Herbal Plumber for Writer’s Block
Just about everyone I know suffers from writer’s block from time to time, which progresses through three main stages. First you stare at the blank paper in front of you for about a geologic epoch. I’ve actually mentally seen T-Rexes evolve into birds during this stage. Second, you start re-reading the last paragraph written before the block happened, perseverating like an autistic savant over every comma, adjective, and lazy adverb. Third, you go back to staring at your original empty white page until your bottom goes numb from the weight of holding up the stiff torsue which supports your lifeless fingers at the keyboard. That’s when you decide it’s time to dust the dining room light fixture as being a maid might be in your future.
Advice from the experts about how to overcome writer’s block usually involves some combination of exercises designed to either refill your creative gas tank or to get your mind to release its inventive, but hoarded contents. These exercises work well for most writers, but I was wondering if there might be an easier alternative. It seems to me that when our creative thoughts are plugged up in the mind’s pathways the way the flow of blood is blocked by cholesterol in a major artery, there should be a way to clear the clog Crestor style, only without the drug induced side-effects. This is America after all, and we want a quick fix solution for everything.
Recently, to this end, I’ve been experimenting with aromatherapy to help get the creative juices flowing quickly again after a clog. I get up in the morning and take a warm bath with 8 drops of rosemary essential oil, 5 drops of sage essential oil, and a few squirts of sweet almond oil. I relax for about ten minutes while I soak up the fragrances. Once dressed, I sit in front of my computer with my diffuser armed with a few drops of bergamot and cardamom. My fingers have been flying over the keyboard ever since.
Just think of it as herbal plumber.
Spicetalker
April 3, 2007 at 9:15 pm
Ugh – writer’s block. A writer (can’t remember who, unfortunately) once said that the streets of hell are paved with sheets of blank paper.
I’m afraid that if I put all that in my tub, and then the diffuser, I’d just end up with the munchies.
April 4, 2007 at 2:53 am
Munchies is a state of mind that can be avoided by evasive thoughts!