Butterflies, Buddha & Beating Myself Up

This week I went back to one of my favorite pages in my Creative Oasis Journal and played with some digital editing tools to create a new look for it.

I revisited this page because it holds a message I need to hear again (and again) and thought maybe some of you could use the reminder as well.

"If your compassion does not include yourself it is incomplete." ~ Buddha

Do you ever find it easier to show compassion to your friends, family and even total strangers than to yourself? If so, you're note alone. 

I invite you to consider using the quote above as your personal Creative Oasis Mantra for the coming week and practice some gentle self-compassion ~ even if it's only 5% more than you might usually.

Rather than continue to beat myself up because I hadn't created a brand new message for this Mid-Week Oasis Moment, I gave myself permission to visit my journal for inspiration and update an earlier MWOM to share with you. That's how I showed myself some compassion ~ now it's your turn.

To help you get started, here are a few compassionate questions to ponder:

~ What's one gentle way you might treat yourself with compassion this week?

~ What's one easy way you might use creativity to do so?

~ What's one small way you might give yourself permission to enjoy five or ten minutes of guilt-free creative play today?

Click here to see the original post including a 15-second instagram video.

Until next time, here's to treating ourselves with complete compassion on our creative journey,

Jill 

Jill Allison Bryan

www.creativeoasiscoaching.com

Are You Daydreaming Enough These Days?

(Empowered Quote by Mary Engelbreit & Jill Allison Bryan.
Click here to learn more about how to create Empowered Quotes of your own.)

We've been practicing the power of Kaizen (small steps to continuous improvement) in my Living the Creative Life classes the past couple of weeks.

When I invite these wonderful women to break down one of their creative wishes into as many small steps as possible they're often surprised when I suggest they add "daydream" to their lists. They're also delighted to learn that not only does daydreaming count, it's actually an important and useful (though often overlooked) small step. Why?

Daydreaming helps us step away from our never-ending to-do lists for a bit and imagine new possibilities. (Just writing that statement made me take a nice deep breath!) 

It's also a wonderful way to stop and ponder what it even is that we want to experience.

Spending some relaxed time (even just a few minutes) allowing our minds to wander and consider "what if" scenarios can open the door to all manner of creative options we may never think of otherwise.

Add a little gentle structure to your daydreaming (such as simply keeping the phrase "what if" in your mind) and you may find yourself coming up with all manner of fabulous creative plans and possibilities.

When's the last time you gave yourself permission to daydream? I'm guessing it's been a while. And you're not alone.

I invite you to set a timer and give yourself the next two minutes (That's less than a bathroom break!) to stare out the window, gaze at your navel or close your eyes and simply ponder the question "What if?"

Next, click here to download and print the free Permission to Daydream fun sheet below. Then give yourself the gift of another two minutes to engage in some guilt-free, lightly structured daydreaming with your wise inner self.

So there you have it. In less then five minutes you've treated yourself to a relaxing (and hopefully, eye-opening) time to dream up some new ways to say yes to your Creative Oasis this week!

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

Jill

Jill Allison Bryan

Daydream Believer/Singer/Songwriter/Creative Coach

I Can Beat Myself Up or...

I can Be Gentle and give myself a few moments to practice self-compassion in the form of pure creative process. You'll be glad to know that though tempted to choose the former I decided to "practice what I preach" and went with the latter. I chose to Be Gentle with myself…and you can too. 

How? I grabbed my Creative Oasis Journal, a few simple art supplies and gave myself permission to play and quickly create a visual reminder of one of my favorite self-compassion come-backs – Be Gentle. I also added a bit of wisdom from the Buddah for good measure with a quote I recently found and love.  It was as simple as that. 

"If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete." – Buddah

You can see the process and the end result in the 15-second Instagram video below.





Simple truth – today started off pretty sucky. I'm not feeling all that great. A recent class that I offered didn't make. I'm behind on paperwork and a writing project. And I'm a bit overwhelmed by life at the moment. It happens. You get it, right?

Since I wasn't feeling on top of my game my inner-critic knew this would be a great day to get her digs in so thoughts like these kept rolling through my mind: 

Aren't you ever going to finish that new e-course? How long have you been working on that anyway? Look at those piles on your desk! No wonder you can't find anything! You should have done a better job about getting the word out about your class. Etc….

Thankfully, I recognized right away that those negative thoughts belonged to my opportunistic inner-critic. I also knew that her negativity could be shut down (or at least greatly quieted) by the compassionate power of reminders and comebacks. These are two of the many jewels in the Kaizen-Muse® Creativity Coaching treasure chest and especially effective when combined with some low-pressure creative play. 

I quickly countered the harsh running commentary with the reminder that I have the choice…I can beat myself up (not much fun…not remotely productive)…or I can Be Gentle. (feels much nicer…paved the way for a quick creative collage and this blog post)

Do you ever find your inner-critic sneaking in when you're guard is down? What if the next time you're thinking less than kind thoughts about yourself you take a moment to ponder these two simple (but oh, so powerful) words…Be Gentle? What if you give yourself permission to spend five or ten minutes practicing being gentle by allowing yourself to visit your Creative Oasis? (Remember - your Creative Oasis is anything that makes your heart sing and time fly!)

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

Jill Allison Bryan
www.creativeoasiscoaching.com