Creativity Tips Newsletter
The Newsletter of Lifespace Coaching ™
Volume 1, No. 4, May 7, 2004
Published every other Friday. To manage your subscription, see the end of this message.
CONTENTS OF THIS ISSUE
>>Feeling Stuck? Experience Coaching in a Fr^ee Telegathering
>>Study Demonstrates How Well Coaching Works
>>Creativity Tips Subscriber Promo
>>Article: Short on Time? Complete One Action Per Day
>>TIP: How to Invent Your Creativity Schedule; Let Go of Shoulds
>>SiteSeeing: How Do You Make Art from a Bodega?
>>The Art Prompt: Twyla Tharp's Egg
>>Quotable Quote
>>Off the Bookshelf
>>Copyright and Subscribe/Unsubscribe
>>Feeling Stuck? Experience Coaching in a Free Telegathering
Are you feeling stuck in life?
Are you ready to make powerful and lasting changes?
Join this free telegathering as we discuss:
**How we can create different results in our lives by shifting the observer that we are;
**How making requests can create space for our creativity to thrive.
A lucky volunteer can receive FR^EE coaching! Email me at deborah@lifespacecoach.com with your interest.
How Does This Work?
After you register, you'll receive the phone number and PIN code. At the appointed time, you'll dial in to a U.S. phone number to join in the telegathering. The only cost is whatever you pay for your long distance.
Learn more about Deborah, creativity coach and poet, here: http://www.lifespacecoach.com/bio.html
Learn more about Jill Weinknecht, creativity coach and soprano, here: http://www.jillnicole.com
Email: deborah@lifespacecoach.com to register.
DATE: May 29, 2004, 12 noon to 12:45 p.m. EST
>>Study Demonstrates How Well Coaching Works
Coaching facilitates meaningful change in nearly all domains Of life. Sherrill Nixon of the Sydney (Australia) morning Herald reports on a new study that shows the effectiveness of coaching. Read the article at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/07/04/1057179163923.html.
Are you struggling with time imbalances? Are you ready to discover your life's purpose? I'm interviewing now for both individual and group openings in June, July and August. Learn more about my coaching at http://www.lifespacecoach.com. If you'd like to choose from among several coaches (I'm not the perfect coach for everyone--go figure) send me an email at deborah@lifespacecoach.com, and I'll send you a list.
>>Article: Short on Time? Complete One Action Per Day
"The dignity of the artist lies in his duty of keeping awake the sense of wonder in the world. In this long vigil he often has to vary his methods of stimulation; but in this long vigil he is also himself striving against a continual tendency to sleep." -- Marc Chagall
This quote reminds me how easy it is not to move forward with our most important goals. Clients often come to me and say they are doing nearly everything in life except what they want to do.
Our body continually strives for homeostasis in temperature, health, etc. As humans, we tend to want to remain secure and in place instead of forging ahead with new ideas and thoughts. Yet we need to move forward in order to fulfill our desire to create.
Try this. When you wake up in the morning, ask yourself:
"What's the most important task I could complete today that would help me move toward my goals?"
What comes to mind first? What comes to mind second? Write these down.
When I ask myself about my most important task, all the small unnecessary tasks (laundry, paying bills that aren't due, dusting) fall to the wayside and I focus on what I need to do to move forward in my creative life. Of course you'll need to do laundry and dust at some point. By asking the question above, you begin training your mind that your goal-related tasks are important. The dusting can usually wait.
As the day goes on, ask yourself "What's the most important thing I could be doing now?" Are you doing it? Questions such as these can get us back on track when we let ourselves get sucked into cleaning out the closet we've cleaned out several times before.
>>SiteSeeing: How Do You Make Art from a Bodega?
Creativity Tips subscriber, Josh Goldstein, creates Bodega Art. I'm about to become the happy owner of some of his work this month. Now I'll let the words from his web site speak for themselves. . .
