Cynthia Morris's Blog, page 42

What’s Your Creative Edge for 2016?

Happy New Year, creative friends! I love this opportunity to hit the refresh, reset, refocus button. Frankly, it takes a few weeks into January before I feel I have solid footing on the new year.

But it’s never too late to consider your current creative edge.

The theme of my 2015 Annual Report was Thriving at the Creative Edge. At the beginning of the year, I posted a rallying cry to identify, focus on and live at your creative edge.

Rather than goal setting, or choosing a word of the year to focus my efforts, I prefer to think about my current creative edge. If you’re looking for a way to be more creatively satisfied this year, read on.

What’s a creative edge? A creative edge is points us toward a specific and actionable focus. It’s that place in your writing, art or professional work where you:

need to improve skills
feel uncomfortable and out of your depth
are hyper-engaged
learn the most
grow rapidly.

When someone comes to me for help getting ‘unstuck’, I invite them to find their current creative edge. It takes courage and commitment to be at the creative edge. But it’s the best place to be, because it’s where we create, where we find our originality, and where we grow as artists and people.

It’s often the place we avoid. An edge I’ve been avoiding is learning software to help me with my illustration. I know I need to know how to use Adobe Illustrator and/or Photoshop. But I blow it off year after year because I don’t want to spend more time at the computer. I prefer to be at my drawing, painting and essay-writing edges.

Still, when I reflect back on 2015, I see that I was at my creative edge a lot. I worked on many projects that forced me to learn, be alert and grow past my perceived limitations. It wasn’t always easy, but I saw a direct impact on my coaching and teaching. My own art, business and personal edges contribute to my edge as a coach. Even if we are working in different genres, I am right alongside my clients in taking risks, trying new things and hitting ’send’.

So many things happened for my creative work in 2015 that I couldn’t have anticipated. A word of the year or a set of goals wouldn’t have helped me navigate all the unexpected things that happened. But my creative edge was both focused enough and and broad enough to help me feel an ongoing sense of engagement, challenge and satisfaction

2016 Creative Edge

My creative edge for 2016 is Visual Communication. I know that sounds like a college course. For me, it points me in the direction of communicating my ideas using fewer words and more illustrations. I’ve been experimenting with micro-essays that accompany my Instagram art posts and have really loved it.

With that focus in mind, I will continue to build on 2015’s creative edge. My focus last year was making things I could sell. I produced my Writual Blessings deck as well as a series of paintings that I sold. I have several ideas for things I want to make in 2016 and beyond including and illustrated book, a series of greeting cards and prints, and card decks.

Define your creative edge

What was your creative edge in 2015?

How did this creative edge grow you?

What is your creative edge for 2016?

My 2015 Annual Report is a round-up of how things went at my creative edge this year. It includes revelations, resources and a deep dive behind the scenes of my creative, coaching and travel adventures. Get your copy here. 

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Thriving at the Creative Edge

In 2013, I published an extensive annual review. Over 1,000 people downloaded this peek into my creative process. In the report, I gave myself full freedom to share my wins, my challenges and my hopes for the following year. So many people responded favorably, telling me that they have re-read the report and that it inspired them to their own creative wins.

I’m at it again with a 2015 report. This magazine-length document shares:

stories from my creative edge
revelations about my 2015 art school
confessions about my own process
insights into how I make a living as a creative person
resource list including favorite podcasts, books and films
peek into 2016
and much, much more.

I’ll be honest; it wasn’t easy to be this transparent about my work and creative life. But I’ll let you in on a secret:

I wrote the first draft of the report for me. Reviewing the year gave me so much joy and satisfaction. The savoring process really works to help me end the year on a high note, with eager anticipation for 2016. Subsequent drafts helped me make this a report that hopefully has a lot of value for you.

My hope is that sharing this document with you will help you savor your year. In my annual report, I offer several templates for doing your own annual review. If you have 30 minutes or more, you can do this process for yourself.

My designer Kate Glover put my report into a colorful and luscious package for you to enjoy. It’s not short – I didn’t hold anything back for this one. The report is available here. Download your copy, brew a cup of something yummy and share the savoring with me.

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Joyful solutions from SARK’s new book

I was thrilled to receive a review copy of SARK’s new book, Succulent Wild Love, co-authored with her fiancée John Waddell. I’ve read a lot of books about relationships and this one really stood out. I love SARK’s colorful, deep and insightful books and this is no exception. I’ve been telling my friends to read it right away.

