Creative fuel is the juice that keeps creative expression flowing. It’s how you stay motivated, inspired and curious about the world around you. The more easily accessible the creative fuel, the more available you are to embrace the little creative opportunities life sends your way. So how do you keep your creative fuel tank filled and ready to go? Even more important, do you know when it’s time to rest and back-off so your body and mind can have a little recovery … [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...]
Creativity Kick-Start: Discovering and Building Creative Resources
June 9, 2014 By 1 Comment
Creative resources are all the little tools and strategies you use to play and express your creativity. It’s the eye you develop to spot the perfect shade of paint for your next project, the deal on vintage furniture worth restoring, the sale on herbs for your garden or the fresh new journal you can’t wait to crack open, filling the pages with ideas that come to you in dreams. These simple examples of creative resources are the things I get excited about, and even if I … [Read more...]
Piggy Banks and the Art of Being Mindful
June 5, 2014 By Leave a Comment
The practice of being mindful is a lot like the experience of getting your first piggy bank as a kid. No matter what shape, color or type of “bank” you used, it served as a simple symbol of your resources, connecting the concept of being mindful to a tangible physical form. Sliding the change through the slot, making it a habit, day dreaming about just how much was hiding behind the walls, picking up extra change you found to deliver it safely to your growing … [Read more...]
Creativity Kick-Start: Brainstorming, the Ultimate Creative Muscle Workout
June 2, 2014 By Leave a Comment
The term brainstorming has taken a bit of an unexpected detour in the last 25 years, ending up an overused “buzzword” in business. While creative ideas generated through brainstorming techniques are invaluable in business, brainstorming is a powerful tool for anyone to use as part of active creative play. It’s the fire that stokes your desire to dream and create in the first place. That’s why it’s an essential part of any creative budget. The creative seeding … [Read more...]
Trying to Measure your Creative Worthiness? Stop It!
May 29, 2014 By Leave a Comment
Creative worthiness is something you are born with and doesn't need to look a certain way to be appreciated or valuable. But what happens when your creative expression is part of how you make a living? It can be a slippery slope of following your inspiration and balancing it with practical business goals. This reality puts your creative worthiness under a bit of a microscope, right? The extra pressure and expectations that rise up when a creative project … [Read more...]
Creativity Kick-Start: Physical Movement Cranks up Inspiration and Creative Reserves
May 26, 2014 By 1 Comment
Physical movement is excellent for all aspects of your health. There are endless studies, statistics and experts I could quote to support that statement, but it’s something you likely already know and are making an active choice (or not) to add to your life. You probably also have a go-to exercise option, even if you don’t use it nearly enough. So...I’m going to ask you to try something a little different. Just for a moment, set aside the obvious benefits of physical movement, and … [Read more...]
Creativity Kick-Start: Inspiring Creative Space is a Cornerstone of a Creative Budget
May 19, 2014 By Leave a Comment
An inspiring creative space makes connecting with your inner creative guidance so much easier. When there is clutter, reminders of unfinished work or a stack of bills staring at you, creativity easily hides in your growing pile of “some day” excuses. Lack of a creative brainstorm space can also make you feel as if you are in a constant state of re-igniting creativity instead of playing with it. All a good inspiring creative space really needs to be is an area to focus and tune in … [Read more...]
Creative Change, Jagged Edges and Honoring the Whole Path
May 15, 2014 By 1 Comment
Creative change comes in one of two ways. You can go chasing after it, charging face first into the flames and ready for anything, or it crashes the party, smashing through life as you know it with an invitation to dance. As an observer kinda gal, I tend to look for quite some time before I leap, feeling into things and turning the tumblers of my mind over all the angles. I can see the promise of creative change waving at me as inspiration; a guide to follow one of many … [Read more...]
Creativity Kick-Start: Joy, a Creative Budget Essential
May 12, 2014 By Leave a Comment
Joy is not just for grandma’s and monks. It’s an essential part of any creative budget, and a critical key to connecting to your creative sense of self. I want to focus on joy as the next core piece in my series on crafting a creative budget because it’s why you create. It’s the plug to your juicer, the charger to your cell phone. When you know how to connect with what really brings you happiness, everything else is clearer, the view more crisp. The more you practice choosing joy, the better … [Read more...]