Archive for » March, 2011 «

Mar
27

Creativity & Passion Play Well Together

“It’s hard for many to imagine, but having fun, feeding your passions, and engaging your talents are simple steps that will take you to the bigger answers you seek.”
Jonathan H. Ellerby

It’s time to turn your old ideas around passion and playfulness upside down! Exploring your creative passions leads you straight to your purpose. Finding what Sir Ken Robinson calls ‘the element’ is also the quickest path to joy in life. If you didn’t get the memo – pay attention to this message:  Life is NOT something to be taken seriously. We were put on this earth to make a positive difference while doing what we love. Happiness is not frivolous – it is a path to peace. One caution:  passion is not indulgence. It is harmless (to ourselves and others). Play with it. What you create will positively change the world!

Who are you? What makes you curious? What do you find fun? How would you most like to play all day? If you were free to do anything, what would you do?  The answers to these questions will provide you with ‘passion clues.’ They are parts of the million-piece-puzzle known as YOU.  My personal passion profile includes:  traveling, teaching, coaching, inspiring, sharing and caring,  making a difference, reading, researching, learning, and activating creative potential with joy. My favorite ways to play range from playing classic solitaire on-line, Scrabble in real life, Latin dancing or doing Zumba, and, of course, creating collages, books and doing my thing on Twitter.  A big part of my joy comes from just walking in nature. If there is a beach, park or nature trail around – you’ll find me there!  Why is it important to know these things about myself – because they all offer clues to my most meaningful work. My passion for inspiring and sharing positive quotes led to creating  www.JoyofQuotes.com website.  This website shares my voice with the world. The feedback I get and the growing numbers of visitors to the site offer dramatic testimony to the power of passion. It thrills me to know people are being encouraged and inspired by the words I’ve gathered. My life feels meaningful because of it – and I am also empowered to extend my love of sharing and caring in other ways – such as this blog. Living your passion does not have to be complicated. It does not mean you must quit your ‘day job’ or give up your family responsibilites, it simply means you make room for it in your life. Right now you have everything you need to start taking baby steps in the direction of what you love.  In your heart you probably have an idea of what this is for you. Give yourself that gift.  The world is waiting for you!

Ok. We started this post with snow, but Spring has sprung and here’s the evidence – my friend Ann invites us all to come gratitude dancing at Siesta Key Beach in Sarasota, Florida.  She is doing what she loves and all the world benefits! Watch the video and feel the joy, passion, creativity, and playfulness of putting up a sign and bringing colorful silk scarves to the beach. It’s magic!  Let’s all start dancing with our passions in new ways. Ann is the dancing goddess in the straw hat. If you’re interested in participating in a Creative Playshop in Sarasota (complete with a gratitude dancing experience) let me know and I’ll set it up!

Lucky you!  It’s Spring Break & you’re just one click away from dancing on the beach!!!! 
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frRvJ-1Hc-k
Now anytime you need a dance break, just come back to this blog!

“ When work, commitment, and pleasure all become one and you reach that deep well where passion lives, nothing is impossible. ”
Nancy Coey

I’ve mentioned this book before, but there really is no better book on the market about the power of passion for good than The Element by Sir Ken Robinson. If you missed my book review, click this link: http://tiny.ly/yGs8   Now it’s time to play with possibilities. Keven Carroll http://kevincarrollkatalyst.com Has written many books, but the one I’m calling your attention to today is titled: The Red Rubber Ball at Work.  Jenna Smith, one of my super passionate peers in the Buffalo State Creative Studies department http://www.buffalostate.edu/creativity/ wrote a great book review. Please check it out at http://tiny.ly/xlmp . All through the book, Keven shares stories about children’s preferred ways of playing led them to amazing careers expressing their unique passions.

“The master of the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his education and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which; he simply pursues his vision of excellence in whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing.
To him he is always doing both.”
Buddha 

 

Creativity Prompt #1:  Think back to your childhood and jot down your favorite ways to play. What did you enjoy doing most?  Did you prefer inside or outside play?  Did you like building things? Or taking things apart? Or creating imaginary worlds? Make a list as long as you can of your happiest memories. Write them out longhand. The act of writing will trigger more information to come up for you.  When you feel you have it all on paper, look for patterns. Are you doing similar work? Do those activities still stimulate interest?  Are there some playful actions from list you’ll like to experience again. Pencil ‘play time’ into your schedule and do it.  Take toys to the office if that makes it easier. Playing promises to stimulate both your brain and your creativity. Have fun with it!

