Need an Epiphany? Get Your Creativity Toolkit

By Rochelle Melander

I never made one of my discoveries through the process of rational thinking.

—Albert Einstein

I’m participating in a 30-day brainstorming challenge for children’s writers called Storystorm.

I set aside time each day to read the post and then doodle my ideas. Only this year, I do more staring than writing or doodling.

On Saturday, I made the mistake of checking the news before I wrote and read the news of the attack on Venezuela.

It’s hard to be creative when the world is falling apart.

I read the news. Then I opened social media to read what people were saying.

In between notes of horror and grief, I read many posts like these:

+The not-so-humble brag: Look how great I am! I accomplished all the things: read the books, wrote the books, made the money, changed the world!

+The supercharged (and super charging) optimist: 2025 was horrid, but 2026 will be amazing! I have the key to make your life the best it can be for a few thousand dollars.

I immediately wondered: did I accomplish enough in 2025? In my life? Do I need to buy another program to supercharge my success?

It’s hard to be creative when you’re comparing yourself to others.

And, it’s hard to be creative when you believe that the secret to your success is hidden just beyond your reach.

Looking for answers

It’s Epiphany, the twelfth day of Christmas. The Greek word epiphany means “to reveal” or “to make manifest.” Today, Christians around the world remember the magi visiting Mary, Joseph, and Jesus. They celebrate that Jesus brings his message to the whole world.

I’ve been rereading W. H. Auden’s Christmas Oratorio, For the Time Being. Written at the beginning of WWII, the poem wrestles with incarnation. Each of the magi reflects on the big event in their own way. One seeks truth, one seeks love. The second wise one ponders the present moment:

With envy, terror, rage, regret,
We anticipate or remember but never are.
To discover how to be living now
Is the reason I follow this star.

It’s hard to be creative when you’re regretting the past or worrying over the future.

To create, we need to be present.

As I work with clients who struggle with distraction and focus, I’ve discovered that using a timer and having a specific task can help build a bridge to creative practice. Today, I’ve got a few tools to help you play with creativity.

The AHA Creativity Toolkit

Gather Tools

You’ll need paper, index cards or post it notes, something to write with, a timer and your imagination!

Set Rules

I encourage you to set a timer for five to ten minutes and then try one of the following tools to cultivate your creativity. Here are the rules I set, but you can seet any rules you like. These rules—like a time limit—increase your creativity. Constraints help people be more creative. Try rules like:

• Don’t dismiss or judge any ideas.
• If you need to take a break, do something physical and repetitive, like the dishes or sweeping the floor.
• Do not go online.
• If five minutes isn’t enough, set the timer and begin again.
• You can repeat ideas.
• Go for volume!
• Record everything

Play!

1. Write, doodle, repeat. The cartoonist Charles Barsotti takes a big stack of paper and doodles until the aha moment occurs. Madeleine L’Engle famously said, “Inspiration usually comes during work rather than before it.” (The Summer of the Great Grandmother, p. 144). If you don’t doodle, you could try brainstorming.

2. List and combine. Steve Jobs famously said, “Creativity is just connecting things.” Make lists. If you’re a fiction writer, list places, characters, and situations. If you write nonfiction, list random ideas. I like to list ideas on index cards or post it notes to make it easier to play with them. Then combine random ideas. Do any combinations spark your imagination?

3. Try rolestorming. Author and consultant Rick Griggs developed rolestorming and defines it this way, “To assume the role of another person (or object) and from that perspective offer multiple ideas on an opportunity, a prevention, or a problem.” Let’s say you want to write a book on a topic, but you’re feeling stuck. Why not try brainstorming like you’re the bestselling expert on the topic? Or you’re the ideal reader: what would she like to read about?

Next Steps

Leave your creative work for a few days and then go back to it. Are there any gems you want to pursue? Copy those into your idea journal. Regularly return to your brainstorming and your idea journal until you’re ready to move forward on a project.