The Muse is IN Blog

The Story with the Creative Tattoo

  
How does Noomi Rapace illustrate Kaizen-Muse Creativity Coaching tools with how she auditioned for The Girl With the Dragon Tatoo. Find the answer here at  Creativity-Portal

 

Got Perfectionistic Tendencies? Overwhelmed? Accessorized with Self-Loathing?

 

We can really LOSE perspective when we try to be perfect all the time because IT'S JUST NOT POSSIBLE.  

Do any of these sound familiar?

• I try something new and because it doesn’t work immediately I give up.
• I’m overwhelmed by all the expectations I have for myself and which others have for me.
• I’m not able to enjoy things I used to enjoy or relax like I used to.
• I can’t decide where to focus my attention.. or I just can’t focus period.
• I do not journal or engage in any creative ritual or pursuit anymore because I stopped doing it everyday like I told myself I would.
• I compare myself to others thinking I should be where they are (even if it took them years to get there).
• I say things like "Oh, I'm not creative..."
• I value myself based on the quality and/or quantity of my accomplishments not on simply who I am.
• I’m not starting or continuing a creative passion or business step because I perceive myself as not ready: not enough instruction, expertise, space, materials, equipment, confidence.
•  I beat myself up for something that I know deep inside I’m doing good enough (or maybe I don’t know that yet… but I do beat myself up a lot because of my high standards).
• When I discover solutions that initially work, I give up on them quickly because they do not work immediately or the way I was expecting including changes in thought, feeling and action.
• I can’t forgive myself perfectly or let go of regret for something I did in the past  – or I avoid this whole topic by medicating, getting addicted to computer games and social networks.
• I hate myself for spending so much time doing things unrelated to my creative call.
• I don’t talk on the phone because it means I’ll have to be a certain way and meet someone's expectations of me.
• When I don’t get the exact results I want from my creative efforts I feel frustrated, not good enough, or a failure.
• I fear I’m wasting time and money on something that won’t go anywhere anyway. 
• I sabotage relationships, work, health programs, weight loss because it’s too hard to do those things perfectly or like "I'm supposed to" all the time.  (This may be subconscious).
• When I hear someone compliment me I think “What are THEY thinking?” or simply ignore them and continue to think I’m not good enough.
• I don’t meditate because I can’t stop my mind from thinking thoughts completely so I must be meditating wrong.
• I don’t clean the house or clear clutter because I never have enough time to do it perfectly.  
• I do not do yoga, workout, or engage in other things that make me feel good because I think I have to attend a class or do it perfectly or for a certain amount of time for it to be credible.
• I don’t show up at social functions because I have high expectations about how I’m suppose to be when I’m there.
• I am medicating a little too much because I’m not feeling perfect all the time… footnote: we’re human we don’t feel perfectly all the time and it’s okay.. the imperfect ways we feel breed poetry, art, music, line-dancing or at the very least, if you're wise.. they breed compassion and compassion is gold.

(C) Jill Badonsky 2010... please only duplicate with credit to www.kaizenmuse.com Thanks

Wellllll...?  How'd you do? If you agreed with some (or a lot) of those statements you're not alone. But people are beginning to discover there IS a way to get through this limited existence to  plug into their talents, higher intentions, and the creative life that awaits them.

If you're ready to be compassionate toward yourself and move on from the behaviors and thoughts that keep you in a small and restricted existence, check out Blissfuly Imperfect: Liberating Creativity Joy. Beam yourself here. Begins January 31, 2011.

Up Periscope.. through the Overwhelm



And then take the next small step

 

 

How are you?

 

I'm overwhelmed. 

 

If this Muse letter looks too overwhelming to you... read this one.

 

Overwhelm. It's an epidemic. 12 out of 10 people are overwhelmed and many of those people are creative people wanting soooo very badly to get TO their creative passion... so their soul can dance again. But instead they are swirling in a cyclone of distractions, shoulds, and nacho flavored Doritos.

 

Begin this Youtube Video at 35 minutes 22 seconds (35:22) for a few second of how to steer clear of being overwhelmed.  Steer clear!  You can stop it after Ringo gets ejected unless you are susceptible to distraction.. then watch the whole thing.

 

Did you notice in the video how smiling at an overwhelming situation helps?
It's a good start.  Try it now... I'll wait. No really, smile at your overwhelm. Notice any difference? If nothing else, it lightens you up a bit. Taking our lives too seriously is a significant part of our overwhelm.

 

But that's only a start. There's more.  

 

The Anti-Ballistic Periscope

• Imagine yourself in a submarine moving through an ocean of all the ingredients of your overwhelm. Take a minute to make it real.

• Now imagine a periscope rising up above the surface of all that overwhelms you. Let one small aspect of your creative endeavor come into view within that periscope. What is it?

• Take command of your vessel!

• Aim your submarine in that direction and as you glide effortlessly through the overwhelm, begin to imagine returning to the flow of your creative passion. You don't have to know the "how," just imagine the feeling that your body experiences when you are in your creative joy. Trust it's possible.

• Damn the Torpedoes.. Full Speed Ahead! (one tiny step at a time).

• Defy your limitations.

