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Linda Dessau - EzineArticles.com Expert Author
Linda Dessau, the Self-Care Coach, is the author of Roadblocks to Creativity, a free e-course designed to illuminate the 7 most common issues that creative artists face on the road to expressing their creative dreams. Pick up your copy now at the Genuine Coaching Services website.
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- Build Your Social Support Network
[Relationships] Social support can improve the functioning of your immune system, protecting you from disease, and it can increase your vitality, decrease your stress and improve your self-esteem. This article discuss what makes a strong social support network and provides concrete tips for keeping yours that way.
- Trying to Create From Distorted Perceptions?
[Self-Improvement:Creativity] We've all met people who are "negative" - negative thinkers who consistently see the glass as half empty. In certain situations, particularly stressful ones, even the most positive person can fall victim to this distorted thinking. As a creative artist, this kind of thinking can keep us away from our art and can keep us from enjoying it even when we manage to keep at it.
- Staying With It - Momentum Overcomes Procrastination
[Self-Improvement:Creativity] When we procrastinate, we fuel our inner critic's statements and provide evidence that they're true. Then we sink a little lower in our seats and a little farther away from our passion. When we gain momentum in the creative flow, however, quite the opposite occurs. We create evidence that, "I AM good!", "I CAN do it!" and then, "I AM done!" This article discusses two phases of the creative process - inspiration and implementation - and how to maximize momentum in each phase.
- How My Many Hats Fuel My Creativity
[Self-Improvement:Creativity] A multi-hatted life (having multiple business (ad)ventures) is not for everyone. For me, though, it was the only choice. Read about what I love most about wearing many hats, and how this life fuels my creativity.
- Open to Anything
[Self-Improvement:Creativity] When we're attached to certainty and sameness we feel unsettled when we don't have them. It's easy to forget that if we would just stop and tune our attention inwards, we can find the most certain path to wisdom there is.
- Going With the Ebb and Flow: The Creative Cycle
[Self-Improvement:Creativity] It's important to recognize which phase of the creative process you're in. Be there while you're there, enjoy it, play with it and revel in your creative gifts.
- Self-Care Rules of the Road
[Self-Improvement:Creativity] There's no need to leave your self-care at home when you go on the road. And there's definitely no need to return completely depleted of energy and your health. Pack along these ten rules before you leave for your next tour.
- Top 10 Reasons To Say "NO"
[Self-Improvement:Creativity] This month I said, "NO, I'm not going to write a feature article this month, I want to work on my book instead." As soon as I said that, I realized that there might be some learning (AND an article!) in that decision. Here are the top 10 reasons to say "NO," in service of your creativity and self-care.
- Dimostrazione - Leaping into Our Experiences
[Self-Improvement:Creativity] In Michael Gelb's book, "How to think like Leonardo da Vinci," he explores seven concepts that allowed da Vinci to achieve his extraordinary accomplishments.
One of those concepts is called Dimostrazione. Dimostrazione is about learning from our mistakes. It's about being willing to be right in the moment of an experience, and to challenge long-standing beliefs and opinions in favour of what you're actually experiencing.
- The Body: A Strong House for Your Creativity
[Self-Improvement:Creativity] Leonardo da Vinci taught us that to take care of our bodies, we can adopt a series of common-sense practices. This article explores self-care, the mind-body connection, and several other principles that will help build a strong physical foundation for your creative pursuits.
- AND I'm an Artist: Art as a Hobby
[Self-Improvement:Creativity] So why is it that some people call art a hobby, and some people don't? And do the ones who are doing art as a hobby have more freedom, relaxation and fun? While the rest of us "serious artists" only run into creative roadblocks once we step off the hobby train and put on the "artist" hat?
- Awakening the Senses
[Self-Improvement:Creativity] As artists, we get to play in the land of the senses as often as we allow ourselves to. And our gift to the world is that we help others to engage their senses through what we create. So how is it that many of us, even artists, have ended up with our senses deadened?
