Tag Archives: Creativity

Happy Halloween

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Happy Halloween
Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween to You!

This week marks the epitome of the season. You may find yourself walking through your neighborhood and seeing ghosts, witches, carved pumpkins and more as you wander. Tis the season for Halloween spooks and haunts to come out and play.

Do you get into Halloween? For me, it is a time to don my creativity hat and deck out my home from head to toe with seasonal decorations. And I do mean head to toe. For the past 16 years, I have been collecting seasonal decorations for Halloween and, after all of these years, it is a main event to decorate the Treehouse. Bins full of all sorts of decorations are revealed year after year.

At this point some of these items feel like “old friends.” One of my earliest pieces is a small crow with a purple ribbon around his neck. Each year that I meet him again feels like meeting an old part of myself that used to live in an old apartment with just a little space for something special like Mr. Crow. So, in opening the bins and seeing and touching my decorations is almost like touching parts of myself that are from long ago, but also in my present. I love this.

Creativity, one’s history, and then the spirit of fun all come into play during this spooky Halloween season. Each year, I add some new pieces as well. Inevitably, I donate some pieces that no longer seem to suit and replace them with others that appeal to my eye. At the end of this decorating bonanza, I am literally living in a transformed space which underlies the change of seasons and my own changes within as I ready for the dark days of late Autumn and winter. Even though it is difficult to lose the natural daylight, it is also fun to light up Halloween flames that provide a different light to the home and my days.

I am not sure how you may be celebrating Halloween, but if you celebrate I hope you have a pumpkin to carve or an old friend like my Mr. Crow to sit in a special place in your home or have time to enjoy a walk to see how others may be keeping the spirit of the season. Soon the calendar turns to November — the season of Thanksgiving and gratitude. For now, let’s celebrate the spookiness!

Creativity Burst: Painting

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Painting

Not sure if it is the pandemic or something else or both, but I look around and see a lot of people painting.

They are painting houses, walls, furniture, rooms, paintings, and more. People have found a color and a brush and are putting both to task freshening up their décor with a fresh coat of paint. It seems like one of the easiest and least expensive things you can do to change the mood of a room a home or a piece of furniture.

Paint it.

Also, the process calls for a creative heart. You get to choose your color. Let’s say your room was dark – now you paint it white. Hello! The whole mood of the room has changed – and vice versa too. 

Painting also often has you taking down your pictures and covering your furniture and that also often gets a creative refresh when you have to choose what goes back up on the walls. Also, you may add other decorative elements to match your new painted walls – pillows, accent rugs, and more.

And don’t think you have to get fancy. White walls are also amazing. Did you know there are warm and cool tones of white that can really change the look of your room. White is anything but boring and will also need some attention to choose how you would like your white to look.

And, if you dare, how about a deep, bold color like red or purple? How about pairing the two together? Sometimes taking a bold step with colors we choose to paint with can be a prelude to other bold steps in our lives.

If it is painting a picture, how expressive. I hear that Paint By Numbers has become fashionable once again. The idea of painting almost feels meditative. One can safely be in one’s space alone or with one’s family and undertake a creative task that is full of color and transformation. Once you are in your new rooms of color, who knows what may alight upon you.

Stay Open and Paint!

Creativity Burst: Sunflower Seeds

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Sunflower seeds – not that exciting by themselves, as are most seeds. However, think of this creative idea as planting sunshine.

We are limited in what we can do these days, but here is a quick and fun idea to do with your family. Head to your local nursery and purchase some packets of sunflower seeds.

From there, take a drive and sprinkle the seeds as you drive along. This would be best to do on a rural or country road near to where you live. Sprinkle away. If you have kids this could be quite entertaining.

That’s all! Now you have to wait for your sunshine to grow. Whether it be later in the season or next year, take a drive and take in the view of the sunshine you planted long ago. The seeds will take hold and grow. Almost a miracle.

You could also do this in your own back yard or neighborhood if you want to see your results closer to home, but I think a refreshing drive out to the country where you scatter sunflower seeds and then get to see them later is such a quaint idea. It’s one that takes both hope and patience. Whenever we plant, it is an act of not knowing if something will bloom – or not.

Just like in our lives we plant many seeds, but then we often don’t know what is going to take hold and bloom. But we plant and scatter seeds and live in hope that what we put our attention to will bloom. It’s all an act of faith.

Plant some sunshine this summer and wait. What bloomed? Perhaps you.

Creativity Burst: A Positive List for a Negative Habit

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A Positive List for a Negative Habit

How can a positive list change any type of negative habit?

