Creativity often is mistakenly considered to be a destination — a mental state you need to reach.

This is where many artists and creators become “blocked” and engage in paralyzing self-sabotage. How often do we hear that someone is “waiting for inspiration to come to them?”

However, creativity is not something static. It is a fluid process that we can connect to with the right mindset.

Here are 5 ways you can reconnect with your inner motivation and desire to create art, finish your novel, choreograph a new dance, or add an extra part to your piano composition…

An appreciation for art is one of the transcendent values of life, and a great source of happiness, but like many transcendent values, it can sometimes be hard to wedge into your ordinary day.

Here are some tips for getting some visual art into your daily routine, without spending a lot of time, energy, or money.

1. Check out art books from the library. Art books are very expensive, but at the library, you can enjoy as many as you want, for free.

“The practice of creativity and knowing who you are go together. You just can’t express one without the other,” writes author, artist and textile designer Marisa Anne Cummings in her beautiful book Creative Thursday: Everyday Inspiration to Grow Your Creative Practice.

In it, she features valuable questions to help readers keep rediscovering ourselves. “Your creative voice lies within the answers,” she writes.

That’s because curiosity is king in creativity. We’re ever-evolving. So it’s important to check in with ourselves on a regular basis. Every question may uncover a different and even surprising response.

Asking these questions helps us better understand the kinds of projects and practices that truly light us up. It helps us find new ideas, methods and even mediums. In other words, the answers to these questions help to inform our creative practice.

Many people today find that there are not enough waking hours to accomplish all we need to do.  Work, long commutes, email, family responsibilities and household chores can eat up much of our waking time.

In order to get chores done or get in a little extra leisure time, many cut corners on sleep.  We rationalize that a few hours here and there won’t make much difference.

But sleep deprivation can have effects on both your mental and physical health.

So what are these negative effects of not getting enough sleep?

In our busy-is-best society, slowing down can get a bad rap.

While slow movements — everything from food to even cities — are catching on, there’s still an underlying stigma surrounding slow. It’s wasted time, at best, slothful, at worst.

But slowing down is often a refuge ripe for creativity. When we unplug and play, ideas percolate and take shape.

There are many ways to slow down and spark creativity. We spoke with several artists and authors to get their thoughts on developing creativity by decelerating.

If you’re a photographer, your most important environment might be the great outdoors. If you’re a writer, you might prefer coffee shops or libraries for weaving your stories. If you’re an artist, you might have an entire garage dedicated to painting or sculpting.

Or maybe you don’t have a hub but several spaces where your creativity blossoms.

Your environment is a precious resource — among many — for cultivating creativity. What you surround yourself with and consume can ignite your imagination (or stifle it).

We asked several writers and artists who regularly nurture their creativity to share what environments inspire them and others.

In October 2012, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) set out to find if they could exercise complete control over habitual behaviors in mice.

By inhibiting a small region of the prefrontal cortex — region of the brain responsible for planning and thought — the scientists were able to break the mice’s habits, but, to their surprise, the mice immediately began forming new behavior patterns.

Until now, psychologists and behavioral therapists believed that habits were hidden in the illusive “subconscious.”

But the MIT study shows that the brain is not just aware of habits: it controls them completely, moment by moment. And no matter how long the habits have existed, we can now shut them off, as by the flip of a switch.

This month for our creativity series I’m thrilled to present my interview with illustrator Elizabeth Patch. I’ve been a big fan of her work ever since I discovered it several years ago. In fact, in 2010, I interviewed Patch for my body image blog Weightless. (Here’s parts one and two.)

Patch is a high school art teacher and author of More to Love, a beautiful book of illustrations that features uplifting and inspiring messages about body diversity and self-acceptance. With her unique artwork Patch celebrates the human form. And she promotes a very important message: to accept, respect and take great care of ourselves at any and every size.

Below, Patch shares what inspires her, how unstructured “sabbaths” help her slow down and create and the quick way she ignites her imagination. She also reveals how we can incorporate creativity into all areas of our lives.

There is magic in ordinary moments, in the mess of life. It’s just that sometimes we miss it.

Sometimes we’re so focused on the future or so buried in the past that we neglect the present. Sometimes we crave something so badly that we want time to speed up. And in that yearning, we gloss over the glory of today.

Other times we get so overwhelmed by daily pressures that we assume we don’t have time for the activities that feed us and bring us joy.

In her beautiful book A Field Guide to Now: Notes on Mindfulness and Life in Present Tense author Christina Rosalie shows us how to take notice, and take action, to live a mindful, passionate, truthful life amid the inevitable challenges and stressors.

Last week, I interviewed writer Anne Lamott at Symphony Space here in New York City. I’m a longtime fan of her work, so am looking forward to hearing her speak about her writing and her process.

It’s especially gratifying for me to do this interview, because years ago, when I was still in law school, Anne Lamott and I were both bridesmaids in my college roommate’s wedding. I was so intimidated by her, a Real Writer, that I don’t think I spoke two words to her the entire time. The intense discomfort I felt around writers was one clue that helped me realize that I wanted to be a writer, myself.

So, in honor of Anne Lamott, here’s a tips list summarizing, very briefly, some of the points she makes in her terrific book on writing, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life.

When I first saw Carla Sonheim’s artwork, I instantly fell in love with her playful and unique creatures (like the one above). Sonheim’s paintings and illustrations are what creativity is all about: giving birth to novel, stirring ideas that surpass the predictable.

Sonheim uses her boundless, innovative approach in her classes and books, such as her latest The Art of Silliness: A Creativity Book for Everyone. I love that she makes art accessible, surprising and fun for everyone.

I’m incredibly honored to share my interview with Sonheim for our monthly series. Below, she offers her wise and fascinating thoughts on the creative process. She shares how she connects to her own creativity and how we, too, can ignite our imagination.

Money can’t buy you love. Yet that doesn’t stop many of us from trying. In our hearts we know very well that pricey presents don’t make the perfect holiday. (There’s no such thing, anyway.)

Still, many of us get sucked into the holiday spending spree.

“When we are pressured to match a transaction of cash and heart-felt emotion, it feels like we can never spend enough,” said Mara Glatzel, MSW, a coach who helps women cultivate the lives they deserve.

Gift-giving is a loaded topic with many layers. For instance, it sparks comparison-making and fears about not being good enough, according to Ashley Eder, LPC, a psychotherapist in Boulder, Colo. “It’s natural that some people turn to high-value items to soothe their fears about gift exchange,” she said.