- 7 Tax Tips for Artists
[Self-Improvement:Creativity] With tax season coming upon us, I decided to sit down with Amanda Mills of Loose Change, Inc. and capture some of the wisdom she's gained in over 20 years experience as a financial and business management consultant for artists.
- Everything Is Connected
[Self-Improvement:Creativity] When my mind gets to wanderin', I find it truly extraordinary to examine the seeming coincidences in my life and in the world at large.
- Preparing For Performance
[Self-Improvement:Creativity] Stage fright doesn't only inhibit performing artists. If you're not a performer, you can substitute the word performance with any creative situation that really scares you, or puts you in a position of feeling like you have to measure up or get out of your comfort zone. Read about four ways to prepare for performance – on the stage or otherwise.
- Curiousity, da Vinci Style
[Self-Improvement:Creativity] When we approach a blank canvas, empty stage or notebook paper in a state of curiousity, we're truly opening the door to the muse – to our "inner artist", our "higher power" and the creative flow of the universe.
- Connect With Your Strengths
[Self-Improvement:Creativity] We can be just as afraid of our strengths as we are of our weaknesses, and just as afraid to succeed as we are to fail. Connecting with your strengths is about learning how to acknowledge your own gifts, accept compliments graciously and to present yourself confidently as the extraordinarily unique artist that you are.
- 5 Steps to Accepting Compliments Graciously
[Self-Improvement] Many creative artists are uncomfortable with praise and compliments. We can be so busy judging ourselves harshly that we don't quite know what to do with positive feedback.
- Emotions and Thoughts in the Creative Process
[Self-Improvement:Creativity] How can you SEPARATE emotions and thoughts from the creative process? My answer is that you cannot - they're positively intertwined.
- Top 10 Signs You Might Need An Artist Retreat Day
[Arts-and-Entertainment] For many creative artists, the idea of freely expressing our creativity – whether it's for one day or ANY day, feels like a far-away dream. Here are the top 10 signs you might need an Artist Retreat Day.
- Connect With Other Artists
[Self-Improvement:Creativity] There's no reason to feel different when there's a whole creative community out there. This article explores the many reasons to reach out and connect with other artists.
- What Does Creativity Bring to Your Life?
[Self-Improvement:Creativity] What's the first thing you notice that changes in your life when you're in the "creative flow"? Naming the gifts of your creativity can help to re-ignite your passion for your creative work and can excite you into courageous action.
- Connect With Your Thoughts
[Self-Improvement:Positive-Attitude] This article contains some potentially life-altering ideas, if you've never before considered that what you think might actually NOT be the truth. Read on to learn more about how you can change your thinking to enhance your creativity.
- Permission To Be An Artist - Granted!
[Self-Improvement:Creativity] Why is it so difficult to authorize ourselves, grant ourselves permission and consent, to sanction our own creative work?
- Is There a Science of Creative Success?
[Self-Improvement:Creativity] I've been studying science lately, in the form of a book called "The Science of Getting Rich", written by Wallace Wattles in 1910. I've discovered that this book holds many powerful ideas to enrich our lives, work and success as creative artists.
- Connect with Your Body
[Self-Improvement:Creativity] When we're in the creative flow, we can sometimes forget we even have a body, because our minds are exploding with color, sounds, words and images. But when unhealthy habits sap your body of its vitality and strength, your creativity and productivity will be sapped as well.
- 10 Tools for Dealing with Criticism and Rejection
[Self-Improvement:Creativity] Ouch! Whether it's feedback we've asked for, an unsolicited remark called out from the audience or a simple "no" result of an audition or submission process, criticism and rejection are a huge part of our lives as creative artists.
- Connect with Your Surroundings
[Self-Improvement:Creativity] Clutter is just one part of our surroundings – our physical environment – that has an impact on our creativity. This article will look at some other factors, and how they impact not only our creative expression and emotional and mental well being, but also our physical health and safety.
