Everyday Creative

What if you invested shorter bursts of time to feel like YAHOO this?

“Well it’s better than nothing …”

And sometimes, that little bit of something is better than nothing. Maybe that hateful slog of a slo-mo run is better than nothing; maybe showing up to your office and just getting through the g-d day is better than nothing. Maybe a fast, careless creative session of writing or drawing is better than nothing. Maybe a quick conversation with your teen is better than nothing.

But is it true? Let’s say you’re having a low mojo day like I am today. Isn’t it easy to say, especially on a Monday, “As long as I show up and just get through this godforsaken day I’m a star!”

Well screw that, I say. I want to go to bed feeling like I at least did something well. And by “well” I mean, I made an effort to do something that makes me feel accomplished at the end of the day, especially something I want to put off, like: this blog post, or concentrating for a good hour with all my attention on a pain-in-the-ass work project, or getting outside for a brisk half hour walk.

I don’t know about you but I may have used up about all the half-assed days I want to. (OK, I know there will be more but I’m willing to keep them to a minimum.)

Here’s another (sports) example of doing something small with a big effort:

Last month I bailed on my longer sloggier runs for a two-mile run at the track. I would NEVER have done something like this, ordinarily. And I wasn’t really in a running mood, either. So I turned on RunTracker on my iPhone so I could get a virtual coach telling me how fast I was going for some inspiration.

I ran those two miles. And I ran them, fast– faster than I ever thought I could run. It was exhilarating! My body felt alive and proud of itself, my mind felt alert, my spirit was humming. Compared to those 4-6 mile joyless slogs, this was by far a better use of time. My body felt good the next day too. My chiro told me it was because running fast puts your body in a good position, rather than being slow and sloggy, where you have bad form, bad posture and stress the body. Interesting, eh?

And now, when I am having a low-mojo Monday, I ask myself:

Where can I have a two-mile burst of greatness?

So my invitation to you:

How can you do Something that is so much better than Nothing, that it shows you what you’re made of?

Have fun!

A quick story on a FORCED perspective shift.

I was at the eye doctor.

I was shuttled from one waiting room to another between various eye-check pit stops.

I had been there for two hours. I was losing two hours’ worth of pay. I was pacing the room. I was pissed. I was practicing the dialogue I wanted to say to SOMEONE about how rude it is of doctors to disrespect people’s time, do they not think our time is valuable too? How about paying me for the time I’ve wasted in your goddamn waiting rooms, etc etc.
Sound familiar?

And then, in swooped some little angle of mercy of sorts, a voice that said: What if, instead of greeting whoever walks in here next with a force of fury, you greet her with excitement. Because that’s true too. I would be extremely happy and excited to see her.

I didn’t want to do it. I wanted to let my sulk and frustration be known. But I was game to try something new. I needed a lift as well.

The woman walked in and I jumped up and down and clapped my hands (a move I borrowed from the movie The Triplets of Belleville), and squealed with delight how excited I was to see her.

We had a wonderful interaction and a few laughs. Later on, someone apologized to me and I saw how she was struggling through her day. I told her to have a WONDERFUL day and left the doctor’s office with love and lightness in my heart.

Just because instead of getting mad, I did something different.

I share this with you just because something like this might work for you.  I am not that great of a sport. I am not that forgiving, but I’d rather be happy than right. In that quest, I’m willing to try new things.

How about you?

Happy May and sunny days, inside and out.

Creative girls trying on their rock star voices.

… NOT being creative.

In other words, why is it that  creatively ambitious and productive behavior is considered out of the ordinary, while settling for uncreative thinking and activity is considered the norm — acceptable even?

My theory that I proselytize over and over is: If you’re human, your innate calling is to express yourself creatively in some way and when you’re not, you suffer. We all suffer. It’s just that “being creative” is attributed to a small kitty of people in our communities.

Good news: creativity is being increasingly heralded as the greatest attribute in businesses and teams and among leaders. Bad news: in times of hardship and recessions (like now), creativity gets thrown in the backseat while we fumble to survive.  Stress and creativity do not support each other well.

