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The Life Cycle of Your Ideas · Remember Why You Are Here

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Creativity isn't a linear process. It's cyclical.
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What are the gifts that came into your life?
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What have you realized about yourself?
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All of these things are the true fruits of your labor.
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Hello and welcome back to Remember Why You Here,
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a podcast for seekers and sensitives where you can relax, receive,
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reconnect to yourself, and remember that most important thing of all,
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why you're here. I'm Asia Suler, author,
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earth intuitive and teacher,
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and someone who's very much taking my own medicine this month.
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And what I mean by that is that at the beginning of this month for my intuitive
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reading for June, I talked about this month as one of creative impulses,
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following the creative impulse,
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really letting your creativity out to let your creative
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life force nourish you to allow yourself to play with what
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is coming through for you,
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to really dabble in authentic self-expression.
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I've been going for it this month,
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specifically over on the new Substack that I started.
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Remember Why You Are Here.
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It is a companion piece to the podcast.
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It's a place where I've been sharing a lot more writings than I've been
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sharing, especially on social media.
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I've been really opening the floodgates over
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there.
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I've been opening up the inner sanctum and it's been so special to connect with
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some of you over in that space.
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So if you're interested to see the way in which I've been taking my own medicine
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and sharing in deeper and more intimate ways and more connective
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ways, you can head on over to Remember Why You Are Here the Substack,
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and I would absolutely love to connect with you there. So for today,
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I wanted to revisit this video that I made a couple years ago,
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this transmission that came through a couple years ago called The Life Cycle of
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Your Ideas. And really when I first recorded this video,
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I was kind of in a winter of my creativity and I really needed to be reminded
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that there is a life cycle to our creativity, to our ideas.
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And so it's helpful for me right now as I'm really in a ...
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Oh, I don't know what I would call it.
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I'm throwing a bomb of wildflowers out on the side of the road and I'm
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just seeing what blooms. And it feels so good. Actually,
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it feels so good to allow myself to be a little less
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controlled or structured or strategic, just being like,
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we are just going to see the whole side of this highway and see what blooms.
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So that's where I'm at right now and I'm curious to hear about where you
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are at. So let's dive into this recording where I talk about the
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lifecycle of your ideas and you will get a very clear picture as to where you
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are at in your own process of creativity right now,
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whether you are in seeding, fruiting, harvesting, composting,
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wherever you are at is a rich place to be.
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And this recording will help you pinpoint exactly where you are.
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Creativity is a mystery and yet one of the greatest feelings on earth
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is being in the midst of a creative flow.
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But creativity isn't a linear process. It's cyclical.
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It's a cycle. And when you can understand where you're at on the cycle,
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you can know what to expect next.
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There's lots of different ways to look at the creative cycle,
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but I love seeing the creative cycle through this lens of the plant
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cycle, the cycle of seed to fruit.
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So this will help you understand where you're at with your creations right now
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and because you can understand what stage you're in,
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you can be prepared for what might be coming up for you right now and what's
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coming next. So let's start with the seed phase.
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This is probably one of the most exciting phases is when the idea first comes
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in. This is when you have that spark, that ignition.
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This is when you get all those seed packets in the mail or you're going through
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the seed catalog and you're just so excited. You order all the seeds,
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you get them all in line and you think, "Yes,
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I have endless ambition and excitement for this idea." So we all know this
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phase. We all love this phase. Many of us want to stay in this phase,
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but this phase always seems to move on. So what comes next?
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Germination. Now this is a little bit more work, right?
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We get all these seed packets in the mail and we think, "Yeah,
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I'm going to grow 10 different varieties of tomatoes." But then when it comes
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down to it, we realize, okay,
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actually I only have space for five different varieties and I only have time to
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tend these different varieties.
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But germination is also still a fun part of the idea cycle and the idea
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process. So in the germination cycle,
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this is often when we're taking those first seeds, those first inspirations,
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and we're laying the groundwork. We're digging them in,
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we're watching them grow, we're seeing all these seedlings come up,
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but here's where we often hit one of the first roadblocks and that's thinning.
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So when you are growing seeds,
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one of the first things you're going to have to do is thin your seedlings.
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If you seed a whole tray, what you'll notice is that many, many,
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many of those seeds will come up. That's awesome and exciting,
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but you cannot grow all of those seeds in your garden.
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You're going to have to choose the strongest ones and thin out the ones that are
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just going to crowd out the plants themselves.
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So the same is true with your creative ideas with the lifecycle of an idea.
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You need to be willing to weed out the stuff that might be growing,
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might have taken root,
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but ultimately is crowding out your vision for what you want this creation to
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look like or what this garden is asking to be.
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So this is one of the first challenges that come up on the lifecycle of a
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creative idea is this need to prune,
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this need to choose what you're going to focus on because we can't grow
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everything in our gardens. We can't make every idea come to fruition,
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but we do often need to sow our wild oats in order to see what sticks.
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So it's okay in this phase to be trying a bunch of different things based on
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your idea to see what works,
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but you do also need to be willing to cut out what's not working at that time.
