A Day Without Sunshine is Like...

Or cloudy…or overcast…or rainy.

But let's go with Mr. Martin's take for the moment. It makes me giggle.

And though I'm pretty sure that humor was his main intent, his words offer a great example of a technique I love to share with my creative coaching clients called reframing. 

When we "reframe" we look at a situation from a different perspective, shedding new light (or in this case, absence of light) on it.

For example: someone who recently purchased of copy of my Create the Summer of Your Dreams Kit sent an email to let me know a few random letter characters weren't showing up in the e-booklet and interactive sheets. (Turned out it was an issue with the pdf reader he was using and easily fixed by opening with adobe instead.) In the meantime he came up with a brilliant reframe saying, "No worries. It's like a bonus 'fill-in-the blanks' activity has been added to my kit!" How fun is that?

Here are a few more reframe examples:

 "I have to finish this photo album for my daughter's birthday," shifts to

"I get to create a special gift my daughter will treasure forever."

(Can you feel the difference?)

 "I don't have time to open that watercolor kit I bought," becomes 

"If I play with my watercolors for just 10 minutes, that's less than 1% of my entire day." 

(Sometimes good old logic does the trick!)

"No one will ever read this story I'm writing, so why bother?" transforms into

 "I love writing so it's time well spent no matter who else reads it."

(Creativity for the sake of the pleasure and satisfaction it brings is good for your mind, body and spirit.)

How might you use reframing to help you make more time and space to enjoy Creative Oasis moments in your life? (Those creative endeavors that make your heart sing and time fly!)

I'd love to hear your reframe ideas in the comments below.

Until next time, all the best from my Creative Oasis to yours,

Jill

p.s. Did you know that summer just officially began last Saturday? So there's still a season full of summer days and nights to fill with creative fun and satisfaction. Click here if you're curious about how my Create the Summer of Your Dreams Kit can help you do just that!