Restocking the Trout Pond

“In order to create, we draw from our inner well. This inner well, an artistic reservoir, is ideally like a well-stocked fish pond… If we don’t give some attention to upkeep, our well is apt to become depleted, stagnant, or blocked…As artists, we must learn to be self-nourishing. We must become alert enough to consciously replenish our creative resources as we draw on them — to restock the trout pond, so to speak.” —Julia Cameron

Okay, so I laughed the first time I read the words, “restock the trout pond” from Julia Cameron. But this is so right. We can’t just keep drawing from our internal creative resources. Just like we must restock our art supplies we must replenish our creativity. We can do this by taking a break and paying attention to the world around us. Meditation and visualization are also tools I like to use.

I also like to do a little creative play. I take my scraps and just throw them on a small piece of felt. I play with them a little till I get a look I like. Then I throw a piece of tulle over the whole mess and quilt the heck out of it. I cut it to business card size and glue it to a piece of cardstock with my contact information on the back. If you ask me for a business card, this is what you get. But I never sit down to make business cards — I just play.

How do you “restock the trout pond?.”