Creativity - Thinking outside "the box"

As a designer and illustrator, being creative on demand is something I’m required to do every day. Over time I have gathered some tips and techniques to help me to open my mind and release creative block. Creativity, however, is not something that is just limited to artists. It has far more ‘real-world’ applications than we often think.

I often hear people say “I’m not creative”, however, I believe that we all have the capacity. Creative thinking is actually a form of logic our brain uses regularly.

“With creativity, the universe is that of a self-organising patterning system that makes assymetric patterns. Logic defines the rules of behaviour within this rather special universe.”
– Edward de Bono

One area where creativity can be beneficial is in personal development. Creative work requires focus, concentration and being able to make a series of decisions. Art can help to open up neural pathways in the brain that are engaged when you are uninhibited making it conducive to relaxation and further creativity. Having an outlet for self-expression can help to increase confidence and encourage calm assertive behaviour. Art, for example, is a safe medium to make a mistake and explore your mechanisms for dealing with mistakes. Often it can be quite an insightful journey.

There are also many ‘real-world’ situations where a bit of creative thinking can make a big difference e.g. running a business, juggling many commitments, and even just getting the kids to bed on time, can all require creative solutions.

OBSTACLES
One of the main obstacles to creative expression is ego. It can be low self-esteem when you have no confidence and won’t take chances or it can be when you have established yourself behind a mask of perfection and there is a fear attached to anyone seeing you as less than that. Both scenarios can box you into a rigid form of thinking.

Further blocks can be caused by the limited and self-fabricating falsehoods we pin on ourselves as adults. “I can’t”, “I won’t”, “I never”...

Another major obstacle to creativity can be ‘adult behaviour’. As we get older we are conditioned to present ourselves to society in a certain way. This can create an aversion to play and fun as we begin to act rigidly and think ‘rationally’.

TIPS & TECHNIQUES
Allow space and time for play and exploration in your life. Children explore frequently. Often the box is favoured over the toy at Christmas because, unlike the toy with its set number of functions, the box represents infinite possibilities limited only by the imagination.

Become aware of when you are on autopilot. We all, at one point or another, reach unconscious competence in a variety of tasks and are no longer aware of the process. Become present and mindful and start to wonder about and question the world around you.

Distract the conscious mind so that the unconscious mind can be heard. Most of us have had the experience of waking up in the middle of the night with a great idea. This is because our noisy rational mind has gone to sleep and finally the unconscious creative mind speaks up. If you find yourself stuck in a problem and needing a creative solution, distract your mind with a completely different task and let the answer simply come to you. The brain is self-organising and given time it will formulate synchronicities that help you to find a creative solution.

ABOUT SINÉAD
Sinéad Lawless is a fully trained & registered reflexologist and artist based in Dublin.

Having worked in design and illustration for over 11 years, Sinéad is now combining these skills with her energy work to create workshops, that are not only practical in their approach, but help us to connect to and release the underlying energy that fuels and inspires the creator in each of us.

Sinéad will be running art & creativity workshops and courses in 2012.
Please contact sinead@muladhara.ie for further information or sign-up for our newsletter on the right.

USEFUL BOOKS
59 Seconds - Prof. Richard Wiseman
Think! Before it's too late - Edward de Bono
The Art Instinct - Denis Dutton
The Artist's Way - Julia Cameron

Art Workshop

Details of our upcoming workshop below. Namaste! ~ Sinead

ART WORKSHOP - SAT 8th MAY 2010
Join us for a fun drawing workshop, aimed at beginners who wish to learn new skills and unlock their creative potential!
Date: 10am-5pm, Sat 8th May 2010
Location: Atlantis Centre, Gorey, Co. Wexford
Cost: €95
Price includes: Art materials, full lunch, tea/coffee
Workshop Facilitator: Sinéad Lawless
Contact Sinéad at sinead@muladhara.ie for a booking form or for more information. A €40 deposit is required as places are limited.

ABOUT SINEAD
Having worked in design and illustration for 10 years, Sinéad is now combining those skills with her energy work to create workshops, that are not only practical in their approach, but help us to connect to and release the underlying energy that fuels and inspires the creator in each of us.

ABOUT ATLANTIS
The Atlantis Centre & Institute is a beautiful, custom-built wellness centre set on almost 4 acres of unspoiled organic natural land, with spectacular views of the rolling countryside.
Atlantis is also home to a stunning and comprehensive crystal shop that sells high-quality pieces of gemstone jewellery as well as healing crystals, ornaments, books, incense, cds and cards.

CONTACT DETAILS
Sinead Lawless
t: 087 76 38 119
e: info@muladhara.ie
w: www.muladhara.ie

Learn something new every day!

