Snapshot from My Studio: October 21, 2018 at 08:07PM

I doodled this live from Whistler, Canada, today! Sharing strong feelings about the importance of self-compassion when you fall off your creative practice wagon. Of all the practices we engage in, the MOST important is simply getting back on the wagon, with an abundance of self-compassion! If you beat yourself up, you’re actually LESS likely to stick with it in the long run (think about it: your brain now knows that the next time you stumble you will get a beating! And it’s inevitable you WILL stumble again, because you’re HUMAN, and life happens! So the sensible part of your brain — the part that doesn’t want another beating — will decide to just stop trying!)
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In the craziness and stress of getting ready for this trip (two weeks, three conferences, speaking, teaching a workshop, having to pack 5,000 LEGO® components, plus a multitude of facilitation supplies—so many moving parts!!), I let my circumstances get in the way of my Creative Sandbox playtime. I seriously could not manage to get in even 5 minutes of doodle time! Absurd, I know! And yet, it happens to the best of us, EVEN ME, the one who preaches the importance of making time for this stuff!
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But I did not beat myself up. And that is 🔑 KEY!!! 🖍
Beating myself up would accomplish nothing useful. And here’s the thing: missing my doodle time IS NOT THE PROBLEM. How I RESPOND to missing my doodle time is (or is not) the problem!
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If I beat myself up, BIG problem. But if I respond with gentleness and self-forgiveness and self-compassion, then ZERO PROBLEM! In fact, this is a golden moment! This is a chance for me to love myself more, and reconnect with my art practice, to notice how important it is to me, how much better I feel when I take the time to play a little, how “meh” and hollow and bereft I feel when I don’t. Now I have more data I can use (self-awareness!) to help me stay on track the next time!
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Do you see how self-awareness + self-compassion=the key to everything good? Do you see why I call that my Golden Formula?
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