I've had people ask me where I get my inspiration as a writer.  Quite often the answer is, "I don't know - stuff just pops into my head."  I wish I had a more concrete answer than that, but it is what happens.  One minute there's nothing there and the next minute - *poof* - there it is.

I think we all have moments of inspiration.  But, I also think that some people have a more finely developed ability to tune into them. Learning to listen to the voice within that is the source of creativity is a skill that gains strength as you begin to honor your internal thought processes.  It's like strengthening a muscle.  The more you listen and the more you act, the stronger your creative voice becomes.

In my past life as a chiropractic assistant, I used to go to seminars called the Power Zone.  The facilitator of the seminars, Dr. Ron Oberstein talked about something that he called  "innate thought flashes."  During the seminar, we would have a piece of paper that sat in front of us with the title, Innate Thought Flashes, on top.  The rest of the paper was blank.  Dr. Ron would tell seminar participants that anything that popped into our mind throughout the course of the seminar - even something as mundane as, "Oh crap - I have to pay the power bill," needed to be written down on the paper as soon as it arose. And then, after the seminar, we were to take a look at our thought flashes from throughout the day and act on them appropriately.  It was Ron's contention that those innate thought flashes were our creativity arising.  And if we didn't acknowledge and use those things that arose, our innate creativity would eventually learn that we didn't listen to it and shut off.  Or at least get really, really quiet.

This made - and continues to make - tremendous sense to me.  If ingored those things that popped into my head, I'd be missing out on some of my best thoughts and ideas.

So what to do if you truly feel you don't have innate thought flashes?  Start to listen.  It may be that your inner voice has grown quiet.  And if you still can't hear anything?  There's something to be said for just sitting down and writing. 

The blank page is one of the most daunting things we face as writers.  What if nothing arises and the page stays forever blank? This is a common fear.  But here's what I've learned.  Never once has the page stayed blank, even in the absence of innate thought flashes.  If my innate is quiet and I have a blank page, I just start writing.  Whatever is in my mind.  Eventually, usually quite quickly, something begins to take shape, and I am off to the races.

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