Hello, you brilliant, creative soul

How are you really? Have your hands touched paper, thread, ink, glue, or clay lately? Have you given yourself the gift of creating something slow, imperfect, and beautifully analogue? I hope so. Because there’s nothing quite like getting out of your head and into your hands. It’s not just art, it’s medicine.

Someone asked me the other day why I chose to use fine-liner pens as my art-making tool. It's clichéd, but the pen chose me!

I just had a sense that I REALLY wanted to learn to draw with fine-line pens, specifically draw flowers. From memory. Free-flowing. As a way to lose myself in the process of creativity.

Drawing with a pen also means there's no going back. Once the line is on the page, you have to work with it. Mistakes become part of the artwork and have to be embraced. No erasing, no do-overs. There’s a life lesson in there.

Going back to the drawing board taught me a great deal after years of working more digitally. Mostly, it's to look again. To be still enough to notice the curves of a petal, the sudden twist of a stem, the tiny gaps where light sneaks through.

Each line is a little moment of devotion to attention. Something that has been lost and maybe even eradicated in some instances of our digital age.

In a world that's becoming faster and more digitised by the day, analogue art isn't nostalgic; it's necessary.

We're Drowning in Digital and Starving for Something Real

This shift from digital to analogue has made me realise something important about what we're all going through.

I posted this note on Substack the other day, and it seemed to really resonate:

Every day, we're hit with a tsunami of information. Notifications, emails, updates, reels, reminders, pings, pongs, and always the pressure to keep up.

It's no wonder our minds feel foggy, our focus is scattered, and our creativity... well, often it gets buried under the weight of it all.

But here's the thing: we don't need more tools to help us keep up. We need tools that help us slow down.

That's precisely what analogue art gives us. Drawing, knitting, pottery, playing the piano... heck, just looking at a flower for 2 minutes!

It's the antidote to the speed and hustle.

What Analogue Art Gives Us That Screens Never Can

Analogue art doesn't demand polish. It doesn't come with pop-ups or performance metrics. It meets you where you are, and asks only that you begin.

Here's why it matters now more than ever:

It grounds you in your body and celebrates imperfection. The scratch of the nib on paper, the wobbly lines, the smudges: they're meditative and beautifully human. Unlike digital tools, there's no quick fix or magic shortcut.

It creates time. Yes, really. Five minutes of drawing or crafting feels longer and deeper than twenty minutes of doomscrolling. It's a pocket of presence on an otherwise noisy day.

It lights up your brain in powerful ways. According to the science of neuroaesthetics, engaging with art, especially tactile, hands-on forms, can boost focus, lower stress, and increase feelings of connection and wellbeing.

It’s not hyperbole to say that when we work with our hands, something ancient wakes up; something we desperately need to be well and live a meaningful life. A way to exercise not just our bodies, but our creativity. Because to be human is to be creative.

If You've Lost Touch with Making Things

This post is especially for you if:

• You used to love drawing or crafting but haven't touched a sketchbook or knitting needle/paintbrush/[fill the blank] in years.

• You've been feeling stretched thin and disconnected from your creativity.

• You're someone who thinks, "I'm not really an artist... but I used to love making things."

You don't need fancy materials. You don't need to "get it right." You just need a pen, some paper, or your preferred crafting material, and five quiet minutes.

Honestly, your hands will remember the way.

What This Looks Like for Me

My 100-day art-making challenge is called The Secret Garden Within. I brought together everything I love: pen and ink, coloured pencils, and collage.

I show up daily to work on it, and each week I create a new piece of art.

Committing to this challenge gives me a real sense of purpose. Like the 30-day flower challenge before it, this challenge doesn't let me rest on my laurels in the pit of perfectionism or let the inner critic steal my attention and push me to give up altogether. I have to keep going and work with what I have. Plus, making hands-on analogue art of any kind always gives me a deeper sense of wellbeing and accomplishment than scrolling ever could.

A Small Invitation

So here's my gentle but firm invitation to you: Step away from the screen for a moment. Pick up a pen. Let your hand wander.

Don't worry if it's "good." Don't worry if it "makes sense." Just draw something. Anything. A flower. A cup. The mess on your desk. Your breath.

Because in a world obsessed with speed, the simple act of putting pen to paper or hands to craft materials - slowly, imperfectly, deliberately - might be the most relaxing, even profound, and dare I say rebellious thing you do all day.

Have an inspired day 💕

And how many are still sitting un-looked at on your hard drive?

If you want to remember a special moment, don’t take a photo. Try drawing it instead.

The Photo Taking Impairment Effect

Research by Linda Henkel, a psychology professor at Fairfield University in Connecticut, studied how taking photos impacts our experience of a moment and our memory of it. Participants in the study were led on a guided tour of Bellarmine Museum of Art and told to just observe some objects and to photograph others.

Results showed what is now known as the photo-taking-impairment effect: when participants took photos of objects on their visit, they remembered fewer objects and fewer details. They also did not remember the location of the objects in the museum as accurately. By comparison, participants who did not take photos remembered more objects in more detail.

Interestingly, however, when participants zoomed in to photograph a specific part of an object, their memory was not impaired. In fact, their memory for the features they did not zoom in on was just as strong as the memory for features that they did zoom in on.

“This suggests that the additional attention and cognitive processes engaged by this focused activity can eliminate the photo-taking-impairment effect.” Henkel writes in the study.

Being in the Photo

And there’s more. The researchers also asked participants to both take a photo of an object and also to have a photo taken of themselves next to the object.

In interviews afterwards, Henkel and her team found that when participants stood next to the objects, they became more removed from the original moment — as if they were an observer watching themselves doing something outside themselves. In contrast, when they were not in the image, participants returned to relive the experience in the first-person, through their own eyes and remembered more.

So the next time you really want to live and experience a moment, put the camera away. Even better, take a moment to stop and draw what you see. I promise you, you’ll not only remember more, but you’ll also enjoy a beautiful moment of pause and reflection. Importantly, you will recall this moment from memory a lot more easily and quickly than trying to access it on your phone or hard drive!

Inspiration

Here’s a great video Why We Should Draw More (and Photograph Less) from the folks at The School of Life explaining why we pay more attention and notice so much more when we draw what we see.

Indulge in your artist, swap the scroll and try the creative mindfulness exercise ‘Draw The View’.

Eyes of the Sketcher

I had to leave you with this quote by John Ruskin as it so beautifully sums up the ‘eyes of the sketcher’:

We lived in the countryside in Cambridgeshire. The owner of the Elizabethan mansion next door (it looked like a mansion to my 10-year-old eyes anyway!) built our house as a marriage hall for his daughter. So rather than a back garden, we had a rather large extended front garden. 

Pots, Borders & Sensible Shoes

At 6 pm every weekday, I remember the sound of Mum's white Peugeot 205 car pulling into the gravel driveway; the engine shutting off. Followed by Mum's sensible, not too high heel shoes clip-clopping up the path to our house, 'The Gables'. (Our house had the most magnificent wooden, crafted gables, which framed an exaggerated pitched roof).

As she strolled up the path, she would look at the garden. The pots, the borders, just looking. Even at my young age, I knew not to disturb her. It was her quiet moment before the expectations of her job were replaced with the expectations of her family. 

As I've grown and am now a mother of 3, with my busy family life, latterly, I too have taken up an interest in houseplants and gardening. I now understand how gardening probably saved Mum's sanity all those years ago!

I also understand the enjoyment of just staring, staring at the plants in pots and borders. Looking at what is surviving, thriving and what needs a little extra care and attention. A mindful, quiet moment of contemplation.

Nourish Your Time Like You Would Your Garden

What I've learnt over the years, especially in the past 12 months, is that time is a precious commodity. Like a plant, time needs attention and the right conditions to flourish:

• Protect time from the pests who want to eat the shoots and roots, potentially killing it altogether.

• Prune dead wood activities that no are longer useful.

• Cut back the branches of less important activities, so that the most important stems of time can develop, grow and eventually bloom.

• Feed time regularly with nourishing activities: books, craft, creativity and quality nutrients like food and exercise.

• Allow time to unfold slowly like the leaves of a fern, at its own pace, without rushing it.

• And sometimes, simply stare into it.

Stare into Time & It Will Reveal The Answers

This last point is my favourite. Just stare...

In these quiet, mindful moments, I'll notice the small things. Make realisations about what needs tending. The next set of pruning. The need to feed a specific aspect of my life. Or perhaps I need to repot into a larger container because I've outgrown my current habits.

Ultimately, this analogy of plants is really about self-care. Cultivating your time is actually about nurturing yourself and the people you cherish.

Now, how will you nourish your time today so that it may grow and blossom?

Have an inspired day

Georgie x

In traditional mindfulness meditation, we use non-judgemental present moment awareness of the breath and body, thoughts and emotions, as our focus. We become more aware of our bodies, minds and the world around us.

The simple difference with creative mindfulness practice is we bring this mindful non-judgemental awareness whilst engaged in a creative activity. To focus and notice what thoughts and emotions arise as we create. 

In case you have urgent creative matters to attend to, here’s a brief summary:

TL:DR

• In creative mindfulness practices, we bring mindful, non-judgmental awareness whilst engaged in a creative activity. 

• We learn to enjoy the process rather than focusing on the end result.

• This is what sets creative mindfulness exercises apart from other art-making activities.

• We learn not to silence the voices of perfectionism, the inner critic or imposter syndrome. Instead, we listen, learn to live with them and maybe even laugh at them a little. 

• Learning to accept ourselves through the process of mindful creativity helps us become more fulfilled in our daily lives and enjoy a healthier, more creative mind.

• The benefits of mindfulness and embarking on creative activities include decreasing stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms, making you more open-minded and innovative, improving concentration and focus, and helping develop healthy habits.

• Both mindfulness and creative activities are easily accessible at any time of day and in most situations.

• To be creative is to be human! Embracing it helps us survive and thrive in a fast-paced world.

Creative Mindfulness Mindset

Most notably, with creative mindfulness exercises, we soak up the process rather than fixate on the end result. This mindset sets creative mindfulness exercises apart from other art-making activities.

We'll inevitably face thought habits such as limiting beliefs, perfectionism, self-doubt, the inner critic and imposter syndrome during the process. In creative mindfulness practice, we learn not to silence those voices but to live with them. To maybe even laugh at them a little and stop taking ourselves so damn seriously! 

Accepting ourselves warts and all, like this, has the effect of helping us become more fulfilled in our daily lives and on the road to a healthy, creative mind.

Who Is Creative Mindfulness For?

For some, sitting on a cushion and meditating may not be your bag. Perhaps you find it challenging to calm your mind or sit still in meditation. In that case, creative activities are a fantastic way to begin to enhance your capacity for focus, concentration, inner peace and calm through a naturally mindful activity.

I want to stress that you don't have to meditate to be mindful. At Swap The Scroll, I combine art techniques and mindfulness. But you can be equally mindful when you're at the gym, washing dishes, watering plants, running or walking. You can do anything mindfully. It simply requires paying attention moment to moment.

Importantly, creative mindfulness is accessible for 5 or 25 or 125 minutes at any time of day. It's up to you.

