How To Find That Magic Flow In Your Design Work

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Imagine yourself stepping into your creative space, feeling calm, open, refreshed, and ready. Imagine the light filling your studio or spilling onto your work table and the cool sensation of fresh flower stems in your hands Imagine feeling deeply centered paired with a spark of wonder that draws you forward down the unlit but fragrant path of the unknown. The path of the creative process that we discover anew each time we bring something beautiful into being.

You feel confident, self-assured, and completely okay with seeing what happens as you bring together the elements and layers of your design. You lose track of time. You are transfixed as though both participating in and just witnessing a colorful world of emotion emerge in front of you. This is what it feels like to be in your magic flow.

Now let's be a bit more brutally honest. How did it feel the last time you brought flowers into your space to arrange? What was on your mind? How did your body feel? How did your creative space feel? Did you feel like you had time to explore? Were you agitated and distracted or frozen at times with doubt about your ability, or finding yourself fussing over stems and smushing another flower in here or there in hopes that the shape and overall effect would somehow shift away from what felt to you like a clumpy mess and into some kind of transcendent living art that you had in your mind's eye.

I've experienced it all and over the years I have learned a lot of hard lessons and also honed a set of practices that actually helped me to minimize the chaos and agony so that I can step more easily and more often into my creative process with that shimmery, exciting and somehow also deeply calm experience of a flow state or a magic flow.

Recently, a fellow floral designer reached out to me and asked this question: "Do you have a kind of method when it comes to designing? I'm trying to figure out that ~ magic flow ~ to centerpieces still." I love this question. And as I pulled my thoughts together to answer her, I realized, I bet you could benefit from hearing this too. And now in this episode of the Called to Bloom podcast, I am sharing all of my tips, insights and steps for finding your magic flow in your design work too.

In This Episode, We Cover:

What is a Magic Flow and Why Do We Want It
Overcoming Barriers: What Gets in the Way, and What We Can Do
How to Holistically Prepare for Creativity
Specific Design Process Tips and Protocols
The Art of Surrender and Acceptance

Mentioned in This Episode:

Book: Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way
Book: Rick Rubin’s The Creative Act
"Poetic License"
Rituals for Creative Preparation

Resources:

Join the Poetry of Flowers — holistic floral artistry online courses to empower your creative practice from anywhere in the world
E xplore Mentorship — deepen your floral artistry practice one-on-one
Discover Tarot of Flowers — a gift of abundant floral wisdom for any flower-lover or seeker
Use code CALLEDTOBLOOM for 10% off your first Tarot of Flowers order
YEAR END SALE! Use code TIMETOBLOOM30 for 30% off any Poetry of Flowers course bundle or single-payment membership purchase for a limited time only

Details from Our Sponsors:

This episode of the Called to Bloom podcast is brought to you by the Poetry of Flowers holistic online floral education. YEAR END SALE! Use code TIMETOBLOOM30 for 30% off any Poetry of Flowers course bundle or single-payment membership purchase for a limited time only.

Keep in Touch:

Thank you so much for being here, and for being part of this radiant community as we step into these creative callings together. If you enjoyed this episode, I would love to hear from you! Connect with me on Instagram: @nectar_and_bloom and @calledtobloompodcast, and please leave a review on Apple Podcasts or on Spotify to help other creatives and seekers like you to find their way here too. Your words mean the world.

Full Transcript:

You feel confident, self-assured, and completely okay with seeing what happens as you bring together the elements and layers of your design.

You lose track of time. You are transfixed as though both participating in and just witnessing a colorful world of emotion emerge in front of you. This is what it feels like to be in your magic flow.

Recently, a fellow floral designer reached out to me and asked this question: "Do you have a kind of method when it comes to designing? I'm trying to figure out that magic flow to centerpieces still."

I love this question. And as I pulled my thoughts together to answer her, I realized, I bet you could benefit from hearing this too.

And now in this episode of the Called to Bloom podcast, I am sharing all of my tips, insights and steps for finding your magic flow in your design work too.

Welcome to the Called to Bloom podcast. I'm Jen Cavender, founder of Nectar and Bloom and your host as we explore tools and holistic methods that empower you to craft an inspired career and a fulfilling creative life.

I am a floral artist and educator who left an academic career to build my dream floral design studio. And now I empower flower lovers, florists, and creative entrepreneurs like you to find your aligned path and to build your dream.

Together we go deep into topics covering creative entrepreneurship, health and wellbeing, sustainability, personal transformation, the art and business of working with flowers, and practices for manifesting a life you love.

If you are ready to feel inspired and empowered as you build your next Aligned Creative Chapter, you are in the right place. Now, let's bloom.

So how do you find that magic flow in your design work? In this episode, I'm going to guide you first through what a magic flow even is and why we desire it, then what gets in the way and what you can do about it, followed by how to prepare for a successful creative session, and lastly, my step-by-step design tips for the actual floral arranging process, all of which can be applied to other forms of art to achieve creative flow states elsewhere as well. As someone who truly lives for creativity, connection, and empowerment, I am so excited about this episode. Let's get started.

Chances are you might know personally what it feels like to be in one of those moments of magic flow. It may be a fleeting or rare experience, or it may be something you've experienced in another field of work or study or art. But you know when things just kind of slip into place, when time falls away, and when you are totally present in a kind of confident, open, meditative way as you create.

Flow states can happen in many fields of art or sport, from dance to surfing to weaving, you name it, and it can absolutely happen in floral artistry too. Depending where you are in your journey in flowers or creative entrepreneurship, you may be well-versed in what helps you get into your magic flow. But chances are, no matter what your experience level, this joyous, creative current in which you feel calm and fascinated and even kind of guided, as you bring your vision into being is still kind of rare and is something you would love to experience more often.

