When Your Creativity Needs to Rest
“What if these quieter times are as essential to our creative lives as the bursts of inspiration and productivity?”
The mango tree in my garden is reminding me something about creative seasons. Right now, it's full of ripening fruit - a time of abundance and harvest. But I know that soon it will enter a quieter phase, gathering energy for next season's growth. Nature understands something we often forget: every creative cycle needs its fallow periods.
So many of us can worry when our creativity seems to go quiet. We may mistake these natural resting phases for blocks or failure. But what if these quieter times are as essential to our creative lives as the bursts of inspiration and productivity?
Just as a garden moves through seasons, our creativity has its own natural rhythms:
Times of abundant ideas and energy
Periods of gentle germination
Seasons of revision and refinement
Moments of rest and renewal
I've been exploring these creative seasons while writing my upcoming book. One of the most useful principles I've found in my creative life is that when we honour our natural creative rhythms instead of fighting them, our creativity becomes more sustainable and joy-filled.
If you're in a quieter creative season right now, here are some gentle ways to honour it:
Notice what naturally draws your attention
Collect images, words, or objects that spark your interest
Let yourself rest without judgment
Trust that your creativity is gathering energy for its next expression
Sometimes the most supportive thing we can do is share these seasons with others who understand. In our Creative Hearts Community, we hold space for all phases of the creative journey. Whether you're in full bloom or quiet hibernation, you'll find:
Monthly calls exploring different aspects of creative living
Seasonal virtual retreats to align with natural rhythms
Understanding companions on the creative path
Permission to create and rest in your own timing
This Saturday, we have a fun-filled 2 Hour Christmas Bookmark Painting workshop in the community, and you're so welcome to join the fun. Inside the community you'll find the Zoom link to join the class with me live so we can paint and play together. Or, if you can't make it live, it will be recorded and you can enjoy the recording at your own pace.
When we build our self-trust and allow our personal creative rhythms to flow, it makes life so much more joyful. Your creativity isn't gone when it grows quiet - it's just gathering strength for its next beautiful expression.
Be kind to yourself and nurture your creativity.
With my warmest wishes,
~ Nicola
P.S. If you're longing for a creative community that understands and honours these natural rhythms, the Creative Hearts doors are open. Join us to discover how supported your creative journey can feel.
P.P.S. Here's my mango tree, laden with fruit! The birds have been having a feast, and I've managed to harvest a few before the birds get to them, for us to devour, too. Yum!
My mango tree has had a bumper year!
About Nicola Newman
I'm a Creative Business Coach, Award-Winning Artist & Mentor for Creative Hearts who want to flourish, flow & prosper.
My passion is inspiring and supporting Creative Hearts to trust their inner wisdom and carve out a life that’s personally meaningful and fulfilling to them.
I share practical, evidence-based tools for Creative Hearts seeking to improve their lives or businesses. My work draws from acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), mindfulness-based techniques, body-based practices, and neuroscience -- and my own creative living adventures -- among other approaches.
My mission is to support Creative Hearts to:
Dissolve creative blocks, develop a loving relationship with themselves, nurture their creativity and reframe the beliefs and patterns that keep them from following their heart and making the creative contribution they would love to make in the world.
My approach is to embrace gentleness, playfulness and self-care to navigate self-doubt and instead cultivate deep self-trust so you can truly enjoy the creative process, bring together your body of work, make money doing what you love and leave a creative legacy you’re proud of.
Let’s pour a cuppa and get to know one another, shall we? :) Read more about my story here.