 

“Never forget that you are one of a kind. Never forget that if there weren’t any need for you in all your uniqueness to be on this earth, you wouldn’t be here in the first place. And never forget, no matter how overwhelming life’s challenges and problems seem to be, that one person can make a difference in the world. In fact, it is always because of one person that all the changes in the world come about.  So be that person.”
Buckminster Fuller 

 We are all brilliant in different ways. Learning your strengths will help identify areas of potential passion for you, too. Which of these intelligences fit you? Musical (music smart), Bodily-Kinesthetic (body smart),
Logical-Mathematical (number smart), Linguistic (word smart), Spatial (picture smart), Interpersonal (people smart), Intrapersonal (smart about myself), Naturalist (nature smart), Existential (‘big questions’ smart). Visit http://tiny.ly/YW7T to complete a fun questionnaire and generate your own colorful intelligence/preference chart.  Howard Gardner www.howardgardner.com developed the theory of multiple intelligences and his books and web site are well worth exploring. You can also Google multiple intelligences and find good information. 

Creativity Prompt #2:  Consider recording your intelligence preferences to your journal and writing about their potential, or create a whole collage around your intelligence chart (print it out  at www.bgfl.org) and surround it with images showing the ways you’d most like to explore your preferences. 

“If God came in and said, I want you to be happy for the rest of your life, what would you do?”
Bernie Siegel 

   

Creativity Prompt#3:  Scrabble story challenge. These are all the words I pulled together on my Scrabble board. Your task is to write a short story, song or poem using all 26 words (and a few extra if needed). Please keep it to 100 words or less…total! Here’s the word list: passion, potential, preference, freedom, fun, play, create, gain, see, be, serve, give, idea, yes, ball, jigsaws, prison, what, why, how, too, brain, tao, odd, how, mind.

“ There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening, that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and will be lost.”
Martha Graham

Set yourself free! I read an interesting blog this morning which starts with a powerful quote about the role of passion in creative leadership. It’s also full of insights into the importance of having a mission, and making a commitment to creativity. Powerful stuff! http://t.co/lAPZ6jS Read the article and ask yourself: Have I put myself in a cage? In what ways do I consider myself ‘not free’ to create?

“Don’t be satisfied with stories, how things have gone with others. Unfold your own myth.”
Rumi 

I hope you’ve enjoyed this blog about creativity and passion and playfulness. It certainly feels more fun than last week’s topic of failure.  I must admit to you I experienced some failure feedback from the Universe after that posting!  It all worked out in magical ways, but it reminded me to remind you – failure does NOT feel good when it’s happening. Sure – there will be learnings down the road – but in the moment they are pretty difficult to appreciate.  So my wish for you this week is for heaps of happy consequences from digging into the topic of passion and play. Thanks for visiting! 

Marta Davidovich Ockuly
Passionate Creativity Catalyst

P.S. Don’t just take my word for it. Click the golden link below to hear Tom Kelley of IDEO sharing the importance of doing what you love!
Tom Kelley, IDEO Do What You Love » Wisepreneur: Creativity & Innovation for Entrepreneurs

Category: Creative Expression, Creative Play, Creativity, Inspiration, Joy, Multiple Intelligences, New Quotes, Passion, Personal Growth, Play, Potential, Purpose, Take Action  Tags: , , , , , ,  4 Comments
Mar
22

Failure leads to creative success!

 

“Be brave enough to live life creatively. The creative is the place where no one else has ever been. You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. You can’t get there by bus, only by hard work and risk and by not quite knowing what you are doing. What you’ll discover will be wonderful. What you’ll discover will be yourself.”
Alan Alda

This week we are going to practice making mistakes. Our goals are to take wild leaps of faith and to make friends with failure.  Why? Because when we’re afraid to try, our creative potential (and joy) begin to dry up.  It’s Spring – the season of new growth, planting seeds of possibility, and beautiful beginnings. While Robert H. Schuller’s question is thought provoking, I’m wondering, “What would you create if you knew you couldn’t fail?” Here’s the secret: every creative act leads to an opening or awareness. The only way to truly fail – is not to try.  The two collages I created this week look at my personal failures to meet self-imposed expectations related to getting my books published and releasing unhealthy eating patterns.  I am choosing to see these ‘creative roads not yet taken’ as ‘feedback.’ 

