The creative gut is an interesting creature. It runs on intuition and is a natural part of you. Yet, over time, you might learn or decide not to trust it. Between crushed expectations, negative experiences with someone close to you or old patterns you took on from family, your creative gut can lose the upper hand - and you don’t even realize it. Your inner truth becomes harder to sense, and what you really want to see can be hiding behind a super foggy mirror. This makes … [Read more...]
Should You Follow or Release the Creative Noise in your Mind?
June 12, 2014 By 1 Comment
Creative noise rattling around in your mind can be an inspiration or a frustration, a calling or a distraction. How can you tell the difference? Practice choosing. The skills you build when you take the risk of making a “wrong choice” help you get more comfortable with taking chances and trusting yourself as you work through challenging situations. More practice, the better you get at feeling your truth in each choice rather than needing clear, mental approval and proof in … [Read more...]
Are you Sticking to a Creative Vision or Stifling It?
May 8, 2014 By Leave a Comment
Creative vision is a blend of what you know, feel and desire crafted into an ideal version of what’s possible. It’s a wish list on steroids driven by imagination. I love to play with ideas and see where they take me, but playtime can’t last forever if I want to turn an idea into something tangible. So with ideas that feel juicy and exciting I ask myself a few questions, “Am I ready to take the action steps to make this happen? Is this something I can commit to and see it … [Read more...]
How to Know When a Creative Idea is Ready to Share
May 1, 2014 By Leave a Comment
When you are inspired by a creative idea it’s so much fun to play with it, to smooth out the rough edges and see where it takes you. Making tweaks, changing the flow and watching it expand is all part of the experience, coupled with the frustration, fear and chaos which is also normal. So with this vast range of input during the creative process, how do you know when it’s time to share a creative idea with others? How can you tell the difference between fear, excitement and choosing the best … [Read more...]
Are you Creating Boundaries or Self-Imposed Limitations?
March 13, 2014 By Leave a Comment
As someone who used to have very thin boundaries and lot’s of self-imposed limitations, these two heavy hitters often get confused more often than you think. Word-wise the difference seems obvious. Boundaries are defined as self-protective, and limitations are defined as rules and restrictions. Whether you jump into creating a boundary or a limitation as a reflex is determined in those powerful moments when you sense things are getting uncomfortable, or as if your reputation and value may be … [Read more...]
How your Values Impact your Creative Drive
February 6, 2014 By Leave a Comment
Creativity starts with a spark of inspiration, but a spark is just a spark unless your creative drive kicks in to put energy and motivation behind an idea to take it further. What fuels the creative drive? A sense of intrinsic value and purpose, something that you may not even realize is operating behind the scenes and impacting your creative view. So when is the last time you even thought about what you value or how you came to value it? It might be time to tune-up those filters and … [Read more...]
Weekly Creativity Kick-Start: Create a Brag Book
January 27, 2014 By Leave a Comment
This week’s creativity kick-start is all about supporting your own creative mojo with a little self-made brag book. When feeling stuck or blocked, it can be hard to remember your successes or all the little ways others remind you of your talents and gifts. A brag book is a very effective inspirational tool to call on when you feel your spark is missing. It helps reopen your eyes to see the creative truth of your abilities way beyond the blank canvas. Putting Together your Brag Book to … [Read more...]
Are you Too Attached to a Specific Creative Picture?
January 23, 2014 By Leave a Comment
The way you see your creative self is guided, in part, by a combination of past experiences and future expectations. You know what works and what doesn’t, what was painful and what was best left as an “experiment”. This view influences your perspective on all sorts of things, including the specifications you use to rate creative projects, client interactions or new ideas as potential successes or failures. This approach is perfectly understandable -- until you go back to the first sentence of … [Read more...]
Loving What you Perceive as your Creative Flaws
December 12, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Is it easier to point out your attributes or list your creative flaws? If I were to guess, I would say your list is a bit lopsided, and your ability to pick out what you would change is not only longer, but easier to write. So instead of looking at the points on your list as things to overcome or fix, why not take what you perceive as your creative flaws and learn how to love them? The willingness to see all of who you are and use it to fuel your self expression and creative projects opens up … [Read more...]
Self Appreciation and Giving Thanks for your Creative Gifts
November 28, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Thanksgiving always creates a flurry of focus on appreciation, but how often do we direct that love and gratitude into true self-appreciation? Loving yourself just as you are, learning and striving to be more and growing, even just a little bit, as you screw things up is all part of being human. It’s how you learn what is truly worthy of your gratitude and loving attention, and what you most value at a core level. Yet, most of us put self appreciation last on the list if at all, instead placing … [Read more...]