Honestly, who doesn't want to feel more connected, guided, and confident as you step into the mystery of the creative process?

In order to be in a magic flow as you design or create or perform, the key is to optimize conditions so that you can meet the unknown from a playful, confident, open place, rather than being stressed and overwhelmed by the chaos and uncertainty that is inherent to the unknown.

The creative process asks us to go there, In order to create something, anything new, you have to face the non-existence of the thing you hope to create and the total uncertainty of how to bring it into being and how it will turn out.

A flow state often feels like a combination of calm, curiosity, confidence, and sometimes even like channeling, as though the creative energy and direction were coming through you, like electricity through a conductor.

It's a pretty magical experience and not just a little bit spiritual even. The creative process flows together inside of you, and you flow with it.

A joyous, effortless, acutely present experience of discovery and creativity that builds your confidence and renders new growth, discovery and understanding within you regarding your art.

In a magic flow, you step into the unknown of your creative process from a place of confidence, instead of being overwhelmed and unnerved by the chaos and uncertainty inherent to the creative process.

So how do we get there? Why is experiencing a confident flow state so elusive and rare in the first place?

And how can we get into one more often in our design work? This episode is fully devoted to discovering just that.

So now that we've connected with what it feels like to be in a magic flow state, let's look at what gets in the way of having that experience and what you can do about it.

When you stop and think about it, sometimes knowing what you want becomes crystal clear when you can clarify what you don't want. The opposite of feeling that magic flow state in your creative work is feeling frustrated, rushed, cramped, worried, tight, tired, burnt out, full of doubt, or overwhelmed.

Those are certainly a good collection of options of what it does not feel like to be in a magic flow. It certainly doesn't feel good. And in fact, you probably feel quite uncomfortable.

When we are consistently uncomfortable and overwhelmed, our brain and nervous system are wired to avoid and to conserve energy.

Everything is harder and we might start to feel a certain dread or resentment around our creative work. We avoid, procrastinate, and waste time on things that seem less threatening but that are in truth avoiding the thing we actually really want or need to do.

In short, when we are stressed, our emotions take over and suddenly we are in survival mode, in fight or flight or freeze states. Coping with that is pretty much the pure opposite of feeling calm, confident and creative.

It's harder than ever to create when we are paralyzed with fear and doubt that it won't go well or when we are stressed and overcome by questioning ourselves or analysis paralysis when it comes to even the simplest things like which colors, which stems and which step to try before the next as we design.

I am very much a believer that creativity is inherent to being human, meaning we are all naturally creative and that we are most creative when we are happy, calm, content, and open.

While it is true that necessity is the mother of invention, as they say, meaning that in hard times of extreme need, we are forced to innovate and create something new, that kind of survival creativity is harsh on the body and the mind and the nervous system,

And it is not ideal or sustainable for a healthy life or a meaningful, lasting, creative career.

You are just one tender, powerful, magical person in one beautiful mortal body here on earth for let's say 80 to 100 years, if we are lucky.

Pushing yourself to innovate in a pinch is no way to enjoy or expand the gift of this life. Winging it and figuring out a solution on the fly while narrowly escaping an avalanche of stress can be thrilling here and there, depending on your daredevil tolerance, but it's not enjoyable or sustainable.

There is definitely a better way.

This episode of the Called to Bloom podcast was brought to you by The Poetry of Flowers, a holistic and empowering set of floral artistry courses that you can attend at your own pace from wherever you are in the world.

Poetry is a framework, an art form created from language, sounds, and the meanings that words carry that allows us to tell stories with emotion and depth.

I found right away that flowers are the same. They are a language, a body of emotion and meaning that we arrange into blooming experiences that invite lovers, guests, and gatherers to celebrate and that elevate life's most powerful moments and milestones.

Poetry of Flowers encapsulates all of the techniques, guidance, and advice that I teach in my workshops and mentorships into an educational experience that is accessible to all. Inside Poetry of Flowers, you will find a suite of a la carte course bundles on topics from how to begin in floristry to the ultimate bouquet design bundle to foam-free floral installation designs and wedding design and production and more. Get access to all course bundles with a Poetry of Flowers membership.

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And now back to our episode.

The truth of the matter is, and this is really for all things in life, not just design work, we need to discern what we can control from what we cannot.

In other words, there are aspects of the creative process and the outcomes of our efforts that are beyond our control, which we need to accept as part of making art. And there are aspects of the creative process that we can control and optimize to improve the experience of creating, as well as the outcome of our efforts, the designs we create.

Designing with flowers is a creative space in which we open ourselves up and often in the process find ourselves facing a lot of challenging inner turmoil that we didn't know was right there under the surface.

Enter the tormented artist stereotype, which to be fair exists because so often the experience of opening ourselves up to feel and channel and create requires wrestling with self-limiting beliefs and old patterns that are probably ready to be healed through your creative outlet.

So in order to get things into that magic flow state, or at least to invite it in and improve the likelihood of it happening, we need to understand and separate the aspects of the creative process that we can control from those that we cannot, so that we can take charge of what is within our means to improve and optimize and release our resistance to the aspects that are simply inherent to the mystery of creativity. That is a potent and also very attainable pairing.

On this note, two of the biggest pitfalls in creative work are based in this. Either A, trying too hard to control or change something that is just part of the creative process, or B, not taking charge of elements and factors that are within our means to augment and that would have a powerful positive impact on our experience creating and the outcome of what we are creating.

We will be diving into what those are and what you can do easily to improve conditions in just a moment.

