A coach colleague of mine practices something she calls ‘summer hours’. For her, this means that she takes Fridays off – no clients, no other work. She does this so she can spend more time with her grandson and savor the life she’s created for herself.
It might not be that easy for all of us to take an extra day off. Our bosses might resent that we are getting a break while everyone else is working! Layering in pleasure: my summer work ‘office’ at the Denver Botanic Gardens, with fresh vegetable juice.
But there are still ways you can ease off in the summer for the sake of enjoying the treats of the season. I’m going to try my version of summer hours. You can, too, with these three practices:
1) List your activities. Which ones can be put on hold for the next three months? Which priorities could be put on the back burner so you can have a little summer fun?
2) Layer in the pleasure. What would add an extra layer of summer pleasure to your work? Perhaps you make your favorite summer beverage to sip while working. Maybe you take your writing outside to the backyard or a park.
3) Define your fun. What is summer fun for you, anyway? Make a list of at 12 summer pleasures that you will enjoy this year. My list includes:
picnics
beach time
visiting other cities
filling notebooks with memories
watermelon and other fresh fruit Here are more tips on how to make summer more receptive and free.
In the next issue of Impulses, I’ll share my summer art plans with tips on how to focus on your art, too.
One of the ways I’m practicing summer hours is by taking a blogabbatical. I’m focused on a major renovation project at Original Impulse, and aside from my clients, that’s taking all my work focus. I’ll still be writing about how the creative life in my newsletter, Impulses. Subscribe in the upper right corner to stay in touch with your life as a creative adventure.
Ever since I moved to Denver in 1991 people have been counseling me to meditate. I scoffed, saying that I can’t sit still. I was in my 20s then and that was true. Sit still? HA!
Then I came across Frederick Franck’s work, specifically Zen Seeing, Zen Drawing. This hand-written, illustrated book introduced me to the concept of drawing as a way to meditate.
Here’s Franck’s premise: when we slow down enough to see, to truly see, we can draw what’s there and also experience a sense of calm. This marriage of art and mediation appealed to me. So I experimented and guess what? It was true: I felt calm, present and engaged. I noticed my thoughts about how good/bad my drawing was and I was able to savor the simple pleasure of drawing.
But it wasn’t until 2005 that I began drawing more. Simple doodles and drawings. Not trying to be good or be an artist. I was focused on writing and wasn’t looking for another medium. But I did feel the relaxing influence of sitting, looking and sketching. The calm was almost immediate. A gathering of my client note doodles circa 2003
I also noticed that the notes I took while coaching my clients were decorated with doodles. Inking these mindless scribbles helped me focus on what my clients were saying. Somehow, they gave the over-active part of my mind a place to rest.
While this wasn’t my main focus in life or work, this powerful practice became something I wanted to share. So I began leading creativity workshops in France with this kind of gentle creative practice as a focus.
The people who came on these excursions experienced their own simple, calming joy. With this presence came insights about other parts of their lives. I came to see the value of meditation. Like many creative people, I rebel against what I’m ‘supposed’ to do, so this new way to meditate resonated with me.
I adopted Franck’s drawing meditation and added other creative awareness practices. I’ve taught this method in many ways and the results are always the same: people feel relaxed, energized and happy.
Notice how it feels to create
It’s easy to get caught up in all the things we need to be creatively successful:
doing the work
managing our lives so we can do the work
improving our craft
sharing, showing and selling our work.
With so much to manage, the immediate and original joys of creating can get lost. I always invite my clients to notice the simple but profound impact creating has on them. This awareness offers a way to come back to our deepest selves, the part of us that loves to play. The part of us that can’t be touched by the world’s busyness. To our sweet, pure, original impulse.
When is the last time you noticed how it feels to put a sentence down, to add a line or a dash of color? Aside from the many anxieties that can be present in art-making, do you feel this sense of calm and grounding when you make art?
I’d love to know. Share your experience in a comment below.
Creative people are often misunderstood. There are lots of reasons for this, and one of them is that we have different needs than others. But we don’t want to become too precious about them. (I can only create with my velvet-covered notebook and my Visconti pen, at sunset on a hill.)
But our satisfaction and our success hinges on having enough of these needs met so we can do our best creative work.
My coaching sessions with clients over the years have shown me that these don’t exist in any hierarchical or linear way. I envision them as a mind map, with some needs getting more attention than others depending on life’s flow.
The creative person’s hierarchy is a mind map of needs
Which of your needs are currently being met? Which are not? What is one small thing you can do to get one need met this week?
It took a long time but I finally figured out my life purpose. If you haven’t heard it yet, here it is: My mission is to love what I love, share that love, and inspire others to love what they love.
Simple! Love really is all there is.
So for YEARS I’ve wanted to make a dance video and show it. Because I LOVE to dance. But my inner critic and business manager teamed up with these questions:
Why? So you can show off?
How is that part of your business?
Is this your ego or is this something that will serve your audience?
Why? So you can show off?
And on and on until the dancing was just a private love affair I was having with myself. How often does this happen to you? You have an original impulse: a sweet, innocent desire arises. And then your critical mind comes in with a bunch of logic and shuts the joy down.
Well, thank goodness we have friends who encourage us. My pal Kristoffer Carter posted in Facebook last month something about full-on self expression. So I put some music on and danced. And then the video came on and more dancing.
Then KC and I spontaneously challenged each other to a dance-off and the next thing you know my dance video is up on Facebook. And guess what happened?
My friends loved it. They felt the surge of courage and boldness that was required to post it. They felt the joy that I feel when I move my body to music. Best yet, people were encouraged to do their own bold things.
So it worked – my love and courage inspired others’ love and courage. And I remembered: Don’t hide the love. Don’t postpone joy. Show and share my love.
And you know what? I am showing off. I love being onstage. I love being in front of others and speaking, sharing, dancing…whatever. I love showing up and showing off. To deny that is to deny an essential part of me.
What does this have to do with art? I live and coach according to this: “All the arts we practice are apprenticeship. The big art is our life.” – M.C. Richards
Here’s the video in case you want to feel the love and see my moves.
What about you? How can you ‘un-stifle’ yourself? How can you love more of what you love and share that love?
You’re in the groove with your writing or art project. Then, the holidays or some other change disrupts your flow. You and your beloved project grow distant, and the space between you molders in your heart. How to get back in the groove? Any change in our routine — holidays, vacations, visits from loved ones — can bring a slump in our creative work. Even when we’re completely into our book or art projects, there’s often an inertia that keeps us from getting back into the groove.
Shifting from one mode to another is a challenge for most creatives. We want to get into the flow, but there are a million things we need to do first. Then, when we’re in the flow, it’s hard to tear ourselves away and return to the ‘real’ world.
I coach all my clients on this. It’s one of the biggest problems we solve together – how to get back into the groove.
Here are three things that help my clients rekindle their dedication to their projects. Take it easy. Let your return be as slow as it needs to, but be firm with yourself about getting back to your writing and creative pursuits. Build up to where you left off, if needed. Start with brief (10 minute) free-writes or similar warm-up exercises. I often invite my clients to have a 15-minute ‘date’ with their project, to get back in touch without pressure. Connect to the love. What do you love about your writing practice, your exercise regime? You may take a few moments to jot down what you love about it. If you have already done this writing, take it out and revisit your passion. Design new support structures. Make appointments with your mastermind partners and set up a meeting with your coach or writing buddies to design structure and accountability that works for you.
Beating yourself up over your lapse never works to get on track. Be kind to yourself as you resume your writing or other creative work. What works for you to get back to the writing or art-making?
These days. we’re encouraged to ‘tell our story’. The story of how we started. The story of how we got to where we are. The story of our business and who we’re here to serve.
By sharing these stories publicly, we’re able to connect to others. But telling our stories isn’t just a good idea for our blog or business efforts. Writing our own stories connects us to our past and our future.
Telling our stories – even to ourselves – gives us the chance to see who we’ve been, the choices we’ve made and how we’ve lived our lives. When we write our stories, we see ourselves as characters. With a bit of creative distance, we can develop compassion for our choices, for our fumbles, for our disastrous relationships.
Reflecting on choices we’ve made gives us the chance to make new stories. Stories that suit the truth of who we really are. Through writing our stories, we understand the arc of our lives better.
As I start the Write Your Paris Stories class today, I already see how much this city has formed me. I arrived in Paris for the first time at age 17, fresh from the Ohio countryside. In France for my junior year with friend Bryan.
In three short weeks, I changed. I saw things I’d never seen before – a big city with monumental charm swooped into my heart and claimed me forever. It’s not all pretty, though. Every good story has plenty of drama and pain, and Paris has served up my share of that.
I’m looking forward to teaching this class and also to being a student. Because I know that writing our stories – or making any art – even if it’s just for us, has enormous value. I look forward to the surprises and insights that await me in those well-known tales I’ve lived.
Each of us is an intricate, deep web of stories that define our lives. Finding the ones that we need and want to tell is where we get to bring our creativity to bear.
What stories define you? What stories do you tell to connect with others?
If writing your Paris stories is appealing to you, please join our online writing class. It’s never too late!
It’s a rainy Friday in Denver, a rare and beautiful thing. I’m supposed to be recording the lessons for Write Your Paris Stories, but Friday Art hadn’t been posted yet.
I went to Creative Mornings Denver and afterward, braved the incredible clusterfuck that is Trader Joe’s parking. Why? Why! For the cheap eats? No. For the flowers.
Since drawing and painting my CSA share last year, I’ve changed flowers from luxury item to necessity. Flowers are the love of my life, a daily, elegant love that fuels both my heart and my art.
With the arrival of Trader Joe’s, I am happy to say I can fill my home and office with beauty for $20 each week.
Flower Shrines
I think of the flowers all around the house as shrines. Every time I see and smell the flowers I feel a rush of appreciation and joy. A recent strengths test indicated that my top strength is appreciation of beauty/excellence.
I love drawing and painting flowers. Photographing them isn’t as easy. But today, on this rainy Friday, my flower shrines were making me so happy, I had to share them with you.
Enjoy! Maybe go make your own flower shrine.
L to R: Office Co-Worker; Stock with Show Your Art by Austin Kleon, just arrived!; Meditation Shrine; Office Shrine 2: Not Dead Yet; Kitchen Sponge Puja; Home Shrine; Lounge with Stock; Not Dead Yet
As I prepared the lessons for my upcoming Write Your Paris Stories class, I considered what makes a good story. Many elements contribute to a fictional or non-fiction story: setting, character, plot, point of view, voice, etc.
But there’s something underneath all that that really makes any story work: emotion. In a recent memoir class I took, the teacher started with emotion. She asked us to consider what the predominant emotion was running through the story. My art mentor emphasizes the need for feeling to be present in every single art piece. Bringing feeling to writing or art isn’t easy. I hear her, I get it, but actually doing it? Still working on that.
My suspicion is that feeling shows up in the stroke of the pen or in the color added. With writing, it’s a bit more conscious, which words you choose and how you arrange them.
Ultimately a good story or piece of art moves us emotionally. Like a good dinner party, all the elements need to be in place – the food, the people, the hostess, the table, etc. But it’s the overall mood and feeling of the evening that makes it work, that makes it memorable. It’s the same for story.
This is one of the things we’ll be exploring as we craft our stories in my Write Your Paris Stories online class. It’s been awhile since I taught the craft of writing, and I cannot believe how fun it’s been to develop the class and write the lessons.
If you look at a recent story or piece of art you created, can you tell what predominant emotion it evokes? How do you get feeling into your work?
You know that feeling when you leave a party or a conversation and the perfect, witty reply comes to you? But it’s too late; the moment has passed and no one but you knows your about your clever rejoinder. Always a million more things to share with you…
The French call this esprit de l’escalier, or ‘staircase wit’. Those French, they have so many fun sayings.
I felt this regret after I published my 2013 Annual Report. So many things I left out! I always want to share all the things I love with you, so here’s a short list of people and things that delightfully influenced me in 2013.
Nutrition Inspiration
The Kitchen Skinny – my friend Karen Friend Smith teamed up with her husband TK to design programs to help people eat and live well. I have listened to her speak, I’ve taken part in her programs, and her kind and encouraging model is always with me in the kitchen.
Art Inspiration
In my art school, I have been influenced by new friend and artist Alix Christian. Her enthusiasm and generosity have helped me see my art in new ways. One comment she made over coffee changed the way I made art and for that, I am grateful.
I love anything that shows artists in their art-making process. An artist friend, Anne Marie Talon, told me about Art 21. It’s a PBS show that highlights contemporary artists. You can watch themed shows (nature, spirituality, humor, etc.) featuring four artists or see the individual segments. Beyond inspiring.
Business inspiration
Cigdem Kobu has been a real influence in my business. Founder of the Progress Lounge, her savvy business advice and generous spirit have helped me be more heart-centered in my approach to business. What a gift.
I recently hired Cigdem to do a business audit for Original Impulse. Her feedback helped me see and think in new ways. I have become extremely excited about what I want to create for my students, clients and readers. Stay tuned for new things from Original Impulse later this year.
Big thanks
Lastly, I wouldn’t be who I am without the love and support of my friends and family. They stood beside me all year as I opened myself up to change. I’m so lucky to be surrounded by their love and belief in me.
There. I’ve had my last say on this topic. For now.
Didn’t read my Annual Review? Get your copy now.
Creative Mornings, a breakfast lecture series for the creative community, has come to Denver. I finally got in the loop this morning.
Lindsey Housel of the Denver Art Museum spoke to a full crowd at DAM about rebellion and creativity. My capture for your enjoyment:
Just do it.
Schedule creative time in.
Make a plan and stick to it.
This is all good advice…unless for you, it’s not. I’ve built my coaching business not on pat advice for all, but on training creative people to learn what works for them. Here’s a peek into four unconventional methods I offer my clients.
Let the body lead. It’s so easy to override the messages our bodies tell us. When to eat. When to take a break from the screen. When to get some air in our thought process. When to take a nap. But the body, if we pay attention, is an excellent leader.
Pretend you’re not wrong. This isn’t designed to foster arrogance and self-righteousness. Instead, it’s meant to let you off the hook from being a screw up. We waste so much mental and emotional energy making ourselves wrong for our choices. We’re not doing it right. We should be better than this. Etc. Etc. Experiment with this: for a week, act as if your choices around your creative work are not wrong.
Do nothing. It’s often when we take space from focused work that new ideas or solutions arise. Yet it’s difficult to relax the constant tug of ambition or ‘shoulds’. Time and again, when we give ourselves space to accomplish nothing, that answers and insights arise. I know this is common advice, but how often are you willing to actually act on it?
Make a manual. This exercise is one my clients embrace with joy. Write or draw or mind map a manual for your creative self. Call it Care and Feeding of the Artist Manual. In it, include all the things you feel are important to maintaining your creative sanity and vitality. This will give you information about what works for you and what doesn’t.
What helps you get unstuck? Have you tried any of these methods? Leave a comment below to share your unsticking strategies.
I was sitting on my couch journaling on Sunday before Christmas when it occurred to me that I could re-arrange my apartment so my art studio was more fun and functional.
I needed a new studio because my current set up wasn’t working. My art studio was really just a desk in my office. All my art supplies were at hand, but I wasn’t drawn to go there. (Pun not intended.)
Last fall, Lisa Sonora Beam helped me focus my 2014 plans. I declared art making a priority. I dreamed on paper of having a separate, dedicated space for my studio. Maybe even out of the home.
So when the idea to shake things up arrived, I jotted notes. When I thought I was decamping to Paris, I had planned to pack everything in the last two weeks of the year. Now, I could move without going anywhere.
My friend Dennis came over and helped me. We shifted the living room and overtook the dining table for an art table, moving it in front of the sunny east-facing window. I now have a reading and journaling nook near the window.
Over the course of the holiday week I nested. Getting a new table, moving a bookcase, rearranging chairs – voila! I’m not done, but I upgraded my life without leaving home or spending money.
The new space arrangement is designed for how I want to live, making art at the center. It feels more functional and also larger and more clean.Best thing about my new studio? It’s already inspired me to make art. I’ve begun a new series. Last week, I made 23 pieces of art.
These greeting cards are gifts for my friends, family and clients. I loved making them and sending them, and I’ll be sharing them with you here. They’re something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time and I feel I’m entering year two of art school with a focus.
This is a lesson I keep learning – that I usually have everything I need right here. A few shifts, a new perspective is often all it takes for me to feel a sense of change or progress.
Upgrade your life without leaving home
Maybe you won’t be shifting your living room around just yet, but even a small shift can cause a sense of upgrade. What’s one thing in your creative space you could change this week? Some possibilities:
get new lighting
clear clutter from one spot
try a new organizer
It could be time to upgrade your inner space, your thoughts and beliefs, a sort of refresher for your inner operating system. Maybe a shift in perspective is necessary?
New income ceiling – how much money are you willing to bring in?
New identity – is there a name you’ve been calling yourself that’s no longer apt?
New inner voice – how about replacing the nag with the champion?
This is the kind of work I do as a coach – help my clients clean out dusty rooms both inside and outside. The space around us affects our inner space and how we achieve our creative projects.
Have you done any upgrades lately? Take a look around your world and see what simple things could shift everything.
Keeping your journals around can yield little treats. While rearranging my studio last week, I found this millennial manifesto I wrote. This was the year I became a coach, and after writing this, I went to Switzerland for a brief stint as a hot air balloon chef.
Present-day me would edit this a bit (fewer exclamations!) but it’s cool to see how the core beliefs of my mission are intact. I’ve learned a lot since I wrote this, but my enthusiasm and unbridled faith in the gifts of creativity still ride strong. Let’s leap off the edge into the new year together, to the exalted core of our selves!
Happy new year, everyone!
Here’s the scenario:
I spend the holiday season with my loved ones, just the right amount of time with family, just the right amount of time with friends.
Interesting and lovely holiday music plays in the background. Enticing smells float from the kitchen. We play games of Scrabble and charades and I always win. We go for walks and practice yoga together and feel great in our bodies.
We share lots of great conversation and laughs. It’s great to catch up and share the season with each other. We also have just enough alone time to process the glory and to recharge.
The gift giving – if any – is perfect. Perfect gifts all around, perfect amount of money spent. Actually, scratch that. No gift giving. The gifts we give are our attention and love.
We eat healthy, beautifully prepared food, and here’s the best thing: we eat with caloric impunity.
Perhaps we watch a movie at night or go for a long walk.
This is not the holiday season I usually have.
Why not? Because the holiday season is about connecting with others, and that means some external compromise. But it doesn’t mean you have to compromise what’s really important to you.
Enjoying life on your own terms
Does enjoying live life on your own terms make you selfish? We’re not talking about having all your external stuff handled perfectly. We’re not talking a wrinkle-free life.
So what do I mean ‘live life on your own terms’? I means knowing:
yourself deeply, so your conversations are authentic to you and your truth.
what fuels you, so you don’t waste your precious life in draining situations.
where you want to make an impact, so your creative time is meaningful and satisfying.
what feeds you, so the food and information you consume contributes to your creativity and well-being.
who you cherish so you can spend quality time with them.
Your own terms is less about managing the external environment and more about owing and accepting your internal environment. This deep level of self-awareness and self-trust will inform your experience no matter what your external reality. What are your own terms? How do you stay in alignment with yourself in all and any circumstances?
How often does this happen to you? You have an original impulse: a sweet, innocent desire arises. And then your critical mind comes in with a bunch of logic and shuts the joy down.
Any change in our routine — holidays, vacations, visits from loved ones — can bring a slump in our creative work. Even when we’re completely into our book or art projects, there’s often an inertia that keeps us from getting back into the groove.
My art mentor emphasizes the need for feeling to be present in every single art piece. Bringing feeling to writing or art isn’t easy. I hear her, I get it, but actually doing it? Still working on that.