FREE KAIZEN-MUSE CREATIVITY CALL

Experience a place of clarity, focus, and relaxation and at the same time actually GET to your creative passion. Join me on a complimentary call this Thursday, January 6, 5 pm pacific, 8 pm eastern, 12 midnight GMT
You will go away with a simple, anti-overwhelm plan, a clear sense of focus and inspiration to elevate your action to the state of effortless inspiration.  Sign-up here.

Reverse Resistance

Curtain rises.

 

Tall, brownish blond, sort of clumsy, but most definitely enlightened writer gets ready to answer her creative call, the one with the ringtone that sounds like this or on more imaginatively grandiose days... like this. She wants to write.

 

Enter massive, seemingly insurmountable resistive energy [bluish gray]  that turns her largish forehead in the direction of the Internet, the TV, ANYTHING but what her soul is stipulating. Resistance sets in.[evil music]  She succumbs to her lower self. She doesn't respect herself in the morning. 

 

Sound familiar. Ring a bell? Read on.

 

The good news is .. rebellion is a characteristic of being creative. To rebel is to not conform. This serves the creative process.The bad news is that this good news isn't going to get you ANYWHERE unless you do a little fooling around that leads to getting started.

 

Let's tamper with the machinery of resistance dynamics, shall we?

 

Psst FirstName, over here.

Be vewy vewy quiet.

So quiet that all the things inside

of you that resist your creative

call are caught off-guard ...

are FOOLED.

You need a little Reverse Resistance.

 

Over here:

Reverse Resistance

Look non-chalant. Try this: When I really am serious about getting down to writing, I put the following on my to-do list:

1. Spend hours on Facebook.
2. Watch reruns of 30 Rock until you can recite Tina Fey's part by heart.
3. Clean the crisper section of the fridge with the Dustbuster.

Now my resistance energy is a bit confused but still compliant with resisting my declared intentions - those are the ones on my list.   So ... drumroll... instead of doing what's on my to-do list...I rebel and write or paint or concoct my next workshop or answer whatever creative call would feel ever so intuitively wonderful to be engaged in. Creative bliss.. remember that? If you don't, maybe you need a creativity coach.
 

The other thing that works is deciding to focus on my art and telling myself I'm going to have an affair with my writing. Have an affair!... with your creative call. Make it enticing. It's the best kind of affair to have.

 

Sound foolish?

Try it.

 

11 Curtain Calls and a bouquet of lilies.

 

Who are the Nine Modern Day Muses (and the Bodyguard)?

 

Jill Badonsky has taken the creative process and made it more accessible by personifying her ten creative principles in the form of nine Modern Day Muses (and a Bodyguard).  

The Modern Day Muses are playful and profoundly practical ways to tap into your creativity and overcome the blocks of fear, overwhelm, perfectionism, procrastination, low-self confidence, self-sabotage, being "focus-challenged", and having difficulty making time. Each Modern Day Muse gifts the creativity seeker with tools, thoughts, exercises, quotes, journal exercises and brainstorms that trick them into falling into the creative flow...effortlessly.

  Principles in a nutshell:

1. Aha-phrodite: Paying attention is crucial to the discovery of an idea and the passion of an idea is moved to the next stage by using the powers of paying attention in its myriad of ways: observation, questions, shifting thoughts to possibility and the present, embracing inspiration with laser focus, writing down the idea before it disappears.

2. Albert: The ability to think and be different differentiates the idea, the process and the person from everyone else. It begins the process of innovation and in many circumstances moves one from playing small to ... joy and expansion.

3. Bea Silly: Playing with ideas, making the process fun instead of serious, lightening up instead of choking the process with rigidity, these approaches allow creativity to arise as it would for the uninhibited child.

4. Muse Song: Abundant self-nurturing, kind thoughts and surrounding the self with believing spirits has an underestimated effect on creative output. Techniques to give oneself credit and to focus on what works, shift the creativity seeker to coming from a full place instead of an empty one.

5. Spills: The permission to be imperfect, to lower standards, to relax into the process has busted blocks for an untold amount of creative seekers. When practice is touted as essential and is made easy and enticing - progress and joy is inevitable.

6. Audacity: Courage, confidence, liberation from the opinions of others = creative freedom and grand leaps into creative evolution even when small steps are taken.

7. Lull: Do not underestimate the importance of taking a break, allowing subconscious connections to take place during inactivity, taking stock of gratitude, daydreaming, dappling in other areas... for these are dynamic tools in the creative process.

8. The Shadow Muse: Embrace your darkness for its potential to inspire art, for the freedom it gives you to be human unapologetically, for the understanding, compassion and connection it provides you with for creative breakthroughs and light.

9. Marge: One must actually show-up and engage in the process for creativity to happen, but there are ways that make it easier. Small steps, structure, classes, partnering, creativity-coaching, all these things give the sometimes distracted creative seeker a container in which to thrive.

10. The Bodyguard: Because of all the detractors to the creative process, there needs to be ways to ruthlessly protect the idea, the intention and the time set aside for creative endeavors. The Bodyguard has answers, anchors, comebacks, and a few other secrets.

Based on the book, The Nine Modern Day Muses (and a Bodyguard): 10 Guides to Creative Inspiration by Jill Badonsky (originally published by Penguin/Putnam)  Rights were purchased by the Modern Day Muses themselves and to illustrious 3rd edition is out! 

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The current edition of The Nine Modern Day Muses can be purchased here.

O! for a muse of fire, that would ascend the brightest heaven of invention.
~William Shakespeare