O'Keefe, Van Gogh, Sunflowers and You

(*An update from last summer's post.)
If you're inspired by the outrageous, sunny beauty of sunflowers you're in good company. Artists Georgia O'Keeffe and Vincent Van Gogh were clearly taken with the hopeful brilliance of the sunflower. 

"When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it's your world for the moment. I want to give that world to someone else. Most people in the city rush around so, they have no time to look at a flower. I want them to see it whether they want to or not."

                                ~ Georgia O'Keeffe

"Great things are done

by a series of small things

brought together." 

~ Vincent Van Gogh

Why not enjoy some time playing with your own creative response to the sunflower?

You may choose to take O'Keeffe's words to heart and slow down for a few minutes to simply hold a sunflower in your hands and absorb its beauty. Or you may follow Van Gogh's Kaizen approach and choose a few small steps to take for a sunflower inspired creative piece of our own. 

Of course, you don't need to be a painter to enjoy a little sunflower power in your life. I've shared a few simple suggestions above and below to help you get started.

What if you:

* Add a dash of bold gold to your outfit for the day.

* Write a quick "ode to a sunflower" in haiku form.

* Doodle a page filled with sunflowers.

* Stay on the look out for sunflowers and notice how often you see them, letting each sighting serve as a fun reminder that creativity comes in all shapes, forms and sometimes in the most unexpected places.

* Download and print this free Van Gogh Sunflowers coloring page or google your own. (There are lots and lots of wonderful free coloring pages to be found on the internet.)

Click here to download your copy to color or paint. 

Since creating my Create the Summer of Your Dreams Kit with a sunflower as its symbol I see sunflowers everywhere! On my walks, in stores, on the side of the road, in a friend's headband, on billboards, even in my twitter feed in a Huffington Post story about 3D printing. 

Click here to learn more about the "Create the Summer of Your Dreams" Kit.

Until next time, I hope you enjoy your sunflower creations and inspirations whatever they may be and that they bring an added splash of color and creative play to your summer!

Jill

Jill Allison Bryan

www.creativeoasiscoaching.com

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.

Want To Shine A Light On Your Creative Power?

Want to tap into a feeling of more creative freedom and ease this summer? 

Why not take a cue from the sunflower and reach toward the light? 

When things on your to-do list start to feel overwhelming, difficult or unappealing try lightening them up by asking yourself these questions: 

* What's one small way I can make this easier?

* What's one small way I can make this more fun?

* What's one small way I can make this more doable? 

* What's one small way I can reward myself when I've finished?

It's amazing how asking ourselves these simple questions can help shift our perspective and shine a light on a whole new way of looking at situations and responsibilities that have us feeling bummed out, bogged down or blue.  

Click here for your free Sunflower Power Reminders printable. 

You can post it on your desk, tape it to your fridge, keep a copy in your car, or add one to your day planner  to help you remember you have the power to lighten things up. All you have to do is ask!

Another easy way to embrace a summer that feels light, fun and free is get yourself a copy of my Create the Summer of Your Dreams Kit. 

Until next time, here's to tapping into your own sunflower power and reaching toward the light!

Jill

Jill Allison Bryan

www.creativeoasiscoaching.com

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.

The Creative Magic of 15 Minutes

Does experiencing this type of creative transformation sound good to you? If so, I invite you to set a timer for 15 minutes and dive into one of the creative prompts below. If you like Click Here to download a free printable PDF version.

 ~ "Even When" Creative Prompts ~

# 1 ~ Even though I feel so tired...one small doable way to spark my creative energy for the next 15 minutes might be to...

#2 ~ Even though my to-do list is sooooooo long...one thing I can release from my list right now without the world crashing down around me is...

#3 ~ Even though I feel like I don't have any time for myself...I can hop off the computer for the next 15 minutes and enjoy some creative play by...

#4 ~ Even though I feel so uninspired right now...I open myself to finding some creative inspiration for the next 15 minutes by...

#5 ~ Even though I just want to zone out in front of the TV...I give myself permission to enjoy 15 minutes of Creative Oasis time right now by...

Here's to seizing the next fifteen minutes to experience the positive transformation of creative time!

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

Jill

Jill Allison Bryan ~ Creative Oasis Coaching

www.creativeoasiscoaching.com

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.