The Creative Benefits of Mindfulness

The well-documented benefits of mindfulness practice include:

• Reduced stress and increased focus in daily life.

• An ability to manage symptoms of depression and anxiety.

• Enhanced ability to deal with chronic pain or illness.

• Help with overcoming addiction or unhealthy habits.

But the benefits don't end there, my friends!

The creative benefits of mindfulness will be particularly welcome to the creators, artists, crafters, scientists, entrepreneurs or adventurers out there for 3 significant reasons:

1. By developing a more relaxed, focused, receptive mind, we literally become more open-minded to ideas and ways of interpreting the world around us. 

2. As we move through our days with greater awareness, we begin to look with fresh eyes and a beginners mind. We open ourselves to innovation and see the potential of new ideas and solutions.

3. Mindfulness practice also helps us accept limitations and setbacks as part of the creative or problem-solving process. This has the effect of making us more resilient in our life or creative quests.

If nothing, remember this: 

Creativity is not about becoming the next Picasso, Plath, Spielburg or Sondheim. We were ALL born creative. In case you still have any doubts, repeat after me: 

“I am creative!”

We think creatively for all of life's ups and downs. We have to find solutions to our problems to survive and thrive. It all requires our creative minds, from deciding what to wear in the morning, planning a house renovation, working on a business plan, figuring out how to tackle the climate crisis, or working on our relationships. 

To be human is to be creative. 

The Benefits of Creative Mindfulness

Have you ever experienced being so immersed in an activity that you have lost all sense of time or space? Zoned out? Your mind becomes clear, and you're not thinking about anything else. You're simply suspended in the joy of the activity.

This experience is known as 'Flow*'. Flow often happens when we're engrossed in creative activities such as drawing, painting, writing, sewing, dancing, singing or playing an instrument.

(*The term Flow is a term coined by the late Hungarian psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. It is achieved by embarking on activities that have clear goals, immediate feedback, and challenges or skill levels.)

Studies have shown that the way the brain responds when engaged deeply in periods of creative activity is similar to meditation, traditional mindfulness meditation practice or yoga. 

Other research studies show that everyday creativity:

• Nurtures your overall well-being and makes you more optimistic about the future.

• Opens your mind and makes you more innovative

• Slows our brains down, so original thoughts can better form. This encourages more creative ideas - have you ever found that you have ideas for other creative projects whilst engaged in different projects?

• Being creative helps regulate emotions and increase happiness, leading to better mental health.

• Reduces stress and makes you more resilient when facing life's challenges.

• Studies have shown that regularly engaging in creativity can boost the immune system and even prolong your life!

In my humble opinion, coupling mindfulness practice and creative exercises is a supercharged combination that will put you on the road to blissed-out heaven. Well, OK, I can't promise nirvana. But still, I'd lay my hat (a rather splendid green beret as it happens) on you, being a happier, more resilient, more creative, fulfilled human being in the long-run. 

Better able to notice the small joys that surround us all. And make living on this hectic, tech-driven planet a little more lovely.

Have an inspired day.

Further reading:

The Wellbeing Benefits of Everyday Creativity

Flow: Enhance Your Personal Creativity

• Being unbusy is a choice

• Being unbusy is a mindset

• Being unbusy involves being mindful

• Being unbusy is committing to doing nothing at times

• Being unbusy is being mentally supple

• Being unbusy is listening to your body's innate wisdom

• Being unbusy is embracing the uncomfortable feelings too

• Being unbusy is about a process over an outcome

Values

It all starts with your values when it comes to an unbusy life. Values define how you live, work, and your priorities and goals. They are crucial to making authentic decisions, and they guide the way you live your life.

The real secret to being unbusy is knowing your values and adhering to them for as long as they feel natural to you (if they don't, it's time to change).

Knowing your values is more important than your why or purpose. Your goals, projects, even your why and purpose can change in a heartbeat. But values are the core of who you are.

Choice

You are the master of your time. You are the master of your destiny. Even if things go badly, it's up to you how you'll respond. This is what it means to have a choice.

Decide what you're prepared to have less of so you can focus on the activities you want more of. See giving some things up as inviting abundance in other areas. 

And remember, saying no is as important as saying Yes.

What's even more important is knowing when to use them.

Mindset

Committing to the unbusy life is not about uncluttering your wardrobes, slow living, buying local or becoming a minimalist. It's a way of thinking.

However, due to this way of thinking, you may find that you start to live a more simple, holistic life anyway. You naturally omit unnecessary time commitments from your life and see through the illusion of consumerism. 

Changing to an unbusy mindset means unpinning and putting the badge of busyness in the bin. Realising that being busy is not wrapped up in our self-worth. 

Understand busy is just a word. We attach the word busy to activities we participate in at any given moment, be it work or leisure. Busy is neither a good nor a bad thing. It's simply about taking control over how we spend our finite time on this earth.

Mindfulness

Mindfulness practice is a complementary partner to the unbusy life. By noticing your reactions, judgements and physical sensations to your environment and your internal feelings, you will be able to make choices based on your true values, rather than reacting in the moment and regretting it later.

Committing to the unbusy life can also bring about some uncomfortable feelings because we are going against societi’s conditioning that tells us that work and being busy is a noble use of time and makes us valuable human beings. Being mindful of this and noticing it when it happens will help you stay on track with the unbusy life choice. 

Non-Doing

In the unbusy life, we make time for nothing. We are not even meditating. Instead, we take a snippet of time, whether it's 5 or 55 minutes, to sit (or stand if that's your thing). Daydream, observe, look, allow our minds to wander unguided and unashamed. It's watching the sea kiss the shore, busy birds pottering in the trees, walking without purpose.

Take pauses. To breath. To be bored. To mind wander. To reflect.

Flexibility

Allow for impermanence and change. At the time of writing this Unbusy manifesto, in 2022, COVID-19 forced the world to make a massive shift in how we live our lives. We've learnt that life can change overnight. We have thus learnt the importance of being adaptable and supple.

Knowing that the best-laid plans never go as expected allows for and embraces unexpected discoveries and opportunities. 

As well as being adaptable to change, being flexible means you are in a position to be the change too.

Did you ever play the game 'Stuck in the mud as a child? If you're tagged by the player who is 'it', you cannot move until another player crawls through your legs to untag you.

Don't be rigid or stuck in the mud and wait for someone to give you permission to move or influence how you feel.

Be supple and flexible.

Body Wisdom

Accept that our bodies and minds are not separate entities but work in tandem.

There is great wisdom in our bodies if only we would listen! Your feelings, emotions, physical sensations, aches, pains and all of your senses are a source of immense knowledge and hold the answers to your questions that can't be found on Google (which will only tell you that your earache is terminal cancer).

If you practice yoga, pilates or just simple stretching, you may have heard the expression 'go to your edge'. This phrase means going a little further in the stretch to allow ourselves to discover our boundaries and explore going further than we might at first have expected. But more importantly, going to the edge means listening to what feels right in your body—trusting your body when it says to pull back a little. 

Use embodied awareness. Explore your experience through the awareness of your body, the breath, your thoughts and sensations as you find them and use them to live authentically, according to your values. 

See how far you can go and accept there will be limitations day to day, moment to moment.

Process Over Outcome

The unbusy life isn't about results. Results are simply the consequences of living your life, and results are meaningless if you don't enjoy or value the process.

It's helpful to develop habits, routines and rituals to keep you on track and make sure whatever you do with your time aligns with your values.

Find The Joy!

Laugh at your seriousness. 

Play. Create. Craft. Make. Cook. Dress up in Cosplay. Watch comedy shows. 

If you can't find time for these things, you cannot live an unbusy life. Fun, leisure or creative hobbies are not activities to crowbar into your schedule. This is perhaps the most important message of the unbusy life.

Fun, laughter, joy, loveliness - whatever word you want to use. These are the activities that are critical for your well-being and your road to becoming a well-rounded, productive, valuable human being - for yourself and others. They are as important as working for your business or organisation, putting out the bins, cooking a nutritious meal for your family, brushing your teeth, keeping fit, paying taxes.

What is life if we can't laugh and love?

And Finally...

Omit "I'm busy" from your vocabulary.

If you are genuinely busy and overwhelmed, it's time to stop and revisit your values (and reread this manifesto).

Have an inspired and unbusy day

Georgie x

No, really...how are you?

I must confess, I really dislike this question. It's one of those standard greetings that people ask without genuinely being interested in the response. We don't have time, right? We're too busy to stop and listen to the answer, so why do we even ask it?

We ask this question to be polite (in the UK anyway). Still, we secretly hope that people won't actually tell us the truth. In case we have to stop, listen and spend our precious time listening to a never-ending list of woes, complaints or gossip. 

What does the question "how are you?" really mean? What is it we are actually asking? 

Dig a little deeper, and I'd argue, "how are you?" is probably one of the most profound questions we can ask ourselves and others. If we're prepared to spend time listening more deeply to the answer.

What we could really be asking is:

• How are you investing in your one and precious life?

• How are you making the most of your limited days on this earth? 

• How are you spending that most finite of human resources, your time?

(asking these questions would arguably give you a much more exciting and sincere answer too!)

Therefore the crux of the seemingly vacuous mundane question of "How are you" is time and the reflection of this post.

How are you using your time every day?

Because like currency, we spend time. 

We barter and exchange our time for leisure, chores, making love, making a mess, arguing, hobbies, exercise, feeling good, feeling bad, feeling guilty or that most enormous waste of time, scrolling. Occasionally, if we're lucky, we'll use it for something we actually like doing. 

We invest our precious time in performing a series of actions. Unfortunately, we often forget that once time has passed, it's passed forever. Unlike currency, we cannot make more time. Once it's gone, it's gone.

Time is our most finite of resources and is guaranteed to end one day for every one of us.

Yet, when someone asks us how we are and what we're up to, how we are spending the miracle of being on this earth, which is roughly 1 in a 400 trillion chance, the most imaginative answer most of us come up with is "I'm fine". Excuse me if I scream a little inside. Is that the best we can do?!

In 2021, I became so fed up with hearing myself repeatedly saying, "I'm fine", in response to the mandatory greeting of 'how are you?' I decided it was time to change.

Alongside the standard "I'm fine", my other formulaic answers were:

• "all good thanks and you?" (which acknowledges that you know the other person isn't really interested in your response') 

• "all fine, thanks, nothing to report." (Argh! I could slap my own face when I come out with that one.)

• And the most tremendous cringe-worthy waste of an answer of all: "Oh, you know, busy as usual". 

Bin The Badge of Busyness

It's no secret that wearing the badge of busyness has become the mark of an obviously very important person in this day and age. 

Well, it's a badge that belongs in the bin.

We've come to understand that if you are busy, you are working hard - I suppose that's why it's seen as a noble way to spend our time. Work hard, and we'll be rewarded. Busyness = valuable, correct? Wrong.

We're working harder than ever in the 21st Century, yet we are paying an unfortunate price. Unhealthy lifestyles and increased workplace stress levels have contributed to the spread of chronic degenerative diseases and mental disorders: coronary heart disease, cancer, strokes, type 2 diabetes, musculoskeletal disorders, depression, dementia, burnout and stress. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has previously called stress the "Health Epidemic of the 21st Century".

