Creative-Free-Time Treasure Hunt Challenge

 If some easy–breezy, guilt-free creative time sounds good to you, I invite you to accept my 

15-Minute Creative-Free-Time Treasure Hunt Challenge.

How does it work? You simply swap 15 minutes out of your busy schedule for 15 minutes of guilt-free creative free time this week. 

Easier said than done? Maybe this will help...Did you realize you have 10,080 minutes at your disposal each and every week? It’s true! (I was kind of jazzed when I did the math. I mean, just look at all those minutes waiting to be enjoyed!) 

Sure you’ll need lots of those minutes to sleep, shower, eat, wash dishes and the like. You’ll need more to work, chauffer kids, run errands, do laundry and other assorted life “stuff.”

Even so, I invite you to go on a treasure hunt of sorts and come up with just 15 minutes (of those 10,080 minutes) to you give yourself permission to enjoy a 100% guilt-free Creative Oasis experience. (If you already have a nice creative habit going consider this Bonus Creative Free Time!)

Where oh where oh where will you find this fifteen minutes?

Here are a few places you may find hidden pockets of time. 

~ While your morning coffee or tea brews

~ Before, after or instead of Facebook time

~ Rather than laying games like Words with Friends or Candy Crush

~ Swap for online shopping or browsing

~ Instead of watching mindless TV

~ Sleep (I’m all for enjoying a good night’s sleep, but setting your alarm 15 minutes early to enjoy a little Creative Me time can be a great way to start the day!)

~ Grocery shopping (make it a game to try to finish your shopping fifteen minutes faster than you usually do)

~ Waiting in the carpool line

 ~ or better yet…RIGHT THIS VERY MINUTE! 

That’s right. You heard me. You’re sitting someplace reading this email, so why not set a timer and use the next 15 minutes to treat yourself to a Creative Oasis moment?

When you find your hidden pockets of time please take a moment to see them for the gems they really are! They're time you get to  choose to spend freely on your creative passions!

Don’t know which Creative Oasis you'd like to visit? Here are a few ideas:

~ Open your journal and enjoy some free form writing

~ Listen to music that you love and haven’t heard in ages

~ Dance

~ Fill an entire page with doodles

~ Pick up your knitting, crocheting or needlework

~ Make a homemade card for someone you love

~ Write a letter to your creative idol (you don’t have to send it)

~ Come up with as many creative ways to use paperclips as you can think of (you can think way outside the box here if you like ~ curtains anyone?)

~ Look through a coffee table, art or other creative book or magazine for inspiration

~ Play an instrument

~ Sing a song

~ Pick up a creative project that’s been gathering dust lately

~ Make up your own yoga routine by stretching and breathing in ways that feel good

~ Make a list of as many creative experiences as possible that you’d like to try

~ Sit and breath (outside if the weather’s nice)

Of course, once you enjoy your 15 minutes of Creative Free Time you may decide you want to find another 15 minutes to play again.

To that I say, go for it! Rinse and repeat! Do it to it! By all means! Be my guest! Excellent! Yay you!

Please share this with your friends and invite them to join us in The 15-Minute Creative-Free-Time Treasure Hunt Challenge.

If you’d like to share your experience please do so in the comments below! I’d love to know the details of your challenge experience. Where did you find hidden pockets of time? What did you swap to make time for your Creative Oasis moments? How did it feel to give yourself permission to really dive in and enjoy your creative time guilt-free?

You may be surprised at how truly rewarding, relaxing and freeing 15 minutes of creative play can be. And 15 minutes of creative fun is way better than no creative fun at all!

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

Jill

P.S. ~ If you enjoyed this post please share on Facebook and twitter using the buttons below!  If you'd like to receive bite-size bonbons of creative inspiration like this Mid-Week Oasis Moments plus a free copy of my e-book "Permission to Be Creative 101" join me here: http://www.creativeoasiscoaching.com/newsletter.html.

Creative Bliss in 3 Easy Steps

I have an idea! What if we reframe sunsets as mini-creative workshops? You may be wondering "How in the world would we do that?" and even "Why in the world would we do that?"

Well, sunsets are beautiful to behold, occur daily and they're free. More importantly, taking a few moments to enjoy a sunset happens to be an awesome example of exposure, an extremely important, but often overlooked step in the creative process –  not to mention a wonderful way to increase your personal creative bliss. 

Exposing ourselves to the wonders of nature as well as other people's art, music, writing, recipes, ideas…in fact, all manner of creativity...shifts our focus from our own pursuits (and how much progress we're making…or not making…with them) and helps rev up our creative energy! 

It's so easy to get caught up in measuring the progress of our creative projects that we often neglect our desire to soak up our sponge with creative goodness in other ways. (Plus, it can be so damn fun that we may feel guilty even considering it.) Allow me to help alleviate that guilt for you. 

Consider this…doesn't it make sense that Van Gogh spent a good amount of time simply gazing at the golden beauty of sunflowers before he was able to paint some of his most well-known masterpieces?  That Julia Child sampled copious amounts of buttery sauces before perfecting and sharing her own? That Aretha swayed to the gospel of many a church choir before gracing us with R-E-S-P-E-C-T?

When we stop to appreciate the beauty around us we nourish our creative spirit.

How might you treat yourself to some inspiring exposure this week? 

What if you...

 Listen to the birds outside your window…

Savor your morning cup of coffee or evening glass of wine…

Take flight in a pretend rocket ship to the moon with your niece…

Watch a documentary art film…

Listen to some world-beat music...

Stop to smell the honeysuckle blooming in your backyard…

Listen to the rain on the roof in the middle of the night…

Try out that new Cuban restaurant around the corner...

Can you come up with three ideas to practice exposure that sound good to you? 

I'd love to hear them in the comments section below!

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

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!