With design work, we can't predict like some kind of 3D printer machine what exactly a floral arrangement will look like, or moreover, what exact steps and exactly what order will get us there.

Remember, we are creating art, not assembling a bookcase from IKEA. Those step-by-step instructions get it done with assembling a cookie cutter piece of furniture, but that is not how art comes together.

So we need to surrender to the chaotic weirdness of the creative process. That is just a fact. What we can control is how we prepare, how we care for ourselves, how we plan, what elements we bring together, and what state we are in, to an extent, physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

Side note, let us never underestimate that spiritual quality and connection that creativity requires and invites.

It's powerful to sense how in our creative efforts, we are often opening up to something greater and allowing that powerful connective energy to flow through us. If you are looking for some good reading on the connection between creativity and spirituality, Julia Cameron's book, The Artist's Way and Rick Rubin's The Creative Act are two great books off the top of my head that I highly recommend.

And going back to those four aspects of self, mental, physical, emotional, spiritual, there are things we can do to support ourselves in each of these areas that will help us be in a better, happier, more accepting, more open and curious and more supported place as we head out into the beautiful wilderness of the creative process.

Let's actually use this wilderness metaphor for a moment. Imagine that your creative process to bring a beautiful floral arrangement into the world is a path into the unknown wilderness. Because at its core, the creative process is a journey, whether you are arranging a single centerpiece or producing an entire week long event.

If you were heading out on a long hike or an unknown trail, what would you do to prepare? Would you chaotically run out the door, no breakfast, in your PJs and slippers, spilling your coffee, forgetting your water bottle, and overlooking the ominous clouds building on the horizon?

Would you blunder around aimlessly hoping to make the right turn or go down the right fork in the path? Of course not. What you would do is look up the trail online to get a lay of the land and the terrain. You would familiarize yourself with at least the general direction of your route and any important landmarks to orient you on your journey.

You would check the weather forecast and pack a layer or throw on a light jacket. You would make sure that you had the right socks that wouldn't give you blisters, and a comfy backpack or a fanny pack where you could carry your snacks because you're not sure where the next cafe will turn up or whether or not you will be back in time for dinner.

And let's say you weren't just heading out for a day hike. Let's say it was an excursion to summit Mount Everest or to run a full marathon, which are both kind of apt metaphors for a busy wedding and event season for a floral artist and a creative entrepreneur come to think of it.

For either of those options, you would not head out unprepared. You would train. You would go for smaller hikes and runs to prepare your physical body and to expand your mental stamina too. Proper gear would also not just be essential, but crucial.

We could really take this metaphor into any arena.

If you were going to become a concert cellist and play with the Philharmonic for international audiences, you wouldn't just go buy a cello and expect yourself to show up at the concert hall ready to perform. You would take lessons. You would practice. You would learn what stretches and exercises would help prepare your body for the movements and physical demands of this high-level art form and performance. You would quickly learn how it feels and affects your performance when you don't eat or haven't had enough sleep or if you've had to practice or perform in a messy, cramped or chaotic space.

Floral design is the same. As you head into your creative journey, as you prepare to generate art from the colorful and expressive language of flowers, you can have the plan you need, the vision and the landmarks, the equipment and the nourishment, the space and the support that will set you up by taking charge of what you can control as you head into the unknown of the creative process so that you can invite a magic flow experience that brings you more joy, more confidence, and more fulfilling and impactful design work.

So now let's head into the wilderness in a way that sets you up to enjoy and be optimally prepared for it, to feel comfortable on your journey and to be equipped with what you need to meet the unknown, which is where the creativity happens. Let's identify what you can prepare and optimize ahead of time so that you can meet that beautiful mystery inherent to creativity from a more comfortable, open, prepared, and capable place.

Let's look at how to prepare your materials, your space, your body, and your mind. This preparation is the biggest first step before you begin your actual physical design work that will set you up for such a much more successful, smooth, and potentially magic flowing creative experience. It will also set you up for a more satisfying outcome of your creative effort.

So first, I want you to calibrate your creativity to the occasion. I'm going to say that again, calibrate your creativity to the occasion. That means organize yourself and your mindset and everything you're about to do toward the reason you are creating, why you are creating this floral arrangement or this design.

I really believe in intentions and setting an intention and being clear about your purpose, your motivation, and your why is so grounding and so clarifying for your creative efforts. I like to calibrate my creativity to the occasion starting with the three S's of the occasion. The three S's of the occasion are the story, the season, and the style. So let's say you're creating for a wedding.

And keep in mind this would work if you were just creating flowers for your kitchen table. That's fine. That's also an occasion. But let's just say for this example you're creating for a wedding. First of all, we want to know the story. What is the story of your couple? How did they meet? What is unique about their love? What did they want their guests to feel at their wedding? Those are your elements of story. When you know the story, you know the elements that you can translate into the language of flowers.

Taking a look at the second S of the occasion, the season. When is this occasion taking place? Is it in the fall, the winter, the spring, the summer? The season has so much to do with successful design work and floral artistry.

When flowers are in season, they are the most vibrant, they are the healthiest, and they feel the most fitting. So if you are designing for a fall or a winter event and you're hoping to use a lot of spring flowers, it's going to be difficult to source them, it's going to feel a little bit out of sync. Now keep in mind, of course,

We live in a beautiful modern age where there is a thriving global floral wholesale industry. So you can order flowers from New Zealand if you live in California and get something that is in a completely opposite season in the place where you are now. So that's actually pretty magical. But I like to keep in mind what is the season of my occasion, both for the flower varieties and also for the ideas I have about how to bring it to life.