Learn something new every day. This is my mantra in life. It doesn't matter how small the thing you learn is, what matters is that you progressed and expanded as a person. It keeps you moving forward, keeps you motivated, keeps you living. It can be as simple as doing one sudoku puzzle to keep your mind active or opening a book on your shelf to a random page and ingesting the contents, to watching a documentary or studying something in nature. It can be a meditation or contemplation on what it is to be joyful, or compassionate or even sad. Just something that increases your awareness, something that takes you out of the humdrum and bustle of your everyday chores. Something that gives you an inkling of a bigger picture.

Make the time to do this ... every day ... for you!!

At least once a day, connect with your bigger picture. Ask yourself, what is the long-term aim here, what are my ultimate goals, dreams and desires and then ask yourself, is what I'm doing right now in my job, my life, bringing me closer or further away from that aspiration?

"Success in life could be defined as the continued expansion of happiness and the progressive realization of worthy goals" - Deepak Chopra

Help other people to see their bigger pictures in a non-judgemental way. It is often easier to see others than to see your own.

"Inspiring others towards happiness brings you happiness" - Yogi Tea Quote :)

Any 'negative' experience you have today, ask yourself, 'what have I learned from this experience?' as every perceived 'negative' experience is an opportunity to learn and expand. We can only attract into our lives that which already exists in our own vibration. If we attract an undesirable event, person or conversation it is because on some level we need it for our own growth. Take the 'negative' experience and turn it into a positive one by learning from it. And always remember, what you perceive to be negative is perceived as positive by somebody else. Change your perspective for a moment, consider other peoples viewpoints. (You don't have to tell them you are doing this ;) ... just do it for you!)

If you are not happy ... change something! Anything! It can be as simple as taking a deep breath. Taking a deep breath changes your physiology, your brain chemistry and ultimately your perspective. Changing your perspective might seem to some like the smallest thing you could change but, in fact, it is the largest and most potent thing. How you choose to react to any given situation is down to you. This is applicable to everything. Ask yourself how do you choose to react to insults, compliments, pain?

image taken from
http://sozadesigns.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/are-you-happy.jpg

Don't forget how unique you are. You are the only you! You are originally manifest into this physical reality with none of your day-to-day issues and you will leave this physical reality the same. Why do we create so much noise and complication in between these two points? It is all part of our learning and we choose how we learn.

"We are spiritual beings having a human experience" - Yogi Tea Quote :)

Appreciate the gift of life ... and all the other blessings in your life... the food on your plate and your ability to be able to enjoy and savour it, your health, your bed, your family and friends, your mind. The day will come when your time on this physical plane is done and you don't get an exit interview or time to summarise and complete everything you wanted to so don't waste a precious moment doing something that makes you unhappy. Don't do anything out of guilt or obligation! When you are happy, people around you will be happy so inspire others towards happiness by radiating happiness.

Shoot for the moon and even if you miss you'll end up amongst the stars! At least you were going in the right direction. It is important to be focused on your goals but allow yourself permission to change your mind and go with the flow if that is what your heart tells you.

ALWAYS listen to your heart. If something doesn't feel right in your heart, it isn't right! This is the most important tool you own. Consult with your heart on a regular basis. Get to know how to read it. Following your heart can sometimes lead to heart-break, that's okay, don't try to protect yourself from this. Love unconditionally and you will heal fast, I promise!

Tell yourself every day that you are free ... and believe it ... because you are free!

"Here is a test to find whether your mission on Earth is finished: If you're alive, it isn't" - Richard Bach

Namaste!

Living in the Present Moment

It is widely agreed that if you learn to live in the present moment and to see life only as it is in that moment that you will find peace and simplicity. Peace and simplicity in turn lend themselves to feeling happy and feeling happy is feeling fulfilled which is what (on some level) everybody is looking for. A fulfilled existence.
Living in the past negatively is regretful, guilty and bitter. Living in the past positively is nostalgic and empty. Living in the future just leads to stress as you put pressure on yourself to achieve more than is natural or you start to wish and live in a daydream and sometimes never accomplish anything at all.

We do 'live' in the present moment at all times from a physical perspective but our stream of consiousness is not always there with us, which seperates mind and body and most often emotion causing a breakdown in communication in the whole of you.

In this unpredicatable life there are many things which can force us to jump into the present, most often these things are negative e.g. serious illness, accidents, stress and some are positive e.g. falling in love, capturing your baby's first steps etc.

There are some tasks which merge the two e.g. painting a picture is a way of remembering the scene that you are painting but actively manifesting it in the present and any other task which requires your full attention normally is meditative and keeps you in the present.

