Cause and Effect

In The Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron says about writing her prescribed morning pages, “We are tempted, always, to reverse cause and effect. ‘I was too crabby to write them,’ instead of, ‘I didn’t write them so I am crabby.’” When I’m stuck in my own writing, I often think about that quote. Could it be that nothing is working because I’m not writing instead of not being able to write because nothing is working? Could it really be as simple as “put butt in chair, move hand across page”?
I think, as humans, we tend to look for difficult answers to our “deep” questions. We aren’t able to accept that the answer might be a simple one, usually because simple doesn’t always mean easy. But why shouldn’t the answer to blocked creativity be simply to be creative? If you’re a writer, write. If you’re a painter, paint. If you’re a musician, make music. It doesn’t have to be good, but creativity breeds creativity. If you don’t start, you’ll never finish. Just start. You’ll be less crabby in no time!