The season also informs the colors I'm going to choose, the mood that I'm trying to evoke, the shapes and sizes of flowers that I'm going to be attracted to.

And then you want to look at the style, the third of the S's of the occasion. What is the style of this event or this occasion?

Is it romantic and soft? Is it edgy and modern? Is it loud and bold? think about How your clients want their guests to feel at this event? All of these things are very easy and actually quite quick to collect as far as details and information,

but taking the time and having the organization and the system in place to pull for those three S's so that you can calibrate your creativity to the occasion is going to help you so much in having a better magic creative flow potentially and a better outcome of your design work.

Keep in mind that our job is to identify and translate these factors, this story, season, and style into the language of flowers.

Second thing I want you to do as you prepare is to translate your intention or story details into your design elements. What are the design elements? That's going to be your color palette, your flower recipe, and your vessel.

For a color palette, is it going to be something bold and high contrast? Is it going to be an occasion or a celebration that is soft and romantic? Is it going to be rich and seasonal? Or is it going to be white and light and timeless, maybe just whites and greens? Is it going to be harmonious with a blend of colors that move from one color through neutrals and bridge colors into another color?

Is it going to be monochromatic? Is it going to be tonal, where different tones of the same kind of color are used to make a really juicy, rich experience? There are so many different color palettes you can play with, but being intentional with this and planning it ahead is going to, optimize your creative flow.

Looking at flower recipe, I always teach to plan a flower recipe that is based on flower functions.

What are those flower functions? As a guideline, I like to have a focal flower as a category, meaning a flower that has a distinct center that draws your eye into the middle. I like to have filler flowers or textures, meaning flowers that give that kind of bubbly fullness.

The third category are foliages or gestures. These are going to be branchy or leafy or even just arcing or reaching kinds of flowers that give you lines and gestures and shape and also structure. And lastly, floaty flowers, the light, delicate, airy flowers that seem to fly over the other flowers in the arrangement. If you use these four categories, focals fillers, foliage, and floaty flowers, you can think of them as four Fs of a flower recipe, it will give you a really helpful guideline. Now, I am a poet and a floral artist.

And in studying poetry, if you've ever come across it, there's a thing called poetic license, which means that you can break the rules. In poetry, it means you can break the rules of proper grammar and sentence structure and sentence mechanics in order to make something artistic happen, in order to evoke an emotion or make a certain impact.

But there's a caveat. You can have poetic license, in writing poetry or otherwise, as long as you are intentional and consistent. If you are not intentional, it seems like a mistake. And if you are not consistent, it seems like a mistake. So I mention this because anytime I'm teaching about something like flower recipe, and I provide those four categories. Those are meant to be a helpful guideline and to give you structure, but they're not meant to be limiting for you.

You can have poetic license. You can decide, I am going to design with only focal flowers. That's what I want to do. Great. Be intentional and be consistent. So keep that in mind as you play with these rules and guidelines, knowing that you always have poetic license and knowing the responsibility you have in taking it, Also in the flour recipe category, I always teach to consider a variety of shapes and sizes in your flour recipe.

When I was a brand new baby floral designer just starting out, I remember coming home to my studio to design with a load of flowers I had gathered at the market so excited and being sadly dismayed and disappointed in myself, but also realizing that I was learning when I discovered that all of the flowers I brought home were all large, heavy flowers. I think I was really into the roses at that point and when you choose flowers that are all the same shape and size and weight, it doesn't have that naturalized garden look.

Again, poetic license. I think it's amazing sometimes to take a big bold sculptural flower like Anthurium for example, or even Gerbera daisies just do a mono-bloomed arrangement. Just have one type of flower or maybe only two or three types of flowers. We just go ham and a big cluster or a big section of that one type of large distinct shaped flower. So I actually think that's really amazing. And

As a general guideline, when you are pulling together your flower recipe, unless you are intentionally doing something that's a monobloom one variety or a very minimalist only a couple of variety flowers in the recipe, in general, choosing a variety of shapes and sizes will help give you a better set of ingredients for a more naturalized, romantic, garden-inspired floral arrangement.

Next thing that I always teach regarding flower recipe is just to keep in mind that the more elements you choose, meaning you have several focals, you have several fillers, you have several foliages, you have several floaty flowers, you don't have to have just one of each, you can have several. The more elements you choose will give you a more garden-inspired look. Think about if you gathered flowers from the garden, you would have a wide variety.

Whereas fewer elements give you a more refined look. And I don't mean the word refined as in better. I mean the word refined as in serving a specific look rather than a more naturalized garden look. So that's just a tip for flower recipes. Be intentional with that.

Lastly, on flower recipes, I always recommend trying to source in-season blooms. When flowers are in season, they are the healthiest and the most compelling. Also keep in mind that the more locally you can source, the healthier the flowers as well. That doesn't mean I don't import or buy from the flower market, but I do try to support my local growers

because I appreciate what they're doing. It also offsets your carbon footprint and those flowers are often the most long-lasting.

Then lastly here in translating your intention or story details into your design elements is the vessel. The vessel or the vase or the bowl that you choose for your arranging is a huge part of the story that you're telling.

There are so many different types of vessels, so don't overwhelm yourself, but think in categories. Is the story you're trying to tell in flowers going to be told best in a glass vase that's clear and showing its stems? Is it going to be told best in a ceramic bowl, close to the ground, earthy? Is it going to be told best with a compote or a pedestal with a foot, a kind of elevated vessel that's going to hold the flowers lifted off the table? Is it going to work best in a large urn, something big and full and branchy? How about a modern V shape or a romantic round shape or a vessel that has a certain type of finish, glossy or matte or textured? Or a vessel with a cream color or a light blush or a deep green?