- Protect Your Self-Care When Others Tempt You To Stray
[Self-Improvement] They may have the best of intentions, but your friends and loved ones can detour your self-care plans if you're not careful. Here's how to make sure that doesn't happen.
- Positive Thoughts and Words
[Self-Improvement:Positive-Attitude] You want to change your self-care habits and you can't seem to do it. Or, you realize that changing your self-care habits might be a good idea but you just can't seem to get on board and be sold on the idea. Maybe the words that you're thinking and saying are getting in your way.
- Sharing Our Creative Work with Others
[Self-Improvement:Creativity] This article offers my own musings about a particularly dangerous self-sabotage pattern that many creative artists fall prey to; subconsciously seeking feedback from sources that we know will criticize us negatively, validating our own sometimes-low opinion of our work and ourselves.
- Connect with Spirit
[Self-Improvement:Spirituality] Every time I have the desire to do something, to create something, that’s Spirit seeking expression through me. ANY time we connect with something or someone, we're also connected with Spirit (also known as God, the Universe, Higher Power, the Source). While our personal definition of Spirit is unique, when we connect with that Spirit it immediately connects us with something outside of ourselves.
- Are You Taking a Holiday from Your Self-Care?
[Health-and-Fitness] I hear a lot of people commenting that they wish they hadn't indulged so much on their holiday or that they need a vacation after their vacation. When you have time off, it's even more important to keep up with your self-care.
- Make EVERY DAY An Artist Retreat Day
[Self-Improvement:Creativity] What do you enjoy most about going on an Artist Retreat Day? For most of us it's getting away from our "normal routine", having our creativity sparked by new surroundings and having the luxury of "open time" to work on our creative projects. Here are five ways to bring some of these elements into your life EVERY SINGLE DAY.
- Improvisation in Life and the Arts: What I learned from Free Play by Stephen Nachmanovitch
[Self-Improvement:Creativity] Can you be an artist while you're washing the dishes? In this article I share some of my learning and impressions from a chapter of the exceptional book, "Free Play", by Stephen Nachmanovitch.
- What Open Stage is Teaching Me About Life
[Self-Improvement:Creativity] I'm a true beginner when it comes to performing at Open Stage events. It's been a humbling and enjoyable learning experience so far. Here are five lessons I've learned about self-care, wellness and life in general.
- Connect with Your Muse
[Self-Improvement:Creativity] The muse is something that's outside of yourself, which provides inspiration and helps you get your creative work done. To have a connection with your muse you need to be tuned in to your inner voices. This is because a muse (even in the form of a coach) will not dictate, "Draw it this way", "Use this word", or "Here's the winning chord progression".
- Connect with Your Inner Artist
[Self-Improvement:Creativity] In the "Roadblocks to Creativity" e-course, we look at the 7 most common things that block our creative expression. So, if we're "blocked" when we're facing those things, what are we like when we're free of them? Well, certainly we're connected to our "Inner Artist".
- Meal Planning: Your Ticket to Freedom
[Health-and-Fitness:Nutrition] It's 5:30 p.m. and you're heading home after a long, full day. All of a sudden your mind turns to the daily question, "What's for dinner?"
- Self-Acceptance, an Essential Ingredient of Self-Care
[Self-Improvement] I've written before about the "luxury" of self-care - shifting our mindset from self-care being something we HAVE to do, to something we GET to do, with the reward being more healthy and full lives. But what if, deep down, you don't think you DESERVE a healthy and full life?
- Ouch, It Hurts When I Sing!
[Arts-and-Entertainment:Music] When I first set out to write this article about voice problems in singers, I was looking for two experts from contrasting fields of medicine – "medical" and "holistic". What I found, instead, in the first practitioner that I interviewed, was a delightful mixture of the two.