Nobody seems to know the exact origins of the bright, corrugated metal awnings and signs that crown countless bodegas throughout New York City, but for over 30 years, their flashing bulbs have beckoned with promises of ice cold beer and sodas, hot coffee and sandwiches, and fresh meat.
These signs are part of the unmistakable landscape of New York, a burst of tropical warmth that spread from Latin neighborhoods to create a comfort zone on nearly every corner. But one by one, bodegueros -- as the store owners call themselves in Spanish -- are tearing down these iconic relics in favor of cheaper vinyl awnings.
Bodega Artist Josh Goldstein says: "I began photographing signs and storefronts on my rides around the city. . .it was the bodega that finally caught my attention. I am attracted by the bodegas' bright colors, bold graphics, and rotating set of key words and phrases, as well as by their can-do entrepreneurial spirit and current state of faded glory. I have been photographing vintage bodega signs in Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and the Bronx for the past two years, collecting thousands of images with my Elph digital camera and beat-up Specialized Hardrock bike."
Visit his web site at: http://www.bodeganyc.com/
>>The Art Prompt:
Have you ever felt stumped about how to move forward on a creative project?
Twyla Tharp recommends The Egg. Lie on your back and draw your arms and legs into your body until you are in the shape of an egg. Then, move your body however you want to invent a new egg such as--Splattered Egg, Happy Egg, Eggs-cited, Mystery Egg, Eggs-elent, and so on.
Does this sound silly? Well, it is! The point is to have fun, let go, and let your creativity discover something new.
Although Tharp has choreographed dances for decades, she does The Egg every day and finds a new position every time. When she taught this to dance students, she was amazed to see them coming up with new Eggs she'd never thought up herself. Think of the possibilities!
Next time you're stuck, try The Egg.
>>TIP: Invent Your Creativity Schedule; Let Go of Shoulds
Create your ideal week and schedule time for painting, cooking, writing, reading, meditation, etc. that you find necessary for a balanced life.
Creating my "Creativity Schedule" allowed me to let go of the "shoulds." For instance, I no longer think I *should* be exercising when I am reading a book or cooking a complicated dinner. I no longer think I *should* be weeding the garden when it's time to write. . .and so on. The only way you'll know if this works for you is to experiment. Have fun with this and be open to altering this exercise to suit your personal needs.
Another coach told me that she's noticed this works best when the creative activities are scheduled in first and the work hours are added later.
>>Quotable Quote:
The world we have created is a product of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking. ~Albert Einstein>>>Off the Bookshelf: Supersize Me
Normally, I review books in this space. This week, I want to review the movie Supersize me, which I watched this past Sunday at the DC Film Festival. The movie gave me chills. I'll explain why in a moment. . .
The premise of the movie is that the director puts himself on a McDonald's diet for 30 days to show what happens to the human body when eating fast food. His rules include eating only from the McDonald's menu, eating everything at least once, and saying yes if they ask him to supersize. You can guess the outcome. He gains 24-25 pounds and his cholesterol is off the charts. His liver starts turning to fat, which is something the doctors didn't think was possible. At one point, one of his three doctors becomes so upset at his blood test results that he yells at Morgan to stop the McDonald's diet or at least to take an aspirin each day.
So, why did watching this movie give me chills? This director, Morgan Spurlock, answered a call. He got rejected from the UCLA film school FIVE times before he got into Tisch. He didn't live the rejection as though he had become a failure. Instead, he persisted towards his dream of making films. Towards the movie's end, I began to think how much work he put into the film and what an impact it will have on people's food choices and health when released across the country today.
I can't imagine a better way to start a week than to see the proof that someone followed their path in life--and to see how that path will have a huge effect on a dangerously overweight population. McD's already said it will remove supersize portions in 2004; they said, of course, the movie is not the reason they are making the change.
>>Please forward Creativity Tips to your friends. If you do so, please include the entire newsletter along with copyright information.
>>Copyright (c) Lifespace Coaching ™ 2004. All rights reserved.