And then also consider your vessel size. Is this going to be a story that is best told with tiny bud vases and little clusters? Is this going to be a floral story that's best told with small satellite arrangements near larger bowl arrangements? Is it going to be better to have large, tall arrangements that spray over the table? So all of these are beautiful design decisions that are fully in your control that you can plan ahead to optimize your creative flow.

So now that you have those elements translated, I want us to consider my next point, which is the power of rituals. Rituals are so powerful when it comes inciting or inviting a specific experience. Rituals are centering, they're calming, and they set the tone. Rituals create an entryway, a threshold to cross into a new space and they signal that something specific or even sacred can now begin.

During my MFA program as a creative writing graduate student, I remember talking with one of my fellow graduate students about how we get into the space where we can focus on our creative work. At the time, my creative work was writing poetry, which often required a lot of reading, a lot of drafting, and a lot of sort of getting into a weird, open, half-intentional, half-just channeling space where I could use language as an art form to evoke an emotional experience or to invite an emotional experience.

And this friend of mine told me that for her, one of the ways she could shut out the rest of the world, one of the ways that she could help herself step into her creative flow was simply to light a candle. Once the candle was lit, there was no phone, there was no computer, there was no distraction, there was no talking to anyone. She would make sure those things were out of the way, light the candle, and then there was just her pen and the paper working on the page. And I think that was amazing.

That was such a simple ritual, but such a really helpful and accessible signal to the body, to the mind, to that creative, spiritual, emotional element that it's time to create. And that's something that you can do as well, and something that I often will do to prepare myself to create.

Here are some other examples of rituals:

Light a stick of incense, change the scent and the air in the room. do a quick stretching routine where you just make sure to roll your shoulders, roll your neck, stretch up tall, take a deep breath, maybe fold in half, hang down, reach for your toes, let your spine expand, and then slowly, come back up.

Another good ritual is kind of a three minute breathing or meditation. Just sitting still and taking 10 deep breaths. It doesn't have to be long. You don't have to sit in lotus posture to meditate or anything like that. You can just sit comfortably somewhere that feels quiet and peaceful and just breathe for three minutes. That's a beautiful ritual to prepare your body and your mind.

Another example of a ritual could just be a walk around the block or a walk around the garden It could be turning on a favorite song. Music is so powerful for setting the tone or inviting a certain mood. It can certainly elevate your mood too.

It could be a favorite cup of tea. You could have a pep talk in the mirror. Look at yourself in the mirror and say you're amazing. I believe in you. We're going to make something beautiful. Sounds funny. Feels awkward but is actually really effective and really nice. Speaking of that you can also have affirmations.

Affirmations are a wonderful ritual. You could have a little list in your phone of affirmations, that's what I do, and read through them and say them out loud and feel the power of those words coming out of you and supporting and affirming these beliefs that you choose. Really, the options are endless.

The thing that I think for rituals is that it should be something that feels special, something that signals to your senses that something is different and it should be accessible, nothing complex.

So now that we have calibrated our creativity to the occasion, we've translated our intention into our design elements. We have chosen a ritual that helps to prepare the body and mind for the experience of creating.

Now I want you to prepare your creative space, alleviate any stuck energy, get organized, make space to invite your sacred creative energy by putting things away, clearing surfaces, noticing if there are things that need to be processed. Are there piles of things that are getting in the way? Your space has everything to do with the energy around you. Your environment supports or depletes how you feel and how well you feel in going into your creative effort.

As you get organized, put things where it makes sense to find them and where it feels good to have them. Maybe on your work table you want to have your clippers out and your watering can to fill your vessel and roll of tape. Maybe you want to have that candle somewhere you can see it. It can be very simple, but take a moment to prepare your creative space.

take five minutes to clear off a little area where you can feel at peace, where your mind can feel open, and where energetically you have room to invite in that magic flow and creative energy.

Next, prepare your creative instrument, which is you. This is your personal care. Check in with yourself before you ask yourself to create. Have you eaten? Do you need water or a snack? Do you need to take a few deep breaths? Have you even noticed your breath in the last hour? I have to check in with myself about this all the time. It is insane how easy it is to forget to breathe. Thank goodness our body knows how to do it on its own.

But it certainly feels wonderful to pause and take a few deep intentional breaths. You can place your hand on your diaphragm or on your belly, breathe down, allowing it to expand as you inhale and allowing it to fall, as you exhale. It's very calming and it brings you back into your body, which is where the creativity flows through.

Ask yourself if you need to take a stretch or have that cup of tea. Would that be grounding? Would that be centering?

The point is make this nice for you and for your body and your energy. Then, regarding preparing your creative instrument, dress as the artist you want to be or that you know you are. Is there a special bracelet or pendant? Is there a special pair of earrings or a scarf? A special pair of shoes or a color or a hat or a bandana? Is there some accoutrement for your personal costume

that would make you feel like the artist you know you are? Little talismans like this are really strong signals to the body and to the energy body that honor affirm, and encourage the skills and the abilities that you know that you have. And again, it's kind of in this energetic and intentional space where you are inviting that magic creative flow.

Next, make it a habit. Most of these things that I've been listing and describing to you are very simple and can be done once or decided once and done very quickly. It's kind of like designing a very supportive protocol. Once it's designed, it's very easy. You know, to collect those story elements.

You know to translate them into the elements you bring together and you know to take time to prepare your mind, your body, your space, and to create those simple signals, cues, and rituals that support you in feeling really good as you go into your creative wilderness.

