Don't Quit Your Daydream

Don't Quit Your Daydream

When I was a kid I did my daydreaming under a shade tree on an old quilt pallet complete with Tag and Panda, my grandpa's panting dogs, a jelly glass full of kool-aid and a platoon of annoying insects. 

Daydreams I had.  Big giant daydreams, I did not.  I believed as Alice in Wonderland did:

Alice laughed. “There’s no use trying,” she said. “One can’t believe impossible things.”

“I dare say you haven’t had much practice,” said the queen. “When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”

I didn't know what the Red Queen knew. I thought that I was in charge of my daydreams, that if daydreams were to come true, I had to make it so.  What can a little girl from the country with few resources do?  Somehow I believed that dreaming small meant not having to live with great disappointment because dreams came true in fairy tales not in real life.

What crap!

Now I know if I don't dream it, it sure won't become a reality.  

These days, my big giant daydreams take place in air conditioned luxury with a sleepy cat nearby and a journal to write it down in so I can remember them and be amazed that when they come true I often had little to do with the most perfect outcome.

What daydream do you have that needs a reminder that you can dream your way to a better reality? 

What ever you do, "Don't Quit Your Daydream." 

Hugs,

Diana

With Hat in Hand or The Awkwardness of Returning to this Blog

my favorite hat with one of my favorite hands

Well this is awkward.   If I had a hat, I would have it in my hand. (Whatever that means: Hat in Hand.  note to self: Look it up.)  Ok, I looked it up.  It means showing up with respectful humility.

You've got a lot of nerve...showing back up here as if years haven't gone by.

Yes but I come with respectful humility.  Doesn't that count for something?

If you were respectfully humble, you would've visited a bit more often.  Why should we believe you when you say you're back for good.

Well, you might at least wait until I actually do say it.

Silence.

Ok, you win.  I'm back for good!  I was wrong to abandon you.    My creativity suffered for it.  My heart was in the right place, but life got in the way.  

Just admit it, you were spending time on another blog.

Well, yes but, I also moved to another part of the country (and I do mean country!).  And my precious kitty died.  And I got sick.  And I quit painting.  If you know anything about me you know it was all very traumatic.

Stop whining.  If you are going to write over here, write positive.

You don't understand.  I have a lot to complain about.

What about gratitude.  Do you have any reasons to be grateful?

Well, yes I do now that you mention it.

Then write about that and you can stay.

Ok. Ok.

I am grateful that this blog is still here.

Quit sucking up. You don't have any readership.  They got on with their lives.

But I am grateful for this blog.  I love being creative.  This blog will help me be accountable.

What else?

My friends and family.

My cat companions.

The great outdoors.

Art supplies.

The Internet.

Miracle Whip.

Miracle Whip?  You're grateful for Miracle Whip?

Yeah, ever tried to create a good sandwich without it?

You're hopeless!

I'm also grateful that I had a hat when I needed one.  And I never gave up HOPE!

Me either.  I always hoped you'd be back and here you are.  And I'm grateful for that.  Welcome home.

two of my coworkers, Schuester and Gabby

How to Keep Creating Even When it’s the Season to Do Something Else

I live in Houston where the heat will make you do creative things to stay cool.  Some times that is as creative as it gets at my house.  I know that not everyone who reads this has this problem but I am guessing you might be affected by the change of season as I am.  You may just now be experiencing the exhilaration of springtime and what it feels like to finally leave your house after hibernation.

When summer arrives, the kids are out of school, graduation parties, reunions and other events require your attention and hopefully there is a vacation to plan and enjoy.  Where does your creative work enter in?

You already know what to expect with each passing season.  How can we continue to pursue our creative projects without getting caught up in the every day commitments of having a great spring or summer?

Here are some tips to keep you motivated and off the hook from your internal critic that will chastise you for not keeping up.

Become conscious:  You have to become aware that we are indeed creatures of the planet and even though we have forced ourselves into the constraints of busy twenty-four-seven living, our bodies still respond to the seasons.  Awareness that you may be fighting nature for your own attention can help you to give yourself a break when you feel compelled to walk barefoot outside rather than hold hot piles of wool knitting in your lap.

Make an alternate plan:  Instead of waking up in a hammock mid-July and beating yourself up because you haven’t written a word on the great American novel since the snow melted, why not decide now that you are on a summer writing schedule.  Make it easy to follow.  Allow yourself to do “research.”  Put away some of the most taxing parts of your work that you absolutely know you won’t do.

Pick something easy to do:  If the kids are around or nature is calling, doing the repetitive parts of your craft may help you to at least accomplish something, especially if these are tasks that must be done anyway.  Why not do those tasks when distractions are likely and even welcomed?

