Category Archives: Creativity Burst

Creativity Burst: A Positive List for a Negative Habit

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A Positive List for a Negative Habit

How can a positive list change any type of negative habit?

Well, it’s a creative exercise indeed to flip something we criticize ourselves for on its head and see the positive side, i.e. what may be the part of the habit we deemed as negative as something that is giving us something we are missing, longing for, and enacting that feels good.

Usually the way we interact with our bad habits and patterns is to criticize ourselves for having formed and maintained the habits. I often have found the more negative, critical talk about these habits, the more they take hold. Which is the exact opposite of what we want in our heads as we often seek to not do these very things again and again. However, what else to do, but to talk negatively to one’s self and keep up the habit of the negative behavior.

So, it may take a little effort to do this, but if you look at this idea as a creative exercise then it may not feel difficult at all. Also, it will allow for a break from the negativity toward self. In concept, the idea is simple. Take a few moments with yourself and sit down with a pen and paper in hand. From there, write at the top of the page — or wherever on the page — your bad habit or pattern.

Now, instead of thinking about all the bad you think you are for doing this habit and also how you judge the habit to be bad in and of itself — flip it! — and think about all of the good things that you get from doing this habit from the little to the big things. My guess is there is something positive that far outweighs the negative of engaging the pattern or habit that keeps it active for you.

After you see all that is positive in this negative habit, treat yourself compassionately. There are reasons that are valid that drive us to take on “bad” habits and behaviors. By allowing yourself to be compassionate and extending loving kindness may help you get more in touch with how this may be a way for you to express your anger, handle your anxiety, regulate your stress and more. No one action or thing is all bad. Opening up space to look at the positive part of whatever it is may help you tolerate the habit and it may also loosen some of the grip it has on your life.

This is a creative way to approach a bad habit or pattern. Give it a try and see what alights upon you. I hope compassion and kindness above all to yourself.

Creativity Burst: Create Art

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Create Art

Sometimes art can be the best way to process and think through how we are feeling about events unfolding as well as our shared history that has brought us to this moment. We often feel that we must process and come to understand via language and words. However, I have found that sometimes the mind can make connections, enter sad, scary, angry feelings and emotions through the medium of art.

Art allows our right and left hemispheres of our brain connect in a way that often is interrupted by words. Instead of trying to put down in words one’s thoughts and feelings, it may be helpful to pick up a crayon, marker, paint, and any other art medium that you may have and create.

Create what? Well, a mural would be interesting. A mural can often be large in scope and that space can allow for multiple people to work on the piece together. This may also be helpful to engage as a collective. You can also create a mini mural where each person creates a small scale piece and then you come together as a community and put them together to see what arises from everyone’s different artistic expressions.

There is so much street art unfolding across America right now. As places are boarded up, people are taking to create art right on the chip board in their communities or in certain designated areas that are public. Creating a piece on site or bringing a piece to a place like this and hanging it is yet another way to engage with processing the movement that is unfolding through creative expression.

Once our minds can connect and make meaning of the collective pain in America, there may arise new ideas for how to continue to disrupt the systemic racism that has always been present in the country. Creative art making rather than speaking offer a golden key to creating something new. Perhaps it can create a new idea for this world too.

Creativity Burst: I Have a Dream Letters

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I Have A Dream Letters

I am wondering these days how the children of America are taking in all the racial strife unfolding in America. I have spoken with several of my friends who are parents and most have told me they are engaging in on-going conversations of what is going on in the nation. Let’s face it, the unrest can certainly be felt by the littlest ones in society.

Given children are the future of the country, it is important to be honest about the struggle that has been in America since its founding. It starts with telling them this story so there can be context to what is going on today. At some point, you will tell your children about Martin Luther King and read to your children the “I Have a Dream” speech. It is uplifting, powerful, and can offer an opportunity to engage in dialogue around MLK’s vision for our nation v. what has actually unfolded. It provides an opportunity to critically think about the situation together.

From there, perhaps have your kids write their own “I Have A Dream” speech. What is their dream for America? What are their hopes regarding equity and safety for all Americans regardless of skin color? They can write this or draw it or access their ideas through another art form. This type of activity can provide your children with a time to dream of a better world.

Then have them share their dreams. This will be quite interesting to hear the children speak about their vision. Perhaps it is something novel and new that an adult who has been in the fight too long cannot see. This is the hope of the younger generations.

Parents or just about anyone else can also think about their collective dreams for America as well. Don’t just leave the hope and dreams for the kids, but seek to engage a better world as well that you then share with your family. This may lead to a burst of creativity that lends new ideas and thoughts for helping to change the system in America.