We're not going for creating a time-consuming routine or a bunch of steps that make this harder. We are only going for creating a supportive and simple routine that is easy and that is delightful for you.

Now with our mindset, vision and preparation all in place, it's time to design. This is the part where we are inviting that magic flow to show up for us. Inviting the experience of feeling confident, calm, creative, clear, present and capable. It is a discovery process. And as we step into it, I have five areas of tips and protocols to guide you as you design.

First is vision, second is process and prep, third is arranging, fourth is editing, and fifth is surrender. Here's what to know in each category.

First is vision.

I'm sure you've heard of the power of visualization, the power of taking a moment to make clear in your mind's eye what it is that you want or what it is that you're calling in. One way to start setting your vision is very practical, very hands-on, is to create a thumbnail sketch.

This is particularly helpful for floral installations to help get a sense of the larger thing and the shape that you're trying to make happen. It's also particularly helpful when you're working with a team, when you have freelancers working with you as a great way to communicate before the design has been made, what you're going for, what shape, what feeling, what gesture.

So a thumbnail sketch is a very helpful tip as you clarify your vision. A thumbnail sketch means a small, simple sketch takes few seconds that scribbles or doodles the shape and the general look of what this design is meant to be.

You don't have to be good at it.

You're starting to articulate from your brain and your creative energy into the physical realm. So the thumbnail sketch is that first translation where you're like, this is what I'm going for. It's not just in the ether of my creative mind, it's starting to come out into the physical world. The second thing you could do, to create your vision or to start bringing your vision to life is to create a digital mock-up.

This is a wonderful tool of the modern age. I use Canva. I think you can use other programs as well. You could use Photoshop. It's essentially taking images of flowers or designs, removing the background, cutting them out and making them into little pieces that you can kind of wiggle around and shift and augment the sizes and angles of them so that you can kind of make a little digital mock-up of the design you're trying to create.

And this doesn't have to be perfect either, it's simple. It's like a digital thumbnail sketch.

Another tip here is to gather inspiration images. Never underestimate the power of a good mood board. Pulling together a Pinterest board or setting up a mood board in a different document, really helps start to center and ground the vision that you have.

Next step in our design process is processing and prep.

First, process your stems before you begin. There's nothing more clunky and aggravating in your creative process than reaching for flowers to start designing and having them come out in a giant clump and tangle because all of their stems and leaves are all intertwined. So take your time and process stems.

If you're brand new to floristry, this means when you bring flowers home from market or when you bring flowers in from the garden, take a moment to gently strip the bottom half of each stem, pulling off lower leaves so that the stem is clean, giving it a nice fresh cut and setting it into water. It's really touching each stem one at a time so that you've optimized your stems and we are all about optimizing in this episode so that it's easier to pull out a flower that you want and just that flower comes.

This is particularly important with flowers like scabiosa, or cosmos, anything that's kind of airy and has little branchy interlocking leaves, but really it will help you with anything, roses as well. also don't want the leaves down in the water that will make the water spoil faster and it will make more bacteria and the flowers will spoil faster as well. So always process your stems before you begin. Next, as you're beginning to design, go shopping from your flowers and your palette.

I always tell my student designers this, if they're here for a group workshop or for a one-on-one mentorship, there's a moment where you need to go shopping. Go into the flowers that we have prepared, this array of varieties and colors, and start selecting what speaks to you. What is going to help tell the story, the style and the season that you are trying to evoke for this occasion?

Use the flower recipe guide: select some focals, some fillers, some foliages and some floaty flowers. Make sure that you have a little bit of each so that you have a nice variety to play with. And when you shop from these flowers, I either put them in a separate bucket or I will lay them out on my table and I'll often organize them into groups or organize them by color most often.

As mentioned in this prep step, also want to prepare your tools and mechanics.

Before I even start to touch or play with flowers in my design flow, I always have my mechanics set in my vessel. If that's a pin frog, I've got it mounted into the bottom of the vessel. If that is a chicken wire armature, then I have that created and taped down in the vessel.

And that way I can pour water into the vessel and it's ready to use before I start bringing stems out onto my table.

And then of course, make sure that your space is set up as we mentioned, the work table is clear. The lighting is good. You have space. so that you feel supported as you begin to design.

Next step is arranging.

These steps are your guidance for the path into the wilderness. So as we're starting to design with flowers, which you can learn about with me in all of my Poetry of Flowers online courses or in my workshops or mentorships, but while we're here, this is what I teach in there. These are exactly the things that I teach in those classes.

And again, as I mentioned earlier, when you are creating art, we are not following a set, simple, step-by-step set of directions in order to produce something rote. That is functional, but that is not art. So as I teach you these tips and guidelines for your arranging or your actual floral designing, they're not meant to be step one, step two, step three. That's just not how art emerges. That's one of the realities to surrender to and to embrace, that's going to make creativity and this magic flow so much easier and so much more likely.

When we try too hard to control step one, step two, step three, we are tight. We are in a place of fear. We are trying to do it right. And one of the keys to a healthy magic creative flow is remembering to breathe. Breathe, let go, be present, be curious, but don't be afraid. Let yourself explore, let yourself make mistakes.

All of this is so important to allowing that creativity to flow.

So as we get into these pointers I'm about to tell you, remember that this is a recursive process. It's the same with writing. Recursive meaning it is a process that's going to move in and out, kind of be cyclical. Maybe do one step, move on to another, maybe circle back to that step.

