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Have you ever wanted to create something but felt pretty much empty?

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Like whatever creative spark you had was just gone?

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Well, what if I told you that inside of you is a deep well of creativity that you probably don't even realize is there?

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Today, I'm going to show you why that tiny drop of creativity you think you have is actually more like an ocean,

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or at least like a lake, and how to let it spill out into the world.

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Welcome to Unleash Your Inner Creative with Lauren LaGrasso.

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I'm Lauren LaGrasso. I'm a Webby Award-winning podcast host and producer,

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singer-songwriter, keynote speaker, and creative coach.

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This show sits at the intersection of creativity,

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mental health, self-development, and spirituality,

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and it is meant to give you tools to love,

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trust, and know yourself enough to claim your right to creativity,

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redefine your relationship with fear, and pursue whatever it is that's on your heart.

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Today, we're going to talk about why you have so much more creativity inside of you than you think you have,

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and how to let it... all spill out into the world.

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But first, let me set the scene.

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I'm taking you last night into my bedroom.

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Ooh, scandalous. Not really. I was just about to put on my face mask.

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And when I was reaching for my face mask, I actually unfortunately knocked over my glass of water that was on my nightstand,

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which is classic me. I talk with my hands.

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I knock over glasses all the time. It's something I've become well acquainted with in my life.

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I'm Italian. It happens. It is a just a fun hobby I've gotten used to.

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So last night. old hat, I was reaching to get my mask with the lights off and I knocked over my water glass.

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And at first I was like, oh gosh, why did this happen?

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I want to go to bed. Now there's water everywhere.

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And honestly, I had a very small amount of water in my glass.

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So let's say I'm doing this on screen.

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So like I have a full glass. I probably had like an eighth of the glass of water left,

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less than what I'm holding in the glass that I have right now.

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And when I knocked it over, I was truly astounded at how...

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In the glass, it had looked like such a small amount of water,

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like there was almost nothing there. But when I knocked over,

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there was water everywhere. It was all over my nightstand.

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It had spread out throughout the whole nightstand. It fell behind the nightstand,

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onto the wall, underneath the nightstand.

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I had to move it and clean all over the place.

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And it took me a decent amount of time and a big towel to dry this all up before I could rest my precious little head down and get some sleep.

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But... In the middle of my complaining,

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I had this realization that every single time I've ever knocked over a glass of water,

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which again, as I've mentioned, has been quite often in my sweet young life,

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I have been astounded at how the glass didn't look that full.

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But when it gets knocked over, there is a massive puddle way beyond what it looked like inside of the receptacle,

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that when it came out, there was simply water everywhere.

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And I had this realization that that's exactly how our creativity is inside of us too,

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especially when we're feeling blocked or like we don't have that much to offer,

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that we think that maybe there's this teeny tiny microscopic amount.

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But if you can knock it out of yourself, or sometimes if life knocks it out of you,

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this unbelievable well of creativity that has been sitting inside of you just pours over.

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And that's what I'm here to talk about. today, the hidden creativity you have inside of you,

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why you have way more inside than you think,

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and how to start knocking it out of you. I have so many examples of this in my life,

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and I know you do too. For example,

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when I first moved to LA, I had never written a song,

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and then acting started breaking my heart.

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And I started having this creativity pour out of me that had been welling up inside of me,

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I guess, my whole life. And I started writing songs in between that state where you're awake and you're asleep.

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I truly don't think that music would have ever come to me,

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or at least not in that time frame, had acting not broken my heart.

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And so that's an example of creativity that was building up inside of me my whole life that I didn't even know that was there.

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And then once it started flowing out, it was just like this endless,

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it was just like this endless waterfall of creative expression.

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But there's so many other smaller moments where I had thought that I didn't have much creativity inside of me.

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But then when it started pouring out, I saw that,

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oh my gosh, what looked like was an eighth of a glass worth of creativity was actually a very large puddle.

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One time I was having writer's block when I was deep into my songwriting career,

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and I gave myself the constraint of, okay,

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you have an hour to write a song. Within 40 minutes,

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I had written a fantastic song. To this day,

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it's one of my favorite songs, and it is to this day the quickest song I ever wrote.

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But if I just let myself believe that I was actually blocked and had nothing inside of me,

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and I hadn't given myself the constraints to knock this creativity out of me so I could see the giant amount of creativity I really had,

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I might never. have written that song and had that song on my hands.

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Something small can also help. I remember one time I was going to make a podcast and I was like,

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I'm so tired. I don't think I can do it.

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I don't have the ability to do it. And I'm like,

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okay, you know what? I'm just going to switch rooms. And sure enough,

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just something as simple as changing the literal location in the room of your house that you're in,

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it knocked it out of me. And suddenly I was able to make

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this outline for a podcast and did this incredible podcast about how to get creatively unblocked,

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funny enough. Going on a trip, we went to Joshua Tree this weekend.

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There were so many inspiring things just getting out of my own natural environment that I was able to see that brought creativity to me.

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I saw like this pink house and I'm starting to write this song about our tiny pink house in the desert.

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So getting out of your environment can bring this well of creativity.

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And I never would have thought of writing a song about a pink house.

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But just going somewhere else, knocking myself out of my normal environment,

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took this thing in me that was maybe a speck and expanded into something so much bigger.

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And even the hard stuff like heartbreak you go through,

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or for me, the recent fires in LA,

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this has sparked my creativity in a big way and forced it out of me in such an unexpected way because there has been a crisis here and there has been a heartbreak and my creativity has tuned to that heartbreak.