Well, it’s a creative exercise indeed to flip something we criticize ourselves for on its head and see the positive side, i.e. what may be the part of the habit we deemed as negative as something that is giving us something we are missing, longing for, and enacting that feels good.

Usually the way we interact with our bad habits and patterns is to criticize ourselves for having formed and maintained the habits. I often have found the more negative, critical talk about these habits, the more they take hold. Which is the exact opposite of what we want in our heads as we often seek to not do these very things again and again. However, what else to do, but to talk negatively to one’s self and keep up the habit of the negative behavior.

So, it may take a little effort to do this, but if you look at this idea as a creative exercise then it may not feel difficult at all. Also, it will allow for a break from the negativity toward self. In concept, the idea is simple. Take a few moments with yourself and sit down with a pen and paper in hand. From there, write at the top of the page — or wherever on the page — your bad habit or pattern.

Now, instead of thinking about all the bad you think you are for doing this habit and also how you judge the habit to be bad in and of itself — flip it! — and think about all of the good things that you get from doing this habit from the little to the big things. My guess is there is something positive that far outweighs the negative of engaging the pattern or habit that keeps it active for you.

After you see all that is positive in this negative habit, treat yourself compassionately. There are reasons that are valid that drive us to take on “bad” habits and behaviors. By allowing yourself to be compassionate and extending loving kindness may help you get more in touch with how this may be a way for you to express your anger, handle your anxiety, regulate your stress and more. No one action or thing is all bad. Opening up space to look at the positive part of whatever it is may help you tolerate the habit and it may also loosen some of the grip it has on your life.

This is a creative way to approach a bad habit or pattern. Give it a try and see what alights upon you. I hope compassion and kindness above all to yourself.

Creativity Burst: Old Recipes

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Old Recipes Box

Old Recipes? What’s the difference between them and any other recipe? A great deal in fact.

I was reminded of this when my brother reached out to me asking for my Grandmother’s old recipes as he wanted to try a few. Years ago, my Mother gave me all of my Grandparents’ recipes, which are truly a walk back in time. How so?

First off, many of their recipes are typed up – with a typewriter and all. Can you imagine a time when people would put an index card into their typewriter and type up a recipe? How novel. So, many of these recipes are easy to read.

Second, the types of recipes give me some insight into what they enjoyed eating during their own hey day. For my Grandparents, they loved Texas Chili, Dill Pickles, Buttered Noodles, Tomato Pudding, and other old fashioned recipes that people used to make and not just buy for convenience as they do now.

Third, these recipes, in addition to being typed up, are written on all sorts of slips of papers that give some insight into their lives and how they spent their time. One of my favorites is the Holiday Inn hotel bill that had them spend one night for $15. On the back of the receipt is my Grandmother’s handwriting scribbling down some recipe she heard from whomever she was visiting.

What does all of this have to do with creativity? For me, it gives me a burst to see how others who have gone before me enjoyed their food. Back in those days, people made it from scratch and that feels important to this time. People are back to baking bread and making their own delicious recipes, those that will mark this time as part of our own personal history.

If you have a collection of recipes somewhere in your family it may be the perfect time to give them a review. You may learn what they enjoyed, how they recorded it, as well as some history along the way depending on where they wrote down their recipes. One’s mind can wander back to that time and find reassurance that older generations made their way through, through both good and challenging times, and what they were eating as they did so.

The continuity of care provided by these recipes gives me a creative burst of energy to try one of their recipes or even one of my own. It also inspires me to write my own recipes down on sheets of paper that feel so modern now, but in 50 years will seem vintage, like scraps of paper.

Given this time when people are cooking up a storm as they did many years ago, use it as a space to learn more about people and how they cooked before you and find ways to record your own experience as it is sure to be treasured by the future people who read you and your recipes.

Creativity Burst: Puzzle Time

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Puzzle Time
Pandemic Puzzle Time!

Pandemic Puzzle Time!

It seems that these days all things old are new again. And this is true when it comes to puzzles. Remember the big jumbo 1000 piece puzzles you would do as a kid with other kids or your family. The pieces would be laid out on a large flat surface. There the puzzle pieces would sit beckoning to be put together.

It would often take hours to get it done over several days. Of course, starting at the corners, building the outside edge of the puzzle, and then filling it in — often by figuring out smaller puzzles that then fit into the big puzzle. It was quite something to see 1000 puzzle pieces be pieced together to find the picture on the front of the box.

