Creativity in a Busy World

Creativity in a Busy World

In a world that often moves too fast and is too busy, it is easy to lose sight of our creativity. Our lives get overloaded. Kids, maybe parents, jobs, housework can swarm around us and take up most of our waking moments until we fall, exhausted into our beds. It is easy to see how creative expression can be sidelined. However, I want to tell you that the act of creativity does not have to happen in huge, planned out moments of time. It is possible to dedicate just five or ten minutes to a creative project or exercise. Everything from coloring pages to drawing mandalas, from painting to making jewelry or even five minutes of journal time, all count towards your creative spirit’s health.

I do this often. I recently created a prayer flag mobile for someone who just had a baby. Over all, it was quite the process from painting the fabric to stamping the designs, and then because it was for an infant, I laminated the flags so no paint was exposed. I attached it to a small wreath that I also decorated with ivy and flowers. I broke the tasks into small ten to fifteen minute increments that I could work on between other projects, kids, etc. The project took about a week to finish but it got done. I could have easily said, “Nope,. It’s just too much work,” but in doing it in small pieces, I had the creative satisfaction of completing a project that was important to me and fulfilled my creativity needs.
Your creativity needs to be taken care of in the same way you would attend to your mental or physical health. It is part of your part of your health. Creativity helps physical, mental and spiritual aspects of our selves. It is why it is such an important practice to attempt daily, just as you might meditation, or jogging. In fact, these practices done together, help one another. The act of being creative brings our mind to life.
I am encouraging you to seek out small daily acts of creativity. Sneak the time in during soccer practice with a journal in your bag. Or maybe give yourself ten minutes before you go to bed to draw or write or begin a painting. No one says it has to be a completed project, just take the time to invest your creative self.
There have been a few days where I have come to the end of the day and I feel like I am missing something and it is because I have not done any creative work. I make an effort, sometimes just making simple artist trading style cards or I journal. Some days, I paint or draw mandalas. I want to encourage to find a practice that suits your desires and needs. Are you a needle pointer, a knitter, maybe a wood-burning person ( like my friend). If you need to, try scheduling it into your day, the same way you would schedule your workout or plan a menu.
If you aren’t sure what you want to do creatively, start with something small, like picking up some pens and colored pencils with a coloring book or a small palette of water color paints and paper. Pick up a journal and write for five to ten minutes. Play with play dough. The point is to start doing something to be creative.

If you are stuck creatively, maybe you need a little guidance or coaching along the way. Maybe you just need a boost through out your week that you need to be creative. I offer two coaching packages that are just for these occasions.

The first package is the Encouraging E-mail Coach. This is a subscription designed to prompt you during the week to reach your creative goals and hold you accountable to them. It is a simple coaching program designed to jump start your creative endeavors. Three encouraging e-mails will go out over a 7 day period to cheerlead you on your creative project. At the end of seven days, send me an e-mail and tell me how you did and where you left off, and we will keep going from there.

The second package, The Creative Play E-mail Coaching, is a more intense email package. It is more interactive with us working together toward your creative goals that include homework assignments to get you there. There will be up to five e-mails a week from me, and you can feel free to e-mail me anytime with questions and epiphanies. This package can be done in 30, 60, or 90 day increments, depending on what you want to accomplish.

My goal here at The Creating Room is to feed and encourage the creative soul. I believe that we all have within us the ability to be creative and that it arrives in us in different ways. Sometimes we might not have yet discovered what that is. That’s okay. I am inviting to come along on this journey to discover your creative self…to seek out the creative soul within you.

Lamisha: A Life Once Dreamt

Lamisha: A Life Once Dreamt

It’sFriday! Here is the second of my six week series of interviews.

Today, I have Lamisha Serf- Walls of Life Once Dreamt coaching.

Lamisha is in LOVE with helping women pursue and accomplish their business and life goals. I mentioned her here in another blog post of people who have great blueprints to follow. She has a vibrant and positive energy that she brings to each conversation. I totally believe she is smiling, even in serious conversation, when she speaks due to her of passion of helping others.

Limit has helped me a few times with getting unstuck about some of my artwork goals. She was able to get directly to what needed to be focused on and gave clear ideas on how to do it. Her excellent intuition and organizational skills reach to the core of an issue and help someone become “unstuck” and move forward with their goals and dreams. Your “Life Once Dreamt” works to become a thing of the past as she leads you to your dreams. Lamisha is no stranger to taking the leap from the daily 9-5 world and plunging into her dreams. SHE HAS DONE IT. She is living it. Her passion is to help you do it too.

1) What was your “Ah-ah” moment that turned your path?

Everything changed for me when I realized I had been waiting to begin doing the thing I absolutely knew I was meant to do for about 2 years.  I had a phone call with a co-worker at the time and she said “Sometimes you just have to take the leap.” and shortly after I did just that!  I started a blog and trusted that my path would be laid out before me and it absolutely has!

2) You talk about taking a “leap”, what did that mean for you? Can I you tell me a few specifics about what it meant to take that leap?

My leap was essentially a leap of faith into my work.  It meant that I would finally stop waiting for the ‘right’ time to start coaching (which at the time I was delaying because I wanted to get into a coaching program first and could never find the right one), and just begin.  I had no expectation of what would happen or how it might work out when I took on my first guinea pig client, but I can say now looking back, it was exactly what I needed to do to begin.

3) Though your path was laid out when you took the leap, did you run into any bumps along the way? How did you handle them?