 

“Living is a form of not being sure, not knowing what next or how. The moment you know how, you begin to die a little. The artist never entirely knows. We guess. We may be wrong, but we take leap after leap in the dark.”
Agnes de Mille

 

Earlier in this journey we gave ourselves permission to create.  Today we will extend ourselves unlimited permission to fail, flop, screw up (or whatever your name is for not meeting expectations).  If this idea seems counter-productive to creativity – let me assure you the opposite is true.  Keep in mind: “An essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid to fail.” Edwin Land

 “When in doubt, make a fool of yourself. There is a microscopically thin line between being brilliantly creative and acting like the most gigantic idiot on earth.  So what the hell, leap.”
Cynthia Heimel

 

Let’s start with BEAUTIFUL OOPS by Barney Saltzberg.  This boldly creative and engaging book was brought to my attention by Dr. Cyndi Burnett, my professor and Master’s Project advisor at ICSC/Buffalo State.  You’ll find it in the children’s section, but I promise it will speak directly to your inner child.  It goes beyond teaching the futility of perfection and opens the door to embracing imperfection. It is absolutely freeing! Think of some creative project you’ve wanted to try. Sign up for a class or gather the most basic supplies and do it.  Perfection is never instant.  Thomas Edison tried (and failed) nearly 10,000 times in his quest to invent the light bulb. He considered every ‘failure’ research because it gave him data on what did not work.  The fact he kept trying led to his success.  In truth – you cannot fail unless you give up.

“Thomas Edison tried 10,000 different materials before finding one that was suitable to serve as a light bulb filament. So if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. We need to set up a system where risk is rewarded. One where we recognize that failure helps us to increase our creativity. Nothing risked is nothing gained.”
Beth Flynn

Creative Prompt #1: Ask yourself, “If I didn’t have to do it perfectly, I would try ____________ (fill in the blank with the first ideas which come to mind).  Now read over this list and see if it spurs more ideas: stand-up comedy, learn a language, take an acting class, learn to shoot video, read your poetry in public, take a sailing lesson, write a short story, learn to tango.  This prompt comes from Julia Cameron’s the ARTIST’S WAY: A Course in Discovering and Recovering Your Creative Self, first published in 1992. This timeless classic is filled with ways to connect with your creative potential through daily journal writing, prompts, and play dates.  Explore some thrift stores to find a bargain-priced copy.  If you’re looking for a local creative tribe, see if anyone is facilitating an Artist’s Way Study Group. Your personal process will be enhanced in a group setting.

“One sure-fire way to stay creative: force yourself to learn something new.”
Harvey Mackay

 

Creative Prompt #2:  Celebrate your mistakes. Think about mistakes you’ve made in the past which turned out to be blessings. Practice looking at mistakes as stepping stones bringing you closer to your desired result. This prompt comes from the CREATIVE LICENSE: Giving Yourself Permission to be the Artist you Truly Are by Danny Gregory (2006).  Gregory’s book is literally about using visual journaling and drawing to make creativity a daily habit. I love his one-page chapters on mistakes and drawing badly. He makes it clear flaws are part of what makes your work wonderful. 

“Dare to be wrong and to dream.”
Friedrich von Schiller

Creative Prompt #3:  Name and claim your biggest, happiest creative dream. Do in in spite of your fear of possible failure.  Remember fear is false evidence appearing real.  This prompt comes from SARK’s MAKE YOUR CREATIVE DREAMS REAL book (2006). She calls it a “plan for procrastinators, perfectionists, busy people, and people who would really rather sleep all day.” Any book by SARK will set your creative spirit free.   

 “Don’t be afraid to expand yourself, to step out of your comfort zone. That’s where the joy and the adventure lie.”
Herbie Hancock

This week I failed to get my blog done on Sunday or Monday.  So what?  I can give myself permission to do what works.  I also failed to attend 5 Zumba classes this past week.  I had a weekend class which prevented me from meeting my goal – but it is important to keep in mind – goals are guidelines.  We need to keep our priorities in mind and do what leads us to our most importation dreams daily.  My biggest dream is graduating with my Master’s degree in May. That deadline means other dreams might need to get put on hold. Being flexible is part of being creative.  Stretch yourself this week.  Make friends with your perceived failures and look at ways you can use them to keep you moving in the direction of your dreams!  Enjoy it all and if you need inspiration or encouragement during the week, visit www.JoyofQuotes.com and check out the quotes and coaching in the Risk, Courage, Beginning, Mistake, Fear, and Failure subject categories. 

Can you believe we are half way through our 10-week journey?  I greatly appreciate your participation and interest.  I hope you have a wonderful week ahead of creative discoveries and happy accidents! All comments and suggestions are blessed and encouraged.  I’d love to hear about your creative experiences and insights.  Have you been inspired to try something new? 

