Creativity and Your Daily Life

366 Days of Building Creativity Week 41 in Review: October 7th-13th

How do you go through your day?

When you are doing something, are you just trying to get through it, or are you thinking about the next things you need to do, or are you really trying to be present and enjoy the process you are in? 

For me, it's usually the former items.

I constantly have to remind myself, this is it, there may be nothing after this. 

I'd better enjoy the process because no outcomes are guaranteed.

If I can't enjoy this, I can't enjoy anything. 

I've heard the saying, "How you do anything is how you do everything," and I think it's true.

Because even when I say I'm done working for the day, it's hard for me to truly relax and enjoy and be present with my evening activities. 

So I'm trying to be creative in how I do the everyday things and find a way to make each thing I do intentional, mindful, and fun. Life is all a creative process.

Here's some questions maybe you could ask yourself to do the same, along with some examples of what I'm trying out right now.

​* How can I create and set-up my space so that it is nurturing and supportive of me?
For me that looks like picking out an essential oil to diffuse, or making sure I have a glass of water or a cup of tea. It's having comfy chairs in my work spaces and art and objects that are beautiful and inspiring to me. 

​* How can I think creativity and differently to help me stay engaged and mindful?
If I feel myself starting to just get through the walk with the dog, I try and remind myself what a beautiful opportunity to be outside and practice a meditative walk and notice the beauty of my surroundings. Or when I'm cleaning, I think about how much love I am pouring into my space by caring well for it.

*How can I bring some playfulness or creative fun to something I'm not looking forward to doing?
I need to practice my talk for an event for this weekend after I finish writing this blog post. I hate practicing talking out loud but I know when I do it, several times, it really helps me. So literally the idea of lining up some stuffed animals to listen like when I was a kid just popped into my head. That sounds absurd but since I'm writing it here I guess I will follow through and try it out :)

Everything and every moment is an opportunity to be creative if you really think about it.

I hope you have fun creating your life this week. 

Play and Rest Well,

Lee Ann

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Days 281-287

Day 281
"My lesson as a singer? I can't move everyone. And that's OK."
-Matt Ham

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Day 282
"When you walk to the edge of all the light you have and take that first step into the darkness of the unknown, you must believe that one of two things will happen: There will be something solid for you to stand upon, or, you will be taught how to fly."
​-Patrick Overton

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Day 283
"From joy I came, for joy I live, in sacred joy I melt."
​-From the poem "Samadhi" by Paramahanasa Yogananda

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Day 284
"We're like a beautiful painting put to the side, covered up and forgotten. How can God paint into our hearts, if we don't uncover time in our hearts and schedule for spiritual whitespace - so God can whisper words and fill us with rest and refreshment?"
​-Bonnie Gray

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Day 285
"And by the way everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self doubt."
​-Sylvia Plath

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Day 286
 "Allow yourself to be an artist. 1. Stop thinking about what others may think about you. 2. Stop worrying about your artwork. 3. Stop taking yourself too seriously."
​ -Koosje Koene

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Day 287
​"Somewhere along the way, we stopped the idea of rest. We lost sight of the fact that it's a critical part of creativity."
-Jon Acuff