Raise your hand if you never have enough time for your creative life! And give yourself a pat on the back for every moment you do spend in that magical mystical world of creativity.

It's not easy to be a creative soul in our culture, in our times. So many of us have to work at decidedly uncreative jobs and squeeze in our creative lives, our creative selves. But the good news is, we're doing it!

So, rather that beating ourselves up for the little time we spend making art, how about we give ourselves a collective celebratory shout out for the time that we do!

Life is difficult. It is full. It is time consuming. And yet, it is bursting with creative opportunity.

Where are they? How can we find them? How can we make the most of them?

The big question is: How we can take a step back from our ordinary every day schedules and perspectives, and infuse them with the extraordinary creative energy we have to share?

First up. Are you actually aware of all the things you do creatively? Are you counting the unique ways you look at the most ordinary things?

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Creativity Coaching Prompt:

Right here, right now, make a list of three things you do that are uniquely, creatively you. And over the next few days see if you can add a thing or two to that list. You will probably see that you are being creative in more ways than you ever imagined. Keep that list going and growing!

1. _________________________


2. _________________________


3. _________________________

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Next. Every time you experience a creative moment, take a moment to embrace and honor yourself. Creativity of any kind is a huge boon to the world. In Buddhist Metta meditation the practice of loving kindness, one focuses a feeling of compassion on oneself, others and the world, to develop and nurture kindness. We can do the same with our creativity by simply taking a moment to notice, acknowledge, and honor it.

Finally, retreat every day. Find a tiny patch of time for yourself, each and every day to do nothing. To sit and meditate. Or just sit and watch the sky. To dream or to stare into space blankly. The creative mind more than anything else needs time. To catch up with itself, to digest and compost the overwhelming amount of information and input we receive each day. Sound impossible? Start with just five minutes a day, or one minute a day. Just breathe. Now. The last thing I need is more things to do. So if you're like me, just ignore those three things you just read. And do nothing else but be yourself.

We are all on a path to ourselves. Each path is a long winding road, with spectacular views, potholes, detours, breakdowns and speedways. We seem always to want the speedway when we're on the scenic route and vise versa. If we can slow down and give ourselves all the time in the world to become ourselves, we will find our full time lives filling up with more and more part time art. 🖌

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Next: The Creative Squeeze

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Copyright ©2010 Riva Weinstein. All rights reserved.

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