 Marta Davidovich Ockuly

 

P.S.  I am grateful to Dr. Ruth Richards and Dr. Cyndi Burnett for all they ways they contributed to my successful ‘Scholar Experience” this past weekend.  The images show Dr. Burnett and I posing in front of an ‘idea’ poster, and the collage covered binder I created to showcase Dr. Richard’s work.  Now that I’m almost finished with my Master’s degree my sights are on earning a PhD at Saybrook University. Yea for creative challenges!!!

“Life is a daring adventure or nothing.”
Helen Keller

 

P.S.S.  Here’s the lady responsible for shaking up my creativity and stimulating sweaty smiles. Thank you Tammy for being my Zumba motivator and for sharing your comments on this blog, too! (Yes – that’s me in the yellow top taking the photo!)

Category: Beginnings, Creativity, Encouragement, Failure, Fear, Inspiration, Journaling, Life, Mistakes, Personal Growth, Potential, Risk, Success, Take Action  Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,  2 Comments
Mar
14

Joy and Creativity

 Welcome!  This week we’re turning our focus from creativity and mindfulness, to joy and creativity.  

Let’s talk a bit about the nature of joy.  Psychiatry professor George Vallant reminds us, “We can laugh from either joy or happiness, but we weep only from grief or joy…Without the pain of farewell, there is no joy in reunion…without the pain of captivity, we don’t experience the joy of freedom.”  Happiness is cognitive (a state of mind), where as joy is affective (an emotion).  Joy is the least studied of all the emotions – but that is changing with better technology and being able to look more specifically at brain function. While happiness is not joy – often we can use happiness clues to lead us to our joys.  Happiness is a choice we make. Joy appears when we are deeply moved or when we accomplish something deeply meaningful or fulfill our natures as human beings. Humanistic psychologist and classic creativity theorist Rollo May’s writings link the concepts of joy, creativity, and human potential with anxiety.  Joy almost always shows up when we’ve overcome a challenge or worked hard to make a discovery or create something original. None of those things are easy – even when certain people feel they have ‘a gift’ – it does not bear fruit unless the ground is plowed and the seeds are planted and tended for a long, long time. Does this mean joy is out of reach for most of us? Absolutely not. In fact, doing something very simple – daily – can turn you into a virtual joy magnet. It required making joy and creative action a priority. You must also be willing to take baby steps in the direction of what you love – a dream, a project, something you’ve always felt a desire to do. By giving yourself as little as 10 minutes a day indulging in some ‘positive pretending’ and small actions you can see joyful syncronicities showing up where you least expected them.  A link will be provided later in this post to walk you through the process if you so desire.

“Joy, rather than happiness, is the goal of life, for joy is the emotion which accompanies our fulfilling our natures as human beings.
It is based on the experience of one’s identity as being of worth and dignity.”
Rollo May

Have you been practicing mindfulness for 15 minutes a day?  Are you seeing some benefits from journaling? I’d love to hear about your experiences. For me, mindfulness plus movement triggered great creative results.  Keep that in mind as you begin to explore your joys and use them to direct your creative play activities for the week ahead. Given the disaster of the earthquake and resulting trauma in Japan – we are reminded to be grateful for this moment and the blessings surrounding us – seen and unseen.   In times of emergency – we reach out to help others in our global family.  Life is precious precisely because there are no guarantees.  No one is promised a tomorrow. We have an obligation to ourselves and the world to use each day to the fullest doing what matters most to us. Joy and gratitude always appear together. It is simply impossible to feel waves of joy without being drenched in gratitude.  I invite you to reflect on what you may be taking for granted in your life right now.  Then as part of your creative actions for the coming week – reach out and make a positive difference in your world. By sharing a smile, a hug, a hand written letter, or a compliment  or encouragement – you will open doors to your own potential.

“Begin doing what you want to do now. We are not living in eternity. We have only
this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand, and melting like a snowflake.”
Marie Beyon Ray

What does love have to do with it?  Decades of research led E. Paul Torrance, the man many call the father of creativity, to conclude: “One of the most powerful wellsprings of creative energy, outstanding accomplishment, and self-fulfillment seems to be falling in love with something – your dreams, your image of the future.”  Harvard researcher Theresa M. Amabile’s studies also show: “The best way to help people to maximize their creative potential to to allow them to do something they love.”  So what is your creative dream?  What would you do if you knew you could not fail?  Part of the reason you are on this planet right now is to pursue that passion. The dream and the dreamer are always matched. You would not have your particular dream if you did not have the means – right now – to begin walking in that direction.  This is not to say the dream will turn out exactly as you imagined, but I will assure you it will lead you to the place you need to be to find joy and meaning in your life.

