Doodle Reflection: Just Holding on for the Creative Journey!

Creative Journeys are special entities. They love to grow and move. They love to evolve and re-create themselves. As the creator, we are along for the ride!

Sometimes this is a really fun ride. The ideas are flowing, the work is emerging, the people are loving it, and we are on cloud nine.

Sometimes it is a really scary ride. We took a surprise turn, the work is requiring us to take risks, we feel exposed and vulnerable and uncertain of our abilities.

Always it is a very alive ride! It is the ride of being human, of having multi-sensory experiences, of crazy connective conversations, of continuing to know oneself in ever deeper, more meaningful ways.

In order to always be up for this journey, I have a few practices that keep me grounded no matter what gets uprooted.

I have my contemplative practice that helps me to be still and reflect. I have my inspirational practice that constantly feeds my hungry soul and invites the muse. And I have my movement practice that keeps me embodied on the earth and learning from the wisdom in my bones.

What are the practices that allow you to grab onto your creativity and ride it? What new practices might you need?

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The creative journey that is Studio Light Illustration also continues to evolve and create/re-create itself!  Born from creative coaching, the apprenticeship program, doodle-shops, and the desire that so many of us have as creatives to be in community with each other, is the Creative Community Circle. Click here to learn more and find the links to our free Launch and Tour events!

Getting to the Heart of It

As I was guided to check in with the heart of my creative business today, its heart showed up as a child. She asked me to remember the most powerful lesson I learned as a teacher which is that the child needs to lead the way. Children are to be enjoyed and their aliveness is to be protected. My job as the teacher is to nurture this aliveness as I guide them.

Reflecting on this in terms of my creativity and my business, I started seeing how easy it was to be a drill sergeant. “I need this result and I need it done in this way and I need it to happen now!” No wonder some days I just feel tired. Demanding things is exhausting and I miss all the good, juicy stuff that creating things has to offer.

On the days where I approach my work with more curiosity, more openness to what it wants to show me in the moment as I hold the long-term vision, the energy is electric, the ideas are plentiful, things seem to happen all by themselves. Work becomes a playful adventure with fun surprises at every turn.

So, as you engage with your day, take a minute to breathe. Check in with the heart of what it is your are doing - your art, your business, your work - and see what it has to say today. How can you put what you hear into practice?

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Let’s keep growing creatively together! We are excited to announce our new Creative Community Circle membership for busy creatives who don’t want to be alone in the process of finding creative joy and satisfaction. This membership will be open for new members Sept 1 - Oct 31, 2020! But before you enroll, you can learn more at our CCC Launch Celebration and Tour events which are free, fun, and informative.