You kind of need to flow and allow that natural emotional fluidity through the steps and through the process to allow something to happen. So what are these pointers, not steps? I often suggest to start with coverage and brushstrokes for your shape. This is your gesture. So as you begin, you're looking at your vessel, nothing in it but mechanics. The first thing I like to try to do is start to cover those mechanics. You don't have to be 100 % covered. Don't over do this step, but start placing shorter elements in to start creating that coverage and then creating your brush strokes, your gestural pieces. Using your foliages, starting to establish a shape.

Next pointer is to start lower than you want to and to layer outward. If you start too long with your stems in the beginning, you will have that overstuffed, undimensional, often kind of roundy-moundy look. Whereas if you want that airy, natural, effortless look, you need to have deep pieces down low with longer pieces layered around them. That's going to create the dimensionality.

Next pointer, create in clusters and odd numbers. Again, this is a really helpful guideline. If you place your flowers in kind of polka dots all around, it's not going to feel very intentional. It's also not gonna feel very nature inspired. When you create with clusters, it feels like the way in a garden that's grown together. There is this plant or this bush or this tree and they're growing near each other, but they cluster together because they're on the same plant.

That doesn't mean you can't have different clusters in different places of the same flower, but think about creating in clusters and making those clusters in odd numbers. Odd numbers always feel more natural, three or five or seven. If you have two, it looks like eyeballs. If you have four, it looks contrived. So think about using those odd numbers as a good guideline for creating that naturalized look as you design.

In general, heavier or larger shapes go lower, while lighter and airier shapes go higher. Think of how things grow in nature.

Then in general, start with fillers and foliages to cover the mechanics, as I mentioned, and to establish that general initial shape, but leave negative space. Even with your fillers and textures, work in layers, and leave spaces for other flowers to start to layer in as well. Layers again give dimensionality.

Then you can create movement with color. Just like a painter, you are creating a composition that you want to intrigue your viewer. You want to move their eye through your composition and keep them interested.

So use color and tonality and shades to create movement through your arrangement.

Then create points of interest for your viewer with focals those focal flowers that have a clear center that draws your eye in. And with clusters, the clustering of flowers creates a focal point or a point of interest.

As you design flowers, let yourself have fun creating moments of intrigue everywhere in your design. And that reminds me, turn your arrangement as you go. I always teach to grab a little lazy Susan place your vessel onto that turning surface so that you can turn it as you design.

That way you can see your arrangement from all angles and you can make these beautiful points of interest everywhere you go.

And then light and airy flowers go in last-ish, Again, we're not doing like step one through 10, check one off as you go. This is that fluid move in and out process. But in general, those lighter airy dancy flowers will go in last in my arrangement because I want them to float and flutter over some of the layers that are below them, over some of the heavier shapes at different levels as well and different angles, I will pepper them in toward the end so that they can add that beautiful last touch.

And that's another point to remember too, angles. We talked about clusters, we talked about odd numbers, but keep in mind your angles. You don't wanna have an arrangement that looks like a porcupine. You don't want everything to be spiking out of it at all different angles and kind of globe shape. That's not how nature grows. Think about how flowers grow on a plant. They're each trying to find their place in the sun.

So there'll be something lower, there'll be something growing nearby a little higher, but it will have left a little window for the one below because each bloom and each leaf is trying to find its place in the sun. So keep that in mind with the angles that you choose. Let the angles be gentle and graceful.

Next in our design process is editing. This is where we revise the arrangement. This is a huge part of it. When I was a professor of English, I would teach my students you can't just write a term paper by sitting down and starting with word number one and finishing with word number whatever 10 pages later. You just can't. Your writing won't be good. Your paper won't be strong.

And it's the same with flowers. We are going through a drafting and revising process as we create a composition in the language of flowers.

That means that once we have created this beautiful floral arrangement draft, we want to also edit it. If you want a quality of art and intention in it, you need to revise, you need to refine it.

So as we go into revise and refine a floral arrangement, first check for holes, check for blank spots or dark spots or visible mechanics. These are all little kind of problem areas that you don't want to leave that way. You want to find them, it's not a mistake, but it's something that now in this step we need to adjust.

It's amazing what little short pieces layered in can fix. So look on your design table. Are there little sprigs or shorter stems or different foliage or flowers that you could pick up and adjust and layer in I always have my students check the rim of your vessel. You might have been designing from above. Make sure that you go to eye level.

In some designs, typically an Ikebana-inspired sculptural design where we've used a pin frog in the base of a bowl, it's not so important to cover the bowl because the mechanics are part of the design. So this is more for a chicken wire armature inside the vessel when you want to have that blooming full centerpiece look, want to make sure that the flowers are almost spilling over the edge. We don't want to have that harsh edge of the vessel and kind of a dark space or a hole or a view into the mechanics.

And by the way, as we edit, this is part of the magic flow. This is part of feeling confident, calm, and satisfied with your work is taking the time to review and to refine what you've done. So next step is to frame up your centerpiece or your work in your camera screen of your phone. It will give you this really nice two-dimensional feedback loop.

When you take a photo or look at your floral arrangement in your camera it does something that allows you to see it differently. And it's wild, but suddenly you'll think, ⁓ that area's a little flat, or that looks a little bit dark, or that looks a little bit weird. I think I need a flower there. I think I need something. So have a look, not with a critical tear yourself apart eye, but with a critical constructive eye.

Next, as you edit your arrangement, ask yourself the key question. I always teach this in my mentorships and workshops and courses. It is one of the most accessible, easy to overlook, but effective questions to ask, especially when you don't have a teacher there to guide you or affirm you.

As the yogic philosophies teach us, the teacher is within. So what I want you to do is to ask yourself this key question. Ask yourself, "what does this need to feel better?" When I look at this arrangement, what does this need to feel better? It's particular that it's feel too, because floral designs are an emotional art form. So what does it need to feel better?

