SANTOSH BAKAYA
Here I am once again with my thoughts on creativity.
All of us struggle with confidence. There is a profusion of mental blocks that
stop you from writing your best work. Do you have a sedentary lifestyle?
Are you a couch potato, snug in your comfort zone? Then yank away those fetters of your comfort, and explore new avenues. Inspiration can strike you anywhere; immediately jot down the idea that strikes you. Brainwaves are fleeting. Trap them in a diary, virtual or real.
Do you think confidence comes from talent?
It comes from consistency and resilience. We know the first steps of a toddler. First, stumbling, tumbling, diffident step, gradually heading towards a surefootedness, reaching the stage when the surefooted toddler now feels that
he\she owns the world.
So, the more you write, the more you’ll know about managing those anxieties, apprehensions, and inhibitions.
The butterflies fluttering in the stomach are a reflection of some deep- rooted inadequacy or low self-esteem. One shouldn’t underestimate oneself, but try to boost one’s confidence by taking one step at a time, and lauding that effort and patting ourselves on our backs for it.
The butterflies should be fluttering outside you, not inside you.
In my previous piece, I wrote about observing nature and jotting down notes about what you see.
All of us know that everything in nature fills us with renewed vigour. Look at the bougainvillea blooming in the neighbour’s garden, and at the hibiscus blooms, the sun’s rays filtering through the trees and falling on the bed of marigolds, the flower pots lined up in the adjacent house, and you will find beauty knocking at your heart.
Don’t just listen to the knocks, but go and open the door to the heart.
Listen, are the hibiscus flowers whispering to you? What did they whisper? Are the marigolds trying to tell you something?
Quash all those jitters, listen to the ambient sounds, and jot your first sentence.
Reminds me of a line by Anton Chekhov.
“What shall I write?” Said Yegor, and dipped his pen in the ink.
Well, you have to begin somewhere. Begin NOW.
Whatever you write is not meant to be perfect.
In fact, nothing can be perfect, but it can improve with every draft.
Try again and again.
The doors of your mind are latched. Unlatch them. Let the refreshing breeze of new ideas come bursting in, bust all myths and stereotypes.
Now begin on a clean slate.
Are you curious about things? If not, be curious. Take risks and experiment. Explore. Don’t be afraid to accept challenges. Be adventurous with your words, play with them. In doing this, you will find yourself on the path of discovery.
Do you even know what triggers your creativity?
Anything can do it. Just keep your eyes and ears open, and you will find yourself face to face with a vibrant new world, where every leaf triggers a poem, every tree whispers a verse, and every deserted house beckons you with eerie sounds. So, what are you waiting for?
The author is an academician, poet, essayist, novelist, and TEDx speaker, with more than twenty published books to her credit.
