Creativity and your cycle

Do you ever wake up in the middle of the night and start having tons of great ideas and think ‘I could actually get up and write – it’s so peaceful, I have so many ideas…’ but then perhaps think:

1) it might wake up my hubby/partner/children/neighbours

2) I am going to be soooo tired tomorrow

3) it’s actually not that great

4) this is ridiculous, go back to sleep

5) no but this particular idea is actually fantastic!

6) ok let’s get up!

7) no, it’s ok, I’ll remember tomorrow…

And so you don’t get up, you go back to sleep after say half an hour (if you’re lucky), and then of course… you don’t remember any of your fab ideas…

This has happened to me many times in the last three decades. Sometimes I did get up and write, sometimes I just jotted down the idea (but then it didn’t really make sense the next morning), but most of the time I just went back to sleep. And I nearly always regretted it.

Lately, I have actually just got up and worked/wrote.

I have been tracking my cycle for nearly 2 years and recently I have finally understood and accepted that a few days before my period, I don’t sleep very well AND I brim with ideas, so I now accept that if I ever wake up properly and I have ideas popping into my head, I want and need to get up and write them down. However – and this is much much harder to accept!! – I therefore need to also take it easy when I feel tired (usually on Days 1 and 2, but often way beyond that), rest and feel good about resting, knowing that my creative time will come back, it’s OK, we are not made for non-stop creativity and action! We are cyclical!

So yesterday, having woken up at 3am, I decided to get up at 4.30. Yes I waited a looong time, because 1) of the hesitations as outlined above, 2) it had happened twice this week already so I was super tired, and 3) I was listening to a ‘Guidance’ meditation by Rebecca Campbell and the ideas just kept coming in, so I didn’t want to interrupt the flow. When the idea felt whole, I decided I shouldn’t wait any longer, get up, light up some candles in my garden studio and write it all out. And so I did.

If you would like to explore your cycle and how it affects your creativity, did you know that when you sign up for my newsletter, you receive a FREE chart to track your cycle and creativity (and a sample one that shows you what to do and how to use your chart)? You can also track your child’s or children’s emotions and behaviour and see if your own emotions and/or the moon affects them too

The link to my newsletter is here or on the home page of my website. Don’t worry, I won’t spam you – I rarely send newsletters! (Maybe once a month!)

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