With time on our hands and people in the house, puzzles offer us a place to ground ourselves in pieces that we can touch, creating a picture that is worth a 1000 pieces. There is something very satisfying to working a puzzle. I have seen puzzles in waiting rooms of therapy offices and often someone is in front of it working a piece of the puzzle. There are no apps, no screens, nothing bright and glitzy – just little pieces to put together. In this respect it feels really old fashioned.

It can also lead one to a sense of creativity as you are building picture of some sort as you work to solve the puzzle. Something that may be fun to do with your kids is to have them create their own puzzle. This doesn’t have to be 1000 pieces, but, using a thick piece of cardboard type paper, have them cut out different shapes that they seek to fit together to create their own picture. The can color in the picture once all of the blank pieces are pieced together. From there, pull it apart and solve their puzzle. Everyone in the family could do one and then hand it off to another family member to solve.

Puzzle time is back and in full force. I don’t think they ever went away — they just took our attention again when we had some time to solve them.

Creativity Burst: Collective Dreaming

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Woman Dreaming
Are you capturing your dreams?

Can you imagine the phenomena of Collective Dreaming? What does this even mean?

If you are curious about the whole idea, you are not alone. I wanted to know more myself when I saw a headline in the Seattle Times about the recent pandemic affecting our dreams on a global scale. If you have not been sleeping well and/or having nightmares, anxious dreams, worried dreams about loved ones, you are not alone.

Collectively, people across the globe are dreaming in these ways – together we are sharing similar dreams, but we are apart. Our dream state is now mirroring our wake state. There is even a term given for all of us dreaming during this time: COVID Dreamers. Are you one of the millions dreaming like this at night?

Now that we are on the subject, how are you sleeping generally? Are you able to fall asleep, i.e. let go into your unconscious world, are you awake until the wee hours vigilant that nothing should happen to you or your loved ones, are you remembering your dreams, when you wake do you feel well-rested? One creative idea is to bring your attention to these questions and check in to see how sleep is going for you.

From there, I recommend having a little journal beside your bed. This can be used in a myriad of ways that may prove helpful to you before, during, and after you sleep. Some ideas include:

  1. Making a list of all that is on your mind that is making you worried or anxious. Taking time to write these things down can help you externalize them from yourself. Make note to tell yourself afterwards, they are all there safely written down. You will pick them up when you wake again.
  2. To help promote intentional dreaming, ask yourself a question that is on your mind several times before you sleep. You can add this question to your notebook as well. Do this for several nights in a row and look for answers from your unconscious as you sleep.
  3. If you happen to wake up to a dream, nightmare, or a thought on your mind, grab your notebook and write down what you recall immediately. It will most likely be lost within minutes of waking, so having the notebook and pen will make it convenient to record.
  4. Same thing when you wake, whatever you recall from your dreams, how you feel, how you slept can all be recorded to track your sleep cycle and keep track of what is unfolding at night in your mind.

Sharing dreams, engaging dreams, looking up the meaning of dreams can all serve as fodder for what is going on with ourselves that we may not be aware of when we are awake. A mystery unfolds each night for ourselves to uncover and learn more about ourselves.

The idea of collective dreaming about this pandemic and the many ways it is a nightmare for all of us is a unique shared experience of our dream life. Sharing your dreams and inviting others to do the same with you can lead to new ideas and thoughts about self that can not only drive further understanding of self, but a creative way to tap into you.

A journal and pen or pencil is all you need. Also, the will and interest to know about yourself through dreaming.

Creativity Burst: Backyard Photography

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Backyard Photography Humingbird
Are you a budding photographer?

Backyard Photography? Say what?

These days, while we all are sheltering in place, provides a time to take our interests and elevate them. How to do this when our world, that is our supposed oyster, is within the confines of our home and yard can be a challenge — until you give it a little more thought.

If you like to take photos on your trips – even with only your phone – this is a time to dig in and get creative with your photography skills at home. Luckily this time is happening during spring when everything is coming into full bloom. The flowers are blooming, the leaves on the trees are bursting forth, the birds are at their feeders, the bunnies are hopping, and more.

A simple walk around your neighborhood will bring this all alive for you, but so too will a walk around your own yard. Don’t forget your camera when you head out the next time to take it in. Here is where a creative challenge can arise for you that may help you look at the world in a way that you really see the season in action.

Head out to your bird feeder and wait for the birds and then try to capture them eating or drinking the nectar. See a bunny in someone’s yard – or your own- can you focus on his cotton tail and capture it? How about the blossoms – can you get up close and pick up the texture of the petals via your photography skills? Even an amateur can take time right now to try a new angle, a new lens, a new way of taking a photo – this experimentation can lead to a burst forth of creative energy.