“Being too busy has become an excuse to stop engaging with what we relish. Instead, we’ve plugged the activities we enjoy or value, between the gaps of busyness.”

How's that busyness badge working out for you now?

We tell ourselves that we'll enjoy our life and engage in activities or hobbies we enjoy once we've overcome the to-do list and never-ending set of chores. When we're not busy.

Being too busy has become an excuse to stop engaging with what we relish. Instead, we've plugged the activities we enjoy or value, between the gaps of busyness.

It's time to reflect and reframe my friends. 

One of the definitions of busy I actually like is: 

'to be actively and attentively engaged in work or a pastime.'(dictionary.com)

With this definition, all activity, work AND pleasure, count as time spent. Therefore, being busy is just a state of being engaged in action at any given moment in time. Not something to overcome. Not a badge to be worn proudly.

In our day to day reality, it’s when we are doing things we dislike, that our time becomes overwhelmed by the busyness demon. A demon we find ourselves having to fight, cajole and negotiate with.

On the other end of the spectrum of time and busyness, is when you feel like you’ve transcended time - I often feel like this when I’m drawing. Sometimes referred to as flow. When I'm engrossed in something I enjoy, the time has a feeling of endless joy. I don't feel time. I become time.

You see, the busy demon and flow can appear any time during work or play. It's simply a matter of how I respond to the activities I’m involved with. How my time is being spent. How I choose to respond to the activities (this is where mindfulness practice is helpful.) So busyness is merely your attitude towards your time and how you spend it.

The Obvious Caveat

Before some smart Alec raises their hand, yes, I know I know. What about work, kids, responsibilities blah blah - all of the things we have obvious time commitments to?

I get it. I have 3 kids, 2 jobs and myriad things I want to do with my life, and I understand the appeal of using the excuse of the busyness badge as much as the next person. 

I've realised that instead of complaining about time, or not having enough of it, or the speed at which it seems to be passing, I have a choice on how I spend or invest it. How I'll respond to it.

Obviously, like paying monetary currency towards my bills, a certain amount of my time has to be spent on basic human needs, being a mother, wife, homeowner, employee, etc. 

But I also acknowledge I have other 'spare', unallocated time to play with too. Spending this time complaining about being busy, tired or 'fine' is just an utter waste of time!

I'd already decided last year that as of January 2022, I'm starting a new life experiment with my time on this earth.

An investigation I'm calling 'The UnBusy Life'.

I wrote about this Unbusy, Unhurried Life in my journal during December 2021, the busiest month of the St Clair calendar.

Here's what I wrote:

What is the UnBusy Life?

Accepting things as they are right now. By first recognising the need in myself 'to do’ all of the time, push forward, strive towards the next project. Recognising perfectionism and its futility. And dropping it.

Instead, go with the flow rather than against it all of the time. Obviously, changing when it's necessary - standing up to what's needed - but having a more general feeling of acceptance to what is present, what we have right now. After all, it could all end tomorrow anyway. It's all impermanent, and nothing is guaranteed.

All the clues are there in nature. As I write this, I watch a beautiful vibrant red cloud fade to a bluey grey as the unhurried sun gently rises this morning. As I watch, the rich luminescent fluff fades to nothing eventually, reminding me to appreciate beauty as it happens, accepting the eventuality of its disappearance. The sky, the weather, everything, will fade and evaporate completely one day. Including me.

I also learn from the growing number and size of houseplants filling the room right now. They offer another excellent analogy for how we can approach life.

We plant seeds or take cuttings. We tend and care for them with the water, food, and light to flourish. But we have to be patient. Simply wait. As long as the environment is correct, we accept we can do no more. We can't force the plants to grow, fruit or flower - we have to allow them to be and develop in their own time. 

Sometimes the environment isn't right; they won't grow or flourish; they may even die. Like the plants, we have to accept it's not always going to be the right time or environment for our ideas or projects to thrive and flourish.

I love the sense of acceptance and peacefulness in all of this.

I can still have the desire to make and do; that's human. I can plant the seeds of ideas and projects and nurture them. Weed out the unnecessary, thin out the weaklings and give things space to breathe, root and spread out. But comfort and peace is knowing they'll flourish, or not, in their own time.

After writing this journal entry, I decided I would do my best to omit the busyness from my life. Making time for stillness, peace, and acceptance was more important than 'getting things done’.

Alternative Answers

Ask me how I am, and my new phrases for 2022 now include:

• I'm focused on my goal of ... 

• I'm enjoying life being ...

• I'm making the most of time by doing ...

• I'm enjoying the thought of ...

• I'm concentrating on ...

• I'm loving the latest ...

• I'm relishing the joy of ...

• I'm intentionally unbusy.

• I'm unhurried.

So tell me now, how are you?

Georgie x

The History of Cut-Up Poetry

Cut-up poetry is the literary take on collage. I discovered an exciting and rich history while researching the cut-up poetry technique. 

American writer William Burroughs is often attributed to the cut-up poetry technique. Although he gave the method its voice, it was his friend and collaborator, the British artist Brion Gysin who first introduced the idea to Burroughs in the 1950s. 

William Burroughs explains:

The method is simple. Here is one way to do it. Take a page. Like this page. Now cut down the middle and cross the middle. You have four sections: 1 2 3 4 … one two three four. Now rearrange the sections placing section four with section one and section two with section three. And you have a new page. Sometimes it says much the same thing. Sometimes something quite different–(cutting up political speeches is an interesting exercise)–in any case you will find that it says something and something quite definite. Take any poet or writer you fancy. Heresay, or poems you have read over many times. The words have lost meaning and life through years of repetition. Now take the poem and type out selected passages. Fill a page with excerpts. Now cut the page. You have a new poem. As many poems as you like.

Burroughs began applying the technique not just to text but to other media, too, including words recorded on tape. To amuse, surprise and question.

Fancy Some Cut-Up Words?

As an aside, I highly recommend you check out work by Cassetteboy, who has brilliantly adopted the cut-up method to spoken words. Cassetteboy Vs Joe Wicks | Hello 2021 particularly made me giggle!

Back to your cut-up poetry history lesson... 

It was the founder of the art movement Dada (a precursor to surrealism), Tristan Tzara, in the 1920s, who first introduced the idea of the cut-up poetry technique. 

At a Surrealist rally in Paris, he proposed writing a poem by taking words out of a hat. He went on to outline this method in the ‘the Dada Manifesto On Feeble and Bitter Love':

Take a newspaper.

Take some scissors.

Choose from this paper an article of the length you want to make your poem.

Cut out the article.

Next, carefully cut out each of the words that make up this article and put them all in a bag.

Shake gently.

Next, take out each cutting one after the other.

Copy conscientiously in the order in which they left the bag.

The poem will resemble you.

And there you are—an infinitely original author of charming sensibility, even though unappreciated by the vulgar herd.

However, the idea of the cut-up poem could date back even further. Austin Kleon has written a useful potted history on the cut-up poetry technique. Kleon discovered Lewis Carroll's ‘Poeta Fit, Non-Nascitur’ (a reversal of the Latin adage, “poeta nascitur non-fit”, or, "a poet is born, not made") dating back to 1883. 

Asking in the first line, "how shall I be a poet?" this lovely poem (which I highly recommend you read in full) goes on to say:

For first you write a sentence,

And then you chop it small;

Then mix the bits, and sort them out

Just as they chance to fall:

The order of the phrases makes

No difference at all.

Ignite Your Imagination

In an interview a very young David Bowie explained:

In a later interview for the BBC documentary 'Cracked Actor’, Alan Yentob interviews a much older Bowie, who says he increasingly uses the technique. Expanding on his cut-up process, Bowie says:

Cut-Up Poetry is for Everyone

Whether you're a songwriter, artist or just someone looking for something easy yet absorbingly creative, I would definitely try the cut-up poetry technique. On your own, with friends and definitely with your kids. There's no need to call yourself an artist.

Williams Burroughs said "Cuts ups are for everyone," just as Tzara noted that "poetry is for everyone".

A Western Tarot?

Bowie likened the technique to a Western Tarot":

Could this be true? Perhaps and perhaps not. But William Burroughs

also talked about the methods as a means of predicting the future.

In an interview, he recalls a story of cutting up an article by Paul Getty. From this text, Burroughs created the line "it's a bad thing to sue your own father". This line was not in the original text and were words Burroughs put together from the cutouts.

Spookily a year later, one of Getty's sons did sue him! Coincidence? Perhaps. But I love Burroughs thought:

The Benefits of Poetry

As a vehicle of expression, poetry, in general, is a great way to explore feelings and memories buried in the subconscious and identify how they may relate to existing life circumstances. Poetry can:

• Be used to express emotions that might otherwise be difficult to demonstrate verbally.

• Encourage self-reflection, exploration, self-awareness and help adults and children make sense of their world.

• Help individuals redefine current and past events in their lives by opening up new ways of perceiving reality.

• Importantly, poetry speaks to people and helps them see that many of their experiences shared by other people too. (Source)

Further Resources

Check out the BBC documentary ‘Cutting Up The Cut Up’, available on iPlayer.

Swap the scroll today and try the Cut-Up Poetry creative mindfulness exercise. Or if you’re a fan of visual collage, try ‘Facetime: A Self Portrait Collage’ creative mindfulness exercise.

Remember: Cut-up poetry and all creative mindfulness exercises are about expression, discovery and process. Not perfection - it doesn’t exist!

Have an inspired day

Georgie x

Today we’ll look at the wellbeing benefits of creativity and art-making and for the sceptical among you we’ll look at the research evidence to support these ideas.

5 Wellbeing Benefits of Everyday Creativity

As long as your chosen art-making activity is easily accessible to you and your circumstances, art-making and everyday creativity can potentially:

1. Everyday creativity nurtures your overall wellbeing

2. Helps regulate emotions, leading to better mental health

3. Reduces stress and make you more resilient when facing life's challenges

4. Creativity opens your mind and makes you more innovative

5. Creative thinking can prolong your life!

Your everyday creative activities are personal to you. It doesn’t matter what you choose to create as long as you feel connected to it. It could include drawing, painting, pottery, sculpture, handicrafts, singing, photography, film-making, singing, cooking or gardening. 

Let’s get on and explore those wellbeing benefits…

1. Everyday Creativity Nurtures Your Overall Wellbeing

When done with purpose, everyday creative activities have the power to nurture your psychological health. Doing something creative can boost your wellbeing.

Let’s take a look at our first piece of research-backed evidence.

Researcher Tamlin Conner and her team at the University of Otago in New Zealand asked 650 young adults to fill out a daily online diary for 13 days. The researchers looked at how much time the participants had spent on creative activities each day. They also looked at the participant's wellbeing levels by analysing positive and negative emotions and what the researchers called 'flourishing'—an overall sense of meaning, purpose, engagement, and social connection in the participants' lives.

Results were conclusive. People who engaged in creative activities on one day reported increased positive emotions and 'flourishing' the next, suggesting that everyday creativity leads to more wellbeing.

“Doing creative things today predicts improvements in wellbeing tomorrow. Full stop.”

— Tamlin Connor

These results surprised Conner, who didn't think the findings would be so definitive:

"Research often yields complex, murky, or weak findings," she says. "But these patterns were strong and straightforward: Doing creative things today predicts improvements in wellbeing tomorrow. Full stop."

