a scientist, nor a philosopher, nor a botanist.
But I am a creative person. An artist. And a human. I can at least speak from those perspectives.
Let’s think about thoughts. Thoughts are intangible. Fleeting. Random at times. Neither here nor there. Some get in the way. Others got humans on the moon. Some are intentional. Most aren’t.
Some people are astonished by the goofy things I say. I wear the ‘silly guy’ badge with honor. Any and all credit to my devotion to whimsy is more than welcome. However, spontaneity wasn’t always my bread and butter. It was built brick by brick through years of fearless exploration.
Creativity has revealed itself to me as a garden. Let’s explore the analogy together.
A gardener cannot expect their garden to yield fruit after only a day’s labor. Creativity, like a garden, takes routine attention and care.
First, one must prepare the soil. Mulch, fertilizer, proper seed depth–all of it matters.
Then there’s the consistent watering, the proper exposure to sunlight–the whole nine yards.
And finally, after months of preparation, cultivating, and trimming, there is a chance that our garden bears fruit.
For the majority of my life, I looked for a cure to creative blockage. I would seek advice from bad creative doctors who would suggest muscling art into existence. A creative block is merely a symptom, not a disease—a symptom of not working hard enough. I’ve come to find myself a victim of malpractice. In order to get from point A to point B, you gotta dig your heels into the ground and shove forward. Success is the X-axis, and effort is the Y.
“If you’re stuck–keep pushing!”
This quote cannot be attributed to anyone in particular. In some ways, I can take responsibility for seeking creative advice from the wrong source. I am sure that there are many others like me who still see creativity this way.
Do you wish to write a musical? Okay, then force yourself to seclude in a room and compose all hours of the day until your head turns blue. If you are struck with writer’s block, it’s evident you are just not working hard enough. If you just keep writing, the songs will spill out from you like divine prophecy. That film isn’t going to make itself–so get on with it! Start yesterday! No breaks, no distractions–this ain’t a union gig! Work until you’ve shriveled up and collapsed from exhaustion!
Cut! Let’s head back to reality.
Isn’t the mind cruel sometimes?
It can be. Especially when following bad advice.
I am not a Sith and do not deal in absolutes; I have come to believe that there is an ounce of truth in every person’s words of wisdom. Let me be clear—I do not mean to suppose that discipline is not necessary for creative fulfillment. This could not be further from the truth.
However, I would consider this to be more of a question of how to care for sproutlings, not where the seeds themselves come from. More on that later—I promise.
Creativity is greater than the discipline of one’s expertise, whether that be writing, ballet, film, music, or sculpture. It’s a way of going about one’s day. A departure from the norm. A courageous exploration of the soul. It’s being able to recognize the beauty in the mundane and being brave enough to connect with our neighbors for no reason at all.
Exploring one’s creativity is the same as recognizing one’s own humanity. One must recognize her own humanity before she does the same for her neighbor.
Okay, so what does being kind in day-to-day interactions have to do with writing a feature or choreographing a ballet? Everything. It means everything.
In order to find a seed to plant, you have to be open when they present themselves to you. Don’t forget, seeds are tiny–their voices are small.
Creativity comes in whispers. You have to train your ears to always be alert. And how to turn down the radio static of the 21st century.
You see, much of our day is littered with clutter that leaves our imagination choked and buried. The modern-day conveniences–the car, the office job, the doom-scrolling–may seem insignificant in the moment, but they remove any element of human connection or world exploration that is required for “creativity-maxxing.”
“Ugh, the cat threw up on the carpet again!” we say as we roll our eyes and throw our hands up. Or it’s blisteringly cold in the morning, and the stupid car won’t start. And to top it off, your boss asked you to attend this virtual webinar–cameras on. What a jerk!
Whether we realize it or not, these minor inconveniences can send our brains into overdrive. Noise, noise, and more noise! These thoughts rattle around until our heads nearly explode.
“How can you tell me to be more creative when my laundry list of to-do items never gets finished? I am soooo busy. There simply isn’t enough time in the day–”
Relax. Allow me to explain.
Is there anything we can do to avoid life’s unfortunate annoyances?
No. But you don’t need to–and we will get to that. I promise.
It is imperative to begin the day by exercising creativity. Think of this as creative soil–the foundation and precedent for a creative day to follow. You can’t dump a seed into a bottle of rubbing alcohol and expect it to grow. That would be silly.
Let’s have an important conversation about creativity killers. They prowl around in disguise as flashy screens or quick dopamine solutions. The creativity killers may seem harmless on the surface, but anything looking to misdirect your creative energy into oblivion is really stealing the most important part of you: your soul. They vacuum the creative spark and leave gloomy fog in its place.
On the subject of waking up, many people (myself included), are tempted to reach for the phone (distraction device) and see if anyone liked your Instagram story from the day before.
All of a sudden, you’ve hit the digital “snooze button” on any natural waking mechanism to biologically prepare your mind for the day ahead. Twenty minutes later, your consciousness is submerged back in the doomscroll fog from which it tried to escape for the past eight hours.
There’s something eerie about how social media (including long-form video and those dreaded dating apps) suck the creativity from our lungs. I don’t know about you, but I am beginning to notice that there exists a correlation between screen time and, well…artistic detachment. Coincidence?
Okay, so we all collectively threw our distraction devices into the ocean. Great! What’s the next step?
We fill our day with gifts.
What? Like the “Treat Yo Self” days coined by Donna and Tom in Parks and Recreation?
Well… sort of.