 Did you know dancing with joy literally builds new brain cells? 

Biologist Carla Hannaford, PhD, reports:
 ”Self-initiated movement, exploration, interaction and physical experience for the joy and challenge of it, facilitates neurogenesis (nerve growth) for a lifetime.”

 In her fascinating book, Smart Moves: Why Learning is Not All in Your Head, Hannaford makes it clear new brain cells (neural connections) can ONLY be grown if we’re totally focused on (and enthused about) an activity.  What makes us most excited?  JOY!  Creative projects offer a great mix of challenge and joy.  If an idea gives you lots of energy – it has the potential to bring you joy.  What are you inspired to try?

Can you tell me 10 activities which bring you joy?  Before getting out of bed in the morning, spend 10 minutes thinking about what brings you deep joy. If you’ve never made a joy mandala, check out this link:  ActivateJoyPower .  Many people find this technique transformational. With a little practice, you can move joy into your ‘top of the mind awareness’.  When that happens you’ll begin attracting more and more joy.  My life is filled with joy because I use it as my GPS in life. My current ‘top ten’ creative joys are:  1. Zumba classes 2. Nature walks 3. Journaling 4. Making collages 5. Reading & researching 6. Being a creativity catalyst 7. Finding great quotes 8.  Creating and sharing inspiring ‘tweets’ on Twitter 9. Taking a trip to Ukraine with my kids 10. Latin music & dancing.

I’m happy to report I had my most creatively productive week since starting this project.  I give the credit to my joyful Zumba instructor, Tammy Davis, at Terries Workout Center in Buffalo, NY.  Her classes are sing-out-loud fun and energizing.  I love the results so much I’ve decided to commit to doing 40 Zumba classes (5x a week) between now and May!  If Zumba is too big of a stretch for you – commit to taking daily walks or swimming laps. It doesn’t matter what you do – as long as it makes you smile and fills you with energy.

In addition to making more art, I experimented with different processes. Normally, I create my collages inside my journal, but this time I painted a canvas board hot pink and used it as my ‘joy collage’ base.  How many of my joys can you find?  After completing my ‘joy collage painting’ – I painted facing pages inside my journal and then collaged them, too! 

“It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.”
Albert Einstein

Creative Prompt #1:  Think about what brings you joy and start a joy list in your journal. Spend the next few days looking for small ways to experience your ‘joys’. You’ll get extra brain cells for trying something new. What creative project have you been wanting to do?  What’s stopping you?  

“What if imagination and art are not frosting at all, but the fountainhead of human experience?”
Rollo May

I was inspired to combine oil pastels, paint, and collage elements to this piece.  A friend e-mailed this beautiful  quote and print by visionary artist Gordon Wood.  His piece is called “Birth of Awe”.  Visiting his site was a joyful experience for me.  The background is a ‘scribble drawing’ I did in the dark with the oil pastels. It was a fun experience. Ihighly recommend it if you are stuck in ‘critical mode’. Closing your eyes, reaching for colors blindly, and drawing out emotions can be incredibly freeing.  I did it a month ago. It’s just been sitting and waiting for me to get the inspiration to finish it. Last night – I worked madly until nearly 5am to finish all six art projects and this blog.  This burst of creativity came from all the connections I’ve been making. Reading books, coloring, clipping images, dancing, taking walks, doing things outside my comfort zone, and most of all – letting all those elements blend in the big creative cooking pot called ‘incubatation.’  Inspiration comes from working at something daily – not waiting for the muse to move you.  Just do something – then relax.  Practice mindfulness, be silly and playful.  And get over your ‘old stories’ which sound like “…nothing sounds fun to me” or “I can’t do that” or “I don’t have time”.  Those are all just excuses.  Change your thoughts, take action, change your world!

 

“No need to hurry. No need to sparkle. No need to be anybody by oneself.”
Virginia Woolf

I created this ‘positive self-image’ collage to help me visualize my new mantra:  NOW to WOW!  It was triggered by insights I picked up from Chip and Dan Heath’s book Switch (I reviewed it in last weeks’ blog).  Their ‘form an instant habit’ prompts are working for me.  A second book which also influenced me this week was the 365 A Daily Creativity Journal.  I’ve been thinking about something fun I’d like to do for a year – and Zumba came up as my answer.  As mentioned earlier – I’m going to try 40 classes in 2 months first – if it’s still joyful I’ll commit to the ‘long haul.’  What’s really exciting about all these insights and art projects is this:  the mindfulness and movement combination is working like magic.   I set an intention to unlock my creative potential and stimulate personal growth and I’m really experiencing the results.  Just a month into the process, I’m genuinely excited about the possibilities.