3 Steps to a Creative New Year

In the spirit of celebrating the coming New Year, I invite you to try this simple 3-step process to help set your intentions and spark a year of joyful creative living in 2015.

Grab some colored pens or pencils (I love writing with colorful felt-tip markers! ) and a blank piece of paper or, better yet, a beautiful journal you haven't been able to bring yourself to write in yet because you don't know where to start. Click here to download the prompts in printable form below if you'd like.

Ready? Let yourself answer the following questions quickly and intuitively without overthinking them. Your first answers are usually your best and most true.

#1 ~ Give Yourself Credit ~

~ What creative projects, pursuits and experiences did I enjoy most in 2014?
~ What helped give me permission to enjoy these creative experiences?
~ What worked well when it came to living a creative life last year?

#2 ~ Give Yourself Ideas ~

~ Which creative projects, pursuits and experiences would I like to continue in 2015?
~ Which new creative projects, pursuits and experiences would I love to explore in 2015?
~ What's one small way I can experience creative joy every day in the coming year?

#3 ~ Give Yourself Permission ~

~ Where can I find compassionate support to help me make time and space for my creativity? (Think friends, groups, classes, coaching, etc...)
~ How can I practicing giving myself permission to enjoy creative experiences more often?
~ What's one loving way I can allow myself to experience more creative joy than ever in the coming year?

Here's to living the creative life in 2015! May your year be filled with many wonderful Creative Oasis moments, laughter, love and light!

Jill

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

Procrastination~ Wanted ~ Dead or Alive! (a blast from the past)

* Felt like a good time to bring back this blast from the past. Enjoy! * 

(Request a free printable version of this mini-poster in the comments section below.)

Procrastination...it's one of our most common creative blocks.

It keeps us from enjoying our creative endeavors by allowing our inner critic to whisper in our ear: "You're no good at this. You don't have time for this nonsense. Who do you think you are?"

Procrastination convinces us that everyone else's stuff is more important than our own.

It causes us to hop up and look for something to eat when we're not the least bit hungry.

It fills us with a strange desire to re-organize our perfectly organized sock drawer or pantry or creative closet.

Procrastination tempts us to check Facebook, Twitter and email about ten times more often than we need.

It thrives on busy-work that could easily wait until tomorrow or even never in many cases.

It encourages our stubborn refusal to delegate and assures us that we must do everything ourselves.

Procrastination sucks. Literally. Procrastination sucks the creative life out of us. 
So how to we rid our lives of this insidious creative block?

Simply acknowledging our various procrastination habits is a great first small step. When see our blocks for what they are...when we're aware of the many ways they creep into our lives, that's the first step to hunting down procrastination and putting it behind bars where it belongs.

Here's an easy way to start. What if you make a quick list of all the various ways you might procrastinate today? By taking a moment to acknowledge the different ways you might keep yourself from making time for creative joy, you'll be more aware when your excuses pop up through out the day.

You may realize: 

"Oh, look - here I am on Facebook again. I could spend the next 15 minutes here, 

or I could get out my watercolors and paint." 

You may find yourself staring into your fridge and think,

"I'm not the least bit hungry for food. I want to play the piano!"

You may find yourself shuffling papers around your desk and have the epiphany

"I'd much rather be writing!" 

The idea is, when we're on the look out for our blocks we can stop them in their tracks. We can remind ourselves that we have a choice. "I can spend more time doing this thing I don't really need or want to be doing, or take this time back for my creativity." It takes practice, but it's a doable way to begin. And even if you only open up an additional ten or fifteen minutes in your day for creativity – well, that's ten or fifteen minutes more than you had before – so it's great movement in the right direction! 

Here's to rounding up our procrastination habits and locking them up where they belong so we can free up more time for creative satisfaction in our life!

Need more help saying NO to procrastination and YES to creative fulfillment? One-on-one creativity coaching may be just the ticket. 

(Click here to discover how I can help you embrace your own Creative Oasis.)

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

Jill

Jill Allison Bryan

Recovering Procrastinator

Singer/Songwriter

Master Kaizen-Muse Creativity Coach

Founder Creative Oasis Coaching

Shine a Light on Your Sunflower Power!