What's even more significant, the results showed that this wasn't the case only for the 'creative type personalities.' These results were found across the board. Whether you consider yourself creative or not, everyday creativity influences wellbeing.

"We can add creativity to the list of 'actionable things' people can do to take charge of their wellbeing," Conner says.

2. Helps Regulate Emotions For Better Mental Health

In a study commissioned by BBC arts, 50,000 participants took the Great British Creativity Test, in partnership with University College London (UCL). Led by Dr Daisy Fancourt, UCL Senior Research Fellow and former BBC Radio 3 New Generation Thinker, the study explored how everyday creative activities boost wellbeing and mood.

This massive survey found that trying new creative activities is particularly good for our wellbeing. Regardless of your level of skill, it's taking part in creative activity that is important. Researchers revealed that we get emotional benefits from just one session of creative activity, and these benefits are cumulative.

According to the report, here are the 3 ways that creativity can be used as a coping mechanism to manage emotions:

1. As a distraction tool: art-making can dive us something else to focus on for a while, avoiding stress and patterns of overthinking.

2. As a contemplation tool: as we create, we give our minds the space to assess and perhaps reassess problems that arise in our lives. Giving us a sense of plan, purpose and hope.

3. As a means of self-development: a simple art-making activity, from figuring out how to do something, staying with the process and following through to completion, helps build up self-esteem and confidence.

“This study is the first to show the cognitive strategies the brain uses to regulate our emotions when we’re taking part in creative activities.”

— Dr Daisy Fancourt

Interestingly, especially in these COVID times, the research revealed that taking part in live creative activities involving face-to-face social interaction, for example, singing in a choir or taking a group drawing or painting class, is particularly beneficial.

Don't despair though, virtual creative group experiences also have their benefits although, obviously slightly less beneficial than face to face. We are social creatures, after all, so that makes sense.

3. Everyday Creativity Reduces Stress & Increases Resilience

If you need yet more reasons to participate in everyday creative activities, here's an excellent excuse: it can reduce stress.

Researchers at Drexel University in Philidelphia, US, found that creativity and art-making can significantly reduce the stress-related hormone cortisol in your body.

Participants, which included 39 adults ranging from 18 to 59 years old with varied creative experience, were invited to a 45 minutes art-making session. Cortisol levels were taken before and after the session.

The participants were given various mediums such as markers and paper, modelling clay and collage materials. Significantly, there weren't given any direction, and they were free to use the materials as they wished. 

The results?

75% of the participants' cortisol levels lowered during their 45 minutes of making art.

Isn't that brilliant!

Their written responses, taken after the session were equally positive. Participants found the art-making session to be relaxing, enjoyable and helpful for learning about new aspects of self; they felt freed from constraints, enjoyed the evolution of the process from initial struggle to resolution, and talked about ‘flow’ and losing themselves to the creative process. Even more importantly, the session evoked a desire to make art in the future. 

"It was very relaxing. After about five minutes, I felt less anxious. I was able to obsess less about things that I had not done or need [ed] to get done. Doing art allowed me to put things into perspective."

Are you convinced that art-making and creative activities are good for you yet?!

4. Makes You More Open-Minded and Innovative

Creativity requires an open mind, allowing us to solve problems much more effectively. You don't need to be an artist to exploit this extraordinary trait of the human brain. It is in all of us. Artists and non-artists alike.

An open, creative mind is able to think and imagine different possibilities. Isn’t this just fabulous! Essentially we create something just by imagining it. Faced with any problem, our mind beavers away looking for the solution. The more open-minded we are, the more innovative we become.

For instance, using a recipe and not having the correct ingredients can be an example of creative thinking and opening your mind to a new possibility. Substituting oregano for mixed Italian herbs is now an act of creative wonder!

Anna Powers a scientist who writes extensively about innovation says:

“Creativity is an important facet in all areas of life because it allows us to create something from our minds, which separates a human mind from a machine…by definition, a creative mind is one that is able to think in a flexible way and imagine different possibilities”

— Anna Powers, Scientist and first woman to be awarded the Global STEM Leadership Prize

As I was open-mindedly researching this post, I subsequently discovered that in fact having an open mind can potentially lead to a longer life. But how?

Read on…

5. Prolong Your Life. Say What?!

This last piece of research, by Nicholas Turiano (now at the University of Rochester Medical Center), found that expanded openness to life, i.e. having an open mind, can predict longer life.

Well, this is the brilliant bit - using data from over 1,000 older men collected between 1990 and 2008, researchers found that only creativity—not intelligence or overall openness—decreased mortality risk.

Whoa, there - pass me the pencils! 

One possible reason that creativity is protective of health is that it draws on a variety of neural networks within the brain:

"Individuals high in creativity maintain the integrity of their neural networks even into old age," Turiano says.

A research study from Yale University also supported this idea. Their study correlated the quality of openness with the robustness of the participant's brain’s white matter (white matter supports the connections between neurons in different parts of the brain.) And because the brain is CEO for all bodily functions, exercising it helps all systems to continue running smoothly. 

"Keeping the brain healthy may be one of the most important aspects of ageing successfully—a fact shown by creative persons living longer in our study," Turiano says.

Another vital factor is creative people's ability to handle stress—they tend not to get as easily flustered when faced with an emotional or physical hurdle. If we turn one of life's hurdles into a creative problem that we can find a solution to, we'll handle stress much better rather than feeling overwhelmed. As we know, stress is harmful to our health, including cardiovascular, immune and cognitive systems.

So pick up the pencils or paintbrushes to find solutions to your problems. That's where you'll find your answers - not in a Google search, social media, or at the bottom of a wine glass ;)

"Creative people may see stressors more as challenges that they can work to overcome rather than as stressful obstacles they can't overcome," Turiano says. 

"Although studies thus far have looked at those who are naturally open-minded, the results suggest that practising creative-thinking techniques could improve anyone's health by lowering stress and exercising the brain.

Start living creatively every day and reap the benefits. 

Summary of the Wellbeing Benefits

Regardless of your level of skill or whether you consider yourself creative or not, everyday creative art-making and activities will:

1. Improve your overall wellbeing, not just in the moment of art-making but also in the days to follow.

2. Help regulate your emotions and give you an outlet to reassess problems, face challenges and build up self-esteem and confidence.

3. Reduce stress and cortisol levels after just 45 minutes of art-making. By seeing solutions to problems rather than feeling overwhelmed, thus reducing stress levels and making you feel more in control of your life.

4. Make you more innovative and able to come up with better solutions because being creative requires an open mind. And an open mind makes us more innovative when coming up with solutions to challenges, problems or dilemmas.

5. Potentially lead to a longer life, by keeping those little grey and white brain cells healthy and the neurons in the brain firing, well into old age. Let’s not forget too that the brain is CEO for all bodily functions and exercising it helps keep everything running smoothly.

Everyday creative activities can help you live more mindfully and in the present, too - something which I'll be exploring in the weeks to come here on the blog because mindfulness goes hand in hand with creativity.

I want you to know that by simple art-making, you are guiding yourself to be more resilient, to have an open mind and see the world in new and exciting ways, allowing your inner voice to be heard, and taking the ultimate step in self-care. 

Now go create!

Have an inspired day

Gx

There was I thinking that I'd finally made a decision. Now I'm grown up, I've decided, I'm an artist, pure and simple. I make stuff. I create mandalas to be precise from paper. Oh yes, and I write. I write about digital wellbeing, creativity and shite. I say shite because I write like this. Musings on how ridiculous I am sometimes. And then there's my day job teaching students at the local Uni.

Why did I take a day job? Because I needed to take the pressure away from my art. The stress of client work and social media was literally driving me insane. Now I can make what the hell I like.

Well, not quite.

As Seth Godin says in his new book: 'The Practice: Shipping Creative Work'

Taking a day job means I lessen the financial pressure slightly, and the rest of the time, I can serve my art and not the other way around. I like Elizabeth Gilbert's reference to the mothership:

Making a Choice

Looking at all of these interests and commitments has recently made me feel like I had to choose just one.

Jack of all trades, master of none, right?

I thought I had to give up one pursuit for another, you see. Stop the stop motion to pursue paper art. Stop paper art to pursue digital wellbeing training. Stop the digital wellbeing to pursue a love of yoga. And so on.

Yet there's been a niggle in my mind all along. Austin Kleon - no he isn't the niggle - he just has a knack of putting into words what I've known deep down all along.

Why do we have to choose? Well, we don't.

Austin helped me straighten out my niggle just at the right time. In an interview with Ali Abdaal, Austin Kleon tells us about an inspiring talk by his friend Steven Tomlinson.

Austin paraphrases Steven:

Music to my ears.

If you cut your passions out of your life, you'll feel phantom limb pain, like an itch that can't be scratched.

So suppose we continue to pursue all of our passions? By doing so, they'll find a way of communicating and create something truly original in fact.

Don't Discard Anything

At work, I've been creating a series of stop motion animation workshops for my students. I hadn't made any stop motions for quite a few months, while I pursued my digital wellbeing coach training. I didn't think I'd missed the animation. It all felt pretty pointless, to be honest. If I had nowhere to share it, no one to see it, nothing to say, what was the point? It had no value.

However, after making the workshops, I realised how much I bloody love making stop motion animations!

For no other reason than .... well I just love making stop motion animations.

Like I love writing in my diary. Or making objects out of paper. Making mandalas. I love yoga in the morning and walking every day through the park. I love writing and reading about digital wellbeing. I love all of these things. And wouldn't want to give any of them up.

I do actually believe, even though it may not be apparent right now, they are speaking to one another. One interest informs the next and so on. Importantly I don't feel phantom limb pain and can scratch all of my itches.

Art is Sustenance

Making art has been my way through many difficult and happy times, and it's something I could never give up - whatever form it takes.

So this weekend I made another paper portrait animation. For "shits and giggles" as my husband likes to say.

The sense of satisfaction was immense!

Once I'd completed the animation, I came back to the house to get on with the Sunday night bath and hair wash routine with my daughter. We messed around and giggled a lot. I felt relaxed.

You see, instead of feeling irritable, I felt a sense of achievement. I had satisfied a creative craving. Subsequently, I felt more present with my daughter and ultimately a better mum too.

I felt sustained. I felt like I had come home.

Art is Vital.

I don't think we should ever have to make a choice between our loves, passions, our art. For the sake of our mental wellbeing and to feel like a fully functional human being.

The actor Ethan Hawke describes the call to creativity beautifully:

Listen

However, you have to get to know yourself. And to know your self is to listen. Really listen. Get to know the twists and turns of your gut feelings because they have so much to tell you.

Pay attention to what happens in-between. In the quiet moments. Daydream moments. Standing in the queue moments. Moments when something or someone catches your eye, and your heart skips a little beat. That's your body helping you learn who you really are. Without the distraction of technology. Without influence from what other people think. Without other peoples messaging.

Following your love, your calling, your creative passions, they might not lead to fulfilling careers. Don't put that pressure on your creativity or yourself. But you may just find moments of:

• happiness

• contentment

• flow

• peace

• satisfaction

The qualities the human spirit strives for.