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So when I was writing my book, Mirrors in the Earth,
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I had all these different stories that I knew wanted to be in the book.
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I had these ideas and inspirations come in and when I was in the germination
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phase,
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it was really exciting because I was gathering these stories and I was putting
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them all into place. But at some point I had to get real with myself.
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Not all of these stories can be in the book. A,
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they're not all going to fit and B,
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they don't all flow together for the greater narrative arc that I was looking
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for. So I had to get real and cut some of those stories,
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cut some of those whole chapters because it didn't actually feed the greater
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vision of my book. The next phase is the maturation.
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So this is where the rubber meets the road and this is for many people their
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least favorite part of the creative process. In the garden,
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the maturation moment of the life cycle of that seed when you
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transplant the seedling out into the garden and you take care of it,
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this is a very exciting moment,
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but often the glow starts to fade once that plant gets in the ground.
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This is where the hard work comes in.
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This is where you have to stay on top of pests. Diseases,
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you have to keep the plant weeded and mulched and watered. In the growing year,
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this would be like the height of summer. And as any gardener will tell you,
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this is kind of the most miserable time to be gardening in some ways.
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You're not yet to the fruits of your labor,
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but you're not in that beginning phase when everything's so fresh and exciting
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and manageable. Often this is when things start to feel unmanageable,
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overwhelming, tedious, stay with it.
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You might be in this phase right now with your idea or your creation where you
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feel like I'm just plugging away, where is this going?
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This is so much work. I know I felt that way for years with my book,
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Mirrors in the Earth.
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It was all about showing up every day to sit down in that desk and write.
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And for me, it really helped to set a timeframe.
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I'm going to write for one hour every day this year. One hour,
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Monday through Friday,
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I'm going to show up at that desk and I'm going to do the work.
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And the same strategy helps me in the garden. I normally say, okay,
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one hour when the sun's lower in the sky and it's a little less intense for one
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hour every day five days a week, I'm just going to get out there,
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do a little bit of gardening, do a little bit of weeding,
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do a little bit of mulching. And the thing is it adds up.
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So oftentimes this stage can feel overwhelming because when we neglect it,
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like when we neglect a garden, it can get out of hand.
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If you do a little bit every day,
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this phase is going to feel so much more manageable.
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You don't have to have your creation complete in a week.
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This is not going to be the kind of thing that you normally will work on in one
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day and finish your opus. No,
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this is something you need to spend a little bit of time each day helping grow,
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helping to flourish,
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helping to come into the next stage of its creation.
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So what is that next stage? Well, in the garden,
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that next stage would be the flowering of this plant.
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Now this is an exciting moment. It's also a very vulnerable moment.
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So when is the flowering and the life cycle of a creative project or an idea?
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That's when you start to share it with the world. That's when you're like,
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"Okay, I think I'm ready.
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I think I'm ready to put this out there in some way." So for me,
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when I wrote my book, this is when the book came out into the world.
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It's when it first hit the shelves.
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The thing about flowering is it's often when we plant the seeds.
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It's often the thing we're most excited about. We think, "Oh,
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when that plant flowers, everything in my life's going to be perfect.
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My garden's going to be full of roses.
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I'm not going to have any problems anymore." The reality is when that plant
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flowers,
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you kind of realize that the whole purpose actually of growing this plant was to
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be with it every step of the way.
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That flowering is just one part of the journey and that it isn't even the end
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destination at all.
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Flowering in the life cycle of a plant is a very vulnerable time.
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Everything has to go just right in order for that flower to cross pollinate with
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other flowers, to have its seeds develop,
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to move on to the next phase of its existence.
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So if you're feeling really vulnerable at this stage, know that it's okay.
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It's okay to feel nervous.
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It's okay to feel fragile when you put your creation out into the world.
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When I garden,
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oftentimes the flowering phase of the garden is a really fragile phase.
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I have to baby the plants during that time.
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Some plants need a lot of extra care. For example,
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in the growing of the orchids that make vanilla beans,
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those vanilla beans often have to be hand pollinated.
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So people who grow these orchids will hand pollinate each one of them in order
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for the vanilla beans to grow. Some of our creations are like this.
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They need high touch. They need this extra gentleness, love, and support,
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and you might need that too at this phase.
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So if you're getting ready to put whatever your creation is out there and you're
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feeling a little bit fragile and you're wondering, why am I feeling like this?
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When I was looking forward to it the whole time,
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know that this is such a natural part of the process.
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In the lifecycle of a plant, the flower is when the plant fulfills its mission.
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It is able to finally give its gifts to the world and those gifts are
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spectacular. They're designed to be attractive.
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They're designed to call in the pollinators to create more,
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to gather interest.
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And I guarantee you your project is too in this flowering phase is all about
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bringing in those energies that are ready to interact with this idea you have so
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lovingly nurtured. But this is not the last step in the cycle.
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The last step is the fruit or seed of this creation.
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So once you put your idea out there,
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once you share it with the world and cross pollination can happen,
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then the fruits of your labor come in. Now,
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when gardeners are planting the seeds,
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normally they're looking for either two things, flowers or fruit.