- Self-Care, the Luxury You Can Afford
[Self-Improvement] Self-care is a choice. Instead of asking "Do I have to do this my whole life?" remind yourself, "I GET to do this my whole life, if I keep making the choice to!"
- Connect With Your Creative Dream
[Self-Improvement:Creativity] Creative dreams are precious things. They're sometimes so dear to us that we fear saying them out loud, writing about them or even indulging too much time in thinking about them. The suggestions in this article will help you to connect with your creative dream and visit the "big picture" of your creative life.
- Musicians Injuries: OUCH, It Hurts When I Play (But Please Don't Tell Me To Stop!)
[Arts-and-Entertainment:Music] This article takes a look at musicians' injuries. For an expert perspective, I interviewed Dr. Sarah Mickeler, B.Mus., D.C. Dr. Mickeler is a former professional musician and a chiropractor who concentrates on musicians' injuries in her practice.
- Just Say YES to Self-Care
[Self-Improvement] We say we want to change things, we set New Year's resolutions in place and we create lists of self-care goals. We make promises to ourselves, and sometimes to other people in our lives.
And, in every moment, we have a choice between what we'll say yes to and what we'll say no to.
- Guilt: Is it Getting in the Way of Your Self-Care?
[Self-Improvement:Coaching] Saying yes to ourselves and our self-care often means saying no to people, events and situations in our life and that can bring guilt.
The more time we spend feeling guilty, the less self-care we're giving to ourselves. If we're letting someone else's words, actions or non-verbal messages make us feel guilty, we're letting THEM take away our self-care.
- Meditation: Time to Stop & Listen
[Health-and-Fitness:Meditation] Meditation is a process to empty and calm the mind, which results in a sense of peace, serenity and calmness and eventually opening yourself to new insights and a sense of overall well-being.
- Self-Sabotage: The Opposite of Self-Care
[Self-Improvement] The dictionary definition of sabotage is "an act or process tending to hamper or hurt" or "deliberate subversion". Hmmm. Why on earth would we sabotage ourselves? That's a complicated answer. And a simple one. We choose to.
- 10 Ways to Take Back Your Time
[Self-Improvement:Time-Management] 5 ways to manage your time and 5 ways to take back your time, including daily or regular practices to try out in your life right now.
- Top Five Reasons to Sing Out Your Stress
[Self-Improvement:Stress-Management] Singing is our birthright! Singing is a natural and pure expression of how glad we feel to be alive, and the way we show our love of music. This article features my top 5 reasons to sing.
- After the Clutter: 5 Steps to a New Daily Routine
[Self-Improvement:Organizing] If my day-to-day routines are continuing to create clutter, then I’ll always be one step behind it.
- 7 Things Sapping Your Creativity Right Now
[Self-Improvement:Creativity] This article will help you gain awareness into things you might be doing (or not doing) to hinder your creative process.
- Try a Slow-Carb Habit
[Health-and-Fitness:Nutrition] Carbohydrates - found in grains, breads, pasta, and sugar, as well as vegetables, fruit, tofu, beans, and dairy - provide the body with the most efficient fuel for energy production and brain activity. They're nutritionally essential, a principle currently downplayed by the "low-carb craze".
- Sleep: 10 Ways to Get a Good Night's Sleep
[Health-and-Fitness:Sleep-Snoring] The simplest way to tell if you're getting enough is by noticing every morning - do you feel rested? Do you wake up without an alarm clock and feel ready to get right out of bed and start your day?
- Hooray, You Failed!
[Self-Improvement:Success] Don't lose your confidence if you slip, be grateful for a pleasant trip. And pick yourself up, dust yourself off and start all over again.
Jerome Kern & Dorothy Fields
- Gratitude
[Self-Improvement] Though some days I can still get caught up in what I DON’T have yet, what I HAVEN’T done yet and what I’ll probably NEVER have or NEVER do, all it takes is a few moments reflection about what I have to be grateful for and my thoughts are completely turned around.
