Loving the Lulls
by Starcat

BlackLion and I were talking with a friend last night and the subject of dreaming came up. Our friend said he was in a lull and not really remembering any dreams lately. I told him how I’d recently gone through a lull like that, too, but that now I was once again recalling and recording dreams each morning. We talked about how it seems to go in cycles and BlackLion chimed in and suggested that we could use the lull times to go back and read through some of our previous dreams, to get re-inspired.

This happens with my creative projects, too. Sometimes I do a lot of writing, on various subjects and projects, and other times I just don’t seem to have much to contribute. Sometimes I bake and cook and create new recipes for my family and then there are the times when we just seem to subsist on our standard foods: pasta, stir fries, Mexican food, and veggie burgers.

When we are in one of these lulls, we may feel disappointed or even a bit depressed. The culture we live in is one of constant output, of having a “game face” so that you at least look like you’re keeping it all together. What if, instead, we chose to look at the lulls in a new way? What if we saw them as a time to rest and renew? They are, or can be, a period when we can recharge ourselves and take in new ideas that will inspire our next creative phase.

Often when I’m in a lull, I just want to curl up with a good book and a cozy blanket. I’m taking in others’ ideas through reading (though for you it might be via TV shows or video games or movies or conversations), and eventually I’ll integrate what I’ve learned, mix it all up together, and make it my own. Then I’ll be ready to share my new insights and creations with the world. And after I’m done, the cycle will start all over again, like the phases of the moon or the cycles of the seasons. Isn’t it beautiful?