Me, a Monk and a New Way of Living

Ugyen Penjor and me…Docha La, Bhutan – 2011

"You don't think your way into a new kind of living. 

You live your way into a new kind of thinking."

                                                    – Henri Nouwen

I love this quote! When I found it, I read it again and again, savoring Nouwen's words like a delicious sip of wine or bite of dark chocolate.  

Maybe because it's the last day of my Colorado Cleanse and I'm particularly tuned into all of the energizing new ways of living I've practiced for the past two weeks. (This could also be the reason for the wine and chocolate reference.)

I'm always reading and learning about different ways to live a more healthfully. But by taking the plunge and committing to the cleanse (which was flat out monk-like compared to my normal diet) I experienced changes in a very real way rather than just thinking about them.

That meant two weeks with no sugar…no dairy…no wheat…no caffeine…no alcohol…only the occasional avocados and seeds for fat…and eating three times a day with no snacks. But guess what – I showed myself that I could do what I once thought impossible. (or at the least highly unlikely for me)

In fact, not only could I do it…but I could enjoy doing it. After the initial couple of detox days I felt fabulous! We drank lots of lemon water in the final phase…so I literally made lemonade out of lemons, without the sugar, of course.

After two weeks of living with what first seemed like drastic measures, I now see how gently adding some of these new habits into my day-to-day life is doable. (Though, believe me, wine and chocolate will be joyfully embraced upon their return…just on a much less frequent basis than before.)

So what can this mean for our creative lives?

When we allow ourselves to go for our creative dreams…try things that at first seem radical or undoable…embrace experiences we dream of doing someday right now rather than waiting…step way outside of our comfort zone and stay open to whatever experiences may come…that's how we begin creatively living our way into a new kind of thinking.

Why not start by pondering the following prompts? If you journal, you might want to visit these prompts two or three times in the coming week to see what comes up for you.

To me, the difference between thinking about my creative passions and living them is…

One thing that seems almost too extreme to even try is...

But, if I let myself be really brave I might be able to…

I can live my way into a new way of thinking about my creative life by…

Traveling to Bhutan where I would hike to the Lungchutsekah Monastery, be blessed by the monk, Ugyen Penjor (pictured above), and witness a pristine view of the Himalaya mountain range in Asia was another experience I've had that seemed like an impossibility…until it happened.

Click here if you'd like to learn a more about how heemeesheemees (my word for serendipity) and belief in the impossible preceded my once in a lifetime trip to Bhutan.

Take it from someone who never thought she'd see the day when a carrot would taste like dessert, when we dive in and live our way into a new way of thinking some pretty amazing things can happen…even the seemingly impossible can be doable.

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

Jill Allison Bryan
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!

Merry Christmas from my Oasis to Yours!

…a few of my favorite things from our oasis to yours this season!

M - dolls from my trip to Bhutan made by disadvantaged young girls in a program that allows them to use their creative skills to empower and employ themselves. (www.bhutanyouth.org)

E - from the cover of one of my favorite Creative Oasis journals

R - silly santa doll

R - magnet from the amazing Nick Cave Sojourn show we saw at the Denver Museum of Art this summer

Y - colored pencils

C- prayer flags from our hike in Vail to raise money for 
Love, Hope Strength this summer

H - crayons

R - is for Riley Anna (my daughter)

I - nutcracker we've had for ages

S - a longtime favorite scarf

T - a clay cross purchased from a local artist on the White Rock Artist Tour

M - old metal sign

A - peanut nativity scene Riley Anna made years ago modeled after one that my brother made decades ago and still hangs on my parents' tree

S - part of the YES logo 

H - from an old holiday comic book

A - the little Christmas tree in Riley Anna's room

P - Riley Anna's first point shoe

P - the arm of a Santa mug from our dear friend Miss Ruth who passed away this year

Y - BATMAN

2 - from our advent calendar

0 - Disco Snowman Riley Anna made at Studio Arts years ago

1 - Virgin of Guadalupe candle

4 - pastels

Hope your day was merry and your New Year is happy, healthy and bright!

All the best from my Creative Oasis to yours,

Jill

Jill Allison Bryan

www.creativeoasiscoaching.com

Hey, Didn’t You Go To Bhutan?

I did! And they put me on a stamp...but, I'm getting ahead of myself.

What happened in Bhutan and why aren’t you posting anything about it? These are the questions I’ve been hearing...a lot lately.

Where do I begin? I have the usual line-up of easy-to-use excuses…I’ve been sick…I’ve been super busy with work, family…it’s the holidays…blah, blah, blah. Sound familiar? But truthfully, the main reason I’m just now getting around to writing about my trip is I felt overwhelmed by the prospect of trying to squeeze this extraordinary two-week experience into one blog post and a couple of photos.

So, once again, I’ll call on the incredibly liberating tools and techniques of Kaizen–Muse Creativity Coaching to get unstuck and set myself free. (I'm a certified KMCC coach with my own practice, Creative Oasis Coaching.)

#1 – Using small steps I’ll allow myself to choose just a few photos at a time to share and write a bit about my memories of those photos. (Not only is attempting to describe the entire trip in one sitting too overwhelming for me – you people have places to be, things to do, creative lives to lead! Better to share Bhutan in bite-sized bonbons than an all you can eat buffet.)

Speaking of which..here's the beautiful, delicious breakfast served on the flight from Tokyo to Bangkok on Japan Airlines. To my mind, it was photo worthy! 

#2 – By lowering expectations, I remind myself that these posts don’t have to be perfect, I don’t have to post every day and sharing a little something is better than nothing. This too is helping me to “just get started and write already!”

