Lani Puppetmaker's Blog Spot

New challenge up at 14 Secrets

noreply@blogger.com (Lani Gerity) — Mon, 20 May 2013 10:41:00 +0000


"Create what you need" collage by Lani and textures from FlyPaper

There's a new Fun Monday Challenge up on the 14 Secrets Blog! Go get your art supplies and have some fun.

New Challenge up on 14 Secrets

noreply@blogger.com (Lani Gerity) — Mon, 13 May 2013 11:58:00 +0000

Collage by Lani and textures from FlyPaper

There's a new Fun Monday Challenge up on the 14 Secrets Blog and it is a really amazing one. I'm not taking the credit for the "technology" (just the enjoyment and play). But don't listen to me, go try this one!

Monday Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (Lani Gerity) — Mon, 06 May 2013 18:52:00 +0000

Collage by Lani and textures from FlyPaper

Over at 14 Secrets there's a new Monday activity, something to bring a little fun into Mondays. Have a look and maybe try it out!

The Links at Lulu are live!

noreply@blogger.com (Lani Gerity) — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 18:40:00 +0000

Lulu has a digital version and a paperback version of "Elephant Training and the Happy Artist." Do have a look! Here's my store front: http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/lanipuppetmaker

New Elephant Training Zine and Yahoo group are almost ready!

noreply@blogger.com (Lani Gerity) — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 13:08:00 +0000

We are almost ready to go live. This eZine will be in both PDF and iBooks formats. Both should be viewable on pads and readers. Lots of illustrations in 24 chapters. My intention is to list in on Lulu, in iBooks, and here on my blog. Here I'll be using a paypal link and then I'll manually send the file to you via YouSendIt where as Lulu and iBooks will be automated.

We will also have a Elephant Training Yahoo Group for those who would like to share stories and "training" techniques (yes, and some of my collage techniques as well). Should be an awesome, elephantine amount of fun!

We always have a choice...

noreply@blogger.com (Lani Gerity) — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 14:03:00 +0000

First published over on 14 Secrets blog, but I love it, so I'll repeat it here!!!

"Honour that innocent monkey" Collage by Lani and textures from FlyPaper

I read this Love Letter to the World on Kate Swoboda’s site Your Courageous Life and thought sharing it might be just the thing! I know life or people can be overwhelming, but we always have a choice... And I really like Kate's list of options! I think they might just be secrets to a happy artist's life!

“Whatever we see in the world, that is us, too. Cultivate a willingness to compassionately drop down into the zero center of someone else’s imperfection, and you’ll see their pain, and piece of your own. We are not so very different. We are far more alike than we often believe. With courageous hearts, we can change the world. So here goes:

In the face of complaints, look that person in the eye and imagine what it might have been like to be raised to see only what is wrong.
In the face of selfishness, wonder what it might be like to walk the world with a feeling of lack, of depletion.
In the face of insults, consider where this person first learned that it’s okay to abuse others.
In the face of disconnection, think about what causes it, and ask if your response will widen the river between the two of you.
In the face of laziness, recognise the fear of living big dreams.
In the face of extremism or fundamentalism, see the clinging, as well as the terror-filled silence that would arise for that person if they risked letting go.
In the face of controlling behavior, understand the chaos that must have bred it.
In the face of “always needing to be right,” see how often this person was once made wrong.
In the face of arrogance or bravado, hold gently that still, small piece that says “I’m not enough.”
In the face of drama or attention-seeking, see the person who wishes so much to be seen.
In the face of accusation, imagine what it might be like to live life with suspicion.
In the face of judgement or comparisons, step into the opportunity the world has just provided you for practicing love and acceptance.
In the face of passive-aggressiveness, recognise the child that wasn’t taught a safe way to express their truth.
In the face of anger, see the pain of isolation from others.
Most importantly: In the face of ferocious hatred, believe in the possibility that there exists the potential for equally as big, intense, lovely and fiery ferocious love.”

More Flypaper Love!

noreply@blogger.com (Lani Gerity) — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 19:02:00 +0000


"Elephant Love" Collage by Lani with TinType Textures from FlyPaper

Whether you are playing with elements from your art journal pages, or old family photos, there's absolutely nothing like a little FlyPaper action to add fun to your day! I love what these guys do for my work! And of course I adore their work! (Once you get to FlyPaper check Jill and Paul's blogs for all kinds of inspiration!)

"Three Sisters" Collage by Lani with TinType Textures from FlyPaper

This is an old Cabinet card that I had super fun with TinType Textures and some old favorite Flypaper.

Early passport photo with TinType Textures from FlyPaper

This little passport photo has two TinType Textures on it. Definitely increased my fun quotient for the day!!

Sustainable Happiness; A Generous Approach

noreply@blogger.com (Lani Gerity) — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 14:08:00 +0000


"Awakening our creative impulses is the beginning of making magic in our lives and in the world." - Jamie Ridler Collage by Lani with textures from FlyPaper

Got this generous idea from an article over at "Yes! Magazine," Sustainable Happiness? 6 Ways to Get There, by Catherine O'Brien and Ian Murray. Their idea is that our happiness is interconnected with others; other people, other species, and of course our environment. Our daily actions contribute to—or detract from—our own well-being and happiness, and that of others. While pursuing happiness, if we pay attention to the well being of our communities, various ecosystems to which we are connected, or to future generations, we are contributing to everyone's sustainable happiness and possible multiplying exponentially our overall well being and that of the planet.

