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Creativity Coaching

What If...

3/21/2016

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​What if we celebrated attempts and not just successes?
 
Many of us focus more on our failures than on our successes. If you have a manuscript that you are trying to get published, or you are an artist or musician trying to get gigs or shows, you may get a lot of “no” responses before you get a “yes.” It’s so easy to get discouraged.
 
If you are new in any creative endeavor, you’re bound to look at your work, compare it to accomplished artists, and decide it’s not good enough. What keeps you from throwing up your hands in frustration, deciding you are a failure, and giving up? Some qualities and attitudes that help are tenacity, resolve, courage, and acceptance of the learning curve and the time you have to put in to make progress.
 
Here’s another idea – not only celebrate when we get that gig, art show or publishing deal, but celebrate our attempts as well. For example:

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“I sent out a query letter to 20 literary agents, and not a single one took me on! Let's have an impromptu gathering at ‘Simply Bar & Bites’ to toast my sending out 20 queries!”
 
So why not give support to each other for the success of trying, of doing the scary work of putting ourselves out there in the world? For myself and many other people, that’s the part that’s incredibly hard. (It’s character building, right?) And it needs to be done over and over again, hopefully getting somewhat easier over time.  We could all use a little encouragement to keep creating art and to keep sending it out the door.
 
So who needs a party or a toast this weekend? I’ll raise my glass to you.

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Impermanent Art

3/14/2016

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​​Impermanent Art

Impermanent. Temporary. Fleeting. Ephemeral, transient, passing. There are many words to express the essential nature of life. Despite this, we resist change by taking photos, recording music, building monuments, having children, planting trees, writing, and creating art that will last. 
 
It’s a very different mindset to try to embrace the impermanence of life.  Even if (like me) you can only do it for short periods of time, it’s worth a try. It can help you feel more peaceful and resilient when things change fast. And when it comes to art, it can help you let go of end results and just enjoy creating. Placing value on the process of creating over the end product allows you to feel the joy inherent in the creative act.
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Sand Artist Andres Amador
​​​Is it really impermanent?
 
Continuing a trend first made famous by Andy Goldsworthy, many people make land art that is by nature temporary.  American artist Andres Amador has been carving giant works of art on beaches around the world since 2004. His works are created at low tide, and they are destroyed when the tide comes in. This allows him to “reflect upon the nature of impermanence, as a reminder that the act of joyous creation is it’s own reward.” (Quote from his website, www.andresamadorarts.com. He sells prints of his art and is available for private commission.) I question whether this type of art can really be called temporary, when beautiful photos are taken, which then become coffee-table books and calendars, existing in a permanent form.
Improvisation
 
"Improvisation is the ability to create something very spiritual, something of one's own." - Sonny Rollins

One of the most truly impermanent types of art is live improvisation.  In jazz, blues, rock, and other forms of music, performing artists play incredible solos, which exist only in the moment (unless a live recording is made). 

​Here’s some science to explain why improvising feels so good: According to a study by Drs. Charles Limb and Allen Braun of the National Institutes of Health, when improvising, the parts of your brain that cause anxiety and rule-based inhibitions are quiet, “You feel good when you improvise, in part, because you've turned on the part of your brain that is most closely aligned with your aspirations, while quieting neural centers that would otherwise hold you back.”
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Jazz Saxophone Artist, Myanna
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​​Experiment with temporary art
 
So maybe we should all try some improvisation, impermanent art, or temporary creative play. Make sculptures in the sand that will be washed away by the next tide. Make snow sculptures that will melt. Improvise with music or movement. Finger paint, draw, or do collage, making deliberately bad art, knowing that you will throw it away. Or let it be a spiritual act, like the Buddhist monks who make intricate and beautiful sand mandalas, which they then destroy.
Lisa Pontoppidan, March 14, 2016
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No Internet or TV for a Week

2/21/2016

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​This week's challenge: a week of Internet, TV, and/or reading deprivation 

"We are always doing something, talking, reading, listening to the radio, planning what's next. The mind is kept naggingly busy on some easy, unimportant external thing all day." – Brenda Ueland

What would it be like to go without some of our external stimulation for a week? Especially the kind that doesn't feel our souls? In "The Artist's Way," Julia Cameron suggests a week without reading. These days, I think the harder challenge would be no internet. How many of us check email and Facebook twice or more daily? It gives us certain benefits, I know - staying in touch with people, finding out stuff that's not in the mainstream news, watching fun and inspiring videos, etc. For some of us, email is essential for work. But it can also be ONE BIG DISTRACTION from being in touch with our selves or being creative. 

And what about TV/Movies/Netflix? True confessions: I watch 1/2 hour - 2 hours a night! I think I need that TV time to chill out, relax. If I have too much pain of some kind, and I can't feel it all the time, it's a much needed distraction for a while. Or maybe it's a kind of company - while folding laundry, sorting papers, or some other half-brain task. I'm interested to see how I do without it, though.
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​I might find that it makes me uncomfortable. You might feel satisfied, connecting with yourself more deeply. Someone else may feel edgy and fidgety. Another might find creativity blossoming within them. It might seem a bit risky to you, but think of it as an experiment. You may choose to try three days instead of a week. You may choose to forgo reading, if you do it obsessively. You may choose only internet, only TV, or internet and TV. 