Want to tap into a feeling of more freedom and ease this summer? Why not take a cue from the sunflower and reach toward the light? When things on your to-do list start to feel overwhelming, difficult or unappealing try lightening them up by asking yourself these questions: 

* What's one small way I can make this easier?

* What's one small way I can make this more fun?

* What's one small way I can make this more doable? 

* What's one small way I can reward myself when I've finished?

It's simply amazing how asking ourselves these simple questions can help shift our perspective and shine a light on a whole new way of looking at situations and responsibilities that have us feeling bummed out, bogged down or blue.  

If you like, click here for your free Sunflower Power Reminders printable. You can post it on your desk, tape it to your fridge, keep a copy in your car, or add one to your day planner  to help you remember you have the power to lighten things up. All you have to do is ask!

Click here for free printable – Sunflower Power Reminders

Another easy way to embrace a summer that feels light, fun and free is get yourself a copy of my new Create the Summer of Your Dreams Kit. 

Take a look at all of the easy, breezy do-it-yourself creative fun that's included in each kit right here!

You can also quickly and easily purchase your kit now

for just $19.99 by clicking the "Add to Cart" button below.

Until next time, here's to tapping into our own sunflower power and reaching toward the light!

Jill

Jill Allison Bryan

www.creativeoasiscoaching.com

Say "Fun Summer Sunflower Printable Fun" 5x Fast

Clearly Henry James held a special affinity for the summer afternoon. Had he lived through a typical blistering Texas summer he may not have waxed so poetically. (If you've ever slogged your way through two or three weeks of triple digit temps you know what I mean.)

Heat waves not withstanding, I do have wonderful memories of the summers of my youth, even those spent in the sticky Texas heat. Summer has a special place in my heart for the promise it holds...whether or not that promise is always kept.

The promise of a day spent lounging in a pool…of savoring the year's best tomatoes straight off the vine…of reading a stack of good books…of slicing into the perfect watermelon…of fantastic firework displays…of making homemade ice cream, taking road trips and naps and more…

Sadly, as card carrying grown-ups, all too often we find our youthful dreams of summer remain just that…dreams. Especially our Creative Oasis dreams...our Creative Oasis being anything that makes our heart sing and time fly from painting to writing to reading to gardening to baking…you get the idea, right?

To help you make at least a few of your Creative Oasis dreams come true this summer, I've created this special do–it–yourself kit: 

Create the Summer of Your Dreams – A Do-It-Yourself Creative Oasis Kit to help you dive into a summer filled with creative satisfaction and fun! 

(Click here for all the sweet details and to order your copy!) 

You can also quickly and easily purchase your kit now

for just $19.99 by clicking the "Add to Cart" button below.

Want a free taste of some sweet summertime creative play? 

Then break out your colored pens, pencils or crayons and click here to download your "Free Fun Summer Sunflower Printable" (for added fun try saying that 5 times fast) and enjoy a few minutes of pure summertime fun. (Hint: printing on card stock or matte photo paper is a great option if you'd like to play with watercolors or markers.)

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

Jill

Jill Allison Bryan
www.creativeoasiscoaching.com

The Ta-Dah vs. To-Do Shift

(Click here to request a free printable Ta-Dah List of your own.)

We all have to-do lists. Whether we write them in our day planners, keep them on our phones or let them swirl around in our minds. Even if not is list form, we all have never-ending things that we need, want and intend to do.

I say never-ending because we’ll always need to do things like shop for groceries…pay bills…do laundry…meet deadlines…drive carpools…have meetings…finish taxes and the like. We’ll always have places we want to visit, new activities we want to try and people with whom we want to spend time.

As I often remind my clients (and myself!) the day we no longer have a to-do list will not be the day we finally get around to our creative dream – in fact at that point our main pastime will be pushing up daisies. (Harsh? Maybe. True? Definitely!)

I am a list lover! I love to make lists and it brings me great joy to check things off my lists. Yet, I know that our to-do lists can feel overwhelming precisely because they’re never-ending. That’s why I also love the idea of the Ta-Dah list.

Though not a replacement for our to-do lists, a Ta-Dah list can shift our focus from the many things we have yet to accomplish onto the things we have actually done – even if they weren’t on our to-do list in the first place!