This kind of thinking can lead us to create a more sustainable lifestyle and greater life satisfaction for all. O'Brien and Murray have six simple suggestions which I'll play with here.

1. Cultivate Appreciation - O'Brien and Murray remind us that gratitude and appreciation are associated with happiness and life satisfaction. Why would we not want these things in our lives? They suggest that if we take a moment to experience our appreciation, especially for those small things we may take for granted, this helps balance the ever present media messages that tell us that we aren’t good enough and that if we only would get more stuff, then we could be happy (creating the carrot on the stick that we chase until we drop). Appreciation brings us into the present, and in that way, helps us be mindful and happy.

So here's my appreciation today. I enjoyed the winter sun on my face (yes, I know it's spring but it sure felt like a winter sun this morning), I enjoyed watching Prospero throw himself into his morning scratch on the bushes while out for our walk, and I definitely enjoyed a lovely, ripe mango. I could feel myself appreciating these little things in the moment, which of course activated my parasympathetic nervous system and alleviated any stress from monkey-mind activity.

2. Embrace your Natural Highs - Natural highs are those little, natural things that can be found right where you are, usually sensual things that trigger good brain chemistry, like the fragrance of roses (or since roses are not to be found here at this moment, the beautiful scent and texture of my morning mango). Paying attention to these triggers creates happy brain chemistry which could bring you unlimited experiences of delight and contentment. O'Brien and Murray remind us of the sounds of rain on a tin roof or of children’s laughter in the distance, and suggest we simply pay attention to the wonder of the world around us. Here are a few more natural highs that were shared during a course on sustainable happiness:

The smell of the earth thawing in the spring
Hearing an owl hooting at night
The cold side of a pillow
Smelling flowers
Gazing at Northern Lights
Hiking in the woods
Birds singing in early morning
Lying on the grass and enjoying a starry night
Watching a beautiful sunset

3. Chart Your Sustainable Happiness Footprint - In this one, we pay attention to our daily activities and how they influence our well being and the well being of others. Using the "Sustainable Happiness Footprint Chart," document activities from waking up until bed. Filling in each column will illustrate how these activities affect us personally, and how they may affect other people and the environment.

O'Brien and Murray suggest we may want to chart our Sustainable Happiness Footprint for a week. After a week, we can look at our chart and ask ourself if there is one thing we might shift to enhance our well-being, or the well-being of other people, other species, or the natural environment. (Copies can be downloaded here.)

4. Create an Interdependence Map - The Interdependence Map is a way to understand how our life is intertwined with the world around us. It looks a bit like a mind map (Paul Foreman has some great free Mind Map templates and inspiration here) where we can trace all of the factors that influence something's existence. Anything can be traced this way, from a piece of paper to ourselves. If we choose paper, then our map would have paper at the center and various things all around it, like trees, the sun, wind, soil, and water; or machines that were created to harvest trees, transport logs, and convert the wood into paper; or various energy sources for the processes, like water and chemicals at the paper mill; etc. etc.

Creating an Interdependence Map that puts ourselves at the center can lead to some amazing insights. We could include our ancestors, family, friends, home, transportation, food, energy sources needed for clothing, electricity, and heat. Each of these can be a hub for other webs of interconnection.

Once we complete our Interdependence Map, O'Brien and Murray suggest we ask ourselves if there one thing that we could change that would lead to a more sustainable happiness. One small change can have a ripple effects in the world. Changing something that contributes to our own well-being might be a good place to start, like going for a walk after work or spending more time with family, less time on line and of course starting an art journal.

5. Make Your Own "Happy List" - Here's a sweet one! We can take some time to list all the things that make us happy. Just put down everything that comes to mind. Once we have our list, we can look at each item and ask ourselves if we might not benefit from doing some of these items a bit more often. O'Brien and Murray suggest we look at our list through the lens of sustainable happiness. Is there anything on our list that is detrimental to us, someone else, or the environment? What can we do to make as many of these items as sustainable as possible?

6. Value Genuine Wealth - According to O'Brien and Murray (and it totally makes sense to me) genuine wealth is found in relationships, natural beauty, and an appreciation for life, love, and laughter. I would add the arts and creativity into the mix! Building genuine wealth can be pretty straight forward.

O'Brien and Murray suggest we try this:

Make a list of all our genuine wealth, including family, friends, education, the natural world around us, health, sensory experiences, political freedom, the ability to love and laugh, etc.

Ask ourselves if we take any of these for granted.

Is there anything on our list that we would like to increase or improve in order to enhance our genuine wealth? If so, what steps do we need to take to accomplish this?

How are we contributing to the genuine wealth of other people or our community? Is there anything more that we could or would like to do? (Isn't that nice? A very generous approach to happiness!)

Once we begin to draw on these sustainable happiness choices, we’ll likely discover that there are many new choices that we can make—and the best part is they are already within our reach.

Pocket Change ATC Exchange

noreply@blogger.com (Lani Gerity) — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 19:17:00 +0000

ATC's from Pocket Change ATC exchange!

I was so lucky to be a part of this wonderful exchange with hundreds of artist trading cards from the US, Canada, Italy, Australia, India, Mexico, and New Zealand! It was a part of 6 Degrees of Creativity and you can read more about it here!

Thank you Gretchen Miller, Beth Rommel and Hannah Klaus Hunter for hosting this exchange, and Hannah Hunter, Daneil Made, Monica Finch, and Lauren Bonner for your lovely ATC's! I am looking forward to the e-zine where all the ATCs and acts of creative kindness will be shared, which of course will multiply the positive energy flow!!!