Even better? Involve the entire family and encourage them to take photos on your walks and around your home. Then, afterwards, review the photos together to see how people saw their subjects and why they decided to capture the flower, bunny, or bird in the way they did. Even better? Print off your photos and create a collage of them as a memory to hold on to — how you and your family saw the world during this unique time.

I am not a professional photographer by any means, but when I travel, I love to capture the scenes I take in as I go along. This is a reminder that we can capture them at home as well. There is magic and life happening where we call home. Opening our minds and grabbing our cameras are the two keys we need for this creative exercise.

Creativity Burst: Dyeing Easter Eggs

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Dyeing Eggs
A Spring Tradition

Happy Spring. For many people, this is Easter week in the Christian church. It feels a little strange this year given most are unable to gather for worship services or a big Easter Brunch. I had plans to celebrate, but the holiday and the week will be far less grand as I continue — like you – to “shelter in place.”

However, we can still keep some of our traditions that are creative, colorful, and fun. For me, this has to be dyeing Easter eggs for the holiday. Whether as a child or an adult, I always look forward to the PAAS Kit that gives you the little tablets that get all fizzy in vinegar, the clear crayon to write names on the eggs, and stickers and other fun decorative elements for the eggs. As an adult, dyeing Easter eggs takes me back to my childhood and fun, simple, family memories that I appreciate keeping alive for myself all these many years later.

Of course, there are many ways to dye Easter eggs that have nothing to do with PAAS. I remember the year that I lived in Australia and went to the grocery store at Easter time to find my PAAS kit. After scouring the store for what seemed like forever, I ended up asking a store manager where the kit was. He looked at me like I had lost my mind. I was in complete disbelief to learn he had never even heard of the PAAS kit. Now, Australia celebrates Easter in a big way, how could they not dye eggs there? “Oh,” he answered, “you want to color your eggs? Check out the food coloring in aisle 8!” That’s right coloring eggs is old school there.

So, I know there are many ways to dye Easter eggs that are much more natural and innovative. In fact, here are ideas for how to make your colors naturally. During these times, when we have a lot more time on our hands, it may be the year to go natural.

For me, I do find this project to be a creative one. To take regular eggs, hardboil them, and color them using a commercial product like PAAS or natural vegetables to make your own dyes, this is a wonderful project to welcome in spring and do something fun to celebrate the season.

Of course, the next thing to do is to hide the eggs and hunt for them. Always fun for the kids, but even adults may have fun hiding and go seeking eggs this year. If this hunt is for adults, make sure to be creative with your hiding places.

Sometimes creativity is sparked by going “old school” and doing something that you did when you were much younger to reconnect with that earlier time in life that was full of simple pleasures. This would be a great week to dye some eggs, hide some eggs, and get in touch with your inner child and how she wants a spark of creativity in her world.

Creativity Burst: Tune Translation for the Times

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Girl listens to tunes to translate for the times

What can get all of us through a particularly stressful time? Listening to favorite music seems to be a way to not only relax, but also take our minds to other times and places that are pleasurable. I am amazed when a song comes on that was popular back when I was 14 and I can remember a specific memory from that time as though it was a moment ago, Music transports us, uplifts us, and can cause a happy affect.

Now, how to use music during a time like this? I tried something this past week that really not only got me thinking about my favorite songs, but how to spoof them to fit the times. I made a series of very brief video clips with me singing a refrain from the song that I changed to meet these pandemic times.

One of the songs I sang to was the catchy tune,”Can’t Touch This.” I danced like a crazy bird and just snag the refrain a few times and then said, “Pandemic, Can’t touch me!” Completely silly and fun. Putting it up on social media took some guts, but I figured others could use some hilarity to their days.

I decided to record a few more. First, I had to think of some favorite tunes that matched the times and have the chance to change a word or two, record it, and post it. My mind really got excited to take on this little project for a few days in a row. It lead me to have a burst of creativity to be sure.

Like,”I’m not leaving on a jet plane, Don’t know when I will go again, Oh, Babe, I wish I could go.”

Ha! The proper translation of this song during these times. I think it would be so fun for people to come up with their song lines that match these times, sing it, record, and post. All of us not only would give ourselves a good laugh, but a burst of creativity too.

Give it a try and “Don’t hand me no lines, and keep your hands to yourself!” (Another creative song adaptation for good measure!)