Look at nature: Every plant and animal is perfectly suited to its purpose. A horse doesn't question whether it should gallop. A rose doesn't doubt that it should blossom. Marsha Sinetar, author of the bestseller Do What You Love, the Money Will Follow, urges people to get in touch with their hearts' desires. The idea is that when you're aligned with your true being and doing something that gives you joy, your capacity for success increases. The workload seems lighter. Time flies by.

Getting Out of a Rut

Let's say you're in a rut at work. You detest your job but at the moment, you don't have any other prospects on the horizon. However, you're preparing a resume, putting out feelers, setting things in motion. In the meantime, you can do a little magic, and it starts with simply taking a different route to and from work.

On the first morning that you take the new route, give yourself some extra time. Leave home ten or fifteen minutes earlier than usual. Notice how this route to work differs from the one you ordinarily take. Is it more scenic? More hectic? Is it longer or shorter? Pay attention to any feelings you have during the trip, as well as any thoughts and impressions that surface.

Throughout the day while you're at work, notice if you feel differently about your job. Are you more committed to finding something else to do? Are your thoughts any clearer? Does your boss still rub you the wrong way? Are you less impatient with other people and your situation?

Fear of change can be crippling. But all growth requires change, and resisting change causes pain. Intentionally putting yourself into unfamiliar circumstances forces you to use your creativity rather than relying on old habits. Until you change your habitual ways of thinking and old patterns, your life will remain stuck.

Creativity and Nature

Put on your walking shoes and head for the great outdoors. If you live in a large city, the outdoors is probably a park. In the suburbs you may have a few more choices, but ideally you want to really get away and commune with nature. No convenience stores, no gas stations, no shopping malls, no movie theaters, no traffic.

Use what's available where you live. Look at trees and other plants. Observe the wildlife. Enjoy the smell of the air, the feel of the ground under your feet. Take note of how your thought processes start to change. You may hear some inner grumbling and moaning at first, the usual body complaints like It's too far, I'm hot, I'm thirsty, I'm hungry, or Where's the bathroom? But when you get past all that — and you will — something magical happens. You can feel the inner shift. Your thoughts begin to flow rather than to sputter. Your rhythm changes. Your gait quickens or slows. You feel lighter, happier, more optimistic. This is exactly the right atmosphere for your creativity to percolate.

Quite often, when you venture into nature simply to see what you'll discover, your imagination is stimulated in unusual and, sometimes, enduring ways. When British biologist and author Rupert Sheldrake was a young boy, his father took him to see the freeing of homing pigeons. “When the appointed time came, the porters opened the flaps and out burst hundreds of pigeons, batch after batch, in a great commotion of wind and feathers,”

he wrote in Seven Experiments That Could Change the World. His fascination with homing pigeons as a boy led many decades later to the first experiment described in his book.

Ten Tips to Spur Imagination

Often all your creativity needs is a little nudge. Here are some ways to prime the pump, so to speak:

• Go to a museum or art gallery.

• Read a story or poem and notice how your mind forms images from the words.

• Take a walk and pay attention to everything around you.

• Listen to a CD you've never heard before or attend a concert.

• Take a class or workshop on a subject that's always interested you.

• Write your thoughts in a journal each morning.

• Observe children.

• Go someplace you've never been.

• Brainstorm with friends.

• Turn off the television.

Most important, stop listening to the old tapes in your head that say you can't do it, you aren't creative, you can't make money as an artist, and so on. Just give yourself room to express yourself, to enjoy the process without judging yourself or worrying about the outcome.