- Structures for Self-Care Success
[Self-Improvement] Using structures for reminders, inspiration and tracking can help you to develop healthier habits in your life. Experts agree that it takes 21 days to form a new habit.
Until something becomes a habit, it’s necessary to create a structure or routine around it.
- Telling the Hard Truth
[Relationships] Why do we keep the truth from people? Usually it’s for one of the following reasons (or a combination): we don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings, we’re afraid the other person will be angry with us or we don’t want to be embarrassed.
- Performing - What's the Big Deal
[Arts-and-Entertainment:Music] Symptoms of performance anxiety (stage fright) include "butterflies" in the stomach, quickened heart rate or more severe symptoms such as hyperventilation, dizziness or intense fear. This article looks at the five main reasons for performance anxiety.
- "Attraction": What We Attract With Our Creative Choices
[Self-Improvement:Creativity] I used to be a jazz singer. I was inexplicably drawn to the drama and the heartache; I was drawn to those songs for a reason.
- Fear & Creativity
[Self-Improvement:Creativity] This article shines a spotlight on fear; what is its job and where does it come from? What's the connection between fear and creativity?
- Managing Your Time, when Music isn't Your "Day Job"
[Arts-and-Entertainment:Music] You CAN do everything. What you cannot do, however, is do everything at the same time, or create a day that’s longer than 24 hours.
- Self-Care for Creative Artists: 10 Reasons To Care About It
[Self-Improvement:Creativity] There's a lot of popular opinion about the "suffering artist". Here's ten reasons to choose self-care instead of suffering.
- Sleep and Creativity
[Self-Improvement:Creativity] In my life, sleep is the number one way that I can either enhance my self-care and nourish myself or defeat my self-care and deplete my energy, peace of mind & productivity all in one shot.
When I’m rested I’m more resilient to stress. My body is more flexible and willing to work, my head is more clear and focused, I feel happier and more at peace and I’m nicer to myself AND to everyone else.
- Meditation, Self-Acceptance & the Muse
[Health-and-Fitness:Meditation] Artists sometimes have the experience of music, words, or other ideas, coming to them from “out of nowhere”. Where is this “nowhere” and how can we go in there after all of those great ideas??
- Jealous Again - Jealousy Among Musicians
[Arts-and-Entertainment:Music] Jealousy - do you feel it? Do you sense it in others? Does it hinder your relationships with other musicians? Does it sap your confidence? Does it block your creativity? Here are some questions to help you get clearer about the jealousy in your life.
- Creative Dreams - What Winter Driving Taught Me
[Self-Improvement:Creativity] What does protecting yourself in a winter storm have to do with protecting your creative dreams? Here's what I came up with...
- Stress: Daily Self-Care Habits to Manage Stress
[Self-Improvement:Stress-Management] Ten simple strategies to keep stress at bay.
- Procrastination - Understanding & Overcoming it
[Self-Improvement:Time-Management] This article will help you figure out some of the reasons for your procrastination, and offers some simple strategies for getting things done!
- Clutter & Creativity
[Self-Improvement:Organizing] This article explores the different kinds of clutter in our lives, and how that clutter stifles our creative expression. It includes questions to help you see which types of clutter might be a problem for you, and also provides concrete tips for dealing with your clutter.
- 10 Ways to Thrive as a Creative Artist
[Self-Improvement:Creativity] This article features ten nourishing daily practices that will help you connect with your creative self like you've never done before. Whether you try one, two, or all ten, you'll be closer to your creative dream the moment you start!
- Self-Care for Creative Artists: 5 Ways to Start Today
[Self-Improvement:Creativity] 5 nourishing self-care practices that will improve your physical, mental, emotional AND creative health. You can apply these straightforward tips to your life right now.
- Breathing Out Stage Fright
[Self-Improvement:Creativity] Breathing exercises from the Yoga tradition, to help performers deal with stage fright.
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