How Does a 3-Step In-Box Detox Sound?

Does your in-box overflow with e-mails, marketing messages and newsletters that leave you feeling overwhelmed? I can relate.

That's why I invite you to join me for an easy 3-Step In-box Detox!

I have detoxing on the brain lately since I'm doing my first ever cleanse. Scary...but doable...and it has me feeling a little like Wonder Woman right about now having made it to the half-way mark and lived to tell the tale.

It also has me contemplating the many ways letting go can be good for us. The Colorado Cleanse has been a great opportunity for my body to release toxins and to let go of old habits that were no longer serving me.

Spring is a nice time for...well...spring-cleaning. It's a great time to dust off the cobwebs and clean out our lives in lots of ways...from our bodies... to our closets...to our in-boxes.

If this sounds good to you, I propose this 3-Step In-box Detox:

Step #1: Take a few minutes to peruse the emails, newsletters and reminders you receive each week and ask yourself, "Does reading this feel like a Get-To-Do or a Have-To-Do?" 

Step #2: Over the next week simply notice which messages tend to pile up before you read or delete them. (For me, a dozen is usually a good indicator that I'm no longer interested.)

Step #3: Give yourself permission to unsubscribe - guilt free! That goes for my Creative Oasis Pages and Mid-Week Oasis Moments too.

If what I'm sharing isn't truly serving, inspiring or enlightening you in some way right now by all means, please unsubscribe. I promise my feelings won't be hurt and the last thing I want is to add to your e-mail overwhelm. If you decide to return in the future you'll be welcomed with open arms.

If you still enjoy receiving my creative inspirations and updates please know that I'm so honored and happy to have you as a member of the Creative Oasis community!

Look for some brand new on-line programs coming soon to help you enjoy more creative fun and fulfillment in your busy life!

Here's to saying goodbye to things that no longer serve us and making room for our own Creative Oasis - the joyful things that make our hearts sing and time fly – kind of like Wonder Woman! 

Jill

  P.S. – If you'd like to have Mid-Week Oasis Moments (bite-sized bonbons of creative inspiration) delivered each week please sign up here: http://www.creativeoasiscoaching.com/newsletter.html

You'll also receive a free copy of "Permission to Be Creative 101" – my e-booklet that will help you take the first small steps to make the time and space for creative fulfillment – your Creative Oasis – in  your busy life!

Mother Nature Makes a Good Point

Mother Nature gave me a wink and a nod last week when my friend took me to the beautiful Multnomah-Wahkeena Falls. As we hiked lush trails that wove in and out of moss-covered trees and flowing waterfalls I snapped photo after photo while soaking up nature's powerful inspiration with delight. Talk about Creative Oasis Moments!

Since the name of the workshop I'd come to Art and Soul Portland to teach was entitled, "So In The Flow" (Maintaining your creative moment even after the retreat) the serendipity of having the opportunity to spend time trekking alongside these falls was not lost on me.

I hope the above image and haiku serve as a nice reminder that the free feeling of being in the creative flow is as natural as a waterfall - not to mention as energizing and refreshing!

Here are three simple ways we might take a page from Mother Nature's book:

#1 – Water flows downhill. It doesn't fight gravity. It literally goes with the flow. When we remember that the struggle is optional and we can choose to try things the easy way rather than the hard way, we open ourselves up to enjoying our creative pursuits more easily and frequently.

This may be as simple as remembering to ask ourselves, "How can I make this easier?" or "How might I make this more fun?"

What's one creative project you might try this with today?

#2 – Running water is an extremely powerful force. It can move heavy tree limbs, boulders and people down a mountainside with great force. Our creativity gives us super powers of our own.  When we embrace our creative flow we have the awesome ability to turn bad days into good days…wash away negative thoughts from our inner critic…and add positive energy and joy to the people in our lives.

What if being in the creative flow was your super power? How might that look? How might that feel?

#3 – Simply taking a moment to drink in the beauty of a waterfall feels like a sacred creative act.  Giving ourselves the opportunity to just enjoy the creative output of others is an important and delightful part of the creative process that we sometimes forget about. We become so focused on producing…doing…making…checking things off our list that we forget the importance of filling our own well.

Why not read an inspiring article or gaze at the lovely images in a coffee table book…watch a good movie or listen to a new style of music…take a walk in nature or enjoy a stimulating TED Talk video?

What's one way you might enjoy creative exposure this week?

Until next time I'll leave you with a few seconds of the lovely sound and image of a waterfall and the the wish that you'll give yourself permission to try at least one of the suggestions from above to dive into your own Creative Oasis flow very soon!

All the best from my Creative Oasis to yours,

Jill

www.creativeoasiscoaching.com

P.S. – If you'd like to have Mid-Week Oasis Moments (bite-sized bonbons of creative inspiration) delivered each week please sign up here: http://www.creativeoasiscoaching.com/newsletter.html

You'll also receive a free copy of "Permission to Be Creative 101" – my e-booklet that will help you take the first small steps to make the time and space for creative fulfillment – your Creative Oasis – in  your busy life!

Maintaining Momentum After Your Creative Retreat

Have you ever felt delightfully wrapped up in the creative cocoon of a fabulous retreat or workshop focused fully on the joy of creating and surrounded by oodles of other supportive creative souls also totally engaged in experiencing their creative bliss? Wow! It’s an amazing feeling, isn’t it?

Have you ever found yourself back in the real world just days later feeling that joyful creative energy evaporate as your busy daily schedule, never-ending to-do lists and obligations take over?

You’re not alone! Luckily, using the gentle yet powerful (some would say magical) methods of Kaizen-Muse® Creativity Coaching, we have a wonderful variety of ways to continue to ride our creative waves.

That’s why I’m so happy to be able to share my special workshop, “So In The Flow –Maintaining Your Creative Momentum Even After the Retreat” on the final day of this year’s Art and Soul Retreat in Portland, Oregon. Find the line-up for seven full days ofmixed media art workshops here. (April 7 – 13, 2014)

We’ll spend the day together exploring a potpourri of fun prompts, activities and discussion topics designed to help lucky participants return home from Art & Soul feeling ready to stay in the flow and maintain their creative momentum. (Read all about it and find registration information here.)

It will be my absolute pleasure to send enthusiastic creativity lovers back into the world with a treasure chest of tools and techniques designed to help them move past procrastination, perfectionism, overwhelm and other creative blocks that may await.

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

Jill

p.s. – If you’d like to receive my Mid-Week Oasis Moments (bite-size bonbons of creative inspiration) as well as my e-booklet, “Permission to Be Creative 101” you can sign up for both right here.