Gratitude: A missing key to breaking through the creative block

 Remember the first time you went to college? 

Or the first time you picked up a musical instrument you loved?

 Remember going to the beach or the snow park with your parent/parents when you were young? 

Or the first time you flew to another country?

If you sensed a kind of magic in those first few moments, you've experienced the seed of the creative urge. You've touched the face of God, as it were. You've climbed somewhere that people only generally experience a few times in their lifetime. 

We're all wishing for that first touch of destiny to call us again. If … and only if it did, we'd be creative again, we say. We tend to blame circumstances. If we only had more money, more opportunities, fate would smile upon us.

But here's another perspective. If that's the case, then why, for all the money in the world, are people like Bill Gates, and Arianna Huffington so stale, so uncreative, so horribly sickeningly, stiflingly, suffocatingly dead inside? Personally I can't look at these people for very long without feeling queezy.

The fact is, no matter how many planes these crusty elitists fly, no matter how many more farms or artworks they buy, no matter how many Washington shark-suits they rub against, they'll never, ever be satisfied, and it shows. 

The key then, is not more. The key is simple happiness with what you have. It cleans away the grease. It allows the sunlight back into your soul again. 

If you've been very ill and questioned all your life decisions, then at the precise moment when you recover, you feel grateful. Grateful for the simple, honest innocence of a dog. Simple hope for the future that poor people have. A willingness to work with simple materials like pencil and paper again. 

Gratitude is a muscle. A cliche, yes, but a true one. Exercise it. 

Write down 10 things you're grateful for every morning. 

This will get you out of your creative pickle!

Hope it helps.