Creative Blocks Don't Exist

I am so excited about sharing an "aha" moment I recently experienced.  It has been so impactful, that I can feel a noticeable change in my behaviour and thinking.  Sometimes it's the little messages that work the best.

Recently, I enrolled in an on-line writing course.  It has two workshop leaders who have been using their own experiences to both inspire and guide a community of writers and would-be writers to create their own messages.  The teachings are simplistic and focus on cultivating an atmosphere of creativity. 

Through this process, I faced down the curse of the Perfectionist - my habit of constant editing.  It has been my life habit to edit my thoughts, ideas, words, visions, etc. long before they ever become anything concrete.  Definition of writer's block - the inability to find an idea or words worth penning.  All those ideas aborted before they were even conceived.  What a shame.

How freeing to be told - just write whatever comes to mind.

Now I am practicing to write/create first and edit later so that it will become ingrained  in my nature.  What fun! 

Here We Go Again

 I began this blog many years ago as part of my own personal journey of self discovery.   My belief that the content was meant for an audience, that existed only in my mind, made the process both challenging and difficult - leading to many starts and stops.  When my writings took a direction that lacked clarity, as I felt it often did, I would consider writing about more conventional hobbies of mine.  Topics about - how to sew - or cook recipes - seemed safer.  Their content and purpose were easier for me to envision.  In the end, I seemed to conclude that I'd rather spend my time doing these hobbies, as opposed to, writing about them.

Starting as early as my childhood years, I have been fascinated by my perception of the mind's enormous potential.  If I have a passion about anything, I have a passion about understanding how the mind works - and not just from a scientific and/or physical viewpoint - I also get totally absorbed when considering metaphysical theories.  This is probably why I keep coming back to restarting this blog.

These posts contain my musings about how certain beliefs seem to demonstrate themselves in my life experiences.  I hope you enjoy reading them.

Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Mood

I just finished one of Jennifer Weiner's books, Who Do You Love.

In it, Andy, one of the main characters of the story, handles his moments of extreme frustration by running.  It allows him to cut out all of the negative internal chattering going on in his head by focusing all his attention on how he feels as he runs.

I, too, have found that I can use certain physical activities, like golfing, to distract me from thoughts that I don't think are benefiting me at that moment either because they increase my stress levels or they darken my mood.

Also, in this novel, a therapist suggested a strategy to Andy - to change your mood, change your setting.  Something as simple as getting up from what you are doing to have a cup of tea can be enough in most situations to brake the momentum of negative thought patterns.

We all have techniques or tools we use to manage our moods.  What do you do?

Revel in Your Satisfaction

This is a bit like the "take time to smell the roses" advice.

I am recommending that if you want to feel happier on a day to day basis, take the time throughout your day to revel in feelings of satisfaction.

You can feel a sense of satisfaction for all kinds of things - they don't have to be big.  Here are a few examples.

• getting your exercise routine in
• handling a difficult situation well
• sticking to your meal plan when faced with temptation
• doing something nice for somebody else
• doing something nice for yourself
• getting through something at work that was challenging - sometimes this is just getting through your long list of "To Do's" for the day

So go forth and revel in feelings of satisfaction as you go through your day.  You'll feel better for it.

Please share the things you got a sense of satisfaction from.  I look forward to hearing from you. 

What Makes Your Heart Sing?

In September, I will be starting a monthly series of guided meditation sessions focused on the topic "What Makes Your Heart Sing?".

I thought by writing about the process of developing the content, I would start the flow of ideas.

I picked this topic because I, personally, wanted to explore the things that excite me and to play within that energy stream of emotions and feelings that go along with those thoughts.

Just like the song, "My Favorite Things", from the film, "The Sound of Music" when you purposefully think about the things that make you feel happy, you can uplift your mood.

Sometimes we have to start off with small and simple thoughts like "raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens" to get our momentum of thought and emotions going in the direction of our choosing.

What do you do to change your mood when you are feeling down?

Enjoy the Ride!

Life is a highway so why not make the ride a joyous one!

Life Tip:

Focus on the joys in your daily life by either thinking about, or talking about, them.  Appreciation for what is working in our daily routines - no matter how small - can go a long way in helping us feel good.

Tip #4 - Live Life As If It Could End (It Eventually Does)

I just had to say something about the end of the world today; afterall, we are on the last day of the Mayan calendar and who knows what will happen at midnight (said with my tongue in my cheek).

Many moons ago (we won't say how many), when I was a mere slip of a girl (early 20's), I participated in an exercise about setting your priorities.

To summarize, we started by envisioning that we had been invited, on short notice, to join friends on a wonderful vacation trip.  Motivated by something we truly wanted, how quickly could we tie up loose ends, get our essential work done, get packed, etc.?

Now, how would you do it with a time restriction of just a day or two?

The result is that you have now confirmed for yourself that you have the ability to make choices and get organized when properly motivated.

Next, take the exercise to another level.  Imagine that you have been given bad news by your physician and you only have 10 years, 5 years, 4 years, 3 years, 2 years or 1 year to live.  What becomes important in your life given these timeframes?  What feels undone?

Is it any easier to set your priorities with these thoughts in the back of your mind?

I've also enjoyed a couple of other tips when doing these types of exercises.  The first one comes from the book Don't Sweat the Small Stuff - "Your inbox will never be empty."  The second is also along the same lines and comes from Ether and Jerry Hicks through The Teachings of Abraham - "You will never be finished."  I find that these sayings take some of the stress away when I am feeling overwhelmed and also they remind me that life is not a race to the finishline.

So hopefully, we'll all be here tomorrow and now you have some interesting tools to help you with your New Year's Eve goal setting.