Want to Be In Love With Your Life? 10 Quick Questions to Help

Want to be in love with your life?

Specifically, do you want to be in love with your creative life? (Or as I like to call it, your Creative Oasis.)

You know those creative experiences that fill you up with happiness? Anything from gardening to yoga to painting to writing to making music to art journaling to traveling to visiting museums to cooking to photography...all of the creative experience that makes your heart sing and time fly!

Today I'm sharing 10 quick questions to help shift your focus to what's working well and what could use a little help in your creative life. (You know how I love questions! Asking them tends to lead us straight to the good stuff!)

Doesn't it make sense that the more time you spend having creative experiences you love the more you will love your life? (Jack was onto something! Woot!)

To join me, set a timer for 5-minutes and quickly write your answers in your journal or on a sheet of paper.

Either way, please try writing them down somewhere. There's something powerful in the act of writing your thoughts on paper rather than just thinking them in your mind.

Ready? Here we go...

#1 ~ Are you in love with your creative life? 

#2 ~ If yes...what do you love about it? (If no...skip down to question #6.)

#3 ~ What's one simple way you can expand what's working well to enjoy it in a new and different way? 

#4 ~ What's another creative experience you've been dreaming of that you haven't yet tried? What's one small step you could take toward making that happen next?

#5 ~ What if you take a moment right now to enjoy a nice deep breath of gratitude for your wonderful creative life?  (Yay! Gratitude works like fertilizer to feed the flowers of our creative spirit and keep it growing strong! Please proceed to question #10.)

#6 ~ If no...what's worked well in the past? What's one small way you could revisit that?

#7 ~ What's one new thing you'd like to experience that you've never tried before? What's one small, doable step you could take to help make that happen?

#8 ~ If you're feeling stuck coming up with answers for 6 and 7, where might you find help? 

#9 ~ What's one way you can show some compassion and be kind to yourself around this? (*Hint: see question #10.)

#10 ~ How can you spend the next 5 to 10 minutes in a way that feeds your creative spirit and energizes and delights you?* 

(*Ideas: doodle, color, take a few photos with your phone, write a haiku, play a song on the piano or guitar, make a meal using as many colors as possible, take a walk around the block and look for pink things, write your creative self a letter telling her all the things you wish for her!) 

Questions are creative lighter fluid! Here's hoping that by pondering these questions you'll spark your creative curiosity and passion today and move one or two steps closer to being in love with your creative life!

Still need help? The one-on-one creative coaching I offer provides compassionate support, gentle accountability and ongoing inspiration to help you stay motivated and loving your creative life!
Learn more about it here.

You'll also find easy-to-use creative instigation and motivation in my "Create the Summer of Your Dreams  Kit" available here.

Until next time, all the best from my "I Love It!" Creative Oasis to yours,

Jill

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.

Radical Suggestions & Gentle Reminders ~ A Creative Oasis Manifesto

When we give ourselves permission to enjoy what makes our hearts sing and time fly we experience our Creative Oasis. You've heard me say this before but we can all use a gentle reminder from time to time, right?  

Because our Creative Oasis is unique to each of us and because there are so many fabulous, fun, fulfilling experiences out there waiting to be explored, I decided to write a free-form list poem of some favorite Creative Oasis moments to share as examples and before I knew it I'd written a full-blown manifesto! (Click here to download your free printable copy.)

Of course this list contains only a smattering of the oodles of experiences out there just waiting for you to discover, revisit, explore and savor...but it's a good start. 

Here are five quick and easy steps to help you use my new Creative Oasis Manifesto to spark some creative joy of your own (sooner than later I hope!):

#1 ~ Read the manifesto aloud with a blank piece of paper or your journal open to a new page. Each time you come to a word or phrase that gives you a tingly, energized feeling, makes you smile or sets you to day dreaming about doing that very thing, jot it down. Our body is like our own personal polygraph machine. If we pay attention to the signals it sends us (warm fuzzy feelings, sly smiles, jazzy jitters and what have you) we're sure to stay on the right track!

#2 ~ Next, read over the list you've written. Quickly and intuitively (without overthinking) put a star next to your three favorites. 

#3 ~ For each starred moment ask yourself: "What are three super small steps I can take to enjoy this Creative Oasis moment?" Write those down too. You may feel compelled to doodle hearts, stars, moons and smiley faces all around your steps. If so, my professional opinion is to break out the colored pencils and go for it!

#4 ~ Each day for the coming week, you get to choose one of your super small steps to enjoy! Repeat as time allows throughout the day and week. 

# 5 ~ To make getting to your small steps even easier why not add them to your calendar or day planner? This really helps give your creativity priority just like everything else on your to-do list. 

