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(via House of Turquoise)
How to get it?
1. Slow your breathing. Your tongue should rest on the bottom of your mouth (it opens up your airway and allows more air to get through). Just five minutes of this and you should be breathing slower without any effort.
2. Stop multitasking. Turn off the music in the car, turn off your phone and quit texting, ignore your email inbox, turn away from your computer monitor and look at something else. Think about the next one thing you really want to do or really should do. And do it only.
3. Remind yourself that you’re okay. I do this audibly or inaudibly, depending on my circumstances. Give yourself permission to be okay. We often wait for others to tell us this. We can tell ourselves!
4. Slow the tempo of your music or turn down audible noise. The thump, thump, thump of a hip-hop song makes you want to get up and be active (at least it does for me) while the blare of overly loud commercials makes me want to run screaming from the room; when I want to be calm, I put on something achingly gorgeous and revel in the audio beauty.
5. Sip hot tea. They have tea called calming, you know. It does something to us to slowly sip a cup of tea (not a caffeine-induced tea or coffee), something natural that is soothing. Try it.
And that’s how to get to calm.
(photo by Ashlee Raubach)
I’ve been doing a lot of creative work lately. The only way I got through all of it was to make time for creative rest.
This isn’t me thinking per se about being creative, but allowing the universe to bring things to me in the most creative act of synchronicity.
What has come?
Editors asking me for book ideas.
Agents finding me opportunities that I would have never applied for myself.
Friends who know the right people that suddenly turns into something amazing.
Things I wish for showing up unbidden.
Peace showing up in the midst of chaos.
From the empty middle freeway lane I dove into yesterday to avoid causing/being part of a 50-car pile up to a book that I wanted to read appearing at the library on hold for me (I don’t remember requesting it) to sending off multiple book pitches last week(!) to trying to find room next spring to speak at multiple conferences.
I realize I don’t have to push so much to make this happen. It just happens.
It’s creative rest.
When I let go, I relinquish control, but not creativity. I realize that God has many creative ideas to share and I won’t miss out if I rest.
We intend to juggle as much as possible and then beat ourselves up when we drop a few. Perhaps God has us drop a few on purpose so we can catch something else.
Today I’m catching rain blurring my picture window, Fedex delivering a dream come true, hubby working from home with me, and nowhere to be until tomorrow.
What can I catch next?
What can you catch next?
Hold out your hand.
(via House of Turquoise)
Don’t let go of creativity.
You keep hold of it like a waking dream that disappears as soon as you open your eyes, turning over the images left in your mind like smooth stones in your palm.
You refuse to let go. Exhausted or not, you’re already plotting your next grand caper.
You turn on the soundtrack from Glee and start to dance at midnight. You rearrange the furniture in the middle of the afternoon. You eat milk and cookies for breakfast.
Hang on to the creative force, even when you’re tired.
Even now, exhausted as I am at this minute, the idea of creativity makes me smile. It is a gift and the reason we live.
So, take some rest. And while you are resting, consider what you could do next.
The opposite of quick fix is the actual fix.
When we’re stressed, we don’t want to waste any more time thinking about being stressed. We want to move forward through the stress and do it as fast as possible.
The last thing we want to do is to slow down and give ourselves rest.
Resistance knows the second you decide to improve your inner life. It won’t help you out.
There is no rest without taking the time.
I had to slow down in the midst of one of my busiest days this week to chop potatoes, carrots, and onions for beef stew. I was not happy at that moment; lots of stress, lots of busy, busy, and I faced a very tactile experience that I was resisting like it was the plague.
It was completed with a lot of kvetching over my cutting board, muttering under my breath, mad because I only had a can of cream of mushroom soup and not tomato, which is what the recipe called for.
Talk about Resistance!
I was frustrated watching the clock and then remember that I could make the experience more enjoyable. I could savor the opportunity to make a hearty meal for my husband. I could let myself be Julia Child for thirty minutes and just have fun.
I took the time. I let go and rested. I threw everything into the crockpot and had to leave the kitchen a disaster to get back to my work.
It was something really simple, but I took the time.
And it did wonders for my attitude.
Action Tip: What can you take the time for today?
