7 Ways to Love Your Life a Little More

Are you in love with your creative life?

If your reaction is "What creative life?!?!" we need to discuss the possibility of doing some one-on-one coaching together! 

In the meantime, here's something you can do on your own in the coming week. I invite you to ponder the prompts I've shared below inspired the Osho quote in today's Mid-Week Oasis Moment.

If you keep a written journal you may want to answer the questions each time you sit down to write. Observe if and how your answers change over the course of the coming week.

If you keep a visual or art journal you may like to create a page inspired by each question.

Or, if you like, you can click here to download this free printable I've created for you.

#1 ~ What do I love about my current creative life?

#2 ~ What might help me love my creative life even more?

#3 ~ What's one small, doable step I can take to set my answer to question #2 in motion?

# 4 ~ What's one easy, affordable way I can add some beauty to my life?

#5 ~ How might I enjoy a bit more music in my life?
       (Even if you don't think of yourself as musical.)

# 6 ~ How might I add some poetry to my life?
        (Even if you don't consider yourself a poet.)

#7 ~ How might I energize my life with dance?
       (Even if you don't consider yourself a dancer.)

I truly hope that these questions spark some ideas that will help you dive into some creative joy and love yourself and your life a little more! 

With lots of love 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.

Joni Mitchell on Creative Freedom

I recently read "Joni Mitchell: In Her Own Words" by Malka Marom. The quote above lived on the back cover. I must have re-read those words a dozen times while the book held its "number one" status atop a pile of books on my nightstand. 

Her quote left me equal parts inspired and frustrated. 

The phrase "luxury of being able to follow the path of the heart" frustrated me because I could just hear people saying, "Oh sure, Joni Mitchell has the luxury of being able to follow her heart. She's a rock star!" 

Well it wasn't always so easy for her. In her youth when polio kept her in a hospital bed for months and she was told she would never walk again, Mitchell secretly rose each night to pull herself along the side railings to regain her strength. She was released when she shocked the doctors by showing them she was able to walk on her own. She then went on to become a dancer, painter and legendary singer/songwriter. 

Hers is a beautiful and literal example of using small steps to follow the path of the heart.

The truth is we all have the luxury of following our hearts. 

Sometimes it feels so much easier to blame our circumstances or other people or lack or funds or lack of time or (insert your favorite rationalization/excuse here) than to claim our creative freedom and engage in the creative experiences that make us feel alive! 

You may be thinking, "But Jill, it's true! I really don't have the time, money, energy, supplies (insert your favorite rationalization/excuse here) to enjoy these Creative Oasis Moments you're always going on about." 

What if you allow yourself to start right now, right where you are? 

In the most gentle, compassionate way possible I invite you to ask yourself these three small questions. I believe they'll help you open the window to let in that fresh breeze of creative freedom that makes you feel alive. 

#1 ~ What do I have in my possession right now that I can use to create? An especially great question if you tell yourself you need to buy things before you can begin enjoying your own Creative Oasis. How would it feel to challenge yourself to use some old creative supplies that sit waiting untouched in your closet or to start writing in one of those half-empty journals on your shelf? 

#2 ~ What's one way I spend time each week that I might trade for some Creative Oasis time? Perhaps you can swap 15 minutes of checking Facebook or Pinterest, watching mindless TV or reading your junk mail and sales emails as if they warranted your attention. (They don't!) (Check out my recent Creative-Free-Time-Treasure-Hunt Challenge post here if you missed it.)

#3 ~ What time of day do I have the most energy/time? What if I give myself 15 minutes of that part of the day to explore my Creative Oasis? If you usually feel zapped at the end of the day why not give yourself permission to enjoy some creative play in the morning or during lunchtime? What if this weekend you enjoy some creative play first and then tackle your chores. (They'll still be there waiting for you ~ I promise!)

Here's to believing your freedom to create is a necessity rather than a luxury! 

Does that feel a bit out of reach just now? 

Then can you practice believing it just 5% more? It's wonderful small step toward slowly and surely giving yourself more permission to enjoy the creative expression that makes you feel truly alive. (*Life's too short to make your Creative Oasis wait!)

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.

Gifts From the Sea, Van Gogh & Me

I'm so happy to share a few gifts from my trip to the sea paired with 

blessings to inspire your creative journey this week! 

May you find inspiration in the beauty of nature!

The beach is one of my favorite Creative Oasis Places. Walking along the shoreline never fails to reenergize and inspire me. 

To create the Mid-Week Oasis Moment above I took a photo of the beach then gave it the "Van Gogh" treatment using a fun app called "AutoPainter" and added a quote from Vincent himself that I just love. 

May you continue to grow and find strength from your creativity!

The sun came out for our final morning beach walk and we encountered all sorts of treasures. I found this beautiful, blue-grey nautilus shell (a symbol of growth & strength) my lone souvenir of our trip ~ well, other than a few new laugh lines. 

photo by Ashley Thames Brown

May your creative spirit take flight like a feather on the wind! 

My friend, Ashley, found this white feather along with some lovely bits of sea glass. She left other pieces to continue tumbling in the surf and sand to smooth their sharp edges and become treasures for future beach combers.

And finally, may you find many opportunities to "flock together" with kindred "birds of a feather" on your creative journey! 

Non-stop laughter that makes your cheeks hurt and your sides ache in the best possible way...

Heartfelt conversations where you know you're truly heard and understood...

Unconditional love that reminds you you're not alone on this crazy ride called life...

All that and more filled a brief beach getaway with a few fabulous girlfriends and proved to be just what my spirit needed last weekend! 

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-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.

Is Creating Beauty a Waste of Time?

"There are so many creative projects I would love to do...

IF I only had more time!"

Sound familiar? I'm guessing it does. Of all the reasons people tell me they don't get to their creative passions as often as they'd like, "lack of time" often tops the list. 