Stress-Proof your life with Michael Nobbs!

noreply@blogger.com (Lani Gerity) — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 14:45:00 +0000

Here's an amazingly simple way to stress proof your life. Tiny, two minute or so drawing prompts from one of my favorite artists, Michael Nobbs. Here's my copy of Michael Nobbs' new, awesome, fun book, Drawing Your Life; Learn to See, Record and Appreciate Life's Small Joys, on drawing and appreciating your life. It has lots of nice space to add your drawings next to his.

For those of you who are not familiar with Michael Nobbs, he's an artist/writer who is all about trying to keep things simple. In the '90s he was diagnosed with ME/CFS and, over the last decade, has had to learn about sustaining a creative career with limited energy. He feels very strongly about living a creative and sustainable life with limited energy, so much so that he considers this to be his "Important Work". Through his blog, pod casts, drawings, eBooks and now this new Perigee/Penguin book, he teaches us all that it is possible to live a creative life with what ever our limitations might be. Very inspiring!

I find if you use his style, sort of semi-blind contour drawing, it really does improve the whole "Be Here Now" experience of the brain on mindfulness. There's something about really looking at your subject, really seeing it and following the contours with your eyes and hand, that allows for the parasympathetic nervous system to take over. (If you doubt me, just try it. See if you can do a contour drawing and stay in a state of anxiety. I think it may just be impossible)

Begin your lifelong journey. Start now! Go to his website, and pick up a signed copy of Michael Nobbs' book or a few eZines and watch the stress melt away as you play with him and celebrate the little things. Celebrate enough little things (maybe 3 a day) and you will create magic in your life!

"Forget about seizing the day, enjoy it instead (a gentler translation of carpe diem)"

- Michael Nobbs

Stress and self-care

noreply@blogger.com (Lani Gerity) — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 22:07:00 +0000

Collage by Lani with textures from FlyPaper

Is it me, or is there a certain amount of stress involved in travel? Hanging out in airports waiting to know if your flight will be cancelled or hurtling through the atmosphere in a metal container with wings are not two of the easiest places to attempt to activate the parasympathetic nervous system or the vagus nerve. These environments are not particularly comfortable or soothing.

But having a good book in your hands (not an eVersion that has to be put away each landing and take off) can be very helpful. "NURTURING THE SOUL OF YOUR FAMILY: 10 Ways to Reconnect and Find Peace in Everyday Life is" was the perfect choice for me! Renee Peterson Trudeau has such a soothing, friendly style, it's like having a best friend with you, who is all about self-care and nurture. She can point out the difficulties of the journey and reassure you that all shall be well.

Hipstamatic photo by Lani (while hurtling through the atmosphere)

One of my favorite lines (or maybe most useful) from "NURTURING THE SOUL OF YOUR FAMILY" was "...For peace of mind, resign as general manager of the universe." No kidding! Stop trying to keep the plane flying with your will power, don't try to control the flight delays in Newark Airport.

It does become very obvious, this hopeless desire to have control over the universe, at times when control is so clearly outside of one's field of influence. And how clear it is that this causes us such discomfort and stress. How much easier it all is when we release that particular bit of silliness.

Another great line is "When you allow your inner landscape to be as big as your outer landscape, your life will begin to change in radical, positive ways." What a lovely thought, and the possibility of it was very soothing as I looked at the spaciousness and light out of the plane window. Suddenly it wasn't a metal container with wings that I had to somehow keep up in the air, it was just a part of the outer and inner landscape of this corner of the universe, and it was spacious!

A really nice aspect of this book is that it's about nurturing a group, a tribe, a family. It is a relief to remember that we aren't usually in this adventure alone, it's not just our personal adventure. We are usually connected in a variety of ways to others in our group, tribe, or family. This book is a great reminder of that fact all through its ten chapters. Another nurturing aspect of this book is each chapter has its own little exercises or suggestions for journaling or discussion at the beginning and end. Very helpful to quiet the mind before heading into a new chapter, and also a great way to anchor what you learned from the chapter you just read.

Want an example? Imagine you are in an uncomfortable place and you are trying to make the universe around you bend to your authority. (Ha!) And of course you aren't getting very far with this but you are doing great at getting quite frustrated. Along comes Renee with a "Pause for Peace".

If I asked you how you were feeling right now, would you know? Most of us are moving so fast, we have no idea how or what we're feeling -- what our emotional barometer is reading. Close your eyes, take a few deep breaths, and place one hand over the center of your chest and your other hand on your belly. Pause, enjoy the stillness, then check in wht the utmost compassion and some curiosity: What have you been feeling lately? Calculate this on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being "I'm about to have a nervous breakdown" and 10 being "I'm feeling blissed out." Does your response surprise you? Often the act of checking in can be cathartic in itself.

Christine Carter (my favorite Habit Code Breaker and elephant training mentor) says this about Renee Peterson Trudeau. "Renee delivers her instructions for a more balanced life with a huge dose of inspiration and compassion. This book is a joy to read and a delight to put into practice.” I say it's a lovely book to have on a stress-filled adventure. You can find more about this wonderful, wise and nurturing book for groups, tribes, and families here.