I think we all have dreams for America. Expressing these ideas at this moment in time is more important than ever. Engage it!

Creativity Burst: Forest Shapes

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Forest Shapes

Do you see any Forest Shapes in the picture above? Let your mind wander…

Last week, I was encouraging you to take a Forest Walk. Well, I took my own advice and went for one myself this past weekend and all of a sudden I started playing a creative game with myself — what forest shapes could I see and name?

Although it sounds simple, it takes intention to look at a forest of trees and create shapes, images, and other ideas in your mind. However, if you allow your mind to roam, nature can really delight one with all sorts of surprising images. It is sort of akin to clouds — when you look up at random clouds and all of a sudden images of all sorts of things pop into your mind.

It often takes a state of reverie and receptivity to be able to allow your mind to wander and be free to see shapes other than their concrete forms. Sure, the tree trunk above is a tree trunk — but I immediately saw the letter “L” for my name and was terribly fond of this tree spelling out my initial in such a beautiful way.

I immediately snapped this picture and it inspired me to keep looking for more shapes. More and more creative thoughts came to my mind — I was no longer just taking in nature, but I was imagining and creating as I went along. It was fun to let go of my cares for a little bit of time and immerse myself in such a creative enterprise.

Reverie, imagination, freedom of thought, presence to one’s environment — all of these are important for this creative burst of energy. I invite you to tell me what you see.

Creativity Burst: Forest Walk

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Forest Walk
Time for a Forest Walk

A forest walk. For me, this conjures up the lovely surroundings around the Emerald City, the very one I live in these days, Seattle. In the Pacific Northwest in America, we are fortunate to be surrounded by beautiful forests of evergreen trees that seem to breathe in and out their beauty throughout the entire year. They never lose their leaves but seem to form an eternal canopy that visitors to our nearby forests can enjoy year-round.

It was Memorial Day weekend – the unofficial kick-off to the summer season. It has not been much of a spring with pretty strict shelter in place orders in place this spring, but a few weeks ago our Governor opened up the trails and parks for all of us to get out and explore once again. Although it felt like a very long time since I had been out there, it was still all there waiting for me when I returned.

I want to encourage you to take your own forest walk in the woods that surround you sometime soon. And when you do take that walk, get creative and be there in that moment. Really see the green on the trees, the moss too, and the leaves. Have your kids count as many leaves as they can.

Breathe in green. That’s right — once you are on your forest walk, shut your eyes and call to mind the glorious color of green and mark in your mind all the green you have taken in so far on your walk. Breathe in and out slow and deep as you recall the green living energy that surrounds you. The trees are living, breathing creatures. Seek to attune to their breath in their space. My guess is a sense of expansiveness will fill you.

It is a wonderful time to get back to the forest, to nature, to spend these long days, which still feel somewhat curtailed, in their beauty. Allow nature to give you her own creative burst of energy to charge your day and self to a place of calm but also growth like the green forests surrounding yourself.

Another thought is to revisit this same spot over the next few months. Do you notice any changes in the surroundings? How about in yourself? Is it easier to breathe green? Marking time by returning to the same forest spot a few times can not only track time, but also yourself in nature and its time and rhythm.

In the Pacific Northwest, most of our emerald gems will not shed their leaves, but if I attune myself to my forest, I believe I will find subtle shifts as time moves forward from here. A wonderful way to welcome summer and keep track of her passing by during this fleeting season.

Creativity Burst: Old Recipes

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Old Recipes Box

Old Recipes? What’s the difference between them and any other recipe? A great deal in fact.

I was reminded of this when my brother reached out to me asking for my Grandmother’s old recipes as he wanted to try a few. Years ago, my Mother gave me all of my Grandparents’ recipes, which are truly a walk back in time. How so?

First off, many of their recipes are typed up – with a typewriter and all. Can you imagine a time when people would put an index card into their typewriter and type up a recipe? How novel. So, many of these recipes are easy to read.

Second, the types of recipes give me some insight into what they enjoyed eating during their own hey day. For my Grandparents, they loved Texas Chili, Dill Pickles, Buttered Noodles, Tomato Pudding, and other old fashioned recipes that people used to make and not just buy for convenience as they do now.

Third, these recipes, in addition to being typed up, are written on all sorts of slips of papers that give some insight into their lives and how they spent their time. One of my favorites is the Holiday Inn hotel bill that had them spend one night for $15. On the back of the receipt is my Grandmother’s handwriting scribbling down some recipe she heard from whomever she was visiting.

