Cycle of Creativity: The Moon Squashing the Voice of Self-Sabotage
Running across the road with my enthusiastic toy cavoodle pulling me forward, I started feeling a slight tremor in my body. I hadn't eaten breakfast yet, as I had just finished meditating and wanted to take Koby for a walk before jumping into the ice bath and starting my work day.
Consumed with a creative project I was working on, the perfectionist in me made a mental note to get up earlier so that I could maintain my routine and eat breakfast earlier. To be more efficient and productive was my goal. But this low-level tremor refused to go away. With it came brain fog and negative self-talk that kept swirling around in my head. I intuitively knew that my nervous system was dysregulated.
The sneaky voice of self-sabotage has a habit of creeping in unnoticed, sending your nervous system into a state of stress, and robbing you of creative flow.
Creativity is often seen as a mysterious and elusive quality that some people are blessed with, while others struggle to tap into their creative potential. Some may even believe that they’ve lost the spark and are stuck in a bare desert where ideas have dried up and vanished. The voice in your head tells you that you’re not creative, spreading cobwebs of doubt through your body.
We are even told that the “creative” phase for a woman is days 21-28 in her hormonal cycle, which is aligned to the 3rd quarter phase of the moon. I call this the “intuitive” phase, as I believe that creativity flows throughout the whole moon cycle in various flavours, colours, textures, and sensations.
It truly saddens me when I hear people say “I’m not creative!” I believe that a skilled artist, designer, maker, etc is someone who dedicated time and energy to honing their craft.
We are all creative! And it saddens me even further when artists believe that they have lost their mojo and start to doubt themselves and develop an internal dialogue that’s highly critical. For me, this negative self-talk just keeps your nervous system in a state of stress and sabotages you from moving forward in life.
Sometimes, we sabotage our self-talk because if we believed in ourselves, we’d feel free to get back out in the world and take risks, and that would leave us vulnerable.
Briana Wiest, The Mountain Is You: transforming self-sabotage into self-mastery.
The Calm.com app states that “self-sabotaging behaviour is more than procrastinating on a task you don't want to do. It refers to actions or thought patterns (both conscious and unconscious) that can interfere with your long-term goals and overall wellbeing…it is almost like an invisible force pushing you in the opposite direction of where you want to go.”
But did you know that following the moon cycle helps promote a flexible nervous system which in turn works towards silencing the voice of self-sabotage?
First, we need to demystify what creativity is!
Experience and Potential: What is Creative Flow?
Creative flow is a state of being fully immersed and completely focused on a creative task or project. It is typically characterised by a feeling of energised focus, full involvement, plus enjoyment in the process of creativity.
During this state, you may experience a heightened sense of productivity, and timelessness, as you’re completely absorbed in the present moment. This state is often referred to as a “flow state” or “being in the zone” where you’re able to tap into your full creative potential. Ideas and problem-solving abilities come easily, often leading to a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction.
As an artist, I have encountered this state of creative flow numerous times, and it’s truly thrilling when it happens.
A few years back, while working in my studio, I was experimenting with folding a large sheet of paper that I had covered obsessively with graphite over a canvas. The process became an intimate dance between, myself, the paper, and the stretcher, sparking the creation of a new body of work. The creative potential that was unearthed from this intuitive play led me to performative art. You can read more about intuitive play in my blog The Energetics of Creative Flow: Taming the Originality Monster.
Yet, I believe, like Rick Rubin, that creative flow is much more than being immersed in a creative task and “being in the zone.”
Creativity is not a rare ability. It is not difficult to access. Creativity is a fundamental aspect of being human. It’s our birthright. And it’s for all of us. To create is to bring something into existence that wasn’t there before. It could be a conversation, a solution to a problem, a note to a friend, the rearrangement of furniture in a room, a new route home to avoid a traffic jam.
Rick Rubin, The Creative Act: A Way of Being
Remember, everyone can be creative, whether you paint, write, cook, sew, sing, dance…live! I think that if you embrace this idea of creativity you can rediscover the world in all its beauty, its design, as well as its asymmetrical magnificence. It’s here that you’ll find the portal to consistent creative flow and for me, it comes down to embracing the cycle of creative flow.
Embody The Cycle of Nature and The Moon: Constant Creative Flow
We live in a universe of cycles, in which nature has a continuous cycle of death and birth and is symbolic of transformation and regeneration. Winter moves into spring, into summer, into autumn and back to winter.
Imagine yourself as your own universe and how the cycle of nature mirrors the creative flow that exists within you. Just as the seasons change and evolve, your own creative processes ebb and flow over time. Like the blooming of a flower in spring, your ideas and inspiration can blossom and grow with vitality.
As the summer sun shines brightly, you may find yourself in a period of intense focus and productivity. And like the leaves falling in autumn, there are times when you need to let go of old ideas and projects to make space for new growth. Finally, in the quiet stillness of winter, you may find yourself in a period of reflection and introspection, preparing for this cycle of creative flow to start again.
The cycle of nature and the cycle of the moon are intimately connected, showcasing the interconnectedness of all living things on Earth. What’s more, each phase of the moon carries its own unique energetic qualities that can impact your physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being.