"You can..." collage by Lani with textures from FlyPaper

Mindfulness and the Stress Proofed Brain

noreply@blogger.com (Lani Gerity) — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 21:38:00 +0000

"Dream" Collage by Lani and textures from FlyPaper

Continuing to work on the training of the elephant mind, and thinking about stress (you may remember the Stress and Krispy Kreme post?) and it's negative effects on our poor elephants, I thought I would explore some of Rick Hanson's work. It dove tails so well with what I've been learning from Kelly McGonigal and from Christine Carter's eCourse "Breaking the Habit Code."

In Stress-Proof Your Brain Hanson explains our responses to stress. We are biologically wired to respond to things we perceive as a challenge to our survival in certain predictable ways. Hanson says that that we have developed three systems (approach, avoid, and affiliate or socialize) that have their own way of handling a perceived challenge to our survival. The first system (approach) will become quite grasping when stressed. It will feel that there's a scarcity of what ever it needs and grab as much as possible. The second system (avoid) will create feelings of fear and anger, the desire to flee or fight. The third system (affiliate) will react to stress by feeling loss and separation, feeling unloved, becoming very self-involved. It tends to look for love "in all the wrong places" under these conditions.

Traditionally these responses were fine in stressful situations, because traditionally stress was produced by a single event of shortish duration, and we could depend on our various systems to get us through the event. The trouble with this is that today, with our high speed, noisy, cluttered, over-crowded lives, stress is no longer an event of shortish duration, it is chronic, on-going, for ever and ever. We get up in the morning, rushing to work, there's never enough time, traffic is always horrendous, and when we get to work there are always too many deadlines, we continually disappoint the boss who threatens to make us redundant, and of course there's the demands of the family when we get home at night. We have a physical response to stress, our heart beats faster, our breath gets shallow, blood pressure rises. These physical sensations can lead to further self absorption, a heightened sensitivity about internal and external stimulus, and of course lots of negative emotions.

Chronic stress disturbs our digestion, suppresses our immune system, irritates the cardiovascular system, the endocrine system, and the nervous system. Cortisol is produced, stimulates the amygdala which creates more cortisol, and weakens the hippocampus' ability to quiet the amygdala. It's as if our inner alarm bells get louder and louder while our ability to handle everything, or to put everything in perspective gets weaker. Our resilience strategies go out the window, we become fearful towards others, they respond and we are further stressed. What a mess!

To tell you the truth, I had been thinking that when I get through this or that deadline, I'll be able to calm down, and then I will be able to be more mindful, meditate better and be more focused. You get the sense of this, it's sort of "if only this or that" thinking. I'm beginning to realize, though, that there is no way that this fast paced culture is going to change so that I can live more mindfully, lol.

Thankfully Hanson suggested a different approach. He looked at the three systems (approach, avoid, and affiliate or socialize) in a state of well being. The "approach" system, when in a state of well being, feels contentment, satisfaction, and a sense of "enoughness". If the "avoid" system is in a state of well being we tend to have a feeling of safety. We have compassion and restraint and the ability to fix what we perceive as "wrong". If the "affiliate" system is in a state of well being then there is a feeling of already being connected to others and our actions will be of compassion and kindness towards all.

Clearly finding ways to boost our feelings of well being right now are in order (not tomorrow, or even the nebulous "if only")! We can't really wait for that happy day when the culture changes, the world slows down, and our bosses stop creating deadlines. If we want to live a long and happy life, train our elephants well, we need to protect our brains from chronic stress. Hanson suggests we need to train our brains to respond to events from a place of well being instead of stress! Yes! He suggests mindfulness training is a wonderful route to developing that place of well being. Of course being an art therapist, I would want to find ways to use art in my daily well-being practices. What kinds of practices would you employ to stress proof your brain?

Want to read some research that backs up Hanson's ideas? Phillippe R. Goldin has a whole page of papers on mindfulness here for the downloading, bless him!

Here's a great interview with Rick Hanson in which he goes into more detail about MRI's, our anterior (frontal) cingulate cortex, the insula, and dialing down negative states of mind while increasing positive states of mind.

Also, tangentially related, for those in education, here's an interesting video interview with Michael Posner, talking about cognitive neuroscience or the brain and education.

Working on a "Training the Elephant" eZine

noreply@blogger.com (Lani Gerity) — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 20:28:00 +0000

Collage by Lani

I have had the best time with this "Training the Elephant" metaphor and all of the links and research Christine Carter included in her eCourse "Breaking the Habit Code" (which you can read about here). I initially took Christine's course to develop my morning routine, to fine tune it and make it more inspiring somehow. Winter can get a bit bleak here in Nova Scotia, and it seems to go on a lot longer than it should, even with climate change. Any way, I thought why not up the creativity quotient and ask my winter blahs or blues to exit ASAP. What I found was that I did indeed fine tune my morning routine, I did discover loads more energy, and I started having way more fun with my morning pages. Not that I didn't have fun before, but I started posting them every morning on Facebook and Instagram, so these social networking sites became a part of my daily practice. And of course these two sites have the possibility for positive feedback, which is something we humans (both the trainer mind and the elephant mind) really enjoy.

So it seems like an eZine with art directives and ideas for creating your own daily creativity practice might be just the thing. Stay tuned!

A Mindfulness Exercise

noreply@blogger.com (Lani Gerity) — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 15:06:00 +0000

"A Way of Life" Collage by Lani and textures from FlyPaper

One of the final reflections/meditations in The Neuroscience of Change is a very interesting writing assignment.