What would you do instead? The possibilities are endless. Jot a few ideas down in a notebook instead of checking email. Call a friend instead of liking their Facebook post. Write a card or letter instead of watching TV. Make a collage, whittle a stick, get up and move to your favorite music, light a candle and meditate, make up a silly song of the moment, make up a far-fetched story back and forth with someone, draw your boot. You may get inspired to go to a woodworking class in the evenings, or learn how to play ukulele from a video. One never knows!
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The February Club

2/17/2016

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​Personal note: 
 I am in the middle of writing a song a day for 29 days, as part of a group I started online called the February club. The idea is that anybody can join, and commit to making or doing one creative thing a day. I suggested that people keep it to 30 minutes or less, and stay in the same medium all month. However, people are using it in whatever way works for them. The interesting thing to notice about myself is that I am judging my work as good, bad or mediocre. Other people are posting on our site that they are just creating, not judging. Well, boy do I judge! So from now to the end of the month I'm going to work on ways to let go of that "inner judge". I'll let you know how it goes! Meanwhile, you can read the article below about the benefits of daily, time-limited creating.
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The February Club: 
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A small group, but open to anyone. We are playwrights, painters, songwriters, poets, charcoal sketchers, story-writers, sax players and potato printers. At least for the month of February. And we are creating one piece a day, within a limited period of time, usually about 30 minutes. What's it like to do this? Here's some quotes from our process blog:
 
"I tend to stay with something for weeks or months or years. This process of moving on is really good for me." - Deborah Schwartz
 
"I like having a time limit. Doing a clay sculpture, then just letting it go...no time for judgment, just creation." – Molly Forsythe
 
"I have been writing. What I like about this February thing is that it's part of my consciousness to create something new every day. Even a little poem while I am eating lunch seems like a special thing to do." - Amy Tai
 
"I have been drawing for just 15-20 minutes a day (usually just before bed), but it's the best thing ever! The small commitment is just what I need to get into the flow of it again, and remind myself that I haven't forgotten everything I knew. I'm not intending to keep anything I draw, just do it for practice. That makes it much more freeing." – Maren Granstrom

Benefits
There are five benefits I can think of right away:
 
1. It helps strengthen the discipline muscle. You make a commitment, you stick to it. It's not a huge time commitment per day, either, so it's not a difficult commitment to keep.
 
2. It helps with a feeling of success. Do you know that feeling of, "I'm not writing! (Substitute your art here). What is wrong with me? I am a failure as a writer." All of a sudden, you're doing it! You can make a plan, and stick to it, and do the artwork that you choose. You actually are that sort of person.
 
3. It helps let go of perfectionism. You're creating so many things, and in such a short amount of time, how could you be attached to each small thing you make? Part of this process is to make something, then put it aside and make something new the next day. You're not welcoming in the judge or critic, who spends time revising, editing, crossing out, crumpling up and throwing away. You don't have time for that, you must move on.
 
4. It helps with creative flow and inspiration. This month is about generating stuff, not about completing and publishing/showing/performing. It's a time to put those anxieties aside, to get into the creative flow, to feel that excitement and inspiration bubble up inside. To say, "Go for it! What have I got to lose?"
 
5. You can practice “switching.” This means you can quickly switch from your busy mind, involved with practical details (usually called left brain), to your creative mind, which is more open and fluidic (usually called right brain).  Many times we might feel like we’re not in the mood to create, or we need to have a long chunk of time to get in the right frame of mind to create. That’s not necessarily true. This useful skill allows you to drop right into creative mode for a limited amount of time.

Start your own!
If all that sounds up your alley, you can start your own group of daily creators for a month. Call it whatever you like. The group part is important, because there's a sense of community effort, you are accountable to more than yourself, and you can hear how it's going for others. You can set up a website that's easy to invite people in, who can write and respond to each other. (I recommend using a wiki, available from pbworks.com.) It may be fun or hard, and you may find other benefits that I didn't mention. If you think of it as an experiment, you can hold it lightly and not get too attached to outcomes. If you do try it, I'd love to hear about it. Drop me a line at lisapont@mindspring.com. Thanks!
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What If?

2/15/2016

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Note: This post is part of a series I will be posting called "What If?," asking questions to stimulate creativity.
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What if you allowed yourself to do nothing for a while this week? When seeds are under the earth absorbing water and minerals, it looks like they are doing nothing. But we know they need this time before they can sprout shoots and roots that are visible. Like seeds, we need germinating time for our creativity to grow. So allow yourself this fertile time to daydream, meditate, putter, hum, wander about, doodle, or just sit there doing nothing. Let me know how it goes.
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    Lisa Pontoppidan is a creativity coach, helping people who yearn to be creative reach past their blocks to do the creative work they dream of doing.

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