The section on Joyful Solutions is useful for anyone. How do we share our lives with others without feeling like we are always battling or compromising? Here’s a…you guessed it..joyful solution.

Believe You Can Create a Joyful Solution

An Excerpt from Succulent Wild Love

Most people spontaneously look for solutions that meet everyone’s needs. We want to please the people we love and want to please ourselves. It’s when we get stuck that we start to look for a compromise or think someone has to sacrifice.

To create a Joyful Solution, you start with the attitude that everyone can get what they want. That is the biggest factor. Starting from that approach is so powerful because when you believe that everyone can get what they want, you can help the other person get what makes them happy.

Often people are focused on scarcity: they think there is only a limited amount of whatever, so they have to put all their energy into trying to get what they can of it. Then the other person picks up on that and feels pushed away. And then they feel they also have to put all their energy into getting whatever they can, and it becomes a tug-of-war.

But the dynamic changes dramatically when you approach the other person with the attitude of “This is what I want. Help me understand what you want, because I want to help you get what you want too.”

When people feel that, the tension dissipates. From that emotional place they will often happily make adjustments because they see it as getting them closer to what they want.

So, creating Joyful Solutions begins with believing you can. The greatest limitation to finding a fully satisfying solution for everyone in any situation is the belief that compromise is as far as you can go.

There is nothing inherently wrong with compromise, but intimate relationships feel more secure and supportive when both people know they’re on the same side. When people are limited to compromise or even sacrifice, each person tends to think they must push against the other or give up.

Two Key Parts to Finding Joyful Solutions

Finding the Essence

While you may not always be able to get what appears on the surface, you can find a way to get the essence of what you want. Say there is only one piece of blueberry pie left and two of you want it. If your friend eats it, there’s none for you. A good compromise would be for each of you to get half. That’s easy, and most of us would stop there. Everyone gave up an even amount.

But what if you don’t want to give anything up? If you stay focused on either you or your friend getting that last piece of pie, then you’re stuck — there’s only one. Instead, each of you can ask yourself, “What is the essence of what I want?” Perhaps one of you wants the taste of blueberries and the other wants pie or just a sweet dessert.

On the surface, it looks like you want the same thing — that last piece of pie. But what it means to each of you can be vastly different. Getting the pie is the solution to fulfilling a desire. When you look at the essence of that desire, you can begin to see that there might be other ways to fulfill it.

So the question to ask is, What is it that each of you is looking for when you say you want the pie (or whatever the surface issue is)?

A friend of ours who is a mediator has a great story about two farmers who were fighting over an orange grove. When they were finally forced to sit down and talk to each other, to their surprise, they found out one wanted the orange rinds and the other wanted the juice.

Go Wide

Once you know the essence, you can begin to go wide — that is, look for alternatives that can fulfill the essence. In our pie example, you might ask, “Are there any other sweet desserts in the house? Can we easily get something even better somewhere else?” You could even go on a dessert-hunting adventure.

The main things that keep people from joining together to create Joyful Solutions are anger and mistrust. If you wait to approach the other person until you or they are angry, or if you have a history of approaching each other with criticism,  one or both of you will not want to participate.

So if you feel angry, before you begin engaging with the other person, use your Inner Feeling Care System to rebalance yourself. When you know you can create solutions that feel good, it will be relatively easy to take charge of your anger rather than having it take charge of you.

Once you begin to send clear, unambivalent messages that you want to help the other person (knowing you can get what you want too), any anger or mistrust they have will dissolve over time.

# # #

SARK (Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy) and Dr. John Waddell are the authors of Succulent Wild Love. SARK is a best-selling author and artist, with sixteen titles in print and well over two million books sold.  Dr. John has been helping individuals and couples lead happier lives for over 30 years through his clinical psychology practice and metaphysical teachings. Visit them online at PlanetSARK.com.

Excerpted from the book Succulent Wild Love ©2015 by SARK and Dr. John Waddell.  Printed with permission of New World Library. www.newworldlibrary.com

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Returning to your writing after an absence

If you’re like me, sometimes it’s a struggle to stay on track with your creative projects. We make public commitments and big resolutions to stick to our plans.

But that doesn’t work. Sticking to a plan like a militant writer or artist isn’t how life works for us. In all of my years as a coach, I know that life will always interrupt our routine. Vacations. Illnesses. Visitors or even just our own creative slump can derail us. Then we feel bad and this guilt contributes to inertia that prevents us from getting our groove back.