McGonigal has us choose an inner experience that we tend to want to avoid, something unpleasant that we tend to have aversion towards(but not our biggest challenge). It can be a thought, memory, or a physical sensation that we often wish to avoid. Write it down. What would the opposite of this thought, memory, or physical sensation be? We want to bring this into our awareness in order to accept and perhaps transform the difficult inner experience. (I know that aversion and suppression don't work, so trying something new sounds good to me!) There may be a few possibilities for this "opposite" sensation or thought. Write them down.

Then McGonigal suggests we bring ourselves into mindfulness, paying attention to this moment and our breath coming and going from our body, and once we are in a mindful, observant state, just observe things arise and fall away. Now we can bring into mind the "opposite" experience or thought, memory, or sensation that we wrote down. What word or image would help us bring this "opposite" experience to our mind and body. What does this feel like? What thoughts or emotions arise?

Now we can come back to a mindful awareness of the breath. Notice sensations and perceptions as they arise. Bring to mind the avoided or aversive experience, the unpleasant one. Is there a specific time or something that would trigger this feeling? What does this feel like? What thoughts or emotions arise?

Now bring back to mind the "opposite" feeling in what ever way is easiest. Notice the freedom we have to move between these states. We can now bring our awareness back to body and breath and then bring awareness to our environment. We can write down anything that stands out for us about this process! Wow!

I tried this and it seems like a very good writing experience to try after reading yesterday's blog about mindfulness and multiculturalism. Instead of pushing away those embarrassing prejudices and stereotypes and fears, look for their opposites and try calling both to mind. Try moving fluidly between these feelings.

Yes, change is possible!

Mindfulness, Acceptance and Multiculturalism

noreply@blogger.com (Lani Gerity) — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 19:55:00 +0000

"Exploring Elephant Mind" Collage by Lani and textures from FlyPaper

What I learned today from The Neuroscience of Change is fun and a little counter-intuitive. In the last segment of this program McGonigal describes some amazing research. She said that there were two groups of students who were shown a photograph of a "skinhead" and asked to write an imaginative story about a day in his life. One group was asked to suppress their stereotypes while they wrote their stories, while the other group was given more accepting type directives. "You may notice that this photo will call up various feeling states because of past experience or because of values inherited from the dominant culture. Don't worry, this is normal, just observe these feeling states as they arise." The students who were given the "suppress prejudice and stereotypes" actually included more stereotypes in their writing that the students who were taught to be mindful and accepting of their feelings. When both sets of students were given the opportunity to meet the individual that was in the photograph, the "suppressing" students wouldn't sit as close to the "skinhead" as the "mindfulness and acceptance" students. The "mindfulness and acceptance" students were also more willing to put themselves into situations where they were visible minorities. Pretty interesting findings, right?

Because this was on MP3's there were no references and because this research seemed pretty important for working in multicultural settings I persevered and found McGonigal's blog on Psychology Today in which she described the same research. Her reference list is here:

Legault, L., Gutsell, J. N., and Inzlicht, M. (in press). Ironic effects of anti-prejudice messages: How motivational intervention reduces (but also increases) prejudice. Psychological Science.

Lillis, J., and Hayes, S. C. (2007). Applying acceptance, mindfulness, and values to the reduction of prejudice: A pilot study. Behavior Modification, 31(4), 389-411.

Macrae, C. N., Bodenhausen, G. V., Milne, A. B., and Jetten, J. (1994). Out of mind but back in sight: Stereotype on the rebound. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67, 808-817.

So in a way, this whole "learning to ride the elephant" metaphor has been a practice and study of mindfulness and acceptance. Learning about the challenges of our genetics and evolution (our hard wiring to go for sugar, salt, and fats, for example) is all about accepting the urges of the elephant. I know I have wasted a lot of energy in the past, arguing and trying to "suppress" the elephant's love of donuts or chocolate, and I can tell you first hand that suppression really doesn't work.

Try this: Get your elephant (or the craving brain) to not think about his or her favorite not-so-great habit. It's pretty hard, maybe impossible. Now try talking with the elephant or craving brain. Tell it you want to learn as much as you can about these normal, hard-wired urges and you want to learn all about surfing them. The elephant will feel much better, more understood, and we will have more success in training it rather than suppressing it. Once again thank you Kelly McGonigal! This feels so possible and hopeful!

Ignite Change

noreply@blogger.com (Lani Gerity) — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 21:37:00 +0000

"Ignite Change" Collage by Lani

To continue with The Willpower Instinct and The Neuroscience of Change and the nature of our two minds (the rider and the elephant) McGonigal points out that having an overarching reason for the changes you want to make is necessary. We need really good, strong reasons to encourage the elephant to try new habits. So she has 6 questions which I will play with here:
1. What is your most important goal? This should be so true, so real that you might not want to say it out loud, something so true it might bring tears to your eyes to say it. So my most important goal would be to be awake and aware of positive choices that are available as much as possible, and to make those choices, of course.
2. What is your deepest motivation for realizing this goal? I have met people who have embodied kindness and generosity. There is something quite wonderful and simple about this. I think my deepest motivation for looking for the positive choices that are available would be to help create more kindness and generosity in the world and to learn to be more like the folks I most admire.
3. What specific action can I take to honor this motivation? I think that creating new little habits (see BJ Fogg and his "3 Tiny Habits" website and eCourse) that are expressions of kindness and generosity would be a great start. And if they were habits that I could build on and grow, all the better!
4. When, where, and how are you willing to take action? Right here, right now, with my whole heart, I'm happy to take action. Me and my elephant are ready!
5. What is the biggest obstacle to taking this action? There is no obstacle at the moment. But McGonigal reminds us that folks who are most successful with their goals are the ones who plan for set backs or obstacles and plan their way around them. So I would have to say that loosing momentum or energy might be an obstacle, or getting stressed or annoyed about something could be bad news. These could all get in the way of my best choices, or my best elephant/trainer cooperation.
6. What action will you take to prevent or overcome this action? One of the best actions that I am taking is my daily art and yoga practice. I know that some yogis dedicate their practice to someone or something. Perhaps that might be an awesome idea, dedicating my daily practice to the continuing creation of kindness and generosity. And if an obstacle emerges that needs to be overcome, I can look at my daily art making for the needed reminder of the direction in which the elephant and rider are heading.