(Click here to share what's standing in the way of your creative dreams for a chance to win Creative Oasis Goodies including a 30 minute one-on-one creative coaching session with me.*)

Even though you know in your heart of hearts that time spent in the creative flow is good for your mind, body and spirit, you're waiting for hours and hours of free time to magically appear. (Not likely, right?)

I get it. I mean I really get it! 

The truth is I don't have time vast quantities of free time to get to every single creative project I dream of either. (Is that a shocker?) 

In addition to coaching my awesome one-on-one clients and creating new Mid-Week Oasis Moments and Creative Oasis classes and workshops to share with you, I'm also a chauffeur for my daughter...upkeep manager of the household...payer of the bills...doer of the laundry...feeder of the dogs...sorter of the mail...buyer of the groceries...maker of the meals...planner of the vacations...you get the idea.

Though it may not look exactly the same as mine, I'm sure that you also have a to-do list that just keep coming day after day...week after week...year after year.  Here's the thing, as I like to remind my clients, the day we have nothing left to-do on our to-do list it's pretty much game over. 

So, if we agree that our to-do lists aren't going anywhere and that it's highly unlikely we'll suddenly have hours and hours of unscheduled free time out of the blue, I invite you to answer this question: 

Is creating beauty and restoring your soul a waste of time? 

Great news! If your answered a resounding no (perhaps even "Hell no!") then you're ready to the next small step...literally. 

If the number one issue my clients come to me with is "lack of time" ~ the number one take-away they leave with after working with me through my classes or coaching is this transformative bit of knowledge:

"Wow! I really and truly don't need hours and hours of unscheduled free time to enjoy creative fun, fulfillment and flow!" 

And guess what, neither do you. 

People who work with me are amazed at the amount of creative satisfaction they experience after something as simple and fun as coloring in a mandala for a few minutes. (Google "free printable mandalas" and you'll find lots of wonderful options!)

Click here to read more in my previous "Mandala Making Magic in Minutes" post.

Sure, your creative heart's desire might not be to color in mandalas with colored pencils, but it's a start. Plus, it's a great way to experience low-pressure creative play quickly. 

Want to hear another thing people who work with me discover?  

Once they give themselves permission to enjoy these small bursts of creative play their overall passion for creativity returns only now since they're actually diving in and enjoying some hands on creativity rather than waiting for loads and loads of free time to appear, the experience of being in the creative flow becomes real...doable...and something they can actually weave into their busy lives on a regular basis. 

Ten or fifteen minutes of dive-right in creative fun can be just the thing to spark your desire to dust off your piano and play, pull down your watercolors and paint or open your journal and write! In fact, why not try it right now? This very minute? 

I invite you to set a timer for 15 minutes and enjoy some simple, creative fun whether. You could play an instrument, do a few yoga stretches, fill a page with doodles, fill a page with words, take an inspiring book off the shelf and enjoy the next 15 minutes of uninterrupted reading ~ all guilt free! I give you permission! 

If by chance you tend to (every once in a blue moon that is) spend 15 minutes or more on Facebook, playing Words with Friends, or online shopping (Who...me?) why not try substituting one of those (very fun...but not very creatively fulfilling) habits for a new creative habit? 

If this sounds good, I'd love help you do just that. How? By sharing the gentle accountably, compassionate reminders and powerful tools and techniques of one-on-one creative coaching that will have you creating more beauty and restoring your soul faster than you can say "If only I had more time!" 

As of today I can accept two more one-on-one coaching clients. If you'd like one of them to be you please leave me a message in the comments below or send me a direct e-mail message by clicking here. 

Still feeling stuck? 

Click here to take my short 5-question survey to share what's standing in the way of your creative dreams. As a thank you for your time you'll be automatically entered for a chance to win Creative Oasis Goodies including a 30 minute one-on-one creative coaching session with me. All entries must be complete and submitted by midnight Monday January 26, 2015.

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.

Win Creative Oasis Goodies

Want a chance to win Creative Oasis goodies? It's easy!

Here's all you need to do for your chance to win a 

Creative Oasis "Keep Calm & Be Creative" t-shirt 

plus a 30-minute one-on-one coaching session? 

# 1 ~ Click here to complete my short and sweet 5-question Creative Oasis survey.

#2 ~ Complete and submit your survey by Monday, January 26, 2015 at midnight.

I'd love to sit down with you over a cup of coffee or a glass of wine to chat about your personal creative journey. But in the name of connecting with you and others from all over the world as quickly and easily as possible, I hope you'll do me a favor and share you story with me by answering a few quick questions.

I've created a short 5-question survey to help you quickly and easily share your personal creative story with me. (Click here to take it now.)

By sharing your creative dreams, challenges and struggles you'll help me provide the most helpful features possible to serve you with my all new Creative Oasis program. Knowing what's standing between you and your Creative Oasis will help me put the finishing touches on this special program designed specifically to help you spend more time enjoying your creative pursuits and passions.

To thank you for your time and for sharing your creative story with me, I'm holding a random drawing for a Creative Oasis  "Keep Calm & Be Creative" t-shirt plus a 30-minute one-on-one coaching session with me by phone. The winner will be randomly selected from all of the completed surveys I receive by midnight Monday, January 26, 2015.

As you answer the questions below please go into as much detail as you like and know that your answers will remain absolutely confidential!

I know your time is precious so I kept this survey short and sweet ~ just five questions. Feel free to write your answers in paragraph form or even just a quick list of words and phrases would be great!

Again ~ thank you so much! I look forward to helping make 2015 the most creatively fun and fulfilling year for you yet!

Click here to complete your survey and have your chance to win Creative Oasis goodies!

All the best from my Creative Oasis to yours ~ Jill

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.