Don’t Pay For The Knowledge You Already Have

Marketing people know the striving well, and they are continually telling us they can give us the answers for the right price.

What they haven't admitted (and deep down you already know this ), is no product, produce or procedure can give you what your essence is striving for. Marketing potions promising perfection or gadgets guaranteeing gratification is futile because they don't exist.

You know what you need - its already inside you.

You just have to listen to yourself; to all of the pieces of your personal jigsaw puzzle you love and let them speak to each other. That's the place you'll find yourself, your life.

And that, my friends, is priceless.

Have an inspired day

Georgie x

For a while, it was a job that brought me a good living. However, it wasn’t until my digital sabbatical last year that I realised the damaging effects social media was having on my mental health.

So in January 2020, I quit my job as an Instagram influencer. The sense of relief has been immense. I also took a digital detox and the results were life-changing.

In this post, I want to share why I quit and why I think we should question the influencer marketing industry as a whole.

Like any addiction, it’s been very hard and I wouldn’t say I’m 100% clean yet.

What Is An Influencer Anyway?

The term ‘influencer’ in itself, makes me cringe. It is simultaneously an insult and an aspiration - as beautifully put in Wired’s Guide to Influencers.

Essentially anyone with a social media presence can be an influencer. Just in case you’re in any doubt as to what a social media influencer is though, here’s a good definition (via the influencer marketing hub):

“Influencers in social media are people who have built a reputation for their knowledge and expertise on a specific topic. They make regular posts about that topic on their preferred social media channels and generate large followings of enthusiastic, engaged people who pay close attention to their views.

Brands love social media influencers because they can create trends and encourage their followers to buy products they promote.”

My influence on Instagram wasn’t on a grand scale. I was what is termed as a ‘Macro-Influencer’ - someone who has a following of between 40,000 and 1 million followers.

At my height, I reached approximately 48,000. I chased 50,000 for a long time but Alas, it alluded me! Much to my despair and disappointment at the time. Worse still, when my ‘popularity’ declined and people unfollowed me (or Instagram just deleted a shed load of bot accounts), my sanity declined with it. Losing followers, felt like a punch in the gut.

Still, I made a tidy amount of money, especially in the last couple of years. At my pinnacle, I was taken on as ‘talent’ with a leading Influencer platform. I had a dedicated account manager whose responsibility was to find influencer work and negotiate a fee, taking 20% for their effort. I created stop motion animations and creative photographs for some big household brands - all great for my portfolio, I told myself.

It was brilliant. For a time.

Affording me the satisfaction of treating my family to things like a holiday, saving for Christmas and generally feeling like I was making a decent contribution to my family’s income. Taking the pressure off my stressed-out husband.

The Turning Point

Over 7 years, I had many highs and wonderful experiences as a result of Instagram. Influencer work enabled me to be flexible with my time as well. I could pick my daughter up from school, be on call for my teenage sons and essentially work part-time.

Actually, the reality was, this career was anything but part-time. Looking back at my diary entries for the past couple of years, I realised that Instagram was occupying my waking and sleeping thoughts.

The constant strain to keep my feed up to date and engage on Instagram, led to massive bouts of anxiety and insomnia. I’d worry that I would be dropped by the influencer platforms I was signed up to, who found me work, thus losing my income and putting my family under a huge amount of financial pressure.

At the beginning of 2019, I remember walking into the bathroom, like a zombie after another sleepless night worrying about my engagement and my work. My hubby was in there shaving and I broke down in tears. I finally admitted to him I just couldn’t go on feeling like this anymore. My anxiety was out of control. My hubby was brilliant and reassured me my mental health was more important than money. We’d find a way out of my black hole.

I’d love to say that was the turning point but I carried on. The spiral of creating, posting and feeling anxious continued, when a post didn’t do well or if there was a quiet lull in my email inbox.

In order to help control my racing thoughts and insomnia, I’d heard about Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) as way of coping with anxiety and depression. I signed up to the 8 week MBCT course at the Brighton Buddhist Centre.

This course changed my life, for the better.

Social media was 100% bad for my mental health

It was a result of my mindfulness practice, that I could see where my anxiety was coming from and I needed to reclaim my brain. It was abundantly clear to me social media was 100% bad for my mental health.

To try and understand what was happening to my brain, I began to read more about the technology and corporations behind the social media platforms. Platforms that are designed to make addicts of us all and rob us of our focus and attention.

I wasn’t alone in my anxiety either. At Insta meets, the overwhelming topic of conversation was one full of Instagram angst over likes, engagement, the algorithm, what to post, what not to post, self-doubt…. oh my word so much self-doubt!! When our posts didn’t do well, it was affecting our self-worth and making us feel our work wasn’t good enough.

As the conversations went on like this, at every meetup I attended, it occurred to me how ridiculous this was. Instead of doubting ourselves, or trying to play the Instagram algorithm game, shouldn’t we just be concentrating on our creative work instead?

Community Over Competition?

Everyone agreed that we loved the community and connecting with like-minded creatives. When I originally joined Instagram back in 2012, it really was a lovely place to be. Supportive and friendly.

There’s a hashtag on Instagram #communityovercompetition. However, unfortunately, there’s a certain irony in this tag as there is also the inevitable bitchiness too. Luckily never in the circles, I moved in but certainly among others Instagrammer conversations I witnessed both on and offline.

Usually, it consisted of pulling apart another Instagrammers success, convinced that @xyz had clearly bought fake followers. Or accusations of stolen ideas, content copying etc.

In recent years, Instagram began to resemble the school playground in fact. The cliques, social hierarchy, popular people, the hanger on-ers, and know it alls.

At social events, I would witness how ‘grammers would literally fall over themselves to have a selfie taken with big @xyz Instagrammer. Telling their followers on their live Insta story what a great, amazing time they were having with big @xyz Instagram star.

In fact, many Instagrammers are socially awkward and these amazing events, are actually quiet, standard gatherings. They just have a goodie bag at the end.

Mostly I noticed how different the world of Instagram and people are online and off. It all started feeling vacuous and false.

As I said, this doesn’t apply to everyone. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and making friends with some wonderful, creative people as a result of Instagram. But the social media climbers and bullshitters were very real too and it’s a world I would rather not be associated with.

Walking Talking Billboards

As the influencer industry continues to grow, so it becomes more lucrative, with brands predicted to spend $15 billion on influencer marketing by 2022, with Instagram set to attract the most.

Understandably, the market has become saturated with people wanting to jump on the Instagram influencer bandwagon. And why not? You can receive cool free products, invitations to special events and hard cash. However, for most, income will be sporadic and jobs competitive.

On a personal level, I relied on Instagram for my creative validation and a regular income and it left me feeling despondent and burnt out.

I had become a walking talking brand billboard.

Taking Responsibility

My problem with influencer marketing now, is brands are taking advantage of social media platforms, capitalising on addicted app users all in order to sell more of the brands products.

In addition, the business model of social media platforms are designed to engage its users in an endless scroll; to addict you and monetise your attention to advertisers. These platforms are using behavioural techniques similar to those employed by the gambling industry to create psychological dependencies.

And no one, it seems wants to take any responsibility or acknowledge this, within the influencer industry. I’ve never witnessed it anyway. The influencer agencies who act as the middle man between the influencer and the brand, certainly don’t care. As long as the messages the influencers post are on brand, job done, transaction enabled, everyone, is happy.

On a positive note, I think, I hope, that we as a public, are becoming more aware of this precarious form of advertising because disappointingly, the rise of influencer fraud, fake engagement and fake followers is on the rise again.

I’ve never bought a follower but I’ll admit to posting sponsored content on my feed (now deleted) purely because I wanted the money, not because I genuinely believed in the product. If I’m the only influencer to have done this, I’ll eat my hat.

The Social Media Paradox

Of course, the paradox is, for every dodgy influencer, there are also a myriad people and organisations promoting great causes or useful products on Instagram. Not to mention the communities and meeting of like-minded folk that happens as a result of the platform. I’m still struggling with this and haven’t found the solution yet, because ultimately, it’s still an addictive digital environment and that’s never healthy.

I haven’t quite managed to walk away from Instagram yet. I do enjoy connecting with the amazing artists, creatives, small businesses and charities on there whose work is important and deserves to be seen.

But I have made my decision to quit Instagram influencer marketing. I’ve walked away from my income to facilitate a career change.

Just because an industry is worth millions, friendships have been formed or I’ve entertained people with my posts, does that make it right? I’m not sure it does. That’s why I’ve decided to find a new way.

I’m hopeful that during this personal quest, I’ll find healthy ways of using social media for good, rather than just another way to sell products and line the pockets of the tech giants through advertising.

With the rise of people like me, questioning the tech companies behind the social apps, I hope we’ll start seeing apps in the future designed to augment our online relationships in positive ways rather than purely for the $$$.

I’ll report back when I do.

—-

Since writing this post I am now pleased to be able to say I have now qualified as a digital wellbeing coach, and have a Consciously Digital Diploma. I now aim to help other creators reclaim their brains and creativity :)

That’s Flow. And I’m an addict.

The concept of 'Flow' is enjoying a resurgence of popularity at the moment in our overly distracted, multi-tasking, digital age where our attention has become a commodity. Hungarian-American psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi defined the concept of Flow in the 1990’s.

Since discovering the concept in the early 2000s, it was a revelation to me and explained why I felt compelled to commit myself to creative work.

Many people cite his seminal book 'Flow'. However, there are other works, and one book I have enjoyed re-reading is 'Creativity: the psychology of discovery and invention."

Enhancing Personal Creativity

In this book, Csikszentmihalyi explores the foundations of creativity and how it can enrich our lives. What's more, and significantly in my post-Instagram addicted frame of mind, he lays out the foundations of how to enhance one's personal creativity:

The Acquisition of Creative Energy

I plan to add some 'meat the bones' to this concept in the next few weeks, but here's Csikszentmihaly’s outline of how to enhance your personal creativity from the book:

Curiosity and Interest

• Try to be surprised by something every day

• Try to surprise at least one person every day

• Write down each day what surprised you and how you surprised others

• When something strikes a spark of interest, follow it.

Cultivating Flow in Everyday Life

• Wake up in the morning with a specific goal

• If you do anything well, it becomes enjoyable

• To keep enjoying something, you need to increase its complexity

Habits of Strength

• Take charge of your schedule

• Make time for reflection and relaxation

• Shape your space

• Find out what you like and what you hate about life

• Start doing more of what you love and less of what you hate

Internal Traits

• Develop what you lack

• Shift often from openness to closure

• Aim for complexity

The Application of Creative Energy

Problem finding

• Find a way to express what moves you

• Look at problems from as many viewpoints as possible

• Figure out the implications of the problem

• Implement the solution

Divergent Thinking

• Produce as many ideas as possible

• Have as many different ideas as possible

• Try to produce unlikely ideas

The Creative Exercises

Looking for some creative exercises to reclaim your brain? Why not try these screen-free activities inspired by great artists, thinkers, and research. My creative mindfulness exercises give you time to think, create and help you reevaluate your relationship with digital devices. And have fun along the way too.