That’s okay! It’s normal! Life is rarely under our control. What I’ve found helps most is to devise a simple approach to get back on track easily.

It is much easier to develop a very simple ritual or micro-action for returning back to your writing than to be rigid. Here are some suggestions for writers that apply to creatives in any medium.

Sit with an open notebook and brush your hand across the page.
Open the last page you wrote and read it with a curious eye.
Make a 2-minute date to write gibberish, literally words that have no meaning.
Have a 5-minute date describing the space around you in sensual detail.
Use this prompt to begin a free-write: What now, my dear writer?

Notice how simple they are? Don’t be fooled; these micro-actions can be powerful. They’re meant to lure you into your creative zone where you will be tempted to fall back in love with your medium of choice.

Too often, we punish ourselves with high expectations. We go gangbusters, thinking we are going to do a three-hour stint. This is WAY more harmful than we think. Setting ourselves up to have a long writing session

Try ONE of these, or a similarly simple action, for slipping back easily into your writing practice.

What micro-actions help you get back on track with your creative practice?  Leave a comment!

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Paris, Oh Paris

Paris, oh Paris. I mourn for those who died that night, for those who were injured, and for every single person in the city who is experiencing the trauma of these events. I wish there were something I could do to make the pain go away but sadly, pain exists. It’s our work to reconcile that pain with the love we feel for Paris.

Paris is a glorious hub of expression and freedom. For a long time, it’s been a place where people go to be free, to discover themselves and to express their truth. I have been leading annual creativity workshops for ten years in Paris, and it’s always a source of inspiration for me and my students.

Paris is a city of unstoppable beauty and grace, from the elegant Hausmann buildings and boulevards to the tiniest detailed swirl on a manhole cover.

And, Paris is also a city with a long history of violence, from the Bastille uprising to the French revolution to the Nazi occupation.

When I visit Europe, the history of intense violence there is always present alongside the beauty of the present day.

When I stroll through Paris, savoring the scents and sights, coming upon another plaque commemorating someone who was gunned down by the Nazis…violence and hatred are there.

When I zoom around the Place de la Concord on bike, my joy rides alongside the knowledge of the many people who lost their lives to the guillotine there.

This is our world. Unimaginable violence jockeying with glorious beauty. How do we reconcile the two?

My life’s work is devoted to helping people express what is inside them. To write books. To make art. To build businesses. My hope is that the creative work we do contributes to the side of the equation that is a force of good and light. That somehow, the doodles we make, the essays we write, the fictions we craft make this world a better place, even if we don’t know how exactly.

Paris is a magnet for people who come to express themselves. It’s beyond unfortunate that some people express themselves by harming others. Expressing ourselves at the harm of others is never okay. Bullying, domestic abuse, gun-wielding expression are not okay. They are the lowest form of expression, expression that exists only in its ability to debase others.

Paris, like all places, houses the good, the bad, and the truly ugly. I don’t know how to reconcile the violence with the beauty. I can only stand for love, beauty and the power of creative expression.

Stand with me. Express yourself. Express your truth. Express your love. Peace.

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Take inspiration into action and be a happy creative person

Online classes. In-person retreats. Blogs. Webinars. Books, magazines, TV.

You’ve consumed all of these things in joy, wonder and a desire to make your creative projects happen. You leave inspired and uplifted.

And then….what happens? Sometimes, nothing.

If you’re like me and a lot of people I know, you LOVE all these goodies. It’s so fun and exciting. But when it comes time to make your own stuff, to write your own masterpieces, to build your business or body of work, you’re still in consumer mode.

Switching from consumer mode to creator mode can be incredibly difficult. I know I’ve seen my attention span shrink. And, when we consume all that advice and information, we can lose our sense of what’s right for us. Faced with many decisions, we make none.

You can’t ride them all! You have to choose one to go somewhere.

And we go back into the consuming loop, checking Facebook, Instagram and our blog subscriptions. OY!

I know you want to be more than just a consumer. You wouldn’t be in the Impulses loop if you were on the planet just to watch other people make things and show their talents.

How to take inspiration to action? There are a lot of things I can suggest but today I will focus on two ways to drill down and make your dreams a reality.

Return to yourself

If you’re a-swirl with ideas and no sense of direction, stop, drop and free-write. Free-writing can be used for all kinds of writing. In this case, you’re using it to get clear direction on what to do. It’s AMAZING how this simple tool can cut through the noise and help you hear your own truth and direction.

