creativity challenge

How to get and stay creative (Day 8): Drink coffee/tea

Image | | irenaellis

watercress

Why?

You can make making tea/coffee and drinking them into your morning /afternoon rituals.

Get started rituals:

Now that you have mindfully made and drunk your cuppa, you are set to start work on what you wanted to work on.

Works wonders.

Go, try it and tell me how it feels, how it shifts your mindset around creating/working/starting.

P.S. Once you have drunk your cuppa, it is better to refill fluids with water…hence have a glass/bottle ready by your side as you work.

This lill’ creativity tips and suggestion series is a part of an April warm up towards May…the month to #becometheartistyouare. Check it out here.

How to get and stay creative (Day 6): Take Breaks

Image | | irenaellis

Photo on 08-10-2015 at 15.20How many breaks have you taken today? If you are working 9 to 5 or a version of thereof, you should really have taken at least 4 (four!), as our brains and minds inhabiting it work best in max. 90 minute spurs.

But really, it is all in the listening to our bodies and taking those lill’ minibreaks whenever we feel like – follow your body, it knows it best. Have a glass of water, move about, take a twenty minute nap, if need be, look out of the window…whatever you like to not-do.

Creativity thrives on empty space – hence if you manage to create a 15- minute empty/boredom space a day, a break from all the thinking, working, deciding…you will start to tap into it. Give it space. Take a break.

And let me know how it went.

In April I am posting these mini how to creative prompts to get us ready for May, which is the Month to #becometheartistyouare. Enjoy and why not join us here, for sharing the journeys.

How to get and keep creative (Day 5): Stop Beating Yourself Up

Image | | irenaellis

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In other words…forgive yourself and hug yourself…this is a new day. The past is the past. It is a different country, they do things differently there. You have most likely punished yourself enough, learnt your lessons and now you can do things…differently. React to things differently. Have a new life.

If your negative inner dialogue is especially persistent, try to turn it around. Write down all your negative thoughts and turn them around, into positive affirmative statements:

E.g. I am not good enough artist. turns into I am working towards becoming a brilliant artist. or even I am a brilliant artist. Whichever one sounds/rings more true to you.

You could even try to say these to yourself in front of a mirror. It might feel quite a bit unnatural at first…but soon enough…say in three weeks of reaffirming…it is likely to become your second nature, new belief system, supporting your new set of actions.

Go, experiment, report how it went.

I have been posting these little snippets of creativity coaching in April in order to warm up for May, which is the Month to #becometheartistyouare. You can join us in the challenge here.

How to get and keep creative (Day 3): Try Freewriting

Image | | irenaellis

photo-on-09-02-2017-at-13-37…you could approach this one in several ways:

  • Stream of consciousness record of where you are currently in your notebook.
  • Opening up the closest book/magazine on page three, picking up the third word and taking it as your theme, writing anything that comes to mind connected to it.
  • Taking the first word you see in your surrounding as a theme and clustering/mindmapping around it, writing up a small freewriting vignette based on it.

For example, as I am sitting in the Costa Café on Brighton beach waiting on my partner, there is a poster right in front of me with the word SLEEPLESS plastered over it. So I take it as my theme word.

My cluster looks like this: SLEEPLESS-GEOFF-LONG NIGHTS- DARKNESS-BEDROOM-SARACENES-BATTLE OF CONSTANTINOPLE- HISTORY LESSONS-LOST-THROWING A DICE-ACCIDENTS AND LUCKY CHANCES

The freewriting vignette based on follows:

Lying sleepless with you by my side. For five months fighting the battle of Constantinople in the dark with flashes of light on the ceiling, and you, the dark Saracene bringing me fried eggs when it gets lighter. The history and life lessons intertwined, hallucinating, wondering if meeting you was one of the lucky accidents or chances…like that time I just threw a dice and got the right answer. 

🙂 Share as much or as little as you feel. But try to have a go. And see where it takes you.

In April I am sharing these lill’ creativity arting prompts to get limbered up for May, which is A Month to #becometheartistyouare.  You can join us in the Arting group on FB.

How to keep creative (Day 2): Carry a Notebook

Image | | irenaellis

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Yes, carrying a small/bigger notebook/sketchbook/playbook around and noting things down in it as they come to you, occur to you is the best way to tap into your own creative thinking and feeding it up.

Note it down. You won’t remember it all. Try to note down a thing a day. When you catch a glimpse of something unusual, or when you see something special in the ordinary…jot it down. In writing or in a sketch. Just a notebook and a pen/pencil is all you need to start with.

Recently an idea for my exhibition piece got born like this: I caught a glimpse of the shadows twigs were casting on the pavement. The intricate pattern, so I took out my notebook and traced them down…later I developed them into a Spring Shadows piece that made it into a local show.

When I go back and see what I had written/noticed previously, oftentimes I am surprised at how much there is…and see the patterns of interest too. What is it that you notice/see?

So your task for today or tomorrow is to get yourself a small notebook/sketchbook to carry around. Keep on you at all times. Try it. Note things down. Just for yourself. And see how your abilities to notice, to record and develop ideas, develop :-). They will. Promised. Guaranteed.

In April, I am posting these short creativity prompts to get us warmed up for the #becometheartistyouare month in May. Sharing insights and ahas in the Arting FB group.  Feel free to join in the fun.

 

 

How to keep creative…Day 1: Make Lists

Image | | irenaellis

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In April, I am sharing one creativity tip/suggestion that does not require much effort or time on your part yet sets off your creative energy.

So today we shall start…

with…

Making lists.

Yes, make a list.

A list of all the things you wanted to do and have forgotten about

A list of people you want to see again soon

A list of things you are grateful for

A list of fun stuff in your life

A list of all the things/people that make you feel fuzzy in your life

A list of lists you need to make to keep yourself well

…

A list of…

…anything you need to make a list of.

Take your pick and see where it gets you.

List making is a very good activity to get started with thinking out of the box. By categorizing things we get thinking about links and also new connections between things.

Make a list you need to make and then go to Arting FB group and let me know how it went :-). Share your insights and aha-moments.

Why? April is a month to gear up creatively. And it is not an April Fool’s, really isn’t. I am running this warm up creativity challenge in my Arting group and you are welcome to join us any time. We are a friendly and safe space for sharing our arting journeys. We are warming up for May, which is A Month to #becometheartistyouare.