The next image shows all the creative projects I was inspired to complete this week.  It’s alot!!!! I’m happy I broke through my resistance to using acrylics and watercolor paints. I also played with Mod Podge and a variety of brushes. I let go of criticism and simply played with possibilities.

This is a crazy amount of creative expression isn’t it???  I tripled my usual output.  If you are really ready to break through blocks and get into the creative ‘flow’ – try movement and mindfulness – with a dash of joy.  There is no way I’d do any exercise class daily (for love nor money).  But joy makes it a fun thing so it’s a double win.  Your job this week is to find what turns you on in terms of creative, joyful actions.  Experiment. Play. Pay attention to your energy.  All this information will point you in the direction you need to go.

Creative Prompt #2:  Play with paints – buy a tube of white acrylic and another color that feels joyful (I picked magenta and bronze). Now flip through magazines, keeping your eyes open for images and words which catch your attention. Tear them out and keep them in a big envelope until you have enough to create a collage. Think about adding in collage ‘scraps’ – things like receipts, ticket stubs, or ideas scribbled on bits of paper make interesting additions. You can even Google a topic and find images to use – simply right click on an image, and do ‘save as’.  Stretch yourself.   There is no one grading you on your work. Just make a personal statement.

“Even without success, creative persons find joy in a job well done. Learning for its own sake is rewarding.”
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Creative Prompt #3:  Basic – buy a coloring book (they have a great selection at Target starting at just $1!) Coloring will get you relaxed.  It’s a non-threatening way to get your feel in the creative waters.  Color mindfully. Have fun with it! Advanced – create a coloring book.  Sit for a few minutes in silence, or take a 15 minute discovery walk and jot down  ideas which pop up, and start drawing.  A good book for drawing prompts is: The Confident Creative…Drawing to Free the Hand and Mind by Cat Bennett.  Cat suggests starting an artist’s sketchbook as a way of documenting your journey into deeper creativity. If you are interested in this topic, it’s a book worth having.

“Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day.”
Henri Nouwen

This is my first watercolor in ages.  I played with colors and swirls and then decided to place my new ‘creativity button prototype’ in the center.  It’s very much simpler (less cluttered) than my usual collages.  I used a mat board backing which ended up warping a bit. Oh well.  It’s not my favorite – but this blog is my record of all the pieces I produce week to week – so here it is!

“Movement is a medicine for creating change in a person’s physical, emotional, and mental states.”
Carol Welch

My dear friend Ann (shown below)  developed a practice she calls ‘gratitude dancing.’  She dances her joy on Siesta Key beach in Sarasota, Florida, to the delight of passers by.  Her creative actions have stimulated wonderful ideas and connections.  If you’d like to give spontaneous dancing a try – this Friday, March 18th at noon is the perfect time!  It just happens to be global:  ’Dance Anywhere You Are’ day.  For details visit:  www.danceanywhere.org

“True joy is that which gives us more energy and makes us feel more alive.”
Robert Puryear

I am thinking of creating a pin with this message. What do you think?  Do you prefer this message or the one which asks “What did you create today?”  Your feedback is important to me.  Please leave a comment.  I got my new FLIP camera, but can’t get it to work, so hopefully I’ll be able to debut a video next week.  I also want to report my Arthur Murray (dreaded) dance lesson was actually fantastically fun!  Thank you Myron – my cha-cha master at the Buffalo Arthur Murray Studio on Bailley.  Our hour together was pure pleasure.  I appreciate your patience and your affirming comments about my ‘club style’ dancing abilities.  Yea!

If you’d like to share art you’ve created on this blog, send it to magicalmarta@aol.com  Visit www.JoyofQuotes.com for our complete selection of creativity, risk, courage, and self-expression quotes.  The world is waiting for your unique contribution – that’s why it’s important to find your joy!  Create a wonderful week!

Marta Davidovich Ockuly
(Dancing with joy!)

 

Category: Brain, Creativity, Creativity Quotes, Dance, Journaling, Joy, Joy Quotes, Life, Mindfulness, Movement, Personal Growth, Play, Potential, Take Action  Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,  5 Comments
Mar
06

Mindfulness = Creativity

Have you been playing with your creativity?
It’s time to add the element of mindfulness. 