Think honestly about your room. Your office. Your studio. Wherever it is that you work, sleep, and play. Now think about the people, places, and art that inspire you. If you were so moved by the Chris Nolan Batman film that it shaped you into a film director, why not adorn the blank wall with a movie poster? It can be a daily reminder of how much art inspires you. Or if your studio seems… disorganized, ugly, and uninspiring–why not add some flowers? A pretty trinket? Pictures of your last vacation to Aruba?
Go to the dollar store. The thrift store. Wal-Mart. Doesn’t matter. Make the spaces into a shrine for your soul. It doesn’t need to be anything fancy or expensive, but placing bits of your soul around your room is essential for making you feel like you are in a sacred place for the spirit of creativity to linger.
I wish I had scientific evidence to support this, but I can only draw from personal experience; creativity is not like a muscle, as it has no need for recovery. Instead, the more you engage in daily practice, the clearer the ray of creative sunshine will nourish your garden.
This mistake I needed to unlearn tied my creative flow into knots, causing blockage. Muscling all focus and willpower into one creative project will not magically usher in enough creative flow to finish the project all at once.
Instead, we should chase the wisps of whimsy and joy that naturally reveal themselves from the unfolding of our day.
What if we began our day by throwing our earbuds in and listening to our favorite album of all time? Rather than giving twenty minutes of our soul to the attention-hungry algorithms of doom, we could cover ourselves with goosebumps and nostalgia. A five-minute dance party never killed anybody!
The way I have found most helpful to usher seeds in has been to free-write three pages stream-of-consciousness style in a notebook every morning.
Hold on. I explained earlier that forcing creativity is giving in to the malpractice of bad creative doctors.
That is correct.
However, this is to be a stream of consciousness and does not need to be creative. It can be whatever you would like, but I would encourage you to try to stick to what the little voice in your head is saying at the time–even if it is just complaining.
That way, all the “road bumps” (i.e., the cat barfing, car not starting, unplanned mandatory meetings) of life are already out of your head by the time you begin your daily quest for greatness. You see, when thoughts are written down, they transform from mind clutter to something tangible. This allows space for creative thoughts to sprinkle into your conscious mind.
Think of this free-writing as opening the blinds so that the golden sunshine can finally peak through the bedroom window.
Now that our grievances have been screamed onto 8.5x11, we accomplished our first goal.
Creative inertia is fueled by a mind at ease and a body in motion.
After conversing with other artists and songwriters, it is clear that there exists a strong correlation between repetitive movement with the body and strong creative resonance. John Kolar, a songwriter and audio engineering professor at Ball State University, noted that leisurely cycling brings him most of his musical ideas.
Both Gustav Mahler and Dmitri Shostakovich–giants in the history of orchestral music–contend that daily walks and hikes are essential harbors for the next section of their musical work.
Personally, I feel most in tune with creativity while under slight-to-moderate cardio, whether it be an incline treadmill, a jog in the park, or even in my walk to the office.
I prefer walking outside if possible. There is something engaging about exploring the neighborhood rather than being trapped in the same four walls of my bedroom. And what stimulates the mind stimulates the soul. The body is moving, but our brains are flooded with new possibilities. Flowers we’ve never noticed before. A bird with a pretty coat. The way the old house down the street sags into a frown.
On these walks, I find myself an active participant in the great unknown. Sure, I am pretty familiar with the trails and roads I tread most often. But each time, something new calls to me. A rose bush erupting in bloom. The setting sun and its pomegranate hue. The feeling of gentle wind brushing past my arms.
And, like a gift from a stranger, an idea descends upon me. Quietly. Very faint.
But my ears have opened, and I am ready to take action. I snap the picture. Record the voice memo. Crack open the Notes app. I scribble, sing, dance, and rhyme away.
And each idea is a new cause for celebration.
“WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH ACHIEVING MY GOAL TO FINISH MY $#*%&@ PROJECT?!”
Think of this as the faucet being turned on. Sure, a silly verse for a song that comes to you while on your walk may have no relation to the feature you’re trying to write. But this is a monumental step in the right direction.
The spigot drips as the ideas begin to flow. You give enough of these little bits the light of day and soon, you will have a steady stream–a direct beam of sunlight guiding your hand to the page.
These little silly sparks of joy ignite something within that allows you to get un-stuck on the big things. I have full faith that giving these bite-size joy pieces will allow you to see the big problem in a new way.
“How didn’t I realize this before? Of course! The main character needs to…”
Tada! Epiphany.
Another step closer to saving the world. And I mean that.
How? Because being creative is being human. That alone fills me with resounding joy.
Let’s recap. To summarize (without AI): Creative practice is like cultivating and maintaining a garden. You can’t scream at the soil when the plants don’t poke through after one day.
If you lead with love and reinforce with discipline–weeding out creativity killers wherever you can–your garden will teem with flora.
And teaching ourselves how to tend to a garden shows us how to better tend to others–and ourselves.
What more could we want in life other than to be abundant with fruit and great company?
While this is all rooted in my personal experience, it would be theft if I did not credit the great Julia Cameron, distinguished author of The Artist’s Way, for many of these ideas. Reading this book is the most important thing I can ever suggest that you do. It has saved me from being creatively blocked, and I know it can for you, too.
I’ll leave you with this.
I found myself raising my fist to the sky and picking fights with the world. I did not understand that the struggle I was facing was actually internal—not external.
I can scream at the soil all I want, but it does not change that I had not planted any seeds in preparation for expecting fruit. Fruit does not grow itself.
I find that we, as artists, misunderstand changing the world. The outward change we wish to see must begin as an inward change.
If you wish to set the world ablaze, you must first make sure that your own candle is lit.
You can do this. Let’s get to work.
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