In fact, I'm going to radically suggest you put your creative small steps at the very top of your to-do list! That's right, you heard me. Puttering in the garden trumps laundry. Felting for a few minutes comes before your meeting. Pulling images for a collage has priority over making dinner. (We're only talking about 5 to 10 minutes here, so I feel safe in saying no one will starve as a result.) 

#6 ~ Also, what if you set a timer for just 5 to 10 minutes to lower the pressure and help you begin?Another benefit of practicing small bursts of creative joy throughout the day is it helps us practice getting to our Creative Oasis more often rather than waiting for those big chunks of free time that rarely, if ever, come our way! If you have time to do more ~ Great! If not, no worries. At the very least, you know you'll be enjoying a few minutes of Creative Oasis time most days.

If you have trouble breaking down your Creative Oasis moments into small, doable steps, please drop me a line in the comments below and I'll be happy to lend a hand.

Until next time, here's to gentle reminders, radical suggestions and the Creative Oasis Manifesto!

Jill

P.S. ~ If you enjoyed this post and would like to receive bite-size bonbons of creative inspiration like this in my 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.

Another Happy Creative Summer Kit Fan Shares Her Story

I'm delighted to share the story of another happily satisfied fan of my "Create the Summer of Your Dreams" DIY Kit. 

A professional organizer (MakeMyLifeSimplified.com), a photographer and nature lover, Debbie Stinson is a longtime friend and client of Creative Oasis Coaching.  She kindly agreed to share some of the fun experiences she's enjoyed so far using her kit to create the summer of her dreams.

"I purchased pretty new flowers to plant in front of my home. I had so much fun getting my hands in the dirt that I didn't even notice the heat or the time. 

Now I have more flowers to photograph and I'll smile and be reminded of my Summertime Oasis every time I walk to my front door.

By the way, my early morning walks at the Arboretum are a direct result of the opportunity you gave me to "Create the Summer of my Dreams" using your fun DIY e-kit. 

I love feeling that I'm on a good summertime path. 

Thanks so much for creating and sharing this kit.

I look forward to continuing to let it guide me on a creative journey through the summer sunshine!"

~ Debbie Stinson (MakeMyLifeSimplified.com)

As you can imagine, I was tickled as pink as the pretty flower picture she shared to receive Debbie's awesome feedback and I'm so pleased to share it with you too. (Click here to read the stories of other happy customers!)

The good news is you still have time to delight in some satisfying creative experiences of your own and create amazing summer memories using my "Create the Summer of Your Dreams" kit. (Click here  for all the details and to purchase your own kit today.)

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

Jill

Jill Allison Bryan

CreativeOasisCoaching.com

Tapping Into Your Inner Peacock

photo by Jill Allison Bryan taken at Kalachandji's in Dallas

Imagine a world where peacocks tried to hide their magnificent colors away because they worried they might be presumed too bold or showy...or because they were afraid they weren't just the right shade of blue, green or purple...or because they thought all the other birds were so much more beautiful than them so why even bother?

Sounds downright unnatural, doesn't it? That's because it is! Peacocks were born to proudly parade their brilliant feathers in all their glory.

Now if you happen to be one of the many people who try to hide your own magnificent creative colors because you're worried that you might be seen as "showing off" or because your afraid your own personal creative process "isn't good enough" or because you think everyone else's creative endeavors are so much better than yours "why should you even bother?" I'm here to tell you that line of thinking is just as unnatural as a peacock trying to hide its brilliance.

I truly believe that you and I are born to share our creative light with the world in a multitude of ways whether it be painting, writing, crafting, gardening, dancing, making music, taking photos, hosting dinner parties, decorating, acting, scrapbooking, knitting...the list goes on and on. As I love to say, your Creative Oasis is whatever makes your heart sing and time fly!

What's one small way you might tap into your 

inner peacock and share your creative colors with the world today?

If you could use some help making the time and space for creative fulfillment in your life sign up here to receive a free copy of my short e-book Permission to Be Creative 101, Mid-Week Oasis Moments (bite-size bonbons of creative inspiration served weekly) and my monthly Creative Oasis Pages newsletter.

And if you're interested in learning more about how one-on-one creativity coaching may be just what you need click here to read more about Creative Oasis Coaching and how to schedule a complimentary session to see if it might be right for you.

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

Jill Allison Byan

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!

Get Creative in No Time! (okay, in two minutes)

Give yourself two minutes to check out  my latest article published by the always inspiring Creativity-Portal.   I share an instant gratification plan to get back to your creative pursuits, quickly and easily!

http://www.creativity-portal.com/cca/jill-bryan/get-creative-two-minutes.html