I’ve run into TONS of ‘bumps’!  This road is full of opportunities for learning more about myself and they usually come in the form of a bump.  For example, for about 5 months in 2014, I really questioned if I was cut out to run a ‘business’.  I wasn’t making much money, had been laid off of my FT job months before and was struggling to find clients.  I KNEW I was meant to do this work so I kept going.  I kept learning, reaching, dreaming, and taking inspired action which eventually led to getting help from someone who was much better at the business side of things and things started to take a turn for the better.  The best way I’ve come to handle the bumps is to listen to the message within them.  There’s always a message (even if I’m trying to ignore it) and then surrender.  When I surrender, things start to move forward again, and the path smooths out a bit.

4) What kind of support did you have when you decide it was time to switch career paths and follow your dream?

I had the moral support of my wife for sure.  When I started my business I was still working full-time, but within about 2 weeks of ‘launching’ (and by launch I mean email my friends and family members letting them know I was taking clients), I found out my position was going to be eliminated within a few months.  The Universe had big plans for me that I wasn’t even sure I was ready for.  Since then, I’ve been working in my business full-time and if it wasn’t for my wife I wouldn’t have made it this far.

5) In coaching women, what do you focus on in trying to get them “unstuck”?
It’s usually mindset.  Everything we experience in our lives is in some way of our own making so when we are feeling stuck, I like to get into the mindset of it all.  I have this sort of super power that allows me to see very clearly what is blocking a client from their highest potential and I am generally guided to ask questions that lead us to the very thought pattern or issue that is holding them back.  From that point it’s all about setting new mental pathways to build positive life-affirming believes etc.

6) “From that point it’s all about setting new mental pathways to build positive life-affirming beliefs” How do you work with a client to do this? Can you give a brief description of your coaching style and what someone may get when working with you.

When we start building new beliefs we might do that by using affirmations, mantras, or developing what I call a ‘high vibe practice’ that literally raises your vibration and shifts your mindset.  Depending on the client we might do something like repetitive visualizations or continually talk through the new beliefs to get a bit more practice and really develop those new pathways.

My work isn’t a one-size fits all approach and the ‘programs’ I use with clients aren’t necessarily designed ahead of time.  My work is highly intuitive so I trust the messages, insights, and ideas that come to me in regards to working with a client.  My goal is to empower women and to give them tools and tips they can use long after our work has stopped.  I don’t want to necessarily have to work with a client for 6 or 12 months (though I’m happy to if they choose), because I really want clients to feel the support and power I offer and move forward armed with the tools they need to continue to fly.  Since everything is specific to the client, each client may get a mix of things like affirmations, recorded calls, videos, and other tools along with our coaching calls.  It really just depends on what they are after.

6) What led you to choose to work (usually) with women?
I think I’ve just always felt more comfortable working with women.  My strategy is very feminine and gentle and while I’ve worked with some men, it seems women respond better to how I work and it just sort of organically happened.  With that said, if I felt like we were a good fit, I’d never turn down a male client just because of his gender.  I’m an equal opportunity coach 😉

7) What is your best piece of advice for someone who is “missing something” from their current working/life situation?

Get back to what you love.  Make a list and start there.  When we start doing more of what we love in whatever capacity or shape that takes, it changes everything.  Doors open, people reach out and before you know it-it seems you’ve got all the pieces you want and you are much happier for it.

8)  I know you have a love of writing as well; Does the writing influence coaching or coaching influence your writing? What other type of writing do you enjoy?
I’ve always been a writer.  I can remember writing a letter to a local newspaper editor when I was in school about divorce and feeling really passionate about the topic.  I’d say the coaching and writing typically go hand-in-hand.  When I’m working with clients, I tend to get inspired to write articles based on situations they are going through and then occasionally I’ll remember something I wrote about in an article and pass that info along to my clients.  Before I started my coaching business, I began submitting inspirational poetry to be considered for greeting cards.  I’ve had several greeting cards published with Blue Mountain Arts and some poems in a few anthologies with them as well. Poetry is a big one for me.  I hope to write a book or a few someday soon too.

9) How do you unplug? Coaching and writing require a lot of energy from a person, so what is your preferred method of recharging in this hectic world?

I try my hardest not to work on weekends.  I don’t work with clients at all during the weekend, but I have to be very conscious about not checking my phone 100 times a day or logging onto Facebook.  I really enjoy getting outside and spending time with my wife and son.  That is really what brings me joy.

10)  Who is one of your biggest influences/inspirations? why?

Oh wow, there are so many.  I follow a lot of spiritual teachers like Abraham Hicks, Dr. Wayne Dyer, and people like Louise Hay, but I have to say the book that really changed my life my first year in business was by Tama Kieves called Inspired & Unstoppable.  It’s a book that described everything I was going through and gave me hope and inspiration when I wasn’t sure what to do to move forward.  I love that book!

Tell us about your coaching services and programs. 
I like to set up various ways for clients to work with me.  I have 2 1:1 programs and a membership program that offers group style coaching for women.  I want my work to be as accessible as possible to the people who need it most so I have created a few different options.  If anyone is interested in learning more about how I can help them, they can sign up for a free 30-minute consultation here: https://lifeoncedreamt.acuityscheduling.com/

FUN Questions:

What is your fave, all out, nothing held back meal?

Pizza!!! I love carbs, cheese and veggies so it’s the perfect combination. 🙂

Where is one place that you really want to go?

Australia!  I’ve worked with some amazing people in Australia and I’d love to visit or host a workshop there one day.

headshot2Lamisha Serf-Walls is a life coach for women who are ready to live an amazing life on their own terms, but feel held-back and frustrated in how to make that happen. Her mission is to create a community of empowered, free flowing, lovers of life who live a life of freedom with ease and inspire others to do the same. You can learn more about Lamisha and what she offers by joining her free community, visiting her Online, on Facebook, or Twitter or grab her free audio 5 Ways to Break Free From Stuck.

Life Once Dreamt Life Coaching
www.lifeoncedreamt.com
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                                  (Online scheduler) https://lifeoncedreamt.acuityscheduling.com/

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