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But I didn't know that those passions and that...

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way of thinking and creating was even inside me.

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And I think the best example is knocking over the glass last night,

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because literally before that, I was like, I don't have anything to talk about this week.

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I don't know how I'm going to do my podcast. And then this happy accident happened that was like,

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annoying, and honestly kind of scared me in that moment,

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because I was half asleep. And it turned out to be this great podcast idea.

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So how can you tap into your hidden creativity into the ideas that are just brimming inside of you,

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but you're feeling really burnt out or like you don't have anything left to give.

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The first thing I would say and like the easiest thing is just shaking up your environment.

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So as I mentioned, sometimes it's as simple as leaving the room you're in.

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Try working somewhere or changing your routine.

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Go somewhere new. Take a day trip.

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Spend time alone in a new environment. Hang out with a person you wouldn't normally hang out with.

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Like have a conversation with a stranger.

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Make yourself uncomfortable. Being uncomfortable breeds

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the most amazing ideas and new innovations.

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Shake it up, even let yourself be bored and write from that place.

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Do something to help you knock yourself over,

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which will help you spill out with new creative ideas.

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Another thing that can help you with new creative ideas when you're feeling like you've barely got anything inside of you is introducing constraints.

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So for example, like when I wrote that song within an hour,

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give yourself a challenge to. write a new piece in an hour,

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create something with only five words, share a video every single day.

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I do think when you can give yourself constraints when you're feeling blocked or when you're feeling like you don't really have the light inside of you that you normally do,

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you do. You just need to find a way to bring it out.

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So, you know, one thing I did over the pandemic was every week I'd give myself a word and I had to create something off of that word.

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It could be a song. It could be a meal. It could be a writing piece.

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But whatever it is, I had to create one thing off of that word.

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And that always helped me bring something up when I was feeling really overwhelmed and stressed.

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So that's a great way to start to see how much unbelievable creativity you have inside of you.

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Allow yourself to be messy. So when I knocked over the water,

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it wasn't like it was pretty, you know, it was everywhere.

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But that's what allowed me to see what was inside of that glass.

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And I think the same thing is true with us. A lot of times we're so afraid to not be perfect that we'll allow ourselves to think that we don't have anything to share.

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Creativity thrives in imperfection.

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Commit to being all over the place, okay? Just get something down.

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Get something done. It's okay for it to be messy when you're creating.

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Let yourself be as big and rough as you need to be while you're getting it done.

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And just like a spill, you can clean it up later.

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But getting something done, that's the hard part.

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Follow the drips and your curiosity and see where it leads.

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So if one little idea leaks out, chase it and see where it leads.

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Again, it doesn't have to be perfect right away. It doesn't even have to make sense.

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Like this thing about the pink house in the desert.

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I don't know what that song is going to be about, but I'm curious because that's just interesting.

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It's not a typical song I'd write. So I want to know what I'm going to do with that and in what way something's going to come out of me that...

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I don't normally see. So if you have one little idea,

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that's all you need to start taking you on the trail.

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And again, that drip is going to turn into something much bigger over time.

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And the final thing is turn your pain into purpose.

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Start by identifying your greatest hardship or sadness,

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then your greatest creative joy or talent,

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and let your pain flow out into your creativity by combining it all in unexpected ways.

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My friend Christina once said, It is our job as artists to alchemize pain.

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And I do fully believe in letting yourself feel the thing first.

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But once you feel it, one of the best ways to process it is by putting it into your creativity.

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And it's incredible the work we can do while we're working through something real in our lives.

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So to wrap it up, even when you think you have nothing or little left,

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you are full of creative potential.

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Sometimes you just need a little knock. or a spill,

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or some kind of constraint to see it. So my mini creative challenge for you this week is I want you to knock over your creative glass.

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Use one of the methods I shared. Shake up your environment.

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Introduce constraints. Allow yourself to be messy.

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Follow your curiosity. Turn your pain into purpose.

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Try something you haven't before. And then tell me what spills out.

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I cannot wait to see. And just know it is going to be so much more than you think you have inside of you.

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The water was my guide in this way.

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DM me or tag me with your creative breakthroughs. I can't wait to see what they are.

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And if you ever spill water, you're going to understand what I'm talking about.

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It's like you think you have one drop in there, but it's just so much more than that.

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And I hope you don't spill as much water as I do.

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That's all I can say. Okay. Thank you so much for listening.

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If this resonated with you, please share it with a fellow creative who needs a reminder that they are full of creativity,

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that it is their birthright, and that they can tap into it anytime they want.

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And before we wrap up, I do have a couple of things.

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I offer creative coaching, as you may know. If you're interested in unleashing your creativity,

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sharing your creative project with the world, and or finally going after your biggest dreams,

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I would love to help you and be your coach.

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You can email me at lauren.lagrasso at gmail.com to set up a free discovery call or go to my website and fill out the form on the coaching page.

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I cannot wait to help you unleash your inner creative and find your authentic voice.

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Thank you again for listening. This podcast was hosted and executive produced by me,

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Lauren LaGrasso. Music is by Liz Pohl.

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For more information on me and the show, follow us at Lauren LaGrasso and at Unleash Intercreative on social media.

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If you like what you heard today, leave a rating and review and share any specific thoughts you had about the episode so I can put the feedback in and give you the show that you want and deserve.

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I love you and I believe in you. Next week,

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we have on climate expert Patrick Murphy to talk about how we can creatively solve our planet's deepest environmental issues.

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I'll talk with you then.