PS - A very cool thing happened when I sent one of my elephant/rider collages to my sister. She sent back a short message, "Oh, it's the Pu Hsien Bodhisattva." So I looked Pu Hsien up, and indeed, she's wonderful. She is the personification of love, sacred activity, virtue, diligent training and patience. (How perfect is that? But it gets better!) She is usually found together with Kuan Yin (Compassion) and Wen-Shu (Wisdom) and these "Three Precious Bodhisattvas" represent the qualities that make up the Buddha's "Essence."

Pu Hsien Fusa is known for her limitless generosity as well as her Ten Great Vows, which are directed towards benefiting all sentient beings. They are:
1. To honor the Buddhas.
2. To praise the Tathagatas.
3. To make generous offerings.
4. To confess past sins (admitting when the elephant slips) and to reform (help the elephant come back to the path).
5. To rejoice in the virtues and happiness of others.
6. To request Buddha to teach the Dharma.
7. To request Buddha to stay in the world.
8. To study the Dharma in order to teach it.
9. To benefit all sentient beings.
10. To transfer all merit and virtue to all sentient beings.

Stress and "Krispy Kreme"

noreply@blogger.com (Lani Gerity) — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 16:22:00 +0000

"Choose Happiness" Collage by Lani and textures from FlyPaper

Continuing this elephant training adventure with The Willpower Instinct and The Neuroscience of Change it's becoming clearer and clearer that the more we learn about how our "hard wiring" works, the more easily we can teach the elephant (that part of the brain that takes us to "Krispy Kreme") new ways of doing things. McGonigal says research shows that when stressed the thinking, deciding, reasoning part of the brain (the trainer) completely shuts down, which is why you may find yourself in a fast food line some where, not knowing how you got there, rather than dealing with stress in a more productive manner. She suggests that by gradually becoming more aware of these stress related states you can gradually strengthen that part of the self that can remain aware even under stress. She has four stages of growing awareness:

1. "Mindful Mindlessness" - This is where we see ourselves in that Krispy Kreme line as it is happening but we really don't feel able to stop ourselves or leave the line. In this stage we can bring a mindful curiosity to to the situation rather than criticism.

2. We start to notice what our impulses feels like. We can identify the feelings of craving, the instinct to grab a doughnut, the emotion involved. Here's where we can begin to find the space or gap between the impulse and the action which gives us freedom. This is where we can remember what we really care about most. In this freedom gap, we can find wisdom emerging.

3. The third stage is where we become aware of what triggers the impulse to get in that Krispy Kreme line. We start to realize that we are most likely to be triggered in particular situations or environments, and at certain levels of tiredness or anxiety. We can find the things that trigger us, the things that flip the switch that triggers the [doughnut] habit. Once we find those things, we can start to construct our life in ways that support us. (Oh happy day!)

4. The fourth stage of awareness is the one where we become aware that it is our [doughnut] habits that creates our suffering.

Try this:
For a week, test McGonigal's theories about stress (physical or psychological) being the enemy of self-control. How does being worried or overworked affect your choices? What is your will-power like when you are hungry or tired? What about when you are in physical pain, illness, or emotional pain like anger, loneliness or sadness? Notice when stress strikes throughout the day or week. And watch what happens to your self-control! When you catch your elephant taking you to "Tasty Creme" maybe try asking yourself about your stress, look for your triggers. Are there some little things could you change to avoid these triggers?

Self Compassion and Mindfulness

noreply@blogger.com (Lani Gerity) — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 20:37:00 +0000

"Self Compassion" Collage by Lani and textures from FlyPaper

I thought I "got" mindfulness and self-compassion, having practiced meditation for a few years now, until I watched Kelly McGonigal's video in the previous post. Most humbling. (I'm sure if we took a brain scan while under the influence of meditation, my brain would be lighting up in exactly the same way as the folks who had been practicing for four days.) Somewhere in my head, I've been thinking that my brain needs to quiet down, and once it does, then I will be mindful. I may even have spoken to myself in a less than kindly way about this. When people talk about "mindfulness" or "self-compassion" I think to myself, oh yes, I know what they mean. But of course that is an assumption! So the whole idea here, as I read The Willpower Instinct, is to be aware of the thoughts that pop up and gently (in the kindest way possible, no sternness necessary) pull yourself back to paying attention to your breath or physical sensations.

Kelly describes a meditator, Andrew, who was about to give up trying to practice because he thought he was hopeless, that he wasn't able to focus perfectly on his breath, that he had to keep reminding himself to come back from his thoughts. She suggested that he pay attention to how this practice of his, as imperfect as it was, was affecting his choices and attention in "real life." He said he realized that he was way more focused when he had meditated vs. when he skipped it. He also noticed that what he was doing in meditation (gently pulling himself back from his mind chatter and just being here now) was exactly what he needed to do in real life: catch himself moving away from his goals and gently guiding himself back to where he wanted to be.

