Crip Creative | Unlocking our creativity by loosening the grip

Hi friend!

So I have had an urge to shake things up a bit here at The Bed Perspective. I feel an instinct to bring in more creativity — I feel it as part of my mission to get more chronically ill and disabled people or anyone living with trauma sharing their stories and experiences in whatever format they choose, whether that’s writing or art or photography or even just doodling. This is more important than ever at this time.

I have had a few ideas I’m working on, but as always I needed to do a lot of visualising of each tiny step to see if it’s something my bodymind can handle. Even then, I’ll only know once I try it out. I might have to ditch it after the first try. It might only be a limited series, we’ll see. I hope you’ll bare with me.

One of those ideas is to turn our Friday community chats (which haven’t been so popular lately — I take that as a sign) into a creative corner — a crip creative corner — instead, where I share gentle prompts or exercises or visualisations to spark your creativity. Anyone — even those who don’t consider themselves creative, can join in. We’ll still keep our Wednesday meditations that help you navigate chronic illness and of course the fortnightly essays/articles.

So here is the first attempt at Crip Creative Corner. I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I did creating it.

Welcome to Crip Creative Corner where you get tips, exercises or visualisations to help you unlock your creativity.

As someone who has lived with a loud inner critic for the majority of my life I have had to consciously give myself permission slips in order to move into a creative space. 

One of my writing teachers once told me to give myself permission to write badly. It turns out, it’s incredibly difficult to write badly, but the thought that it was allowed freed something within me.

I have also given myself permission to write cheesy songs — something I too am really bad at, but it loosened my grip on writing perfect songs and it made me more honest.  

When I became severely ill I had to give myself new permission slips: 

• The permission to NOT be creative

• The permission to rest for days or even months without guilt

• The permission to only record a line at a time

• The permission to sing in a delicate, less dynamic, voice

• The permission to allow my writing to be based on inner experiences rather than external research or inspiration

In this exercise, we’ll be giving ourselves permission to let go of the grip — whatever it may be — we often have on our creativity that keeps it locked up. Giving yourself permission in this way can help soften your approach to creating and open up more space for joy, experimentation, and self-acceptance.

Take a deep breath, find a comfortable place, and let’s begin creating some permission slips—gentle reminders that you’re allowed to approach your creative life with kindness.

🌟Suggestion: If it works for you, you can get a small journal to do all the exercises you get from Creative Corner in. If you’re digital, designate a file for this. Here is my creative journal (and check out my new awesome thumb ring):

Exercise: Permission Slips

(An audio version of this exercise is at the top of this post):

1. Grab a pen and some paper, your journal, computer, phone or tablet (or whatever you use to write things down).

2. Label your document ‘Permission Slips

3. Write out permissions for yourself as though you were handing out slips for specific things. These are small, freeing statements that give you permission to do, feel, or be whatever you need right now. This could be:

   1. I give myself permission to take a break

   2. I give myself permission to create without needing it to be perfect

   3. I give myself permission to write whatever comes to mind, even if it doesn’t make sense.

   4. I give myself permission to rest without guilt.”

4. Keep writing permissions until you feel a sense of release or lightness. Write as many or as few as you need.

5. Refer back to your permissions whenever you feel stuck, self-critical, or pressured. This list can be a reminder to ease up on yourself and embrace creativity with self-compassion.

6. If you want, share your permission slips with us in the comments, it might inspire others.

How did it go?

How did you find this exercise?

What permission slips did you hand out to yourself today?

How did you feel afterwards?

Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. It makes me so happy to hear from you.

Thank you so much for listening to this meditation. If you know someone who could benefit from this, then please share this page with them. You are also more than welcome to share it in your Facebook or other patient support groups.