Further Resources

1. Mihaly Csiksgentmihalyi’s 2004 TED Talk: Flow, the secret to happiness

2. Creativity: The Psychology of Discovery and Invention by Mihaly Csiksgentmihalyi, 2013

In this post I’m talking directly to you: fellow artists, designers, hobbyists, creatives. If you rely on creativity for work or pleasure, I believe it’s really important to look at how your use of technology is affecting your creative output. I say this because, it wasn’t until I digitally detoxed that I realised how badly I was being affected.

This time 4 months ago I was close to jumping off a proverbial cliff edge.

This time 3 months ago, I jumped….

And I jumped wholeheartedly.

No, not into madness, but into a digital detox.

After months of house renovations, a busy family, work and digital life, I was about to burst under the strain of it all. Well I did. I went a little crazy. The final straw? A flopped post on Instagram.

When I posted that image, I allowed an algorithm to decide my self-esteem and my mood that day. I had unwittingly, in fact been allowing algorithms and apps to decide my mood for months.

Most significantly, I was allowing the technology to mess with my creativity.

Actually, I had lost my creativity. This wasn’t creative block. This was worse. I was uninterested.

I’d lost the curiosity. Instead, I was churning out work to a familiar formula for clients, or for the sake of gaining a few followers and likes on Instagram.

Like an addict, I was creating purely for the dopamine hit.

As luck would have it, in May this year, I had started an 8 week Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) course. As a result, I’d started to recognise these negative feelings and notice how addicted to my phone and tech I had become. I started to read books and articles on the effects of technology and social media (there’s a reading list at the end of this post) to try and understand what I was feeling. I knew it was time to join the growing community of digital detoxers.

I planned a 30-day digital detox, but ended up on a digital detox of just over 3 months. I have to say it’s been wonderful.

On June 30th 2019 I switched off. I wasn’t interested in getting my screen time stats down. That felt too superficial. My whole way of thinking needed to change. I made a drastic start, as this was the only way I was going to reclaim my brain from technology.

My Steps to Switching Off

First and most importantly I told my close friends and family what I was doing. This digital detox wasn’t going to work without their support for the reason that it’s quite amazing how pissed off people get when they can’t contact you at the drop of a hat. Therefore, I had to manage their expectations.

Here are the steps I took to digitally detoxing:

Apps - I deleted all the apps from my phone. From social networking to photography, email to notes, and all of the useless apps in-between. I only kept Whatsapp and text messages for communicating with my close friends and family.

Phone Notifications - all off. I decided I was going to be in control of how I used the tech tyrant in my pocket. I set boundaries and specific times that I would check my messages. Twice a day, morning and early evening. My phone lived on Do Not Disturb the rest of the time.

Again, the only exception being my family. On an iPhone, people on your favourites list can call you even in Do Not Disturb mode.

Social Networking -

• Twitter - I deleted my Twitter profile completely. I couldn’t bear the hateful trolling of Twitter anymore. Actually I haven’t even thought about it in the past 3 months until writing this post!

• Facebook - the narcissistic nature of Facebook drove me to despair. So I unfriended everyone, then downloaded and deleted as much data as I possibly could. I kept my profile for work purposes and for the groups. Retrospectively, I haven’t logged in to look at the groups in 3 months. If I didn’t need it for work, I’d get rid of Facebook completely.

• Instagram - I decided that of all the social networks, Instagram was the one that was going to have the most significant impact on the success of my digital detox. After the temptations of the 1st week, when I cheated and looked at Instagram on my computer, I banned myself from logging in or looking at it for the duration of the detox.

• Latterly, Instagram is my only social network of choice. The others I can do without because I do still rather like using Instagram!

Email & Web Surfing - like messages I set times to check emails no more than twice a day. Web surfing was kept to 1 hour, once a day.

Computer/Laptop - all notifications and badges off. No more email pings or little red badges designed to distract my attention. Cal Newport’s theory of ‘Deep Work’ really resonated with me. All those pings and notifications are the antithesis of concentrating on deep work and creativity.

TV/Netflix/Amazon Prime - When I read that Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said that their biggest competition was sleep, I realized my love of binge-watching was yet another place I was being unintentionally drawn into addictive behaviour. I set a limit of 2 episodes per series or 1 movie on a Friday or Saturday night. Thus freeing up a large proportion of my evenings to devote to creative activities or reading.

Radio/Podcasts - I set a limit of a maximum of 2 podcasts a day. With the radio, I set the limit of listening in the morning before the school run and in the evening whilst prepping dinner. (Anyway, too much news depressed me). Oddly this was the most difficult and the one I have allowed more flexibility with lately. Perhaps it was the MBCT course, but I started to crave silence, rather the incessant noise of the radio or a podcast. Time for silence has become incredibly important to me now.

Kindle/Online Articles - unless it was printed I wasn’t going to read it. Not great for my paper trail but anything I wanted to read online, I printed. My Kindle was put away and any books I wanted to read I would either, buy, borrow or loan. This has been one of the most impactful results of the detox as you’ll find out later…

Digital Detox: The Results

OK, with all of those restraints in place, was it hard? Was it easy? Was it life-changing? In some respects, yes.

In other ways, it felt totally underwhelming too. Life went on of course.

Importantly, there were absolutely no significant negative side effects. It was all positive.

The Biggest Changes in Detail

• Reading: I can read books! Yes, crazy I know. Before the digital detox, I realised I hadn’t finished a book in months. I couldn’t concentrate on reading books or magazine articles. Actually for years. I’d lose concentration and mindlessly pick up my phone to scroll Instagram or surf the web. Or, if I was reading in bed, I would fall asleep after the 1st couple of pages.
  
  I’ve become a passionate reader again. I’ve enjoyed more novels, where before I was only reading non-fiction. If I don’t read every day or have a book on the go, I don’t feel ‘right’. Instead of watching TV, I’d much rather escape reading a good book instead.

• Writing: I write more. This post started life as a handwritten journal entry. Daily journal writing has become as integral to my day as brushing my teeth. When I first started the digital detox, my hand ached from writing after 5 minutes. Where I had once prided myself on my crafted handwriting, over the years it had become a messy, lazy scrawl. These past few weeks, I’ve noticed even that has improved.

• I keep a daily ‘bollocks’ diary - some call them artists pages. It’s a place to express all of the bollocks and bullshit in my head, so it can’t do any damage! Thus I’ve found a very easy and natural way of keeping my mental health in check too. A journal is also a great problem solver. Most of this digital detox process, the ups, downs and realisations have been worked out on the pages of my bollocks journal.
  
  I’ve also returned to writing poetry. Something I hadn’t done for years and enjoy immensely. Well, less poetry, more stupid rhymes that make me giggle. Groans and moans put into prose that make me smile. Something purely for enjoyment. Again, instead of mindless scrolling and surfing, I’ll pick up a pen and write. The sense of productivity writing brings is brilliant.

• Exercise: with a more structured day and less time surfing and scrolling, I’ve made more time for exercise. I’m at my local gym 4 or 5 times a week, indulging my long-standing interest in yoga, pilates and Zumba. Or simply go for a walk. The effect on my mental as well as my physical well-being is really starting to show. My mental health particularly is much better. I put this down massively, to staying active. Rather than staring at a screen.

• Silence: very quickly I had to get used to the sound of silence. When I tuned out and limited the amount of media I was consuming, I was quite often left in silence. Thankfully I had become very comfortable with this anyway, due to the mindfulness (MBCT) course I was taking.
  
  I relish the silence. Working in silence or doing mundane tasks such as washing up, allowing my mind to wander, I find very therapeutic. If I don’t have a period of silence in my day, I feel overstimulated and irritable. Actually, there’s really no such thing as silence. There’s the soundtrack of the day to keep me company.

• Creativity: it’s back! I’ve reclaimed my brain from the clutches of tech, I feel far more enthusiastic about creating. Now I’m not scrolling and surfing as much, looking at other peoples lives and work, the voice of imposter syndrome has quietened in my mind. I don’t feel stuck in the comparison trap as much.
  
  Due to more time reading, writing, exercising and time spent quietly with my thoughts, the ideas and importantly creative curiosity have come back. I feel more inclined to experiment and try new things in my studio. Probably some will never see the light of day or some may well end up as new animations and creations. Importantly I feel a much better sense of myself as a creative and what it is I’m trying to do.

The Biggest Changes In a Nutshell - Concentration & Time.

I’m a 42 year old woman, with 3 children between 6 and 17. I have a house, a mortgage and myriad responsibilities. I don’t have a steady job. Instead I have a full-time job of making my living as a creative freelancer. I’m your typical busy person. And…

I HAVE TIME! Time for it all.

I hear many people say they are soooo busy. They don’t have time for: exercise/hobbies/sleep/_________(insert the blank).

Bollocks. Stop scrolling and telling everyone how busy and important it is that you be on your phone checking emails 50 times a day. Get on with living.

Seriously, I see it so clearly now. For example, I look over my husband’s shoulder sometimes and see him watching some random video on Facebook. Then an hour later he’ll complain he never has time to indulge in his love of drawing. Well, those 10 mindless minutes, could have been spent sketching. Do that every day for a week, that’s 70 minutes - over an hour for a hobby he loves.

The other biggest change:

I CAN CONCENTRATE. I’ve found flow again. Do you know how many times I was distracted by my phone or email or a quick surf whilst writing this post? Zero times. I’m not even tempted to check or surf. I can easily and wonderfully get into deep concentration, losing one, two, three hours writing or creating in my studio quite happily. Like my brain is supposed to. As a result, I feel less stressed and more productive. I could never have done this 3 months ago. My concentration was in tatters.

Taking Back Control

My biggest digital detox compliment, delivered to me via my husband, by an increasing number of people now: “Georgie is rubbish with her phone isn’t she?".

Oh Yes, I am. Thank you!

It’s not our fault we find ourselves scrolling mindlessly. The evidence is out there. Apps and tech are designed to turn us into addicts. There’s a reason many of the tech bosses out there won’t let their kids have iPads. Be mindful of that the next time you reach instinctively for your smartphone.

Don’t get me wrong. I‘m not anti-technology. I love a useful app. I adore getting lost in a Netflix episode. I enjoy walking whilst listening to a good Podcast. I love connecting with fellow creatives on Instagram.

Yet, there is a dark side to technology and I refuse, as much as possible, to be manipulated by algorithms and computer scientists who have studied behavioural psychology in casinos, in order to manipulate us into using their technology. Their goal being engagement and holding our attention as much as possible because that's what's monetised in the business model of social media platforms. Our dopamine hit for the sake of their profit margins and investors.

As I said, I’m not anti-technology. Technology is a tool. A useful tool. Like a hammer. Or a paper and pencil. I wouldn’t want to live without them as they have a specific purpose in my life. Still, as part of my mission, I don’t let technology decide how I will spend my time or control my behaviour.

I’m not here to convince you either way. This has just been my experience. A very eye-opening experience.

It’s now October. I felt ready, after 3 months to go back to using Instagram because I genuinely enjoy the creative community over there. However, I still have to set very firm boundaries around my tech and phone use. Otherwise, it would be so easy to get sucked into the mindless tech scroll again.

Thankfully there is an undercurrent of technologists, scientists, and psychologists who also think that technology is a useful tool. A tool that WE should be in control of, rather than the other way around.