 Woke from an in-flight nap to find the full moon perfectly centered in the airplane window. Had just enough time to snap this shot before the plane banked and the moon was gone from view leaving me only with another feeling of magical affirmation that this trip was meant to be and the title for an as of yet unwritten song – "Full Moon Over Bangkok."

#3 – Lastly, I get to have fun writing these posts because my trip was so filled with laughter, beauty and peace that I know revisiting my photos and journal entries will be a joyful experience.

More than 36 hours of travel including three flights on three different airlines...thirteen hours in three different airports in three different countries...and we're here! Dad and Mom look surprisingly fresh and happy after all of that, but then again, look at the gorgeous backdrop of the Himalayas on a sunny day – and we're finally in Bhutan! What's not to like?

Stay tuned for more bite–sized bonbons of Bhutan bliss coming soon! And please feel free to share your questions and comments!

In the meantime, all the best from my Creative Oasis to yours,

Jill

P.S. – If you're interested in learning more about the life-changing tools and techniques of Kaizen–Muse Creativity Coaching, there will be a new training session beginning in February 2012. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about it!

Why Am I Traveling To Bhutan?

This seems to be the question people want answered when they learn of my impending excursion to the other side of the world. “Why Bhutan?”

Tang Valley, Bumthang, Bhutan

While I find “Why not Bhutan?” a perfectly acceptable response, the true answer is a bit more woo-woo. In fact, I'd say serendipity danced smack dab into my intuition resulting in my upcoming two-week trip to a tiny country nestled between India and China in the shadow of the Himalayas that boasts the measure of success as “Gross National Happiness.”

I’ve been drawn to Buddhism and Asian cultures for some time now. A trip to Tibet seemed like an impossible, but lovely dream. When my dad revealed that the same folks he’d climbed Kilimanjaro with a decade ago had contacted him about a possible trip to Bhutan, I experienced a feeling of instant knowing throughout my entire being that he and my mom would indeed make the journey and further more (inexplicably at this point) that I would go with them. This was based purely on my intuition and seemed highly unlikely and illogical at the time.

photo by Bob Munro of Sacred Pause

Believe me, it’s not like this is a run-of-the-mill trip for us. Although my parents have traveled to some pretty fabulous places around the world, our family trips had been more along the lines of Disneyworld. Also, my parents had never expressed any interest in visiting any part of South Asia.

Serendipity showed up in the following ways:

* I wore a Love Hope Strength – Kilimanjaro Rocks t-shirt the day may parents told me about their possible trip. (Dad had climbed Mount Kilimanjaro with the people who were inviting them to Bhutan.)

* The day my dad told my mom about the trip, she opened a book that I’d lent her (Roll Around Heaven by Jessica Maxwell) only to find the narrator on a plane to Bhutan (a place my mom had never even heard of until that day!)

* The week after I learned about my parents’ possible plans (they didn’t decide to go right away) I received an email with “Bhutan: a play by Daisy Foote” in the subject line as there was a Horton Foote retrospective taking place in Dallas and his daughter had written a play entitled “Bhutan” which was being produced by a local theater.

* I kept hearing Bhutan mentioned in interviews and stories on the radio and in the news.

Because the trip would take place in November and that would entail my being away during the school year (complete with a full schedule of my daughter’s dance classes, piano practice and homework) – the prospect of actually being able to go seemed highly unlikely. Especially when combined with the not so small matter of airfare and the price of the trip. (In order to preserve their unique culture and control tourism, only a small amount of tourists may visit Bhutan each year and they must hire rather expensive tour guides to do so.)

Tiger's Nest Monastery

Still…something in me stubbornly insisted that I would indeed be going, although I had no idea how that could possibly happen. I had accumulated enough airline miles to cover the airfare – if it were even possible to get a seat using miles, but that was the only hopeful part of the equation.

My parents decided they would accept their friends’ offer to join the group. I continued to daydream about the possibility. Then, one day while driving to teach my group Creative Oasis class last spring, I received a phone call from my dad telling me that if I could cover the airfare and work out the logistics for my family while I was away, he and my mom wanted to take me with them. The gift of a lifetime! It really was going to happen. I still had no idea why – but for some reason I was destined to take this trip with my parents.

I was still shedding a few tears of joy when I arrived at Pigment School of the Arts and began setting out materials for the day’s class including stacks of magazines for a collage project. The ultimate serendipity occurred when I pulled an old National Geographic magazine out of my bag (one of several copies that I’d carried with me to various classes, workshops and retreats for years) and noticed there was an article about Bhutan including a map inside. I felt an absolute electric current of synchronicity ripple from the tips of my toes to the top of my head! Message received – “I get to go to Bhutan!”

A few weeks later, while looking for something to read, I ran across a stack of books that my dear friend, Krys Boyd, the host of THINK on KERA 90.1 had given me months earlier and found “Radio Shangri-La: What I Learned in Bhutan, the Happiest Kingdom on Earth” by Lisa Napoli.

So…there’s your answer…this is why I’m going to Bhutan. It seems that the universe (in cahoots with my generous parents and my supportive husband and daughter) has deemed it so! I’m going with an open heart and an open mind. I’m going with a feeling that this is absolutely meant to be, though I have no idea why. And I’m going in ten days…so I’d better get packing!

I hope to post mini-blogs as I am able along the way, so be sure to subscribe to Creative Oasis™ if you’d like to see how this whole experience unfolds.

In the meantime, all the best from my creative oasis to yours,

Jill