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Daring Creativity
Five minute magic pt. 55 - It takes as long as it takes / Other useful tools for Mindful creativity
00:05:42
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- [00:01]
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Welcome to five Minute Magic from the Mindful Creative Podcast, a short bonus episode sharing tips and insights from the pages of the book of the same title. Every week I'll be sharing one or two ideas that can give you an actionable takeaway for your creative process, your work, your business, or just food for thought for the weekend ahead. These episodes share content from the audiobook and you can find the link to the full version in the show notes below. Today we'll conclude Chapter Mindful for the last few episodes, I've been sharing useful tips, advice, breathing techniques and information on alternative exercises that can provide that element of calm for a busy mind. If you have missed any of these, start from episode 49 and work your way to here. In this episode, we'll run through a summary of other useful tools and focus on the idea of being a creative athlete who is constantly building healthy habits, always showing up and making the right kinds of small efforts in order to succeed.
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Other Useful Tools as well as breathing and listening, there are other useful and impactful tools you can employ at a moment's notice to help bring you back into your body and the present moment. They can be done at any time during the day and they are all easy. Find the time to step away from your desk or wherever you're working at regular intervals. Take a walk around. If it's a nice day, go outside and feel the air. If you work at home and you've got a garden, go and feel the grass underneath your feet when you're away from your desk to make a cup of tea, have lunch or even go to the toilet. Take some gentle breaths and roll your shoulders backwards and forwards a couple of times. Make space to read or listen to a book or podcast and aim to spend those moments, however few, as emerged in the story or conversation as you can. If any frenetic thoughts try to push into your cognitive space, simply observe them and rerun the podcast or reread the page of the book again. Yoga and Pilates classes can work miracles for your physical and mental flexibility. If you're unable to get out to a class, there are dozens of worthwhile YouTube channels out there with yoga for just about anything you can think of. They can be an hour long. They can be five minutes. They can be gentle. They can be intense. Try some and see which suits you. If there's a certain yoga or Pilates stretch that you find particularly restorative and which pulls you back towards your baseline, then don't wait for class. Do it now. Do it a few times a day Whenever you get chance you can't return to the present moment enough, keep checking back, monitoring your progress and taking positives from it is a brilliant way to nudge your thoughts into a healthy overall direction. When you compare how you react to a stressful situation, after a few weeks or months of practicing mindfulness, you might be pleasantly surprised to find out how much better you handle things. And of course, those around you will be benefiting too. As your ability and willingness to return to the present moment increases, it becomes less likely that you'll vanish down rabbit holes of overwhelm and distraction so easily. Your focus will improve, making you more productive in the healthiest sense of the word and more creative. Coming back to the now more often also means that you're less likely to feel you haven't got enough time for everything. In short, you'll become a creative athlete, constantly building your healthiest habits, always turning up and making the right kinds of small efforts to succeed in your discipline and life. It takes as long as it takes the final thing to remember is that everything mentioned here takes time. If you're totally new to the techniques mentioned here, you're not going to have them licked by next Tuesday, or even the Tuesday after that. Despite our speed and results driven society, it's crucial to approach everything mentioned in this section with the understanding that none of it can be perfected, only constantly practiced. It all takes as long as it takes. To reiterate, the techniques suggested here are not sticking plasters. They're approaches you can adopt to gradually improve your state of mind and therefore your approach to your business and creative practices. They make life easier, but they take constant effort until they become habit. They're also far deeper than I've been able to cover. Here you can find entire books, lectures and courses devoted only to active listening or mindful breathing. This book is a map pointing out possible destinations, not the destination itself. Nothing can harm you as much as your own thoughts. Unguarded Buddha.