Don’t make promises to your creativity you won’t keep:  Creative ambition is good, but don’t give your internal critic ammunition to berate you into avoiding your creative plans altogether.  If you make a plan to cut out paper dolls, make sure you do it.  There is no reason you can’t do it poolside or while a movie is playing.  Sometime a change of location can be inspiring.

Make peace with doing nothing:  Creativity is a part of you and like you needs renewal.  Building sand castles on the beach is a valuable way to spend the day.  Not thinking about what you need to do next on your creative project while letting your mind rest allows the creative pot to simmer for the next time you really need something to bubble up.

Have experiences:  Life should be full of meaningful experiences and being with loved ones doing nothing or doing everything is a good place to start.  If you can’t get anything done on building your ship in a bottle, just know that the meaningful experiences you have instead will enrich you and your creativity anyway.

Have a happy spring and summer!

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Does Your Creativity Need a Hug?

Dear Reader,

Does your creativity need a hug?  I don’t want to sound pathetic here, but dang it, sometimes my creativity needs a hug.  It’s tough being right-brained in a left-brained world.  This is what I expect of my creativity every day:

“Wake up, Dudette, you’ve got work to do.  You’ve got to sit up at your computer and write interesting stuff.  I’m sorry that we didn’t get to go to the movie like I promised yesterday, but there’s always next weekend.”

“Can we have popcorn, chocolate raisins, a pickle and a large coke, this time?”

“Only if I take out a loan.  Look, we have popcorn at home.  Here, I micro waved it for you.  I even took it out of the bag and put in a nice bowl like you like it.  I’m sorry the coke is flat.  I didn’t get to the grocery store either cause we have this deadline and you better get busy and help me or we’ll never see another movie again.”

“What do you want me to write?”

“I don’t know. You’re the creative one.  You always come up with something.  What’s the big deal?  Cat got your tongue?”

“Let’s play with the kitty.  Here kitty, kitty, kitty.”

"Now Dudette, the kitty isn’t going to help us get this article written.  Put her down.  Now there’s cat hair everywhere.  Look, you made her scratch me.”

“I want to go read my romance novel.”

“Over my dead body.  No way are we going to stoop to that drivel.  I am a real writer.  We don’t read lovey-crummies.”

“Fantasy?”

“No.”

“Vampires?”

“No.”

“What can I read?”

“This article you’re writing for a start.”

“I don’t wanna write.  I wanna play.  You make me work too hard and you aren’t any fun any more.  You’re mean.  I quit!”

Excuse me, Dear Reader, this article probably won’t get finished because my creative Dudette needs a hug.  I have to admit I have been pushing her too hard lately and she isn’t a machine that I can turn on and off like a faucet.  We’re headed out to see a movie.

“Can I have a more popcorn, chocolate raisins, a pickle and a coke that’s not flat?”

“Yes, that and a hug.  Hugs don’t have calories.”

Have you hugged your Creative Dudette today?  Tweet

Aknowledging Your Past Creative Efforts

I was dragging my feet the other day to get started on a creative writing project.  I had already worked my way through two boring jobs that I didn’t want to do as a way of blocking myself to the work I needed to do. (A technique I’ve used before that still doesn’t work for me.)

So instead of forcing myself to sit like a petulant little girl with her arms crossed in front of her computer as if I was being punished, I opened a document that I had already written and read it.

You know what; it was good!  I enjoyed reading it.  I was clearly amazed that I had written it.  What it did for me was quite Blockhead’s yammering that, “Writing is hard,”
“You have nothing to say,” blah, blah, blah, and it energized me enough to move me out of self-banishment in the corner of, “I can’t do anything” to hey, “Look what I did!”

Acknowledging and noticing your past efforts is a good thing.  It will lift you up when you are feeling low and not very creative.

There is nothing wrong with having a little party of appreciation for what you have done.  Too many of us were taught not to brag or get too high and mighty or sing the praises of our own accomplishments.  There is no danger of that here.  You are your own audience. Enjoy the fruits of your labor and see if it doesn’t inspire to do more.

Creativity Energizer:

Select a piece of your work and spend some time with it.  Refuse to be critical. View it with loving eyes.  Let it speak to you.  Admire the craftsmanship and the detail.  Acknowledge the difficulties that were overcome.  Thank the person that created it with all sincerity.  Allow yourself to be inspired to do other work.



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Have a creative week!

Hugs, Diana

Happy New Creative YOU!

