And it's excellent fun
You’ve probably read a bunch of advice on amplifying creativity. Meditate! Brainstorm! Think outside the box!
There’s a lot of great advice out there, but this is my go-to, and it’s very simple. It can be summed up in one word.
DESIRE.
Let’s Begin With Manifesting
This is where it starts. I actually came to it through photography.
Every day for years I would take a break from writing and go for a walk. At some point, I started bringing a camera along. I live on a national park and often have close encounters with birds and wildlife.
While I was doing this—and without really realizing what I was doing—I began asking for things to come into my experience. One of the first things I wanted to see was a coyote. I had only ever seen one in my twenty years on the Presidio.
My first assumption was that, in order to do this, I was going to have to learn a lot about coyotes—where they lived, where they hunted, where they were likely to be.
But the thought of doing all of that just to take a photograph didn’t appeal to me. I am the ultimate lazy photographer: if it crosses my path, I will take a picture.
However, I began to notice that when I really pinned my hopes on seeing something, I would see it.
When I mentioned this to my husband, he said: “Tell the universe exactly what you want.”
I decided that I wanted to encounter a completely chill coyote in broad daylight where I wouldn’t miss seeing it.
A few days later, my husband and I were walking, and a guy came up to us on the path to warn us that there was a coyote on the hill fifty yards ahead. I went running.
She was sitting on a hillside in the sun, enjoying the hell out of her life. When I approached, she looked straight at me contemplatively, and sat there patiently while I took dozens of shots. When I finished, I lowered my camera and studied her for a moment. She studied me back. Then she stood up, and we both walked away.
Inspiration
I continued practicing “manifesting” things, and it just kept on working. I got super specific, like “I want a butterfly to land on my arm” and “I want to see a vulture standing still, with its wings spread out.” I always, always got what I wanted within a day or two, and the whole thing just kept blowing my mind.
And what I began to discover was that manifesting works best when I rely on my inspiration.
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I’d say: I want to see an osprey.
They’re not common where I live, but I didn’t think about that. I just pictured the osprey in my mind. I pictured myself seeing it and taking a photo.
Then I’d let it go.
If I just hit the trail, I probably wouldn’t see an osprey.
But sometime in the next day or so, I would feel a sudden impulse. Go to this trail. And I would listen to the impulse. I would put on my shoes, my coat, grab my camera bag, and go to the trail.
And I would see the osprey.
Desire
Once I realized that my impulses weren’t random, that they were guiding me to what I was looking for, I began to realize that I was in dialogue with my Inner Self.
And we were communicating in the language of desire.
Now, whenever I want something, I focus on my desire.
And a while later, my Inner Self will respond with an impulse of desire. It will fill me with a sense of adventure, anticipation, or wanting.
It doesn’t tell me what will happen. It just delivers a feeling or an image.
It has enough information to tell me: Today you should head out on your walk earlier than normal, and today you should go to this particular trail, not any of the twenty others you commonly go to. It will even fill me with urgency now and then, to say: If you hurry, you will get there on time.
If I listen to that desire, it will always lead me to what I’m looking for.
Start With This Exercise
What do you want to do today? What creative project is burning inside you? What are you trying to master or make?
Whatever it is, begin by asking. It can be as simple as saying: I want to be more creative.
I want to solve this problem.
I want to finish this chapter.
Sit down, shut your eyes, and picture what you want. When you do this, you’re telling your Inner Self, through the language of desire, exactly what it should be arranging for you.
Then go about your business. But pay attention, because some time—maybe immediately, maybe within a day or two—your Inner Self with respond with an impulse of desire.
You will feel it. You will suddenly have a notion. An interest. A spark will light. Follow it. Grab it. Do whatever it asks you to do.
The more you practice this, the better you’ll get.
I want you to remember one thing: There is no limit. Your Inner Self will happily carry on, fulfilling your next wish and your next.
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