“The most precious gift we can offer anyone is our attention. When mindfulness embraces those we love, they will bloom like flowers.”
Thich Nhat Hanh

Mindfulness is the act of paying attention and being fully present in each moment.  This week I invite you to give this gift to yourself by practicing 15 minutes of mindfulness daily, and journaling about the experience.  This practice builds new neural pathways while reducing stress and sending increased oxygen to the brain.  It’s also a sure way to stimulate creative ideas – so always keep a notebook and pen handy. Life is jam packed with ‘to dos.’  We are absolutely blessed when we claim a piece of our day to consciously slow down, notice our breath, feel, smell, touch, and truly see the miracles in our moments.

 Creative Prompt #1:  Take a discovery walk. This can be in your neighborhood, at a park or anywhere it’s convenient.  Turn off your phone, walk at a leisurely pace, and simply look and listen. Notice what calls your attention.  Keep your mind in the present moment.  Take photos or make sketches if you like, as long as you are fully immersed in the luxury of 15 minutes of ‘nowhere else to be, nothing else to do.’  When we are fully present, even a grey day is beautiful.  We notice things like the curving pathway which leads us, gently, into new ways of seeing.  And while you’re walking unfurl your wings – shake them out – and like a little bird perched on the end of a limb – begin to flap them.  Feel yourself drop and then lift with the current and soar. Mindfully observe your feelings…reactions…insights…and end your experience by recording random thoughts in the little notebook/journal you carry with you.  This is a good time to express gratitude for all the blessings which come to mind. This is how you will gather more pearls.

The collage I created below is filled with pieces I’d clipped long ago, combined with images I took on my discovery walk last week.  The only person I saw the whole time I was walking was David (the statue!).  Last week I asked you to speak: I am creative! out loud.  This week’s mantra is:  I am worthy! You are worthy of the time it takes to express your uniqueness. You are worthy of time to simply BE.  You are worthy of your dreams and desires. You are worthy of being authentically you. Who you are is priceless and irreplaceable.  Your creative contributions have tremendous importance to the world.

 

Creative Prompt #2:  If you can’t go outside, find a quiet cozy place to relax. Find a pair of scissors and a pile of magazines and do 15 minutes of mindfulness paging through magazines looking for words and images to use in future collages.  Set an alarm so you don’t end up doing this for an hour. I never fail to notice articles of special interest or recipes I’d like to try.  Your choices provide ‘joy clues’ as well as an opportunity to incubate. Incubation is time your brain uses to combine complex information and pull ideas and answers out of the air for you.  That’s why keeping a journal nearby to record insights and ideas is always a great idea.

 Creative Prompt #3:  Eat a piece of fruit mindfully.  This experience is amazing. Take one bite, close your eyes, and chew slowly.  Feel the burst of sweetness and the texture.  Do not swallow that bite until you have chewed your food to the point of being liquid. Then feel it move from your throat to your stomach.  Ask yourself if you are still hungry.  If you are, take another bite and repeat.  When your eyes are closed you will be amazed how easy it is to focus attention on the act of eating – as well as sensing fullness. Journal your discoveries.

 

During my discovery walk this past week, I experienced a whole series of awakenings.  Seeing a frozen lake starting to thaw clearly showed me places my resistance to change was beginning to melt.  Walking up a hill I imagined myself flapping my wings and lightening up.  No one was around so I did it and I felt like I was soaring to new levels of awareness.  I filled up 5 pages in my little pocket-sized notebook-journal.  I also got the idea to take my own picture using the timer (which I’d never used – or thought of – before). The image of me waving to you from the collage is the result.   Collage is a great way to display artifacts from your life. The combined images tell stories. To me – each door represents new possibilities, the little elephant by my ear is testimony of the way I’m led by my emotions (this goes back to the book SWITCH mentioned last week).  I loved finding mindfulness quotes in my clipping file. Believe it or not – this is the first time I’ve incorporated photos I’ve taken into a collage!  This process of unfolding is opening new pathways for me. I am seeing and feeling Spring in the air – a time of rebirth. I invite you to dive deeply into your eternal Spring and nurture your creative ‘idea babies’ to life!

Creative Prompt 4:  In the week ahead, explore your closed creative doors. Ask yourself what’s stopping you from opening them. Look into ways you can share an art making experience with others – strangers or friends.  Sign up for a class that sounds interesting – in your neighborhood or on-line. If you have art play web sites or blogs to suggest, please share them in the comments section.  The point is to be a beginner at something – anything.  Learning something new grows brain cells and possibilities.  I’m sticking my neck out and taking an Arthur Murray Dance Class!  How about you?