Use these two prompts in consecutive order. Write for five minutes on the first prompt, then switch to the second prompt. Feel free to write for as long as you need to get clarity.

1) My focus now is….

2) That class/blog/book/webinar (INSERT RECENT INSPIRATION) will help me with this focus by….

When you finish the free-write, read it over and see what’s there. Make some brief notes to give you direction as if you’ve just heard from the wisest person in your life about what you should do now. Then do the next step.

Plan your time

Now, look at your calendar and commitments. What have you already committed to? And how much space do you have for your main focus?

Then, schedule time for your focus. It may be finishing an ongoing project. It may be initiating a new project. Either way, get clear on how much time you have for this project.

Once you know the work ahead, and see the amount of time you have to devote to the project, this should help you see how much room you have left for consuming things. Hopefully this will tip the ratio in favor of creating.

I want you to have these last three months of the year be poignant and potent. I want you to leave the year feeling great. I hope this simple process helps you focus, follow through and finish things that matter to you. Let me know how it goes in a comment below.

Join me to make your own projects happen now

Want a chance to make time every day to write your OWN stuff? How about a class that’s all about writing. Not reading others’ writing. Not getting critique. Just a focused place to write daily.

If writing is one of your projects, my online writing class Free-Write Fling is a great way to get past blocks and just write. Some reasons why this is great to get your work done:

The focus is on you writing every day, for at least 15 minutes.
You can use this class for ANY kind of writing.
There is no obligation to interact with others or read anyone else’s writing.
No one will critique your writing. You are free to get that shaggy first draft OUT.
You can use my prompts or prompts from your project. I show you how to do that in class.
At the end of October, you will have made significant progress on your own work.

Doesn’t that sound good? Focus on your own work? I thought so! We start writing tomorrow and I can’t wait.

Join us here.

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Gutsy Geek Writes the Book!

It’s such a thrill when a client finishes a book! And it’s an even greater thrill when that books makes the extra mile out the door and into the world.

I only coach people to write books I believe in, and this new book is a world-changer! Rami, of Gutsy Geek, has released his how-to guide The Geek’s Guide to Getting the Girl.

I can’t tell you how much fun it was to coach Rami to get this book out of his head and blog and into book form. Rami’s blog, Gutsy Geek, has already helped so many people feel more confident and ready to date. And now, his book will take things even further for more great geek dating!

Rami jumped on a call with me to share how he made it past the many obstacles between his great idea and this book making its debut into the world.

Listen in on our conversation here.

Rami shares his motivation for writing the book and how that helped him stay on track. He also discusses his publishing decisions and how he’s using what he learned from writing this book to work on other projects.

Get your copy here. 

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How to WOW It Up Anywhere

What is Capture the WOW, anyway? It’s a workshop. An approach to travel and life. But what’s underneath it?

This summer, I clarified what this WOW is all about. I went to my summer office repeatedly (yoga mat in the park) to clarify what’s underneath all the color and play in a journal.

I’ll be practicing these tenets on my upcoming trip to Europe while I work my creative edge. I’ve got a wee project I’ll be working on that will help me make the most of the WOW I encounter in Berlin, Paris and Barcelona.

Let’s WOW it up

The basic principles of Capture the WOW can be distilled into eight tenets. No matter where you are, you can practice any one of these to feel instantly more creative.

1. Slow down. Speeding around all stressed out doesn’t improve your output or impact.

2. Make space. Nothing is created when our days are packed, when rushing from one thing to the next.

3. Go analog. Tune out to tune into the world and yourself. Treat yourself to some digital downtime for more insights and connection to your creative contribution.

4. Cultivate your attention. What you pay attention to feeds or depletes your vitality and your originality.

5. Attune to your WOW lens. Open yourself to the wonders of the world all around you. Be a porous wonder sponge for all the world has to offer.

6. Dial back the control tower. Become an explorer, a discover, an adventurer. Get lost to find treasures. Be curious.

7. Free yourself to play. Fun and lightness, especially with others, is key to regaining that kid-like joy that feels so good. Play stimulates our creativity.

8. Imperfection is your ally. Be messy. Be inefficient. It won’t kill you. But it may lead to your next best in art and life.

Notice this isn’t about having the right supplies, the right notebook or a whole afternoon to wander. You can WOW it up anywhere, anytime.