Kelly suggests a five minute brain-training meditation to increase your willpower (or the strength of the elephant trainer). This will reduce stress and teach the mind to handle both inner and outer distractions and temptations. You can set a timer and sit comfortably, eyes open or closed, and start to focus on breathing. As you breathe in you can say "inhale" in your mind and as you breathe out you can say "exhale." When your mind starts to wander, gently bring it back to your breath. You can make it a tiny daily habit and once you are comfortable with it you can increase it to 10 minutes and then more when that is comfortable. When you get to a time that feels like too much of a burden bring it back down to a comfortable place. Short practices every day are way better than long practices that get put off for another day.

And of course all this is true for art making as well. A small art practice, a tiny daily habit of working in your art journal every day, is way better than putting your art making off, waiting for that perfect day or that big inspiration. Practice is good.

Keeping the creative environment simple... Why not?

noreply@blogger.com (Lani Gerity) — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 20:37:00 +0000

"Balance, why not?" Collage by Lani and textures from FlyPaper

In continuing to train my elephant and to become more free to do what I love and waste less time with things that don't contribute to these pursuits, I have started with Kelly McGonigal's The Willpower Instinct and the "The Neuroscience of Change" from Sounds True. (The spoken meditations that go along very nicely with The Willpower Instinct.)

So the first thing I want to do is keep things as simple in my environment as possible. When there's a lot going on around me, with a lot of distraction and confusion, it makes the elephant trainer part of the brain a little tired and the elephant part of the brain a little more insistent. The marketers in the Journal of Consumer Research know all about this. Baba Shiv, a professor of marketing at the Stanford Graduate School has research that shows how people who are distracted are more likely to give in to temptation. Distracted shoppers are more susceptible to in-store promotions, in fact anything that reduces the ability for the consumer to process information increases the likelihood of impulse shopping. So stores now have tons of distractions for us to get lost in. But if I want to train my elephant to avoid temptations then there's no reason for my personal environment to replicate that kind of chaos! In fact if I want to help strengthen the trainer part of the brain, I need to cut down on the distractions, perhaps confining some of my technological activities to a schedule. Hmmm, now there's a concept!

Want a little Kelly McGonigal wisdom?

Why have a daily practice?

noreply@blogger.com (Lani Gerity) — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 21:00:00 +0000

"Live mindfully" collage by Lani with textures from FlyPaper

"Art Journaling has the power to not only express what happens in our lives but to actually effect it. Through artistic explorations and unbridled creativity the art journaler is a traveler between worlds. Effecting the future of his/her life while recording the moment." -Anahata Katkin from Journaling the Journey; A Rough Guide

I feel as though there are many layers to all that I have been learning in Breaking the Habit Code eCourse. Not only was there the content of the class, but then there was the practice of what we were learning, and then the growing and observing of the daily practice. My favorite learning was how amazingly wonderful change can be when we understand a little about our hard-wiring and use it instead of fighting it, using our ability to learn tiny habits. Of course I also loved the beauty and simplicity of the elephant and trainer metaphor. And I feel as though I finally understand why a daily creative practice is productive, wonderful, and fun.

Do check out Christine Carter's eCourse here if you have a chance and the inclination to make a few changes in your life.

You must always remember...

noreply@blogger.com (Lani Gerity) — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 19:50:00 +0000

"You must always remember..." collage by Lani with textures from FlyPaper

Today was the last day of Breaking the Habit Code eCourse, but the first day of my New Adventure in Training the Elephant. Yesterday C hristine Carter introduced us to Dr. Norcross's Changeology and a great exercise on his website for remembering what to do if your elephant stumbles in your training program (if you slip with one of your goals or new habits).

So the idea here is that we will generally have a little slip or setback with our goals but we don't need to make it into an "oh what the hell" event. (We don't need to let AVE or Abstinence Violation Effect get the better of our intentions.)

Alan Marlatt first started working on relapse prevention and the abstinence violation effect while studying cigarette smokers who were trying to quit in the 1970s. He discovered that people who considered the act of smoking a single cigarette after they had quit to be evidence of a lack of willpower were much more likely to let a momentary lapse become a full-blown relapse. Since then, he has become one of the world's leading authorities on preventing relapse. "People with a strong abstinence violation effect relapse much more quickly," said Marlatt. A single slip solidifies their sense that they are a failure and cannot quit, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.

So what should you do instead? Marlatt suggested that you tell yourself, "I made a mistake. What can I do differently next time? How can I learn from this?" Also remind yourself that this happens to almost everybody, so don't let yourself get discouraged.

To stay with the elephant metaphor, if we are a serious elephant trainer, caring for our elephants well- being, we need to have a plan in place for when they stumble or trip. That's where Dr. Norcross's little "slip card" is very helpful. As I filled the little card, I started thinking about the elephant. If you were really training a real elephant and it really stumbled, you wouldn't say "oh I quit, what the hell" and let it jump off a cliff! Of course not! You would talk nicely to it and encourage it to get up and continue. You might even let it have a rest for a couple of minutes. So why wouldn't we do the same for ourselves? Good question.

If you haven't taken Christine Carter's eCourse it looks like she's doing a second round and there seems to be a special rate on for the rest of the day. You can check it out here.

Now I need to look at the rest of the material on Dr. Norcross's Changeology website along with the research on relapse prevention.