So often we do much more than we give ourselves credit for. We tend to concentrate on what we still need to do rather than taking a moment to give ourselves credit for what we’ve already achieved. And we rarely give ourselves a pat on the back for something that feels good. 

Five or ten minutes crafting…a good-for-the-soul discussion with an old friend…an impromptu organizing session…a spontaneous backrub for a stressed-out spouse…reading an inspiring article, knitting or writing in our journal while we wait in the carpool line and so on.

This is the good stuff! These are the moments that enrich our lives, bring us happiness and feelings of fulfillment. When we take a moment to give ourselves credit for them in the same way we do our “official” to-do lists, we shine a light on them and affirm their importance. That’s exactly what the Ta-Dah list lets us do.

I’ve decided to walk the walk and share my own brief Ta-Dah list in future Mid-Week Oasis Moments. I’d love for you to join me. I’ve created a free printable Ta-Dah list you can download here and use on a daily or weekly basis or whenever you like. Feel free to share your Ta-Dahs in the comments section below as well.

Click here to download your free printable Ta-Dah List

Can you imagine how good it might feel to shift our focus from all we have left to do on any given day to the delightful things we have already done? What a boost!

Here’s to giving ourselves credit for small steps, surprise detours, simple pleasures and all of the Creative Oasis Moments we enjoy in our busy lives.

All the best from my Ta-Dah Creative Oasis to yours,

Jill

Jill Allison Bryan

www.CreativeOasisCoaching.com

What Lights You Up? (*Hint: for brilliant results ask often)

If you've been reading my Creative Oasis™ blog or receiving my Mid-Week Oasis Moments for awhile now, you know that I'm a big believer in the power of asking ourselves small questions. It's one of the "super-simple-yet-super-effective" tools we use in Kaizen-Muse® Creativity Coaching. Here's one small question that I turn to time and again for quick creative realignment and a plethora of possibility producing ideas: (try saying that 5 times fast!)

What lights me up? 

This is a great question to ask when you're feeling stuck, are running out of ideas, are looking for something exciting to explore or even are pondering a new place to visit. Asking this one simple question can uncover a multitude of fabulous options and remind us of what we really want to do. 

Why not try it now? 

Want to give it a try? It's easy. Take out a pen and paper, set a timer for one minute and let yourself come up with as many different answers as you can to the question "What lights me up?"Of course, if you're really on a roll after a minute, just keep writing! I'll do it with you. Ready? Set. Go!

What did you come up with?

Here's what came to me off the top of my head: playing with my 3 year old niece, playing piano, making music with my husband, running and walking by the lake, creating collages in my Creative Oasis Journal, reading inspiring books and magazines, trying out new recipes, visiting with good friends, writing just about anything, travel and dreaming about travel, coaching, getting a really relaxing massage, visiting museums and art happenings, seeing concerts and taking photos.

What's next?

What if you posted this list near your computer, in your day-timer or on your fridge or phone – any place you'll be likely to see it at least once a day? Then, the next time you decide to give yourself a five or ten minute Creative Oasis break you can choose something from the list and enjoy!

What I found interesting was the things that didn't show up on my list that I actually spend quite a bit of time doing like checking e-mail, Facebook, twitter and Pinterest. Which leads me to another thought. What if the next time I'm about to hop on Facebook or twitter, I first scan my "What Lights Me  Up?" list and then give myself five or ten minutes to enjoy one of those experiences first? 

To make our lists more visually appealing, I've included a free printable to download below. If you'd like to write your list on this be my guest. And as always, I'd love to hear from you if you want to share what lights you up in the comments section below.

Click here to download this free Creative Oasis printable

Last weekend I had the opportunity to experience something that lit me up as well as the entire downtown Dallas Arts District - Aurora Dallas 2013.

The Aurora Project was a free contemporary art exhibition in the rapidly developing Dallas Arts District. The project presented interactive new media artworks such as light , video, performance, and sound in exciting and unexpected public spaces that transformed 68-acres of downtown Dallas into one of the nations largest outdoor exhibitions of this cutting-edge medium. It was an amazing experience that left me energized, inspired and definitely lit up!

This is a photo I took of one of my favorite installations of the evening. 
I only wish that I'd remembered to write down the name of the artist!

Until next time, all the best from my lit up 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 short e-book 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!