And when you ask yourself that question, you will be amazed because you know the answer. You'll be able to say, oh, again, this spot looks a little flat. This feels a little heavy. I think I need to pull this out. I think I need to add something here, et cetera. So try that question and you'll be amazed at how the answers come to you.

Next as you edit, step away. Make this part of your creative process. It only takes a second, but step away. Go have a drink of water. Go walk outside. Take a moment of sunshine. Take a moment away and come back to your work with fresh eyes.

The mind gets exhausted when we are in this hyper-focused mode, when we are in a space of micro-focus. We need to step back, look at other things, focus on other things. When you come back, you'll be amazed, especially when you think that

an arrangement is a lost cause. It's not. Give yourself a break and you will come back and see it with new eyes. That means you'll both see how great it actually is and you will see what maybe you still need to do to finish it.

And as a bonus here in the editing suggestions, if you are creating a mock-up that you need to replicate for, let's say, reception centerpieces at a wedding, take a moment to analyze what you did and how you did it. Reverse engineer your own floral arrangement.

Write down a list of which varieties and how many of each you used to create an ingredients sheet. Make note of what goes where and in what kinds of clusters or sprays or angles. This is going to be so helpful for you as you repeat the process or as you teach it to your freelancers.

Lastly, for our design process tips, I want you to surrender.

This is testing your commitment to inviting in the magic of that creative flow state that you want.

Surrender and acceptance are deeply connected. Surrendering to that which we cannot control is being humble and having humility. We are powerful, but also limited beings.

When we surrender what we cannot control, we free ourselves to be more empowered in what we can. Surrender means letting go, and that includes letting go of the outcome.

Remember that each creative effort is just that, an effort, your best effort with what you had at the time.

When you can let this be, you will find yourself less in a critical and judgmental and dismissive space of your creative work and more in a curious, supportive, expansive, and capable place.

And from there, you are more likely to have an easier time learning, growing, and improving. And that's all we're here to do, really. We don't arrive. We simply continue to learn and grow. Also, if we try too hard to control the outcome, or if we judge too harshly what emerges with us from the wilderness of the unknown, we will stunt and smother our creative flow.

I remember again during my MFA program in creative writing learning about how important it is for a poet to have a spark, an intention, or an investigation to begin.

But of equal importance was the ability to channel and flex as the work begins to emerge. If I tried too hard to hold the poem to what I wanted it to be, I ruined it. It would feel clunky and contrived.

If instead I let it flow out of me and revised it to discover what the poem itself, not my expectations, wanted to become, then the poem came to life in front of me. Arranging with flowers is the same.

we need to surrender and to hold ourselves as the artist in the position of the steward of the art that is asking to arrive through us.

The magic we are seeking is in that scary, thrilling, ineffable, and beautiful process.

Ahh, such a good set of reminders. I hope you are feeling inspired, empowered, and much more clear about how to optimize your experience and how to invite that magic flow in your creative work, both in preparing yourself and doing what you can control and in having that healthy surrender and that greater comfortable sensibility in the unknown that is where creativity happens.

So keep in mind as we close for today that the magic we seek in our creative design flow is really a sensation of feeling supported, of feeling clear and present, confident and open. It's also a feeling of accepting what comes, which is much easier to do when you are not frustrated and fighting against all the elements stacked against you.

The path to inviting the experience of a magic flow in your design work starts with making simple systems and protocols or decisions that clarify your vision, that gather what you need, that prepare your body, your creative instrument, and give you confidence as you step into the unknown to explore and bring forth something beautiful and intentional from the mystery.

When we are prepared and calm, we invite the magic.

So now please take these steps and simple optimization shifts and weave them into your flow,

And maybe take a moment to journal or jot down what stuck out the most to you in this episode and create the simplest, most supportive little checklist or system for yourself to incorporate this shift.

I am genuinely so excited for you to apply these tips and tools and even more excited for you to experience more of that confident, open, magic flow state in your creative work. As you forge ahead, remember that you can learn more with me on the optimizing of steps and the intentional guidance for the design process in the poetry of flowers, my collection of online courses, and all access membership.

Head to my website at nectarandbloomfloral.com and head to "courses" to explore. And take advantage of the incredible end of the year sale going on right now, giving you 30 % off your Poetry of Flowers online course or all access membership with code TIMETOBLOOM30, that's T-I-M-E-T-O-B-L-O-O-M-3-0 at checkout.

I am so excited for your growth and expression as an artist and floral designer. And if you're a creative entrepreneur doesn't work with flowers, these tips will work for you too, whatever your form of art, or whatever it is that you create or bring into the world, these steps of preparation, the rituals, the visualization and the trust and surrender will all serve you as you invite more of that confident, peaceful and magical flow.

Beautifully done. You just completed another episode of Called to Bloom another step forward on your creative journey and that deserves a little celebration.

I think finishing any resource that nourishes your being and makes you feel more connected is one of the most empowering things you can do for your business and creative calling.

Now to expand your experience, hit follow so you never miss an episode. And also head over to calledtobloompodcast.com to find show notes, discount codes, and details from our sponsors.

If you're ready to deepen your practice with classes and immersive experiences in flowers and wellbeing, head over to nectarandbloomfloral.com and explore my workshops, one-on-one mentorships, poetry of flowers, holistic online courses, wellbeing experiences and my original Tarot of Flowers deck.

You can also find me on Instagram @nectar_and_bloom for more inspiration, tools, creativity, and like-minded community.

For now, keep blooming. The world needs what you are here to create.

That's that. See you next time.

Cover image by Sposto Photography.