What does all of this have to do with creativity? For me, it gives me a burst to see how others who have gone before me enjoyed their food. Back in those days, people made it from scratch and that feels important to this time. People are back to baking bread and making their own delicious recipes, those that will mark this time as part of our own personal history.

If you have a collection of recipes somewhere in your family it may be the perfect time to give them a review. You may learn what they enjoyed, how they recorded it, as well as some history along the way depending on where they wrote down their recipes. One’s mind can wander back to that time and find reassurance that older generations made their way through, through both good and challenging times, and what they were eating as they did so.

The continuity of care provided by these recipes gives me a creative burst of energy to try one of their recipes or even one of my own. It also inspires me to write my own recipes down on sheets of paper that feel so modern now, but in 50 years will seem vintage, like scraps of paper.

Given this time when people are cooking up a storm as they did many years ago, use it as a space to learn more about people and how they cooked before you and find ways to record your own experience as it is sure to be treasured by the future people who read you and your recipes.

Creativity Burst: Puzzle Time

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Puzzle Time
Pandemic Puzzle Time!

Pandemic Puzzle Time!

It seems that these days all things old are new again. And this is true when it comes to puzzles. Remember the big jumbo 1000 piece puzzles you would do as a kid with other kids or your family. The pieces would be laid out on a large flat surface. There the puzzle pieces would sit beckoning to be put together.

It would often take hours to get it done over several days. Of course, starting at the corners, building the outside edge of the puzzle, and then filling it in — often by figuring out smaller puzzles that then fit into the big puzzle. It was quite something to see 1000 puzzle pieces be pieced together to find the picture on the front of the box.

With time on our hands and people in the house, puzzles offer us a place to ground ourselves in pieces that we can touch, creating a picture that is worth a 1000 pieces. There is something very satisfying to working a puzzle. I have seen puzzles in waiting rooms of therapy offices and often someone is in front of it working a piece of the puzzle. There are no apps, no screens, nothing bright and glitzy – just little pieces to put together. In this respect it feels really old fashioned.

It can also lead one to a sense of creativity as you are building picture of some sort as you work to solve the puzzle. Something that may be fun to do with your kids is to have them create their own puzzle. This doesn’t have to be 1000 pieces, but, using a thick piece of cardboard type paper, have them cut out different shapes that they seek to fit together to create their own picture. The can color in the picture once all of the blank pieces are pieced together. From there, pull it apart and solve their puzzle. Everyone in the family could do one and then hand it off to another family member to solve.

Puzzle time is back and in full force. I don’t think they ever went away — they just took our attention again when we had some time to solve them.

Creativity Burst: Collective Dreaming

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Woman Dreaming
Are you capturing your dreams?

Can you imagine the phenomena of Collective Dreaming? What does this even mean?

If you are curious about the whole idea, you are not alone. I wanted to know more myself when I saw a headline in the Seattle Times about the recent pandemic affecting our dreams on a global scale. If you have not been sleeping well and/or having nightmares, anxious dreams, worried dreams about loved ones, you are not alone.

Collectively, people across the globe are dreaming in these ways – together we are sharing similar dreams, but we are apart. Our dream state is now mirroring our wake state. There is even a term given for all of us dreaming during this time: COVID Dreamers. Are you one of the millions dreaming like this at night?

Now that we are on the subject, how are you sleeping generally? Are you able to fall asleep, i.e. let go into your unconscious world, are you awake until the wee hours vigilant that nothing should happen to you or your loved ones, are you remembering your dreams, when you wake do you feel well-rested? One creative idea is to bring your attention to these questions and check in to see how sleep is going for you.

From there, I recommend having a little journal beside your bed. This can be used in a myriad of ways that may prove helpful to you before, during, and after you sleep. Some ideas include:

  1. Making a list of all that is on your mind that is making you worried or anxious. Taking time to write these things down can help you externalize them from yourself. Make note to tell yourself afterwards, they are all there safely written down. You will pick them up when you wake again.
  2. To help promote intentional dreaming, ask yourself a question that is on your mind several times before you sleep. You can add this question to your notebook as well. Do this for several nights in a row and look for answers from your unconscious as you sleep.
  3. If you happen to wake up to a dream, nightmare, or a thought on your mind, grab your notebook and write down what you recall immediately. It will most likely be lost within minutes of waking, so having the notebook and pen will make it convenient to record.
  4. Same thing when you wake, whatever you recall from your dreams, how you feel, how you slept can all be recorded to track your sleep cycle and keep track of what is unfolding at night in your mind.