Self compassion and the elephant.

noreply@blogger.com (Lani Gerity) — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 01:42:00 +0000


"Gaining strength, courage, and confidence" collage by Lani with textures from FlyPaper

The last week of Breaking the Habit Code eCourse has been about interesting, compassionate ways to handle the elephant's cravings. One is to 'Never Say Never' so that rather than telling your elephant, "No! You can never have this thing ever again" you say "Well, let's do such and such and after we've done this thing then you can decide if you still want such and such." Usually the craving passes, especially if you substitute something healthy and rewarding for something less healthy and not so rewarding.

Self compassion is a really excellent method for elephant training. Kristin Neff has a great (extensive) bibliography of articles on self compassion research here, and most of the articles can be downloaded in their entirety.

And from Kelly McGonigal's website, there are some articles related to the physiology of willpower (e.g. improved blood sugar control, increased heart rate variability, better stress resilience), to get us started:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18666713
http://www.ajconline.org/article/S0002-9149%2805%2901827-8/abstract
http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/29/8/1777
http://www.nature.com/ejcn/journal/v59/n2/abs/1602076a.html
And here's one about Neural correlates of self-criticism vs. self-reassurance:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053811909009987

Finally, at the moment it looks like Kelly McGonigal's "The Neuroscience of Change" from Sounds True is on sale. Take a look here.

Links, Ideas, and Authors

noreply@blogger.com (Lani Gerity) — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 21:40:00 +0000


"#5. Make Time For Daily Bliss" collage by Lani with textures from FlyPaper

There are some links, ideas and authors that have been introduced in Breaking the Habit Code eCourse which could bear further exploration. I want to get them down now so that I can come back to this at any time and explore.

Roy F. Baumeister has written and researched "will-power" or "self regulation" for quite a while. Here's a nice article on his research on glucose, the brain, and will-power. And his books Handbook of Self-Regulation: Research, Theory, and Applications and Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength look to be very useful!

Kelly McGonigal has also written about will power and also about yoga and pain relief. She has a great web page with lots of downloadable articles here, and a video that takes you through her ideas and a lot of fascinating research. Also she has a whole blog full of ideas right here in Psychology Today! Wow!

Another person to look out for is BJ Fogg and his "3 Tiny Habits" website and eCourse. This is an amazingly deceptively simple concept which is in actuality pretty mind blowing and life changing. He also has his Behavior Model website which is worth a peek.

The Heath brothers, Dan and Chip, have a website full of information and what look like some good books as well. Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard is (of course) all about changing habits, which before taking C hristine Carter's eCourse I thought was so hard, silly me! So although Christine's eCourse is winding up this week, I suspect that the changes new little tiny habits that I've put into place and will continue to tweak and grow, will be with me for a long, long time.

Thank you C hristine Carter!

A HUGE surprise!

noreply@blogger.com (Lani Gerity) — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 15:34:00 +0000


"Dream Fearlessly, Feel the Possibilities" collage by Lani with textures from FlyPaper

A HUGE surprise benefit of this Breaking the Habit Code eCourse is that not only am I kinder towards the struggles of my "elephant and rider," (so there is less struggle and I'm getting more done), but I'm also kinder towards the elephant and rider combinations that I see around me. I find I can let go of the occasional slights and grumpiness of others because I can see the bio-chemical activity at play. It's all so understandable and forgivable! And without my reactivity the rise and fall of someone else's blood sugar is just that, rather than a confrontation or argument. Whew! Thank you C hristine Carter!

"Let the Beauty of What You Love Be What You Do"

noreply@blogger.com (Lani Gerity) — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 21:08:00 +0000

"Let the beauty of what you love be what you do" (Rumi) collage by Lani with textures from FlyPaper

I am SO enjoying this Breaking the Habit Code eCourse. I'm sure that a big part of this enjoyment is about using my signature strengths of curiosity and love of learning, which seems to help the rider/trainer gain some much needed strength in this whole process. The last two days have been focused on adding sleep, even just a few minutes nap, or going to bed a few minutes earlier, and also working on building in little snacks to keep the blood sugar on a more even keel. C hristine Carter gives us a lot of the brain science behind why diet and sleep affect our behavior, which is so helpful!

It's all beginning to feel so optimistic and amazingly doable, this business of altering our little habits in small increments and helping our elephants learn to surf their urges mindfully. We get to prove the methodology every day, and every day the elephant training gets a little better, a little easier.

"My elephant is learning to surf the urge"

And of course creating "Morning Pages" based on what I am learning seems to add strength to the new neural pathways involved in this class, and it helps the trainer part of the mind keep her goals where she can see them (in her daily art practice) like Rumi's advise in the first image, "Let the beauty of what you love be what you do." Yes, indeed!

Want links to do a little research of your own on sleep, snacks, and stress? If you take a look you can see what a vicious cycle all this can become for the poor sleep deprived elephant and rider! But then of course the up-side is that increased sleep will make elephant training so much easier!

Investigators from the University of California demonstrated how sleep deprivation can undermine regions in the brain which are responsible for making food choices. They explained that their findings might explain why sleep deprivation is linked to a higher risk of becoming obese.

Scientists from the Sleep and Neuroimaging Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley, showed that sleep deprivation considerably exaggerates how much we anticipate impending emotional events, especially among those who are already highly anxious individuals.

People who have not had enough sleep and have "tired brains" are more likely to find junk foods appealing. (Research from Columbia University in New York)


"Hooray for Today" collage by Lani