Got COVID Writer’s Block? Get your Creativity Back with the Wisdom of the Five Elements by Marie Bowser
Today we welcome a new guest writer to Writer’s Fun Zone, Marie Bowser who is stopping by to chat with us about “Got COVID Writer’s Block? Get your Creativity Back with the Wisdom of the Five Elements.” Enjoy!
***
Have you been thinking “Wow! With the shelter-in-place I have all this extra time on my hands, now is my chance to pound out a work of creative genius!”? But then, when you sit down to the computer you’re feeling creatively stuck?
As an Acupuncturist, Spiritual Advisor and Five Element Consultant, I’m usually talking up a storm about the powerful, enthusiastic, get-shit-done, yes-we-can, springtime energy that we have access to right now.
Five Elements Perspective
From a Chinese Medicine, five element perspective, spring is the season of the wood element.
Symbolically, the essence of the wood element is that of a seedling pushing up from under the soil or of a mother pushing her child out of the womb.
This moment in time is that of ultimate creative potency, of single-minded determination to make your creative “baby” come to life.
Only… You’re at home working with your two-year-old on your lap.
Only… You’re spending all this time learning how to use Zoom and it’s pulling away from your productivity.
Only… At the end of the day you’re so exhausted with processing the news and your emotions that all you can do is binge watch “Tiger King” on Netflix.
When The Wood Element is Out of Balance
I’m hearing from my community that there’s fear and anxiety and I’m seeing on social media that people are feeling feisty. When the wood element is out of balance there can be an increased expression of irritability, frustration, anger or muscle tension.
The action-based, enthusiastic, goal-oriented wood element energy needs expression and I know for a fact that people are not finding adequate outlets for that expression right now.
So, you’re thinking “Thanks for this info… but what the hell am I supposed to do about it!!? I’m struggling just to get my groceries ordered, let alone pump out 1,000 words a day!”
Five Elements: Wood Element
Right now, with our wood element energy feeling thwarted, we need alternative ways to express it.
Here are my top 3 suggestions for bringing flow and creative spark back to the wood element:
-
Get into Nature.
Yes, I know that some parks are closed and some trails are quite narrow. There are parks that are open in the San Francisco Bay Area with wide trails and people are being conscientious on the trails. You might also consider walking through a nearby cemetery or university campus.
The wood element feels supported by being within and looking at trees.
Run through them, lean up against one, even in your own backyard, and feel the timeless energy of trees support you. -
Stretch and move your body.
The wood element has a relationship with the muscles and tendons of the body.
If you’re sitting more, if you’re less active, if for some reason you can’t get outside, if you’re feeling stress build up in your body, if you’re feeling stuck physically or emotionally, stretching is a supportive release for that pent up energy.
There are so many online opportunities to move and stretch your body.
Find a local yoga class that has moved online. They need your business (and many are offering sliding scale payments if money is tight for you right now).
Eliminating stagnation in the muscles will help to move stagnation in your creative flow. -
Cut back on unnecessary stress.
Stress creates stagnation in the body, the emotions, life and the creative process. Tax deadlines have been extended.
Give yourself a break. If a website redesign you were planning to do yourself is causing angst, tune in to see if it’s necessary right now.
Don’t let perfect be the enemy of the good (mood).
And, I’m sorry guys, alcohol isn’t helping your stress as much as you think it is. It stagnates the liver, exacerbating feelings of stress, depression, anxiety and irritability and distracts the liver from critical jobs like processing toxins and supporting certain aspects of immunity.
Five Elements: Express Your Wood Element
If you can implement at least one of these things, your wood element will start to feel more expressed, emotions will start to move, clarity will set in, you will feel more grounded and calm and you will gain some of your creative energy back.
Even if you direct it towards finger painting with your kids… We want to call in the supple, flexible energy of bamboo here, rather than the stuck-in-what-we-think-this-should-look-like, brittle, hard, inflexible, wood.
***
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Marie Bowser, L.Ac. helps creative, sensitive, driven people to create easeful, deeply-satisfying, abundant lives. She does this by aligning them with their true nature and the rhythm of the five elements. Marie practices acupuncture at her office in Albany, CA and offers one-on-one, virtual spiritual guidance and five element consultation. If you would like to know more about Marie and her work with the five elements, you can join her free “Rise Above The Noise: 30-day Mindset Shift Challenge” on Facebook where she is sharing daily discussion and wisdom to help you stay focused, positive, healthy and connected.