“Creativity, which is the expression of our originality, helps us stay mindful that what we bring to the world is completely original and cannot be compared.”
Brene Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection

 I came across Dr. Brown’s TED talk on Facebook.  It inspired me to read her book about ‘letting go of who you think you’re supposed to be and embracing who you are.’  It speaks to issues around shame and perfectionism and all the ways people block their full creative expression.  More than anything – it is a book of practicing self-compassion.  Her work is well documented and grounded in both science and research.  If you like taking personality assessments, take Dr. Kristin Neff’s Self-Compassion Scale at: www.self-compassion.org  I felt turned-off to Brene Brown’s talk of ‘shame’ – I didn’t relate.  But exploring the book further – I found lots and lots of meaningful touchstones.  The process of creative self-discovery is fraught with old thinking patterns and ‘pitfalls’ which have the power to derail us – but only if we leave them hidden.  This book is about looking at resistance square in the face and finding compassionate ways of finding peace with it all.  We are all on journeys in life – inner and outer.  We all have the power to make small changes which lead to wonderful shifts – but if our unconscious thoughts, feelings, and emotions are not addressed – we have no chance of long term success.  Let’s open the closet door and invite all the ‘monsters’ to come out to play. They are  a lot less scary in the light of day!

  “The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself.”
Anna Quindlen

  

 Creativity Prompt 5:  Did you think you’d get off the hook this week just doing 15 minutes of mindfulness?  Not a chance!  I’m asking you to plant some creative seeds by thinking of something interesting you’d enjoy making or doing every day for a year.  Visit http://www.makesomething365.com/ for inspiration!  Noah Scalin, author of A Daily Creativity Journal: 365 Make Something Every Day And Change Your Life! decided to create a skull a day.  He recorded his daily creations on a blog and it led to publishing two books about the process and getting an appearance on the Martha Stewart Show.  Doing something every day takes persistence and imagination and commitment. It also delivers lots of practice and a sense of creative accomplishment. Are you up for the challenge?  I could share an inspiring quote daily or tweet words of encouragement.  I love the simplicity of what this photographer did – he has taken his own photo  - every day – for six years.  The video http://www.everyday.noahkalina.com/ is amazing!  What would you have fun ‘playing with’ for a year? Maybe I’ll make lizards or hearts or post quotes in all kinds of places.  What are your ideas?  Remember to make them easy enough to do for 365 days in a row!  (And have fun with it!)

NEW THIS WEEK:  Last week I made one posting and left it up – unchanged for 7 days.  This week I’ll be doing updates daily.  I might add an image, a whole new section, a new prompt, or even offer a challenge – so keep checking back!  I’ve also ordered a Flip Camera so I’ll be able to add my own videos to this blog.  This goes under ‘creative stretch-embracing new technology and change-and being a beginner’ for me.  What’s the worst that can happen? It will look goofy and people will laugh. So what. We’re here on this journey to grow together.  When we fail – it’s evidence that we’re taking risks and that’s a huge WIN! So stay tuned for multi-media magic…coming soon!

“Life is sweet when you pay attention. When it doesn’t seem sweet, put a sticker on your nose and do a funky dance.”
Whitney Scott

OK. This is a test to see who’s having fun with all this. Vote for your favorite ‘sticker kid’ (girl or boy) in the comment section. The first one who posts a comment wins a prize!

 Hot off the presses! My book review of Sir Ken Robinson’s fabulous book: THE ELEMENT was just posted on the International Center for Creative Studies Blog. Please visit and comment (I’ll get extra points!!!!!) Thanks!Here’s how I tweeted it this morning:  Passion pays! Connect to your creative capital. Stimulating positive change in the world starts here: http://tiny.ly/yGs8

I hope you are enjoying this process.  If you are on Twitter, be sure to follow http://twitter.com/quotejoy for my daily prompts, quotes and encouragement.  If you have questions or need a bit of extra coaching, feel free to e-mail me directly: magicalmarta@aol.com  Your participation and feedback is greatly appreciated.  If you need more positive, empowering quotes visit www.JoyofQuotes.com  Have an inspired week!

Mindfully….Marta

Category: Creative Expression, Creative Play, Creativity, Inspiration, Journaling, Mindfulness, Mindfulness Quotes, Personal Growth  Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,  2 Comments