How to keep creativity flowing: Part 1 (Maia)

Maia shares her secrets for remaining creatively vibrant and right-brain engaged even while navigating the left-brain side of life.

Research shows that our brain has a divide: the right side is our creative, imaginative side, while the left hemisphere of the brain handles analytics and communication. Much of modern life is left-brained: driving a car, paying bills, scheduling the week for yourself and your family. And then there are moments in life we like to call “Mega Left-Brained”: selling houses, navigating a divorce, moving to a foreign country . . . you know, the stuff Steph and I are both in the midst of right now.

So, how do you keep your right brain from atrophying while navigating the left-brained sides of life?

In THIS MONTH’S VIDEO, we discussed adding a dash of creativity to daily tasks. We also chatted about allowing your subconscious to continue cooking even when your conscious mind has left the creative kitchen.

Today Maia wants to share her go-to for inviting the right brain into the left brain’s world.

Let’s get creative!

Hi friend!

My book is starting to whisper to me again, it’s voice seeping up from my subconscious, letting me know where it wants to go next. It’s always such a relief to move from a “chop wood, carry water” period (those stretches of days, week, months and longer, when all I can focus on is making it through the next of life’s logistical hoops). I’m very excited by the prospect of having new words for you next month.

But this month, I want to share a little life hack that helps me see around corners and find new solutions to old conundrums. It’s also a way that I stay engaged with myth and metaphor even when I’m mired in the mundane. (Is that too much alliteration? Tell me in the comments!)

Seriously, though, this hack is incredibly simple and gives your right brain a chance to stretch without pulling you off task when life is life-ing. It fits so seamlessly into my day that I often forget the impact of it. But yesterday I got to witness its potency when I taught it to a group of rural Western North Carolina doctors.

I was invited to speak to this group by a physician who is also an author. Benjamin and I met at a literary festival at which we were both presenting. We had tacos together at a long table with a bunch of other writers and I got to know him just enough to tag him as a person with a golden retriever vibe— you know: warm, friendly, approachable. I’m not sure I even knew he lived, like me, in Asheville.

So his invitation to speak at a retreat was an out-of-the-blue surprise. Turns out, Benjamin is more than just an author, doctor, and golden retriever: he also founded something called the Rural Fellowship after noticing that the mountains of North Carolina had trouble attracting and retaining doctors. He set about remedying this by creating the WNC Rural Fellowship to support young general practitioners coming to work in Appalachia. He contacted me looking for ways to support their process of self-discovery and to help these young docs get out of their left brain and into their right.

Before moving my focus wholly to writing, I worked as a clinical herbalist interfacing with the medical community as well as those seeking purely alternative health options. I am at my most comfortable when inhabiting this middle ground, a place from which I can explain to alternative wellness folks why an integrative approach is important and, at the same time, help the more scientifically minded to let a little magic into their lives. Introducing doctors to a bit of “woo” is one of my favorite pastimes; I’m tickled by their looks of shocked confusion.🤣 So I happily accepted Benjamin’s invite to speak.

The exercise I planned for the retreat is one I use myself on a near daily basis. It’s ridiculously simple: when I have a left brained issue (like a logistical or executive decision) that is befuddling me, I pull a card.

Oracle and tarot cards are common tools for the modern mystic. But even those familiar with card use rarely think to use them as a way to boost executive function. Instead we turn to them for emotional or spiritual concerns, relegating them to the right-brain parts of our lives.

Using them for left-brained activities takes just a little mental tweak: instead of thinking of the cards as predictive or as a source of guidance, think of them as a way to open your mind to ideas you have not yet considered. Our brains are formatted for efficiency, and this often means doing things the same way we’ve done them before. Even when our methodology is not quite working, it’s hard to get out of the ruts in our cerebellum.

The cards do this brilliantly. I often describe it as entering a house through the back door when you’re used to going in the front. It’s the same house, but everything looks a little different.

The instructions I gave this group of doctors was straight forward: think of an issue you’re having. It may be have to do with work, or with a specific patient. It may be a personal dilemma. See if you can phrase your concerns as a question.

The docs worked in pairs and trios, sharing and refining their query with their partner(s), before getting centered to focus on the question while pulling a card. The group talked about the card together, discussing how it might relate to the question, seeking out the previously unthought of doors and windows the card opened. I surreptitiously watched the other groups while working with my own; the level of engagement and animation was heart-warming. No one seemed too hung-up on the “woo” of it.

After the partner work, we came together as a full group to discuss. People who had looked doubtful going in were glowing. One doctor shared that even though the cards made her uncomfortable at first she got important insight from the exercise. She liked the reframe as the cards as a way to tap into fresh ideas. More than one person marveled at how strangely perfect each card pull was for the addressing the question that was asked.

This tiny bit of right brained creativity lets a little light into a left brained day… or week… or month. We all go through periods where our focus is on getting life’s details done. Little reminders of serendipity and magic feel like a balm on a day that’s all spreadsheets and conversations with the credit card company.

And, bonus?

This method also works wonders when your creative brain gets stymied. Don’t know what a character in your book should do next? Having trouble interpreting a dream? Just pull a card!

Moving seamlessly between the left and right hemispheres of my brain is something I had to learn. After year of living in the extremes of my left brain, I swung wildly into my right. It took time to learn balance. If this is a journey that interests you, you can read the whole story here: