Do you Have EYES TO SEE the Whimsy in your life?

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Creative Habit #4: Good Things Happen When you Take a Walk

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There's something about getting out in the fresh air that clears the mind and helps the clutter of responsibilities and stressers give way a bit and make room for.... something else.  Perspective.  Possibilities.  And once the calm sets in, gradually you begin to feel that perspective give way to alternative ways of looking at a situation.  Have you found this to be true?

Whether the feeling comes from taking a walk or doing a little stretching or simply sitting in a quiet room,  take this into your creative practice.  When you think you do not have anything you want to get out on the page, yet something in you keeps pulling you towards the need to begin or complete something, take whatever activity clears your head a bit from being consumed by responsibility and bring it into your creative habits.

Creative Habit #3: What Do you Mean You Don't Want to Look Silly?

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Life can be intense.  The day to day responsibilities that so many of us carry can leave us too drained to even think about taking the time to do something creative.

But what if...

you allowed your creative activities to bring a bit of sparkle into your life. What if you decided that in the creative space you would allow yourself to play.  Leave the expectations in the realm where you have little choice but to tackle and drive and endure and press on.

In the creative areas of our lives, we can have access to the lighter side of life... things do not have to be as intense.  I find that I have much more stamina in the intense decisions I have to make and a greater ability to follow through in my responsibilities.   I somehow 'find' the energy and have a deeper capacity to take care of business when I take just a few minutes to... play.

You Know Sometimes I Just Need a Little Light to Help Me Shine

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Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when dreams come true, there is life and joy."

-Proverbs 13:12

It seems to me that hope and dreams are intertwined.  In the most adverse circumstances that I have faced, I find that if I am able to hold onto a little goal, a little dream, something that is placed just a bit outside of the realm of the situation. .. I can find a way to will myself forward. Take one more step.  Not lose hope. 

Today reflect on some of those times in your life where

 you had no answers

you did not know which way to turn

you had no choice but to endure

What activity did you allow to move around the reality that was right in front of you?

What was the thing you focused on?

  What helped to see you through? 

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Creative Habit #2: You Hear This all the Time but it is true - you just need to take the first little step Forward

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The other day I came across an assignment I completed while in school.  For the assignment each person had to find a daily activity and work on it for 30 days.  Some chose beginning an exercise regimen.  Others chose having contemplation time.  I chose being creative for 30 days.  

At the time this type of assignment terrified me.  I had not really thought of myself as a creative person.  I liked to write but when I thought of creativity at that time, it had to do with people who were good at drawing or painting still life; pretty much anything in that realm felt closed off to me.

What I have learned over the years is that really any important change you make in your life starts with a first step.  What each of us needs to get past is that the size of the step does not matter.  The movement is what matters.  And then a subsequent movement.  And then another.  And there may be times where you are at a stand still or that you feel like you are not making any headway at all.  But the beauty of change it that you will always remember not simply the decision that started it all but the action you placed behind the decision.

Is there a change you have been wanting to make?  To become more creative perhaps?  What small step can you take today?

Creative Habit Rule #1 - Why Socializing and Finding Your Creative Voice Do Not Fit Together

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I  have noticed that there is always something that needs to be done. Important things. Not so important things.  For others or for yourself.  Your home needs to be cleaned.  Your budget needs to be handled.  Working.  Caring for family. Friendships.  Where will you find time for your creative habit?

One place to look for time is in the down time.  Look at what you are doing in the down moments.  The ten minutes here, 15 minutes over there.  Waiting in a doctor's office or sitting in your break room at work.  What are you doing?  Chatting about the latest gossip?  Checking your phone for texts?  Checking facebook?  

These are the times EVEN IF YOU DON'T FEEL LIKE IT, that you take out your sketch pad, jot down new ideas for a story, take out your watercolor pencils and just do a little.  Just a little.  The little bits and spaces not only fuel your soul but they really do add up.  

I actually started doing this a month ago.  I carry my watercolor pencils with me and during my down time in between calls (I work in a call center)  I bring a little bit of joy into my cubicle.  By the end of the month I had completed over 15 pieces (like the one you see above.)