At around 4:30 a.m. I had one of those light bulb moments. You know what they are. They’re the ones that wake you at 4:30 a.m. There the ones that knock on your brain and shout, ‘Hey, you creative genius, wake up and remember this! Better yet get out of bed and do something about it!’ Which is exactly what I did, but I told my brain to shut up at least until 5:30 a.m.  which thankfully it did.

These ideas only come to us when we’re truly relaxed, and at peace. When our brains have stopped chattering incessantly about the minutia of life and are ready to receive our creative spark. And this doesn’t happen just because we fall asleep. I’m notorious for being a lousy sleeper. Sigh a little and I’ll wake up. I’ve always been a light sleeper, and my sleep by and large isn’t very restful. However, because I’ve put myself in “calm” mode this week, because I’ve focused on being happy, fulfilled, and at peace with myself and have consciously blocked out negative thoughts and the stresses of my day to day life, it comes as no surprise to me that this idea came to me in the dead of night.

I had a drama teacher many years ago who had a great deal of sayings that I have learned to live by, but the greatest one was “Leave yourself alone!” meaning trust that the instinct is there, that it will come to you as long as you have faith in it, you don’t need to try so hard. Work is hard; finding the creative spark in you requires you to actually let go. It’s the antithesis of everything we’ve ever been taught. “Work hard, life is hard, things are tough.” Yet the inspiration for your creativity requires you to let go, be kind to yourself and to be okay with that.

And so, I’m grateful and excited about my great idea, which obviously I’m playing close to the chest right now, but will reveal when it develops into its more concrete form. Suffice to say I’m excited, a little overwhelmed about where and how to start, but I have the spark and am ready to harness it. Wish me luck!