But what other tools do we have for keeping us in the present?
If you are in a situation where you are not happy e.g. bad work/family environment or chronic pain often we run away in our minds to a time where it seems better. It seems easier to be in the moment if we are happy in the first place. It starts to become a chicken and egg scenario. Is forcing yourself to be in the present going to make you happy or is being happy enabling you to want to be in the present moment? In my opinion its both of these, the latter of course is the easier of the two. Once you have established deep-down contentment and happiness, being in the moment becomes easy. But what about the former. What if you are not happy, why would you want to be in the present?

I feel that it is necessary to at first discipline yourself. As in meditation for beginners, often we are told if our mind wanders to simply focus on the breath. Should we find ourselves in waking life not focusing on the task at hand to re-centre, gradually building a greater self-awareness. Are you aware of what you are thinking at all times? How many of those thoughts are repetitive? How many of those thoughts are damaging or negative? How do you speak to yourself in your head? Are you encouraging and supportive to yourself or harsh and critical?

Be mindful in every step you take and every task you do no matter how menial or mundane it may seem to be. Water the plants with love and mindfulness, wash the plates with mindfulness and attention, put your shoes on with mindfulness and attention to the present moment. Check yourself! Obviously there are subconscious thoughts etc. going on in the background but the general idea is to make life into a conscious meditation.

You will start to become aware of what makes you unhappy but break this down into small manageable steps and start to amend them in the present moment.

Namaste.

Where do we begin and end?

As humans, scientists might tell us there are many things our brains simply aren't capable of fathoming, such as infinity, how infinitely small the Universe can be and how infinitely large. In order to function we generally need to be able to put boxes around things. Goals, limits, boundaries. It is difficult to live in a boundary-less world and to do so does this mean to not exist at all?

We are spiritual beings having a human experience. This we know. We are each a drop in the ocean of the collective, all one. Every tiny little thing one person does affects another in some way. We are dynamic, constantly interacting, simply by our very existence. Constantly readjusting ourselves in order to find that balance and just when we think we have found it the Universe throws us another curve ball and we embrace it.

Nigel Taylor brought my attention to a metaphor.

"God and I are two fat people in a boat, constantly adjusting to try to balance and not tip over, and laughing the whole time".

This is the dance, the dance of life, the perpetual motion.

So when we apply this to life as we know it, you know, the life that is like 'Coronation St.' The ordinary person. How do we apply it? How can we be individuals and part of the One at the same time? Does that mean that every 'bad' thing that happens to us is in some way our fault? How can we be the same 'thing' as the person we most hate or the person who causes us most grief? How can we be one with fascist leaders and murderers? Are they too part of us? We look at each other and we can see where one person ends and another begins so what is this idea of all being the same when visibly we are separate? We are solid, but what is solid? Underneath it all we are just a vibration, every part of our being is made up of atoms and molecules, the same as those that surround us. Nothing is solid really. Solid is a state of mind.

Accepting that brings us on to the next level where miracles become possible. But what is a miracle? Is a miracle not that we can have a thought impulse, a simple electrical moment which can ultimately cause our entire physical leg to move or kick a ball?

Rather than think of us all as a drop in the ocean I like to think of us in more of a fractal way. That we are all that which makes up each of us individually. In the same way that cells make up our body. We have skin cells, heart cells, muscle cells, brain cells. But with the exception of the nerve cell all of our cells are made the same way and they all have the capacity to take on whatever function they are needed for. It is almost as though the cell responds to the collective consciousness of the cells around it and it adapts. Much like we do. If we are put into a situation where there is nothing but fighting, we eventually learn to fight and so on. Is it possible for that one little cell to then on the same note influence the cells around it? What if we were to look at ourselves as cells in the body of God. Do we cause God pain because we have forgotten our function? To cause God pain is to cause ourselves pain as we are inextricably linked.

The problem with all this is, it is idealistic. If we all to suddenly become aware that we are nothing but vibrations and that really nothing can hurt us, that we are all one and the same, that no food is poisonous to us, that nothing is beyond our reach, that we can manifest all we desire at any time and we master this energy. What would happen if every single person in this world did this, became aware of this? We would cease to exist! Not as spiritual, energetic beings, we would still be that, as part as the drop in the ocean but as human beings in physical bodies we would cease to exist, as would our pain and suffering and we would know only bliss. And that is daunting to many as it would mean to love all including yourself unconditionally and it would mean letting go of all pain and hardship that you have worked so hard to establish. But what if we did it. Once we had done it we wouldn't be worried about all we had lost because we would be in bliss. We would have evolved! Is this the next step?

Just food for thought! :)

Namaste.