So how do you most want to express yourself? The answers to this question might be the starting point to get you thinking, acting, feeling more creative. It could be the fruitful question that gets you moving away from repressed stress and toward a freer way of moving in the world that feels like YOU. And THAT is creativity.

This post was inspired by a quote by the psychologist Abraham Maslow:

The key question isn’t “What fosters

creativity?” but it is why in God’s name isn’t

everyone creative? Where was the human

potential lost? How was it crippled? I think

therefore a good question might be not why do

people create? But why do people not create or

innovate? We have got to abandon that sense of

amazement in the face of creativity, as if it were

a miracle if anybody created anything.

—Abraham Maslow

"What would Mandela do?" Not what I want to do, that's for sure.

Nelson Mandela has saved my ass a couple times this past week.

Here’s what happened. I watched the movie Invictus recently. The movie tells the story of how Mandela brought South African together around a rugby game after he was released from jail and became president of a divided country.

It’s an amazing story of a true humanitarian and spiritual leader: inspiring and profound. Here’s a man who was somehow able to come away from a 30-year imprisonment, and embody a Jesus-like forgiveness, hold steadfast to a vision for his country and step into a compassionate leadership role that focused on moving everyone forward. He was able to free himself from resentment, stories of unfairness and cruelty and have love in his heart. He thought communally, rather than individually.

At one point in the movie, Mandela (played by Morgan Freeman) says to the captain of the losing rugby team (Matt Damon) somthing like “Forgiveness frees the heart. Then you can live without fear.”

Who on earth doesn’t want any of that?

I am not always such a person. However, I have a good imagination and well-meaning intentions So, here’s what I did with my Mandela mentorship, and please, feel free to play along.

A few times the following week I faced some interpersonal challenges around the same-ol-same-ol button-pushing junk we all face around issues of ego, attention, security, etc. 

In a moment of feeling irritated and let down by someone I asked myself, “What would Mandela do?”

Can I tell you HOW CLEARLY THAT QUESTION PUT THIS TINY NONSENSE OF A NON-SITUATION INTO PERSPECTIVE? He would have moved on through and transcended my issues so fast it made my head spin. SNAP, the issue didn’t exist. I’ve never felt so free so fast over a quibble in my life. Thanks Mandela!

I am not an advocate of “snap out of it” admonishments. I think feelings come up for a reason and provide the opportunity to sublimate in a number of glorious ways. But when you’re not sublimating and you’re stuck — and you feel silly or embarrassed or tired of these feelings, why not find ways to release them?

So, in comes the Spiritual Mentor — the Other. Back to the movie, Invictus: Mandela tells the rugby captain how he looked for strength and guidance outside of himself to help get through his prison sentence. The title of the movie is the name of a poem he recited during that time (included at the bottom of this post). So the poem was a spiritual mentor.

Spiritual mentors come in all shapes, sizes and voices. Some years ago Lou Reed was my spiritual mentor. When I was having difficulties with a family member, he told me, “What are you, a child, grow the fuck up!” It was just the kind of tough love I needed.

Now, it’s a different voice, but I’ve internalized the wisdom of Lou, and that stays with me.

So, who can you turn to as a spiritual mentor?

Thanks Mandela!

Invictus

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

William Ernest Henley

My favorite laugh factory

When was the last time you had a good belly laugh?

Quick personal story: a time in my life I don’t care to repeat again, I lost my laugh. I remember the day it came back — I had come back to life as well.

The g-d point? Laughing matters! It’s a natural endorphin, it’s a relaxant, it connects us to people at a deep level, it’s an expression of who we are and what we care about — and it’s just a helluva lot of fun.

 Kids laugh hundreds of times a day.

 Adults — well, hardly that much.

 It’s hard to force yourself to laugh more — however:

 If you could use a bit more laughter in your life, ask yourself a few questions:

• What kinds of people can you spend more time with to up your changes of laughing?
• What can you do that’s outrageous and surprising to make someone else laugh? ‘Cause you gotta get started someplace!
• What if you gave yourself a little plot of space where nothing serious could enter. How would that invite in some devil-may-care playfulness and laughing-til-you-pee?

Let’s face it — life is much more fun when we can all laugh at ourselves.

 Plus, funnest core workout ever.