If you want to learn more about digital detoxes or our complicated relationship with technology there’s a list of resources I found really useful over my 3-month digital detox, at the end of this post.

If you’re thinking about a detox, have a comment, agree or fervently disagree with some of what I’ve written, leave a comment or email me - I’m fascinated by this subject and would love to chat more :)

Resource & Reading List

Books

• Digital Minimalism: On Living Better with Less Technology by Cal Newport

• Deep Work also by Cal Newport

• Lifescale: How to Live a More Creative, Productive, and Happy Life by Brian Solis

• Irresistible: Why you are addicted to technology and how to set yourself free by Adam Alter

• Mindfulness for Creativity: Adapt, create and thrive in a frantic world by Danny Penman

• Creativity: The Psychology of Discovery and Invention by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Podcasts

• It’s Complicated: Untangling Your Relationship with Your Phone

• Life, Interrupted with Cal Newport- Hidden Brain, NPR

• Attention Please - Ted Radio Hour, NPR

Ted Talks

• How a handful of tech companies control billions of minds everyday - Tristan Harris

• How we need to remake the Internet - Jaron Lanier

• The nightmare videos of children's YouTube — and what's wrong with the internet today - James Bridle

(There’s a few amazon affiliate links here, but these books were read for my interest only, nothing sponsored!)

“The act of mindfulness has simply uncovered who I am. It had just been covered by dusty piles of self-imposed rules and rags of expectations.”

If you’re a student or practitioner of a mindfulness programme such as MBSR or Mindfulness-Based Interventions (MBI's) you will have learnt about the 7 attitudinal foundations of mindfulness. 

As I've learnt more about these 7 attitudes, I've come to see them as a foundation of being in life. Not to mention being a brilliant foundation for mindful art-making and leading a creative life. 

I have moved into new and unexpected territory, places I never imagined I would see. I always wanted to draw, use my imagination and keep a sketchbook. Still, my inner critic told me I couldn't draw very well without copying or tracing. Anyway, I was more of a designer than an artist.

Something rather miraculous has happened during my journey into the mountains of mindfulness meditation theory and practice. I started drawing again. This has become a deeply meditative practice that is frankly rather addictive in the joy it brings me. And as I work in my sketchbook every day, I see the 7 attitudes of mindfulness present themselves through the process of art-making.

In reality, there is no miracle here. I wanted to do this kind of creative work for years because it was always part of me. The act of mindfulness has simply uncovered who I am. It had just been covered by dusty piles of self-imposed rules and rags of expectations.

So today, I'm outlining the 7 attitudes of mindfulness and showing you how to apply them to your art-making and creativity too.

A Brief History of The 7 Attitudes of Mindfulness

When I embarked on mindfulness teacher training, the first book on the required reading list was Jon Kabat Zinn's 'Full Catastrophe Living: How to Cope with Stress, Pain and Illness Using Mindfulness Meditation. In this brilliant book, JKZ outlines the 7 attitudinal foundations of mindfulness, the central pillars of any secular mindfulness practice (there have subsequently been more added, but we'll be dealing with the original 7 here). 

While Jon Kabat-Zinn was studying for his PhD in Molecular Biology at MIT, he was introduced to meditation by Philip Kapleau, a Zen missionary.

As a result, Kabat-Zinn became a student of Philip Kapleau and Zen Buddhist teachers Thich Nhat Hanh and Seung Sahn. 

By adapting the Buddhist teachings he learned, he developed the stress reduction and relaxation program, now known as Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction or MBSR. 

In 1979 Kabat-Zinn founded the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, USA. By putting MBSR in a scientific context, he aimed to help people cope with stress, pain, and illness by using moment-to-moment awareness. 

The 7 Attitudes of Mindful Art Making

It’s important to note that the 7 attitudinal foundations are not independent of each other. Each attitude relies on the influence of the other. The following explains how you can apply these attitudes to mindful art-making and the creative process:

1. Non-Judgement

This attitudinal foundation means paying close attention to your moment to moment experience while not getting caught up and other ideas, opinions, likes or dislikes. 

When thinking about our art-making or creative pursuits, it's easy to get caught up on thoughts of "is this good or bad?" Labelling our creative output with automatic judgements or predicting the judgements of others. From our clients, teachers, peers or parents. 

Instead, as you become aware of these labelling thoughts, bring your mind back to the process of making. The physical aspects. Pen on paper. Brush on canvas. Fingers on the keyboard. The physical act of making is your anchor into present moment awareness and away from automatic judgmental thoughts, negative self-talk, or even an over-inflated ego, perhaps! 

2. Patience

As Jon Kabat Zinn very simply states, "Patience is a form of wisdom". It shows we understand that things must unfold in their own time. This particular attitude is constructive when feelings of frustration arise and result in a creative block. 

Walk away from your art making or creative process for a while and understand that the 'answers' will present themselves when they are ready. This is both liberating and awe-inspiring when you come back and find the answers to the brief or dilemma you were looking for.

3: Beginners Mind

Quite simply seeing as if for the first time. 

We have a tendency to think we 'know', which prevents us from seeing things as they really are. This is about having an open mind and allowing things to unfold in their own time. 

When it comes to the art-making process, this could be as simple as trying new materials, writing in a different voice, playing a different style of music. Alternatively, look at familiar materials in a new way. Paint with coloured paper. Write with a brush. Sing in a different key. Or perhaps just simply allow the work to unfold at its own pace and to see what happens. 

4: Trust

Learning to let your intuition guide you underpin life and art. Trusting your own authority rather than looking to elders, well-meaning friends, relatives or worse, Google, for the answers or validation, is creative suicide. You may make 'mistakes’ on the way, but you know how to fix them.

As in life, making mistakes in art-making and creativity is par for the course. It's how we learn and is integral to the process. A toddler learning to walk will fall many times. But gets back up and tries and tries until they master it so well, we’re soon chasing after them in a playground or a supermarket aisle! It is from those mistakes that learning and opportunity occur. 

Mistakes are opportunities to get to know yourself as the authority. 

I invite you to draw outside the lines and trust your intuition to tell you where to take that line. Move into the blank open spaces that you've never explored before. 

It's this kind of trust in the process of art-making that great discoveries are made. Think like an inventor, or a scientist. Experiment and play!

5: Non-striving

Humans are wired for purpose. To do something and to go somewhere. However, in mindfulness and art-making, we have to work against this tendency. 

OK, so you might have a deadline looming. But will thinking about the deadline help your creativity or hinder it? I guarantee that worrying or ruminating about a future scenario will only hinder your creativity, which requires openness and flow. At worst, you'll become blocked and no ideas will present themselves at all. It's a lose-lose situation.

Non-striving is paradoxical because it involves non-doing, a theme that is central to mindfulness. It requires you to get out of your own way and allow things to unfold moment to moment. This attitude is central to mindfulness and simply involves paying attention to whatever is happening, right now, at this moment.

If you sit down at your desk and say: "OK, now I'm going to be really creative and come up with the 10 ideas for my problem", you've already set yourself up with where you 'should’ be after your creative session. 

Instead, if you simply get out your pen and paper and doodle and let your mind wander/wonder, you'll find your inspiration. 

Forget results. This is where doodling, collage or cut-up poetry is great because there is no fixed outcome; it's merely about being in the moment, paying attention to what works and what doesn't.

6: Acceptance

See things as they actually are in the present and come to terms with how life is, how you are, how people are and accept it. Easier said than done, right?

In everyday life, we spend a lot of time 'wishing' things were better than they are. "If only..." "I wish..." "One day..." At its most ugly, this non-acceptance leads to jealousy. 

We look at other people and want their looks/success/job/house/relationships etc. If you're overweight, you want to look like an underwear model. If you're an artist, you want to draw like Michelangelo. 

However, by first accepting yourself as you are now, that you're packing a few extra pounds, or your best drawing right now is stick men, only then can you do something to address these things. 

Once you accept yourself as you are and show yourself some compassion, you will ironically start creating the perfect opportunity to focus on gaining the skills, losing the weight and connecting with people in meaningful ways. Beyond the superficiality of stuff and possessions. 

NB: Acceptance is not about rolling over and feeling helpless. It's actually empowering. If you see things as they are, you can work out what to do about them. 

7: Letting Go

When you practice mindful awareness, in any situation, you will start to notice patterns of thought that our minds automatically default to. 

This could also present itself as resistance to break out of your comfort zone during the creative process. Perhaps you are expected to be a certain way, a specific artist, using a particular medium in one particular style. Instagram made me feel like this. I had to be consistent and show my audience what I perceived they expected, which I found creatively stifling. 

Try to let go and observe your mind pushing, grasping, judging, expecting etc. Let go of your preconceived ideas of good or bad; let go of the messages you were told as a kid that creativity is an indulgence. Let them pass like floating clouds and make your work anyway. Live your life according to your tune, not someone else’s.

I want to remind you that by simple art-making, you are guiding yourself to be more resilient, to have an open mind and see the world in new and exciting ways. Thus allowing your inner voice to be heard, and taking the ultimate step in self-care. 

Now go create!

Have an inspired day

Gx

In the evening, as I hung freshly washed clothes in my wardrobe, I thought to myself:

"If today was my last day in this body, on this earth, I'd be happy."

Wow!

I've been lucky enough to feel like this a handful of times in my life. Namely doing a skydive, after which my husband proposed, then the day I married my husband and then the days I gave birth to all of my children.

However, the difference with this particular day was nothing happened. Nada! It was an ordinary day, and yet it felt perfect. As If I had achieved everything. No, correction. I didn't need to achieve anything. I had it all.

This feeling of well-being has followed me for a couple of weeks now.

I've suffered from low mood and depression since I was 14. I've battled mentally for the best part of my 44 years on this planet. So believe me when I say this is not a natural feeling!

I believe this feeling of well-being comes from my decision to pursue a creative and mindfulness practice over seeking out validation and money. It's my mindset that has created the change in me. Life is pretty much as it always was. More challenging in some ways, less in others. It's, well, just life.

Non-Striving is a Choice

The theme I've been exploring this month is non-striving. (I personally feel the 7 mindfulness attitudes are a great way to live our lives and our creative lives). As I’ve contemplated exactly what non-striving means I’ve asked myself:

• How do we make progress yet, non-strive?

• Does striving mean working or not towards a set outcome?

• Does it mean blindly following wherever the path takes you?

• Or does it perhaps mean trusting the process, that showing up is enough or is the process?

Now, my drive is to write, draw and continue learning about creativity and the place of mindfulness in it all.

So is the urge to draw or create a form of striving? Once I finish a drawing, even before finishing actually, I'm planning the next one, always learning from the last.

One crucial fact I've realised though is that I'm practising non-striving because I'm not fixated on the finished piece of work. I'm not creating with some goal in mind. I have an intention and an absolute inherent drive inside me, but I have no fixed point in the future I want to achieve.

It’s the process of drawing I love to practice. The finished pieces are lovely, I love seeing my collection building, but it's the act of drawing that brings me so much satisfaction.

Non-striving isn't goal orientated. It's process orientated.
Rather than striving for the goal, you revel in the process.
Non-striving is setting intentions over goals.