Try it! See if you can play with even one of these tenets and notice what’s different for your creativity.

Hint: number 1 and 2 are most important!

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100 Paintings Art Exhibit in Boulder, Friday August 14th

The 100 Day Project was so much fun! In case you missed my recap of what I gleaned from doing 100 paintings in 100 days, check it out here.

I’m hosting an exhibit of the watercolor paintings I did for the project this Friday. My friend Alix Christian also did 100 watercolor paintings and she’s hosting our show in her art studio.

The show is one night only, so if you’re in Colorado, be sure to come check it out!

Details

Friday, August 14th only

5:30 – 8:30 pm

4593 N. Broadway, C-105

Boulder, Colorado

The studio is in a cluster of art studios behind the shops facing the street. Can’t wait to see you there!

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10 Insights from 100 Days of Painting

When I heard about Elle Luna’s call to action to do The 100 Day Project, I knew I had to sign up. The mission: make something – anything – for 100 days, April 6th – July 14th.

I had never done anything of this scope before. Sure, I’ve written every day for 30 days and I’ve also made art for 30 days, but ONE HUNDRED?! That’s a lot. That’s a big commitment.

I decided to do 100 paintings on square paper, 8 x 8. No more complicated than that. Within those parameters I could paint whatever I wanted. Here’s what happened, in ten insights.

1 I loved this commitment. Commitment focuses and grounds me. Being engaged in projects makes me happy and makes it much easier to make art. Be bold. Commit to something and watch your confidence grow.

2 It was fun to experiment. I played with patterns. I did a self-portrait. I loved the freedom to play and explore. The explorations led me to places I wouldn’t have expected. I loved making abstract paintings. Get out of your box every once in awhile.

3 I loved sharing on Instagram. I thrived on the likes. It felt good to be connected to others through my art, to see the impact it had on my IG friends. This immediate feedback loop was a great reason to keep doing something on a daily basis. Our friends spur us on.

4 I had to follow my original impulse. While it is wonderful to receive the love, I also couldn’t make things based on what I thought people would like. I had to keep making based on what felt right for me. Make first for yourself, then for others.

5 I always had time to paint. There was only one day where I made a painting that was ridiculously quick and bad. I literally had no time to do anything better, so I just went with it, whipping out a silly sketch, tossing some color on it. During this time period, I was of course still working with my clients and students.

I also did two major art projects, illustrating a book and doing the wrap sheet for the Two Hands Paperie newsletter. No matter how busy we are, there is always time for our creativity.

6 I am not the best judge of my own output. I tell this to my clients all the time, but I had to keep learning it for myself. One day I painted my hand with my mala beads on my wrist. My inner critic pounced on me as I scanned it in. The voice told me the painting was shallow, trite and not very well done. My critic chided me, saying I needed to spend some time thinking about my art, to develop a deeper reasoning behind what I am doing.

I posted the image anyway. And guess what? People loved it. I got 83 likes on that one. Don’t listen to your inner critic.

7 I could analyze more, but I didn’t want to. For me, making art is a place where I am not thinking. Where my intuition guides me. I cry in art classes where I have to memorize hot or cold or transparent or semi-transparent paints. I really don’t want to know. I want to make art from somewhere other than my thinking, planning, strategizing mind. This may change, but for now, that’s where I am with it. Flow with your intuition.

8 For me, making art is an homage to the things I love in this world. I love drawing and painting the simple pleasures of my world. The cups, the flowers, the plants, the glasses. The simple pleasures of life both ground us and elevate us. My art speaks to that simple appreciation of what we surround ourselves with. Love what you love.

9 Working in a series is fun. That said, I did enjoy the series I started with. I liked having a focus with an idea behind it. It felt good to have a concept behind the lines and colors. Repetition can be empowering.

10 It was fun to do ‘Shelfies’ – paintings of the books I am currently reading. This is a great way to share what I am reading without having to do a book review. I will continue this experiment in shape, color and hand lettering. Trying new things can lead to new ways of making.

In summary

Doing this challenge helped me fall in love with painting more and more every day. I feel there is so much inside me that wants to come out. There are so many things to capture in line and color. I’m just at the beginning of my art career.

This was such a rich experiment. I loved it completely. I will do it again. I wanted to keep going, to continue with a daily project. But like most things, I operate in cycles. And now I am in a different cycle.

What does this spark in you? What’s compelling for you about doing a long-term project like this?

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