Flow and the Muse

This morning I had one of those “aha!” enlightenment kind of moments. While writing about medtech innovation. On a Saturday. In bed.

Ruby woke me up, as per usual for a weekend, at about 7am. She can easily go till 10 without peeing, but if I’m not up by 5:30ish (my weekday rising time), I think she gets anxious and starts whining at the foot of our bed. Brady somehow manages to sleep through her whining like a snoring, wheezy log, so I’m the one who always gets up, trots to the kitchen, gives her a cookie, and watches as she settles back down…while I’m now wide awake.

After our little routine, I’d planned on making my coffee and tucking myself into a corner of the couch to read, but my heart wasn’t in it. I felt like writing instead. Initially, I was going to write something-or-other here, on this blog. But then I started thinking about a website I was working on yesterday, which was presenting me with a whole host of really interesting brand and content challenges, so I opened that tab on my laptop instead.

I tinkered with the language and the flow for three hours—first downstairs on the couch with Rubes, then upstairs in my bed once the kids woke up and Saturday Morning Screen Time commenced.

Three hours. On a Saturday morning. And it felt so freaking good.

I realized when I finished that not only was I satisfied with the work, but I was energized from it, too.

Three hours. Heads down. Blinders on. Writing. Creating. Bringing something into existence.

It was Flow, at its best.

But I also realized that I didn’t set out to find Flow this morning. I had no agenda, just kind of followed where my energy was leading.

And simply by doing that, Flow found me.

If you haven’t read Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear, I highly recommend it. Liz Gilbert talks about how our Muse isn’t something we can summon directly, but that we can only create the conditions, mindsets, environments, etc. to invite the Muse in, and make her comfortable and welcome, should she decide to land. It’s then up to us whether we listen to what she has to say. Whether we’re inspired to create with what she brings us, or we pass-up the offer and carry on with our lives.

Writing about medtech this morning was not a life-changing project. But the spark that ignited it…or I guess, the spark that I allowed it to ignite…was real.

I listened to my heart and followed it toward writing instead of reading. I opened a Google Doc tab and made space for the Muse to land. I listened to what she had to say, and crafted the words and narrative on the page. And when I finished three hours later, it felt like I’d just spent the morning basking in the sun.

I get that this all might sound super woo woo, and maybe even like I had too much wine at dinner last night, but the feeling I experienced this morning truly was an “aha!” for me:

If I open myself to the Muse, she will come. She always does, even if it’s at completely unexpected times. I just have to be present enough, and brave enough, to welcome her in.