LCN 116: Forgiving Myself for Being Human

I came home from my week in the redwoods at Jazz Camp West, right on the heels of a week on the East Coast, at the Creative Problem Solving Institute, with a couple of days at Niagara on the Lake wrapping up a mastermind group I’ve been in since last Fall… and I promptly got sick.

I’ve been in bed for three days straight.

So today’s podcast is a short one. It’s something I shared over in my Creative Sandbox Way Readers & Doers Facebook group, and my Creative Sandbox Community Facebook group, and it got a lot of positive response. So I thought I’d share it on the podcast.

I was going to share the very first Listener Spotlight, but I’m saving that for next week.

(And if you want to be featured in a Listener Spotlight, just leave a rating and review over on iTunes, or the Apple Podcast app, and then email me the content of your review, and let me know specifically how Live Creative Now has made a difference in your life. That’s it!

If I pick you for a Listener Spotlight, we’ll have a relaxed, fun conversation, and the recording of our conversation will be part of a future episode!)

Meanwhile, on with today’s Reality of Summer Trips episode…

Home from Buffalo, While Packing for Jazz Camp

I wanted to write a short note, in between trips, to remind you that YES, the struggle is real (as Tracey Mahon Elliott would say. 😉 )

EVEN when you practice “Think tiny & daily.”

EVEN when you practice “There is no wrong.”

EVEN when you practice “Think process, not product.”

I was off in Buffalo at a creativity conference, where my days were programmed from 8am til late-late at night.

Then I spent 2 days with my mastermind coach and co-mastermind buddy in Niagara on the Lake.

Then in transit back home to the West Coast (always discombobulating).

Then scrambling to catch up with urgent matters and PACK, to head into the woods for Jazz Camp West, where I will once again be programmed from 8am til late-late at night, for 8 days.

And guess what? Because my regular routine has fallen off a cliff, I have NOT been doing my morning doodles.

EVEN THOUGH it would seem to be simple enough to take 2 minutes and doodle on the freakin’ back of an envelope, right?

EVEN THOUGH I was a captive audience on an airplane for hours on end, where you would think I could have doodled for at least 2 minutes, right?

Well, wrong.

So I have a couple of options.

I could beat myself up. Moan about what a loser I am, and what a terrible model I am to my readers and followers.

Which would accomplish exactly NOTHING useful.

Or I could acknowledge that sometimes this happens.

Stumbling like this is NOT an excuse to beat myself up. No.

It’s an OPPORTUNITY to NOTICE!!

Remember: Self-awareness + self-compassion = the key to everything good.

And the first piece of that GOLDEN FORMULA is noticing.

Self-awareness.

How does it FEEL when I go for days without creating something playful and art-like?

Not very good, in fact.

Ah, good data, that!

NOW I can use that data to respond with self-compassion!!

NOW I can remind myself that I am HUMAN, and I get to FORGIVE myself for being human (rather than super-human).

I get to treat myself gently, and with great love, like a beloved little child.

Sometimes life throws us days and weeks of crazy programming, and instead of responding in a way that we’re proud of, we stumble.

Does this make us terrible people?

Um, no. This makes us HUMAN.

But NOTICING how it makes me FEEL when I drop the ball on my creative sandbox playtime can help me make better choices (hopefully!) going forward.

So now, as I madly cram to tie up loose ends, finish deadlines, and PACK to go to Jazz Camp West early tomorrow morning, where I will be scheduled UP THE WAZOO, I can make a choice.

The next 8 days will be DEDICATED to creative play.

I will be taking a DANCE CLASS, and MUSIC CLASSES every single day.

It’s probably okay if I don’t draw with a pen, because my need to fill my well with creative playtime is being satisfied elsewhere.

I can absolve myself, in advance, from a sense of (false) guilt if I don’t doodle at camp this coming week! 🙂

And I can forgive myself for this past week, because I’m human. And I get to be human.

And so do you. 🙂

Enjoy the rest of June, and practice self-forgiveness and play while you’re at it.

<3

Something Cool

Contigo Autoseal stainless steel insulated travel mug

Finally! An insulated travel mug that really, truly, does not leak! You can lock it and toss it in your bag without fear of drowning your stuff in tea or coffee.

The only problem with this mug, honestly, is that it insulates so well, you have to be careful not to burn yourself. Seriously, you might want to pop an ice cube in.

Or, be a little weird, like me, and brew three mugs of tea at the same time. By the time I’ve drunk my other two mugs, the tea in my Contigo mug is the perfect temperature.

Also mentioned, my favorite teas:

Good Earth Organic Sweet & Spicy Herbal Caffeine Free

Traditional Medicinals Throat Coat

Yogi Tea Ginger

Yogi Tea Green Tea Super Antioxidant

Enjoy!

 

Hear ye, hear ye! This is to serve as official notice that all links to anything for sale, be it books or courses, are likely to be affiliate links. What this means is that if you click through said links and make a purchase, although it won’t affect the price that you pay, a few coins will jangle into my coffers, enabling me to buy a packet of hard gluten-free biscuits to feed myself and my husband for another day, or perhaps a pen with which to create some artwork. Or perhaps they will contribute toward paying a fraction of my web hosting bill, so that this blog and podcast can continue to exist. Thank you kindly for your attention.

Thanks for Listening!

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Now go get creating!

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