Sharing dreams, engaging dreams, looking up the meaning of dreams can all serve as fodder for what is going on with ourselves that we may not be aware of when we are awake. A mystery unfolds each night for ourselves to uncover and learn more about ourselves.

The idea of collective dreaming about this pandemic and the many ways it is a nightmare for all of us is a unique shared experience of our dream life. Sharing your dreams and inviting others to do the same with you can lead to new ideas and thoughts about self that can not only drive further understanding of self, but a creative way to tap into you.

A journal and pen or pencil is all you need. Also, the will and interest to know about yourself through dreaming.

Creativity Burst: Backyard Photography

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Backyard Photography Humingbird
Are you a budding photographer?

Backyard Photography? Say what?

These days, while we all are sheltering in place, provides a time to take our interests and elevate them. How to do this when our world, that is our supposed oyster, is within the confines of our home and yard can be a challenge — until you give it a little more thought.

If you like to take photos on your trips – even with only your phone – this is a time to dig in and get creative with your photography skills at home. Luckily this time is happening during spring when everything is coming into full bloom. The flowers are blooming, the leaves on the trees are bursting forth, the birds are at their feeders, the bunnies are hopping, and more.

A simple walk around your neighborhood will bring this all alive for you, but so too will a walk around your own yard. Don’t forget your camera when you head out the next time to take it in. Here is where a creative challenge can arise for you that may help you look at the world in a way that you really see the season in action.

Head out to your bird feeder and wait for the birds and then try to capture them eating or drinking the nectar. See a bunny in someone’s yard – or your own- can you focus on his cotton tail and capture it? How about the blossoms – can you get up close and pick up the texture of the petals via your photography skills? Even an amateur can take time right now to try a new angle, a new lens, a new way of taking a photo – this experimentation can lead to a burst forth of creative energy.

Even better? Involve the entire family and encourage them to take photos on your walks and around your home. Then, afterwards, review the photos together to see how people saw their subjects and why they decided to capture the flower, bunny, or bird in the way they did. Even better? Print off your photos and create a collage of them as a memory to hold on to — how you and your family saw the world during this unique time.

I am not a professional photographer by any means, but when I travel, I love to capture the scenes I take in as I go along. This is a reminder that we can capture them at home as well. There is magic and life happening where we call home. Opening our minds and grabbing our cameras are the two keys we need for this creative exercise.

Creativity Burst: A City Stroll

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A City Stroll
Missing a City Stroll?

Do you miss a city stroll?

In this time of sheltering in place, where one is encouraged to only wander in one’s neighborhood and keep 6 feet distance from people, the days of going to a city — either your own or that of another city you have traveled to – feels long ago and far off from ever being able to do again.

Strolling a city leads me to new ideas, thoughts, smiles from strangers, a spring in my step as I take in new sites and sounds, unusual smells, and more. o stroll is to take in everything through all of one’s senses. It is invigorating and reinvigorating and often leads to a creative burst of energy. I don’t mind walking my neighborhood, but it is difficult to miss one’s city strolls.

Imagine my excitement when I found the blog Kottke.org and found a post where they literally offer you city strolls to take. Ah, these are perfect. Up to an hour of your time can be spent taking a stroll of a new city, such as a neighborhood stroll in Paris, Lithuania, a Floating Market in Bangkok, and more. Actually, not too many more, but these may be enough.

There is very little narration of these walks. Really, it is literally fifty minutes or so of strolling the area with all of the various sites, sounds, people, and more that one takes in in any good city stroll. It’s life in these areas which is all abuzz. I find I don’t even need to be looking at the city scene, but can just keep it on as background noise on my computer to keep me company. It is so novel to listen to a buzzing street vibe. I haven’t heard such a scene in so long, and yet it is so comfortable.

I will admit it right here. I miss it. Listening to the scene, make me feel this acutely. I worry will I ever have the opportunity again to move so freely in my world and take in a simple city stroll in Seattle, where I live, or in some far flung destination? I used to take such a thing and scene completely for granted. Perhaps that is one of the “up” sides of this time. To really cherish all that we had and to appreciate it once we engage again. Somewhere, I hold a hope that all of us will engage in the world as these scenes show.

Given my days are mainly spent indoors, it is wonderful to bring a city stroll inside for a little bit of time. I certainly feel more creative and energized from engaging my senses in this way. Perhaps I will plan my next trip or become motivated to learn more about a certain area. Perhaps it will motivate me to get up and walk my neighborhood and take it in as fully as possible.

Try a city stroll and remember what it was like and have hope we will all stroll together in marvelous spots soon.