Tag Archives: creativity coaching

5 Needs Your Creative Heart Demands in Order to Grow

5 Needs Your Creative Heart Demands in Order to Grow

Imgres There can be times in life when we get stuck, when old patterns begin to rear their heads.  It can creep up on us slowly, without us noticing.  We'll be zooming along, working, going to school, or raising a family, and it seems like we're really in the flow when one day we realize we have totally neglected our creativity, or disconnected from the source of our inspiration.  It's at this point when it's helpful to recognize that creativity needs several ingredients to grow.  When I was in grammar school, we planted a marigold every year in a cup.  We'd water them and leave them on the window sill, and nothing would happen, but one day, a bud would burst through the moist soil and almost overnight a flower would emerge.  That would be right about the time in May when Mother's Day falls, and we were told to bring the flower home in the little styrofoam (ugh) cup to our Mama.  

Well, creativity is just the same way.  And the world is our Mama.  The earth is our Mama.  It's just our job to tend to that little seed.  

Here are the top five ingredients you need to help get that creative seed germinating so you can write that screenplay, that solo show, play that album, or cook that masterpiece meal:

1. Soil.  You need a container, a solid ground to sprout from.  A foundation.  Make sure that today, you eat well, sleep well, and stay rooted.
2. Water. Water is the wet, moist carrier of new information.  Bring in new information, new ideas, new juicy things into your life to keep things flowing upward.
3. Sunshine.  Being in nature is a great way to connect with something greater than yourself to recharge your batteries and give you the oomph to expand.
4. Love.  Be kind to yourself.  Love and adore you are right now, with no need to change anything, and you will find that what flows from that place is infinitely more interesting.
5. Time. Be patient.  Give it all time to do its thing and you'll see your bud in no time.

Now go out and grow!

_

"Man (or woman) can live abou forty days without food, about three days without water, about three minutes without air.  But only for one second without hope."  -Anon

Half off an Initial Coaching Session through December 31!

Half off an Initial Coaching Session through December 31!

Free_woman Dear Friends and Colleagues,

You might know me mainly as a working comedian and solo performer.   However, for the past several years, I have also been enjoying life as a creativity coach, working with actors, writers, painters, comedians, and people who want to expand their creativity and joy into every facet of their lives.  I am deeply committed to the fulfillment of true self-expression, in my own life and in the lives of those around me.  

Specialties include:

-Creativity Coaching: Depth Work & Transformation of Creative Blocks into Creative Material

-Standup Comedy Coaching: Confidence and Presence on Stage

-Solo Show Coaching: Exploring Your Life Story through Performance

Transforming Habitual Behaviors into Creative Acts

Tools include: 

-Diamond Heart Approach Breath Work/Essence Work

-Guided Visualization/Journey Work

-Emotional Freedom Technique

-Body-Based Authenticity & Arete-Style Reflection

-Spiritual Grounding for Material Manifesting

-Humor & Playfulness

 

Experience includes:

-12 Years Training and Working Artist & Performer

-Focus, Time-Management, Organization, Accountability, & Integrity

-Branding, Marketing, Social Networking, & Training as a Visual Artist

-Transformational Courseleader Training with Arete Instructor Guy Sengstock

-4 Years of Method Acting & Diamond Heart Work


*Special Coaching Offer* Through Friday, 12/31 only, I'm offering a limited number of half-price coaching sessions to people who haven't worked with me before.  (I always offer a 20-30 minute consultation for free, but this offer is unprecedented.)  Coaching is normally $100-$75/hr sliding scale. You are welcome to come for a session for half price, or offer a donation of your choosing (completely your choice!).

Shhh!!! Keep your goals a secret?

Shhh!!! Keep your goals a secret?

What?  Yup.  Can spilling your big ideas ruin them?  I'm sure not sharing the biggest ones.

This is a really important video.  And it only takes 3 minutes to watch.  

Essentially: state your goals in a way that gives you no satisfaction.  That way, you'll still be motivated to accomplish them.  


 

Letting Go of Your Inner Censor to Encourage Creativity

Letting Go of Your Inner Censor to Encourage Creativity

I'm just watching this great TED Talk with Tim Brown on creativity.  He's the CEO of Innovation and Design at IDEO and has some amazing information to share about creativity, mescaline, prototyping toys, preschool, the loss of playful thinking that happens through formal education.  It's got me buzzing! 

He's at the 2008 Serious Play conference.  He Tim Brown talks about the powerful relationship between creative thinking and play.

He says that we can be serious AND playful in our adult lives.  What do we need to do that?  Trust to play, and trust to be creative.  We need exploration, building and thinking with our hands, and role-play.  (These are just the end notes…  See the whole video to really get what he's communicating.)

Your Creative Groove

Your Creative Groove

Creativekid
Would you like to feel more productive, more excited, and less like you're pulling teeth while creating your artwork?  It could be as simple as turning your desk to face a window. 

Does it ever seem like you're just not "on your game" and you can't figure out why?  Perhaps you haven't yet found your Creative Groove.  I had a realization recently that changed my whole sense of myself as an artist and creator.  I was feeling discouraged about writing comedy, and not getting that "funny" feeling I get when I something makes me laugh for a while. 

One day, while talking about it with a friend, we started joking and laughing, and I suddenly remembered that I'm funny when I'm with other people!  Things strike me as funny, and I get to share them around people I have fun with–particularly people who I don't feel competitive with or judged by.  That's when I open up, laugh at things, and start to feel the creative juices flowing.  That's also when I pull out my notebook and joke that I'm going to write down what just happened.  My friends laugh, but I really write it all down.  If we "wrote" it together, I ask their permission to talk about it on stage. 

I also know about myself that once I've written notes, I need time on my own to edit, sort things out, and use the other side of my brain to see what else I can fill in.  I also use the time on my own to reflect if what I'm writing about really feels like it's in my "voice" and it's aligned with what I want to say to the world, or if it's really been influenced by that particular group of friends.  Then, I go back to people again–this time an audience–to work on my material next. 

I actually knew how to get into my Creative Groove, but I'd forgotten.  Do you know where to tap into your Creative Groove?  Take some time to answer these questions to help you consider when you feel most creative.  What does your body or heart want to tell you about when it's happiest and most free?  Is it:

Night time? Morning? Afternoon?
Every day, same time?
Big chunks some days? Little bits every day?
Doing it when you don't feel like it and then getting in the groove?
Only when you feel like it?
Do you groove better around people or alone?
Which part of the house? Or maybe a cafe?  Loud cafe or quiet one?
Maybe at a co-working facility?
What foods help you create better?
Are you more creative standing? Walking? Dancing? How about showering?
Do you need to meditate, exercise, eat, sleep, or vent before you're ready to create?

"Would you eat them in a box?  Would you eat them with a fox?"

-Dr. Suess

If feels like Green Eggs and Ham, you're on the right track.  Invest some time getting to know just how you like to work!  You'll be happy you did.