Here’s to your deep big beautiful laughing experiment.

To say “I’m a writer” can feel like a heavy and maybe even unearned title. When can you say “I’m a writer?” When you’re published? When you’ve written that first novel draft? Posted everyday on Twitter and Facebook? Once you start blogging? When you’re officially depressed or have hit a  Blakean state of ecstasy?

Years ago, a journalist friend of mine told me she phrased it this way: “I write.” I  liked that. Because at that particular time in my life, even though I was writing for a living, I wasn’t sure if I felt comfortable saying, “I’m a writer.” This discomfort probably came from the simple fact that writing was more of a verb, something I did that, along with a variety of activities and interests, all made up the story of who I am. Years later, I still feel the same but claim the Writer title a bit more easily.

But really, I think claiming the writer is an individual right. You want it? You do it? Claim it how you wish!

Just to illustrate the humor around this topic, here’s one of my favorite stories about Being a Writer.

The Story

Several years ago I was giving a writer’s workshop. During introductions we went around the table and everyone said something about his/her writing practice and identity. Intro after intro people said things like: ”I haven’t been writing the way I should, I can’t seem to find time,” basically stories of writers not writing, but each person thought of themself as a Writer, even if a Writer who lost his way. Which happens, of course. 

The last woman to introduce herself was in her late sixties and said:

“I write everyday. But I’m not a writer.”

So, who’s to say?

NOyesNOyesNO

Some days my heart is filled with “I don’t want to.”

It often starts at 5:10 a.m. when my alarm goes off for swimming. Most days I am able to talk myself out of the first gasp of Noooooo and get my ass out of bed and to the pool, telling myself, “Of course you’re unhappy now but you’ll be fine in about ten minutes.” And 90% of the time, it’s true. 

It seems for many of us, the trick of life is facing down the No’s, or at least holding them while going through the actions to the Yes. This includes moods. Sometimes I’m not in a great mood, but if I act friendly and positive and generous to people I’m around, pretty soon I feel A-OK (or at least better).

Lately I’ve been in a big I-Don’t-Want-To mood. The upside is, I’m doing more of the things I really love to do (seeing the friends I want to see rather than filling time up by networking and doing other “shoulds”).

The trick with the “I Don’t Want To’s” is knowing when it’s just an agitated inner child and to just smile through it, and when it’s time to really Not Do It.

Like everything in life, that knowing is a finely honed skill.

Do you know when to listen to your “I don’t want to” vs moving through the initial resistance with tenderness and patience?

Sometimes I do, sometimes it takes a while to come around.

When my niece was three, she had four favorite words:

“I no want to!”

So honest, so human. I feel those words some days, I really do. Some days I even say them out loud.

It’s a fine line. Are you:

• Pushing yourself to grow, take risks, try something new and brave and seemingly cool and oh-so you, really you?
• Pushing yourself so far out of the comfort zone of your natural strengths that you’re entering  a full-blown state of chronic misery and anxiety?

Not everyone lives like this, but sometimes it’s easy to confuse a healthy challenge with an unnatural one that drains all your enthusiasm. Some of us call it “making lives just a wee harder than it needs to be.” Others might call it “getting lost on the wrong path” or “barking up the wrong tree.”  It could be a simple case of: Trying this, not liking it, time to take a right turn and fast.

What are signs that your challenge is perhaps one to reconsider? How do you know when a state of discomfort is just you blowing through some old cycles and on to new pastures and to just keep going?

Sometimes it’s trial and error. But here are a few signs that might signal that you’re making yourself walk the plank and it’s time to come back to home base.

• You feel anxietous even when you picture the arrival zone at the end of some short-term challenges.
• You’ve lost all motivation and inspiration, even after a holiday, even after a restful weekend, even after [insert whatever here makes your sails flutter].
• You’re starting to feel depressed, melancholic, unsociable.
• You wonder why you’re not more excited about creating this new venture for yourself.
• When you think of some alternate paths to the one you’re on, something in you screams, That one! Yes! Over there!
• Something in you wants to raise the white flag.
• When you look at the highlights of the last ten years, they in no way match up to what you’re doing. So, if you’re trying to adjust to life as a farmer when you love the honking noise of a city and the smell of exhaust, you’re probably swimming upstream.
• When you spend most of your days — consecutively — dreaming of going to bed at night.
• When people post “I love my life” statuses on Facebook and Twitter your automatic response is something along the lines of “F you.”