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And this is often the goal. So if you're growing tomatoes, you're like,
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"I want bushels and bushels of fruit." And you often think to yourself,
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"This is the marker of true success,
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is how much fruit I grew." But I'm going to tell you,
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over my years of gardening and over my years as a creative,
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I have realized that what's really successful is that I learned along the way,
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that I had an experience,
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that I showed up every day for this and that the process of creation
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taught me something about myself,
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that the process of gardening taught me something about myself.
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The same is true for the fruits of your labor.
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This is often the moment that people expect to be overwhelming and it's bounty.
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Once I put this idea out there in the world, people are going to rush in.
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All the opportunities are going to be there.
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I'm going to have a pantry full of food for many winters to come.
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Because we place such high expectations on the yield of our creative projects,
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it can sometimes feel disappointing when you put something out there and Oprah
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isn't knocking at your door. This is just the way of it.
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And how we deal with this is by changing our focus that
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it's not so much about quantity, it's quality.
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What are the quality of the connections that you made through seeing this
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idea to its full fruition? What are the gifts that came into your life?
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What have you realized about yourself?
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What have you realized about your creative process?
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All of these things are the true fruits of your labor because ultimately we
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aren't following these visions.
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We aren't putting these inspirations out in the world for affirmation or
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accolades. We're doing it because it's a soul journey. It's a soul request.
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Part of our spirit new is important for us to go on this journey.
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The same is true for gardening.
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We are called the garden not because we want X amount of fruit in the pantry.
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We're called to garden because it's a process of coming to know the land,
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of coming to know ourselves and of coming to know these plants,
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the creations that we're here to tend. That said,
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the harvest of this time can also be magnificent.
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So if you are having bounty come your way,
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this is a time when you learn how to receive, when you learn how to let it in,
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how to be nourished,
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you can kick back and relax and just let it all flow to you.
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And the other side of the harvest is the true final phase of a creative project,
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which is the compost.
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No creative project or no ideas complete until you reach this phase.
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The compost is when you can take a look at the whole season of your creation
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and really look at what worked, what didn't,
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what did you love about the experience? What could be different next time?
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What do you want to take with you versus what do you want to let go?
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This compost is important.
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In the aftermath of an experience of bringing an idea to light,
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you need to take this time to look at it and understand what did I like about
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that process? What did that bring to me?
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What do I want to bring with me into the next creative project and what do I
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want to let go?
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This can often be a fallow feeling time where you're just kind of taking stock
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of where you've been.
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Maybe the pantry is full with fruit at this time and you're just going to kick
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back and see who you are now and what wants to come through next.
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I know that when I put my book Mirrors and the Earth out into the world,
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I was five months postpartum and though I was very excited to put energy behind
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this book, once the book was launched,
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I was ready to take a step back and really look and see,
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really pay attention to what had worked for me and what didn't to take that time
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to rest,
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be in this new phase of my life and really give myself spaciousness for what is
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going to come up next. I wrote that book in a particular way.
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It took me 10 years to write and often in the beginning,
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I didn't know what I was writing. I didn't know what the overarching theme was.
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It really took me the years of writing it to understand what was trying to come
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through.
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Now I loved that process and I'm excited to try a different process next
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time.What would it be like to have a full idea and outline of the book when you
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first start writing? It's a different experience. It's not better or worse.
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It's just different. So for me,
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it felt really nourishing to compost some of that process to let it go
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and to make space for what was ready to come in next.
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So where are you at in your creative cycle right now?
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Do you have an idea that you're working with?
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Where in this season of growing is this idea?
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Do you have some clarity on that now? And if you haven't read my book,
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Mirrors in the Earth yet don't wait any longer. Go get yourself a copy.
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That book is such an awesome guide for you in your creative process,
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in your process of unfurling.
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I've loved talking a little bit about what it was like creating it behind the
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scenes and I'm so excited to keep sharing this book with like-minded hearts
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like yourself.
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So I am truly curious where are you at in the life cycle of your ideas?
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What is coming out for you this month, this month that at the beginning of it,
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I very much implored you to follow your creative impulse, whatever that is.
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The creative impulse though can be planting seeds,
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just willy-nilly being like a Johnny appleseed, or it can also mean being like,
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"I'm going to rip this up.
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It is time for this to be done so something new can take root." So I'm really
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curious to hear how this has been unfolding for you this month.
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I'm going to continue to plant all kinds of seeds over on my
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Substack, over in the Remember Why You Are Here Space,
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and I would love for you to enter that garden there.
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So as we move into the last week or
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so of this month, this month of what has felt for me,
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really like this creative explosion, it might feel a little different for you,
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but as we move out of June and the next little bit and into
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July, I'm really curious if you can just allow yourself to be where you are,
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to allow your creations to flow the way they want to flow,
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to let yourself find delight in the creative process wherever you are at in that
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process and may this journey of being
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in relationship to the lifecycle of your ideas help you remember that most
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important thing of all, why you're here.