by Rachel D. Russell, @RDRussellWrites

If you find yourself feeling tight and tense when you sit down to write, it might be that your sympathetic nervous system is activated. It’s the fight-flight-freeze parts of your brain and body. You know, like when you’re reading a creepy novel and your heart is racing? 

Or, you’re facing a deadline for your manuscript and are staring at the blank page?

While we cognitively recognize that these events won’t actually harm us, our nervous system responds because that’s what it’s wired to do. To protect us.

The problem is, this really locks up creativity. 

And that makes it really hard for the words to flow into the story.

It makes perfect sense—if our brain and body feel danger, we’re not going to stop and have a snack while a lion is chasing us. And we will definitely not stop to write an eloquent poem of our plight.

We’re going to run.

The problem is, the busyness of our lives often puts us in a chronic state of sympathetic nervous system activation. 

In order to activate your creativity, you’ve got to activate your parasympathetic nervous system. This is also known as “rest and digest.”

Here are just a few of the techniques you can use to activate your parasympathetic nervous system—and your creativity. 

1. Listen to music. There’s a reason that classical music has been promoted for developing infant brains. Classical music has been associated with divergent thinking, which is the process where we cognitively develop original ideas—our creativity.
2. Gratitude bathing. This is more than a checklist you scribble out at the beginning or end of the day. (It’s okay, I’ve done that, too.) Really imagine people, places, things, or events for which you are grateful. Imagine being in the moment with what you’re grateful. The feelings they evoke
3. Get out into nature. “Forest bathing” puts you in God’s creation—that’s a powerful way for our minds and bodies to relax and detach from the busyness of our daily lives. Spent fifteen to twenty minutes enjoying the outdoors.
4. Use box breathing. Inhale a count of four, hold four, exhale four, hold with the lungs empty for another four-count. Then, repeat for multiple cycles.
5. Move your body. Go for a walk, stretch through a few yoga poses, or have a dance party. Dance like nobody’s watching—it’s okay—because laughter is great for relaxing your body and mind, too.

There’s a danger with these techniques—they’re simple. It’s easy to discount them. Or to give them a “one and done” try. But we live in a chronically over-scheduled, harried world. So if you think you’ve tried these and they haven’t worked, I encourage you to make them a part of your everyday life. 

In time, you’ll find your body and brain default will likely lean more toward creativity with rest-and-digest than flight-flight-freeze-blank-page when you sit down to write.

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Then Came You

He’s in Deep Haven to relax.

Detective Daniel “Boone” Buckam is more than burned out. After fourteen stellar years on the job, one bad judgment call—and, fine, a whole lot of cynicism—has forced him into a mandatory vacation. If he can get his head on straight, there’s a job as Police Chief waiting for him back in his Minneapolis suburb.

But then he meets Vivien.

Actress Vivien Calhoun isn’t really a drama queen. Sure, she gets swept up in the emotions of life—but please, she’s an actress. Or, um, was until a stalker made her flee the bright lights of Broadway. Now, she’s passionate about directing her local theater production. But when she accidentally ropes an uptight police detective on vacation into her cast, she can’t help but wonder if he might be the leading man she’s always longed for.

Of course, she’s in trouble.

Boone can’t help but like Vivien. He might even have a type—vivacious and bubbly, with a penchant for attracting danger. He can smell trouble even if she can’t, and is pretty sure her stalker has hunted her all the way to Deep Haven. He’ll have to stay by her side—even if it means being in her silly play—to keep her safe. But Vivien is more than he expected as she helps him discover a part of him he’s locked away…the part that said he could never love again.

So much for relaxing.

Rachel D. Russell writes contemporary inspirational romance focused on forgiveness, redemption, and grace. She’s a member of Oregon Christian Writers, American Christian Fiction Writers, and My Book Therapy’s Novel Academy. Her debut novel, Still the One, released in January 2021. Her second novel, Then Came You, released in July 2021. Both novels are part of the Deep Haven Collection with Sunrise Publishing. When Rachel’s not cantering her horse down the Oregon beaches, she’s probably interrogating her husband on his own military and law enforcement experience to craft believable heroes in uniform. The rest of her time is spent enjoying her active family, including two teens and three keyboard-hogging cats. You can catch up with her at RachelDRussell.com, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.