It’s great to strive and have ambitions and want to take chances and risks and use a recession for a new opportunity. But if it makes you miserable stop and ask yourself: What am I really good at? What situations do I thrive in? What did I love to do as a kid? The answers are there, just be open for them.

And here’s to pursing the right kind of challenges, where you use your strengths and natural gifts and go with the flow of your joyful life. It’s not failure to “quit” and take a new turn. Success is knowing when to get out and on to the next best thing.

Go for it!

xo

1. You can. For starters, you can probably hold a pen or type a keypad ( if not, there’s voice recognition).
   

   Don't overcomplicate the writing process. Be yourself, you'll be king!

2. If a teacher long ago said you were a bad speller or had bad penmanship (some people have told me this!), it doesn’t matter. Spelling and writing are two different activities. Write first, spellcheck later. 
3. Writing well isn’t about sounding like a pulitzer-prize winning author. It’s about finding your voice and feeling confident with how you express yourself – and then even (dare I say it) enjoying it! Yes, I’ve seen it happen.
4. You don’t have to know how it’s all going to turn out. It can be a novel or a work proposal. For the first draft, just write and see where the writing gods take you and be open to a few surprises. Robert Frost said, “No surprise for the writer, no surprise for the reader.” Live by this.
5. Do you like to travel? Writing is the cheapest plane ticket to anywhere you want to go in the world, or within your imagination. And there’s nobody to stop you – except for yourself. (Yes, this is the tough one.)
6. And when you do find yourself saying STOP, NO while you’re in the middle of writing, this is a good time to keep plowing through. Concentrate on the physical act and turn your mind off and see what comes out. It’s a bit like doing that run or sports event and hitting that place you want to stop but you power through anyway. This is a place of rich transformation and plot twists and turns – or a breakthrough of a tough part of business writing. Sometimes you just make yourself say what you’ve been wanting to say but haven’t dared to – or known how.
7. Writing is not just an act of imagination and mind. It’s physical. And you need to get in shape for it. If you’re starting up, think small and build up. Just like getting back to swimming, biking or kick boxing after 10 years of couch surfing.
8. Each of us has a voice. Everyone has a story. Most of us want to be heard. The more you can own up to your natural writing voice, practice it, use it as a discovery tool, pay with it, love it, fight with it, accept it, see where it takes you – the more you can __________________. Fill in the blank—make it your wildest dream!
9. Don’t forget to have fun, OK?

Nurtured back to life by beauty and six weeks away from daily life.

– you just need a sweet  little holiday!

Sometimes I forget how important a holiday is. DUH. Now that I’m back from a six day visit to Colorado, lapping up my niece and nephew and family members, taking in the surrounding beauty and not thinking about my daily life-work-etc pursuits, life feels so much more … hopeful! And just plain pretty and nice and cute and fluffy and safe and lovely.

Before vacation: unmotivated, not enjoying normally fun activities, not into life, that simple. I think when we get here it’s usually a sign to GET OUT OF TOWN AND FILL UP THE TANK!

I write that in caps because I think that’s what my inner caretaker was trying to tell me and I just couldn’t hear. So next time I’ll look for that stooped shouldered feel of walking through life that tells me: Revive time.

Even a long weekend works.

So question to you: What are signs that you need a holiday, and how can you first catch those signs before it gets to a low point? Waiting too long for a get away is like exercising for too long and hard without enough fuel and sleep — it takes days sometimes even weeks to recoup. Imagine how you could be enjoying more of your days.

And next time you take a vacation (a good one) pay attention to what really energizes, invigorates and nurtures you. I (re)learned how much physical beauty massages my soul back to life. Which means I need to get more of it in at home.

If you can’t read your body or thought language yet, use a calendar. Most of us need some kind of break from the routine every six weeks. Find out when you start to get squiggly and gremlin-y in thoughts and put some candy on your calendar now.

xo t