The major difference this mindset has made, in terms of making art, is I’m not worried if a piece I may have spent hours on, doesn’t work out. I shared such a piece on Instagram and it felt liberating. To share what I would have once called a failure and a waste of time. To embrace this drawing as part of the creative journey and be in love with the experience of creating and learning from the process of making it.

Replacing Goals with Intentions

Goals are replaced by intentions because no plan or purpose is guaranteed. The difference is, an intention is infinite and isn't affected by twists and turns in the road. With intentions, whatever happens, you can adapt, which also brings along the added benefit of resilience.

The difference with setting intentions rather than goals is you're not disappointed if things have to change or don't work out as expected. Rather than fixating on a point ahead, you ride freely along the path with a rough direction of where you're going. However, you're prepared to investigate the twists and turns, the dark undergrowth, hidden trails, unusual flora and fauna along the way. Because you know they lead to new and exciting discoveries.

I set an intention to go in a particular direction, but I look at the view along the way from all directions. I rest when I need to or pause when I want to investigate what's around me in further depth. There's no rush. I'm enjoying myself here. I'm open to the twists and turns of the path, of life, without fixating on any destination. Through my art and mindfulness practice, I've learnt that there is no final destination.

And that's what I felt that very ordinary day, folding and hanging washing. An absolute sense that whatever happens, I've been enjoying the view. It's beautiful, and if I'm fortunate enough to wake up again tomorrow, I can't wait to explore it more.

Gx

OK, confession time.

Although I'm wiring a post inspired by Nick Cave, I rarely listen to his music. Not because I don't like it. But along with Jeff Buckley and Nick Drake, I want to cry when I see or hear Nick Cave sing. (Sorry, Nick).

Have you ever burnt yourself so badly your skin blisters? Then you accidentally pop that blister and expose the damaged skin underneath. It's that kind of rawness I feel when I listen to his music. 

His music seems to rip at my soul and leaves me raw with emotional vulnerability. He's both inspiration and tragedy rolled into one great muse of many.

I'm listening to a Nick Cave Spotify and I have to take breaks to clear the tears. There's a lump on my throat; my chest hurts, my stomach turns. My eyes heat up. It's painful! 

At the same time, it's awe-inspiring how another human being’s music and voice can elicit these feelings in me.

Anyone who can evoke this kind of response - well, I want to hear what they have to say outside of their music too.

The Red Hand Files

I'm a massive fan of his newsletter 'The Red Hand Files'. 
(I urge you to subscribe.)

Perhaps inspired by his 1994 song, Red Right Hand* (Peaky Blinders fans will know the song well), people submit questions, which he then answers and the answers are posted online for us all to devour.

"You can ask me anything. There will be no moderator. This will be between you and me. Let's see what happens. Much love, Nick."

He writes about creativity, love, art, forgiveness, grief, life - in a sensitive, humorous and highly inspiring way. 

It's not often we get to know the thoughts of our creative heroes in such depth. His words and advice are rich, beautiful and addictive. 

(*Interesting Fact: I learnt that the phrase 'Red Right Hand' was taken from John Milton's epic poem 'Paradise Lost' when the demon Belial refers to God's red right hand, which will strike vengeance on the devil)

With his extraordinary musical output, I often think that Nick Cave must have a direct line to the creativity Gods. Well, perhaps and perhaps not. 

A question from The Red Hand Files newsletter that piqued my interest recently was this:

How or when or do you shut the voices of all your influences (your heroes, your parents, your Jesus, your music) to listen to yourself, to become you or to believe that what you create is your own?

JOHN, BROOKLYN, USA

Cave’s reply sums up the spirit and voice of creativity: (emphasis mine):

Dear John,

Nothing you create is ultimately your own, yet all of it is you. Your imagination, it seems to me, is mostly an accidental dance between collected memory and influence, and is not intrinsic to you, rather it is a construction that awaits spiritual ignition. 

Your spirit is the part of you that is essential. It is separate from the imagination, and belongs only to you. This formless pneuma is the invisible and vital force over which we toss the blanket of our imagination — that habitual mix of received information, of memory, of experience — to give it form and language. In some this vital spirit burns fiercely and in others, it is a dim flicker, but it lives in all of us, and can be made stronger through daily devotion to the work at hand.

In my view, John, worry less about what you make — that will mostly look after itself, and is to some extent beyond your control, and perhaps even none of your business — and devote yourself to nourishing this animating spirit. Bring all your enthusiasm to bear on the development of that good and essential force. This is done by a commitment to the creative act itself. Each time you tend to that ingenious spark, it grows stronger, and sets afire the ordinary gifts of the imagination. The more dedication you show to the process, the better the work, and the greater your gift to the world. Apply yourself fully to the task, let go of the outcome, and your true voice will appear. You'll see. It can be no other way. 

Love, Nick

Aha, he doesn't have a direct line with the creative Gods then!

I love the word 'Pneuma', which translates to 'air in motion' or 'breath', as our essence, spirit, and something necessary for us to be us.

So finding and trusting our creative voice is to repeatedly show up, again and again, and again. Bringing with us our own unique spirit to the process. As we do, our work will naturally get better and ‘the greater your gift to the world’.

To show up daily is to do our jobs as the vessels that capture creative sparks. I like to think of ideas as the tiny specks of dust you see when the sun shines through a window. Willing us to catch them, and bring them to life in our perfectly unique way. 

By dedicating ourselves to creative work, we birth these ideas to fruition in a way only we know how. 

It's none of our business if we are any 'good'; it's none of our business what people think. It's simply our job to create and bring all of our Self, spirit, and essence to the process.

Thank you Nick.

Love Georgie

Today I feel unbelievably at peace. I have a tremendous sense of well-being and, dare I say, happiness. This is an unusual feeling, and my brain wants to throw a spanner in the works right now and say:

"it will never last."

"something bad is bound to happen."

"you don't deserve it."

My brain says these words in a Monty Python-esque, Terry Jones, Life Of Brian voice, adding, "you're a very naughty girl!"

In my morning pages today, I touched upon this pervasive voice. 
It's so sneaky. It sounds like me, acts like me, but it's not. 

It is a voice that has developed over many years - through my childhood, teenage years and well into my 20s. Formed by bullies, ill-advised but well-meaning relatives, growing up in the 80s when attitudes to shy, sensitive girls were less than complimentary and simply hanging out with the wrong people because I was scared of my own shadow.

It's taken me until now, my almost mid 40's, to see this pattern and recognise the voice that has been responsible for some severe self-sabotaging.

The voice in our heads is actually acting out of self-preservation. The voice, for the purposes of this post, let's call it Groll, wants to protect us from harm and from danger. Groll thinks by being mean or negative, they'll stop us from entering a situation that could potentially hurt us. Emotionally mostly.

Unfortunately, Groll's well-intentioned words often have the opposite effect. Negative internal dialogue can spiral into depression, low mood, anxiety and unhelpful habits.

You Are Not Your Thoughts

A staple of my mindfulness training and practice was learning that 'thoughts aren't facts' and 'we are not our thoughts'. 
(Write that down somewhere you can see it easily - it's one of the most important lessons you can learn.)

We learn to observe thoughts alongside the emotions and sensations that accompany them in our bodies during our mindfulness practice.

In fact, it's the physical sensations we may often notice first.
Perhaps as butterflies in the tummy, aches and pains in our shoulders or back or a general feeling of lethargy. Possibly feeling that things "just aren't right".

Next, perhaps in that same moment or over time, the actual thoughts/words will present themselves. This is Groll. Groll will second guess you or tell you to be wary of the people around you. Saying words like:

"Don't say that; they'll think your stupid."

"Did you see that look he gave you? He's clearly looking down his nose at you". "They don't take you seriously, you know; you should probably just keep quiet". "Seriously, you shouldn't wear that; you're far too old and flabby!"

"Your artwork just isn't up to scratch; you're better off leaving it and doing something much more useful. Be good. The washing needs putting on, and the dishwasher needs emptying. That's a much better use of your time."

Recognise any of these?

Those sentences are just a tiny fraction of the daily thoughts that plagued my mind at my lowest point a few years ago. But then I discovered mindfulness and learnt that I don't have to believe everything I hear Groll pervasively telling me. 

Ignore it.

This voice is also known as the inner critic, saboteur, and imposter. It's part of an ancient process designed to protect us from predators once upon a time. But it's defunct most of the time in our modern life and instead just causes us to overthink and feel a bit crap.

A visualisation to eliminate unhelpful thoughts

If you hear the voice, try these steps to train your brain to ignore this sneaky voice. You can do this exercise at any moment, pretty much anywhere, and it can take as little as 5 minutes.

• Let's get out of our heads for a moment. Ground yourself by focusing your attention on your feet on the floor or your bum on the chair. Then notice what's happening in your environment. Birds singing. Mechanical noises of computers, gadgets or appliances, perhaps. People chattering or traffic passing by. Do this for 1 - 2 minutes.

• When you're ready, take your focus to your body. Notice the sensations around breathing. The inhale and exhale of your breath. Or the aches, pains or itches in your body. Don't try to change anything; simply notice. At this stage, if a thought arises, firmly but kindly take your focus back to your body. Do this for 1 - 2 minutes.
  By now, the voice in your head may have quietened; however, if it hasn't, that's OK too. There's no right or wrong to this.

• Next is the tricky bit. Allow the sneaky self-critical thoughts to arrive. But take the position of a passive observer. As if you're watching them on a screen or they are someone else thoughts. Do this for no more than 1 minute.

• The next step is your kryptonite against sabotaging critical thoughts.
  As soon as negative thinking arrives, use it as your cue to imagine something else.
  Literally, take your mind somewhere else - but make it lovely, beautiful. Maybe your happy place, someone you love, a delicious meal you want to cook, the lovely bit of cake waiting for you at the cafe. For me, I visualise the art I want to make; the feeling of safety when I have a cuddle with my husband; the peacefulness in my daughters face when she is sleeping, or the fresh baby smell of my 3 kids that only babies have and is just so delicious!

  This is your practice.

By doing this visualisation exercise, you are retraining your brain to move away from negative thoughts or sabotaging voices to more positive ones. 

I love to imagine that the negative neural pathways, that developed in my childhood and early life, will wither, grow weak, and eventually die off over time. By visualising something lovely, I'm creating new and positive pathways which will ultimately become my default way of thinking. The positive connections will grow, and the negative ones will eventually be pruned away entirely because they are no longer needed. 

Because this is how our brains are wired - neuroplasticity - embrace the power of it!
No matter your age, you can change the way you think.

Over time, by practising this visualisation, I've offset my own negative thoughts and emotions. I used to take myself away from situations, but lately, I can use this visualisation in a matter of seconds, in the moment, rather than after the event. As I said, this comes from practice. It's a brain workout, and if you use this type of visualisation, yours will strengthen over time too.

One of the most important questions you can ask:
so what?!

And if the thoughts just keep plaguing you, ask yourself:

“Who cares anyway?
So what?
What's the worst that could happen?
If Mr or Ms Panty Draws doesn't like me and thinks I'm stupid or worthless, that's their problem, not mine."

I'm a kind, loving, generous, fabulously awesome person!
Wrinkles, spots, warts, and all.”

And so are you, my friends.
Gx