Happy New Year Creative Friends,

I always want to say Happy New You because New Year is the time we traditionally think about how we want to do things differently.  Even if we as humans resist change, even a tiny bit of change can impact our lives on a massive scale.

Think of a decimal point: Tiny, insignificant dot on a piece of paper.

Change the decimal point in .1000  to 1000. and things get interesting, especially if you are talking money.

I don’t like New Years Resolutions much, so much that I created a workshop called Resolution Revolt.  More about that later.

I used to set my self up for failure every year by making grand promises that I couldn’t keep so here is my tip about this if you are inclined to make resolutions.

Make tiny resolutions that you have a chance of keeping.  You can use these to balance out the ones that might be more difficult.

Here are some examples of tiny resolutions that I am trying.

• I resolve to use the color red in my art work on the next three pieces.

• I resolve to clean the screen on my laptop before I can no longer see the cursor.

• I resolve to take at least two naps a week. (Falling asleep at my computer does not count.)

These I can do.  These feel good to me.  They are tiny little actions that can make a big difference just like the tiny little decimal point.  They meet all the standard goal setting criteria of S.M.A.R.T. goals. Smart Goals stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely.

When I set these goals, I don’t get a lot of grief and lip from my internal critic, Blockhead. 

Creativity Energizer Break:  You know what I am going to say.  Pick three tiny goals that can make a difference in your creativity and make sure they are ones that you can easily do.  Success breeds success.

If your Blockhead starts telling you that you can’t or won’t do this goal, then you are setting a different kind of goal.

For those kinds of goals that provoke your Blockhead to admonish you for even thinking  of such impossibilities, I have got a workshop for you.

I am offering an online Resolution Revolt Workshop January 12, 19, and 26 at 7:00 CST.  The greatest threat to setting a goal and following through is your own internal critic.  Join me as we revolt against your Blockhead and the traditional ways of trying to keep your resolutions past February.

For more information here is the link:

/store-resolution-revolt/



Be A Beliver

“There is no use trying; one can't believe impossible things." (Alice)

"I dare say you haven't had much practice. When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” (Red Queen)

                                                                     ~* ~* ~*~

To be creative is to believe in the possibilities.  Too many times we nip our possibilities in the bud before we ever take time to consider them. 

If the universe of great ideas is going to continue to send them your way, you must respond with consideration.  Not every idea becomes a reality, of course, but not every wild idea is impossible.

Why not try this technique: When something seems impossible, use the words “What if,” to speak about the possibility so that you don’t automatically discount and disallow a budding idea before it ever has a chance to bloom. 

“What if I did self-publish my poetry?” 

“What if I were able to save the money for that trip to take classes in Italy?” 

“What if I went to work early so I could get home while the light is still good?”

Your mind loves questions.  Posing your considerations as questions can interrupt and quiet the internal censor until possibilities can become possible.

So try using, “What if, questions.  I’ll leave you with this example:  What if this helped you believe as many as six impossible things before breakfast?

Hugs, Diana

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“Like sands through the hour glass, these are the CREATIVE days of our lives.”

Do you have issues with time?  My friend and I will be talking about a creative project and one of us will invariably say our time mantra, “Oh, that shouldn’t take too long,” and then we laugh, knowing full well that we are wishing out loud – hoping the words will make it so.

As I’ve gotten older, I want to spend my time more wisely.  As a youngster, the days stretched out in front of me seemingly forever and I thought I could afford to squander hours on end sitting in front of dumb TV or tolerating people I didn’t like.

I am coming to this conclusion with my creativity as well.  I want to spend my creative time on something that makes my heart sing, that invigorates and energizes me or connects me to my spirit.   

There will always people, place and things that threaten our creative time, but what about the time we spend inside our art that is no longer satisfying or necessary?  Maybe you can eliminate steps that you used to do when you weren’t as sure of your abilities as you are now. 

One time waster I have tried to eliminate in my creative process is the “agony hour.”   That’s all the time I waste worrying if this piece is good enough, or if someone will like my work enough to pay for it.  The agony hour is also time spent dreading a difficult project before I get down to business.

I have other creative project time drains that I am deleting.  I used to make tons of gifts to give away.  Untold amounts of time was invested in handmade gifts and the (handmade card to go with it) that often delighted me more than the recipient.  I rather spend my creative time (and energy) in other areas now.  

Creativity Energizer Break:

• Examine how you spend your creative time.  Are you making the best use of what time you do have? 

• Can you let go of unnecessary tasks that no longer interest or challenge you? 

• If you participate in the “agony hour,” see if you can reduce it or eliminate it altogether.

Like sands through the hour glass…

Have a creative week!

Hugs, Diana

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