New Moon: Aligned with Winter, the New Moon is a time of setting new intentions and fresh starts. Energetically it’s a reflective time of stillness and introspection, where you can consider the quality, depth, and authenticity of an idea in the interest of growth and transformation.
Waxing Moon: Aligned with Spring, this 1st Quarter Moon is a time to take action on your intentions, to push forward with projects, and to focus on building and creating. Energetically, it’s a dynamic time of momentum and progress, where you can harness the energy of growth and abundance.
Full Moon: Aligned with Summer, the Full Moon is a time of collaboration, completion, and culmination. Energetically it’s an expressive time of heightened productivity and celebration where you can bring gratitude to a project that nourishes your soul. It’s also a powerful time for releasing anything that no longer serves you.
Waning Moon: Aligned with Autumn, this 3rd Quarter Moon is a time to reflect on your goals and rest so that you can dive deep into ideas and concepts. Energetically it’s an introspective time where you intuitively trust the creative process while magically pulling ideas out of nowhere. It is the time to surrender to the flow of life and prepare for new beginnings.
I’ve found that embracing the natural rhythms of nature and embodying the moon cycle has helped me cultivate a deeper connection to my creativity.
Nature shows me that each season brings its own unique energy and opportunity for growth and change. While the Moon teaches me that everything shifts and fluctuates and that there is no real death, only a transformation. Both teaching me that the constant ebb and flow of life, the importance of patience and perseverance, and the beauty in embracing change, leads to constant creative flow, or what you will see, a cycle of creative flow.
Self-Sabotage: What happens to the brain and the body
Overworking, distractions, self-doubt, and external pressures can sabotage the creative process and obstruct the flow of ideas. Falling into the trap of trying to constantly produce innovative work often leads me towards burnout and mental exhaustion. I have an unconscious fear of burnout because of how I used to operate! My thirties and forties was a roller coaster ride from extreme highs to crashing lows. That is a distant memory, but recently when I was a little busier with creating a new product, I started to experience a tremor in my body. It was very slight, but enough to rattle me.
I instinctively knew that the shaking was the brain releasing certain chemical signals to my body. In Becoming Supernatural, Dr Joe Dispenza states that “since your senses plug into the external environment and neurologically record the narrative in your brain, when you experience a highly charged emotional event - bad or good - that moment becomes embossed neurologically in your brain as a memory.” My entire state of being was stuck in the past, and my dysregulated nervous system was feeling unsafe.
At the same time, I noticed myself setting unattainable standards, trying to make things perfect before progressing. Now that I better understand my own system, I could see that perfectionism, one of my main saboteurs, was making an appearance and holding the project back. It felt like perfectionism was like taking Koby on a walk, dragging me to where he wanted to go and not staying calmly by my side. Other than fatigue, I was not receiving the benefits of my hard work. My body was feeling unmotivated and my brain foggy. Even though I was feeling fulfilled, I had lost the spark of excitement by “conditioning my body to the past” as Dispenza would say.
Final Thoughts: How the Moon supports a flexible nervous system
“Flexibility is the hallmark of psychological health,” writes Alice Boyes in the Harvard Business Review. She advises to review activities or behaviours and make sure they are “the best use of your physical and mental energy.” I widely agree with this, but I also think that a flexible nervous system is what helps maintain realistic practices for silencing the voice of self-sabotage.
In Call Of The Wild, Kimberly Ann Johnson writes how “our nervous system is the main switchboard of your body…and is always scanning for safety.” Most importantly she advocates that “gaining flexibility helps us become more adaptive, engaged, and comfortable in different environments.”
This is where being aligned with the cycles of the moon helps me to stay on a healthy path. But sometimes I lose my way in the wilderness of the creative journey, and bad habits emerge as I no longer feel in control. Instead, I’m engaging in “emotion-focused” coping. Kani Wiens writes in the Harvard Business Review that “people who spend a lot of time in emotion-focused coping face a significantly higher risk of burnout.”
Essentially, I’d been cycling between the Waxing Moon of Spring and the Full Moon of Summer. Not including any time for intuitive rest and reflection was making me feel exhausted, irritable, and frustrated. Disregarding the Waning Autumn Moon and Winter New Moon meant that I was burning out from the dynamic energy of the outer world. The tremors were how my body communicated to stop and allow the solitude of my inner world emerge.
The ability to swing between these outer and inner worlds is how your nervous system becomes flexible and following the cycle of the moon as a guide can be a practical solution for managing productivity for the cycle of creative flow. If you find yourself stuck in this trap of self-sabotage just look to the moon for guidance. She will lovingly let you know what you need to do to bring peace and harmony into your life. She will help silence the negative self-talk, the procrastination, and the perfectionist features of self-sabotage. The moon will help you be kind to yourself.
Imagine, dear reader, experiencing a creative journey where the magic of the moon effortlessly guides you through an enchanting forest of reflection, intuition, imagination, and productivity. Showering you with consistent creative flow, through the cycle of consistent flow.
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