40 | Balancing creativity and consumption

When you're consuming too much, it's time to start creating. 

A while back, I asked people who read my newsletter what practices they have in place for creative expression. I'd been feeling overwhelmed by too much information coming in - client stories, courses and CEUs, news, etc. 

Side note: If you're not subscribed to my newsletter for practitioners, you can sign up here 

I find that when I'm consuming too much information, it helps to have some creative outflow to balance things out.

If you're feeling overwhelmed, it can be hard to tap into your creative side. Sometimes I can't even remember what I like to do, creatively.

In case you're in a similar state, I've compiled some of the links, resources, and ideas that people shared at the bottom of this post. There's something for everyone here. 

Thank you so much to everyone who contributed.

Feeling inspired and want to focus on creating this summer? 

This summer in Monday Mentoring we're going to have a focus on creation and visibility.

Our Summer challenge will center on creating and publishing content daily (as always, challenges are optional!). We'll be having an optional book club to read and practice "The Artist's Way" by Julia Cameron.

And, of course, we'll meet  every week to go over clinical cases, practice management questions and more.

If you're in practice or will be soon, I highly recommend giving it a try.

Learn about Monday Mentoring

Ideas for Bringing more Creativity into your Life

books: 

• Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldman (Shan)
• The Artist’s Way (Lauren, Linden, Jillian)
  

Classes

• Firefly Creative Writing (Linseed) (Note: I have taken some of their classes & can vouch for them as well - so lovely & nourishing - CF)
• Macrame class (Michaela)
• Group workshops at Michaels (Rachael)
• Yoga course (online) centered on creativity (Elizabeth)
  

art projects

• Adult coloring books (Nora)
• Crochet of the month club (Liane) "I had zero knowledge going in, and have been able to keep up every month with the monthly kit and videos. I just finished block # 9 out of 36!"
• Knitting (Gina) "The colours, the feeling of the wool, the nourishing ancestral connection vibes!"
• "I love drawing plants as a way to deepens my connection to their spirit as well as growing my observational skills. I’m not one to sit still most of the time and I find sitting in the garden, meadow, or woods and drawing feels very grounding to me. I often completely lose track of time doing this and it becomes very meditative. I like colored pencil, graphite, and pen and ink as mediums that are portable and don’t require cleanup." (Miranda)
• Embroidery + a habit tracking app like HabitHub to stay on track (Tabatha)
• Doing a mandala with fabric markers on a canvas tote is a nice easy one that doesn't require a ton of supplies or mess. Resin flow art is also very fun, quick and gratifying if you you're going to something abstract (Rachael)
• Paper cutting (Linden)
• Glass pen lettering (Alison)
• Let's Make Art "I started with watercolors -- they share most of their outlines and instructional videos for free. I still play around with those, but I have NO hidden talent. Then they started offering art journaling which I absolutely adore." (Sherryl)
• I also love Make It Artsy for inspiration. For short bursts, I love The Reverse Coloring Book™: The Book Has the Colors, You Draw the Lines! (Sherryl)
• I have a stack of GreenCraft magazine and you can find some free projects on Free Projects (stampington.com) Some of their projects are a little too froufrou for me, but I can usually de-froufrou them and there are others that I enjoy (and often have the materials on hand or could find them in a second hand store). (Sherryl)
  

Getting creative out & about

• Letterboxing: "I do not consider myself to be very artistic but one of my BFFs recently got into letterboxing. If you don't know about this already, YOU WILL LOVE IT. Part of letterboxing can be making/carving your own unique stamp/s. My son is NOT AT ALL crafty and he went HOG WILD making his own stamps when my friends showed us how. Me, too!! If you don't know the author, Kate Milford, I think you'd love her. Here she gives a teaser on letterboxing and a link to the "main" (and very clunky) letterboxing website." (Krista)
• Nature-based dioramas: "My most favorite creative practice is to visit the beach and gather anything that strikes my eye. From these items I create a diorama and a story to go along with it. Sometimes the story is about a surfer (witches burr/sweetgum makes a a great surfer head!) who finds respite on a deserted island after a storm, sometimes there is an entire community, with elegant figures made of plants I have yet to identify. I play with these scenes until I have reached an end point, and then leave them to the rising tides, weather, or for some other creative soul to happen upon (the thought generates new stories in my mind). It’s a kind of mandala that way. And, Bonus: I always collect the tiny pieces of plastic and waste from the beach, which serves my desire to contribute to the environment. Win:win. This simple practice is in no way revolutionary; we have been playing with objects on the beach and telling stories since we were kids! And, I have found it serves my soul." (Deborah)

 

When things start to feel out of balance, I find it helpful to evaluate whether my balance of inputs to outputs is in place. If I've been consuming too much information/content/etc then it's easy to feel overwhelmed. This can be balanced by spending more time in creative mode, making things either just for fun or producing content or materials to help my community/clients.

This summer in Monday Mentoring, we'll be focusing on the balance between consumption and creation in our seasonal challenge (content creation & visibility) as well as our book club (The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron). We'd love to have you join us if this has been on your mind as well ❤.

Questions? Thoughts to share? Let me know.

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