Build Your Creative Confidence – Day Two
Build Your Creative Confidence – Day Two
Yesterday, I introduced a new blog series, 31 Days to Building your Creative Confidence. I wanted to say thank you to those of you who commented yesterday and I hear you! I am glad I touched a chord with so many of you. I am finding through much of the work that I do that women are feeling a deep draw to return to their creative selves, to remember what it feels like to express themselves through art, writing, music, photography or whatever other means of creative expression calls to them.
We are all artists and our biggest challenge is to remove the stigma of Art with a capital “A”. This series is about enjoying the journey towards a creative life, not becoming an Artist (although if that is your goal, this is a great place to start!) It’s about infusing every aspect of our lives with creativity – from the way we look at the world to the way we express ourselves. And most importantly, it’s about making creative expression fun and playful without fear of judgement or critique.
In yesterday’s lesson, I encouraged you to color. Nothing fancy, just grab a box of crayons or colored pencils, a coloring sheet or blank sheet of paper and color. It’s amazing how relaxing and freeing this activity can be. Make sure to read day one here if you missed it. But now, drumroll please, it’s time for Day Two.
Day Two of 31 Days to Build Your Creative Confidence – Pay Attention!
One of the most important aspects of a creative life is to pay attention, to notice everything. Ask any naturalist, bird watcher or your favorite artist and they will tell you all of the details that they notice in the world around them.
As I write this, I am working from my Mom’s home in beautiful Estes Park, Colorado so it’s pretty easy to walk around with eyes wide open with a sense of wonder and curiosity. I have been visiting this town since I was about 13 years old, close to 40 years and I still arrive here each time with fresh eyes and a passion for the natural glory and abundance of the world around me. So you might think I am cheating as I write this but I am not.
Here are some of the photos I snapped with my iPhone today on a late afternoon walk, where we got rained and hailed on and enjoyed some warm sun – all in the space of an hour. Rain the past few days has caused an outburst of fresh wildflowers, including the 3-foot high Monument plant pictured above with the Tess Marshall quote. I loved the yellow flowers blooming against the colorful rock and lichen. The aspen leaf is floating in a pool of water and covered in tiny water droplets. I know there’s a poem in there somewhere…
Even a walk around my suburban neighborhood in Goleta, CA yields an incredible bounty of eye candy – flowers in bloom, new birds migrating through, a giant orange monster truck in a neighbor’s driveway… everything I see offers a creative glimpse and a possibility for creative elaboration.
So your challenge today is a simple one. Pay attention!
Everywhere you go notice what’s happening around you. What do you see? If you have a smart phone, carry it with you and snap random photos on your travels about town or at the office. Or take a digital camera on a walk around your neighborhood. Even if you walk the same direction every single day, look at it today with fresh eyes.
At the end of the day, take a few minutes to write in a journal (preferably a real journal with paper and a pen but a computer file will do in a pinch) about what you noticed.
- What was different today?
- Did you see anything that you had never noticed before?
- Did you see something that surprised and amazed you?
Try this for several days in a row, it’s proof that living a creative life doesn’t take extra time, it just takes an expanded awareness of the world around you. Expand your curiosity by seeing the world with fresh eyes and recording what you see. It will put you into a creative frame of mind!
Remember to take a minute to share you photos and what you are noticing on my Facebook page here.
Yes, to really be focused in noticing what is around us can be very eye opening. I love when I see a little piece of rainbow in between clouds and no one else notices it. I love moments like that.
Cheers!
Love that visual image of the rainbow! It always surprises me how little other people notice and seem to live in a bubble. There’s such a wide and wonderful world out there.Thanks for stopping by Colleen.
Great suggestions! I shot some videos in my front yard today in a brief respite from near constant thunderstorms for the past, I don’t know, forever! And I noticed lots of cute mushrooms. I took a video with one of them that will post later this week 🙂
Thanks, Gretchen! We have been having afternoon thunderstorms here but the mornings have been wonderfully warm and sunny. Such crazy transitions in the weather here, it’s always a fun adventure!
Beautiful pictures! I live in a small town full of trees and I often find myself wandering and taking photos. It’s amazing the things you’ll see if you really look.
Thanks Amanda, would love to see some of those photos, I adore trees!! They have so much personality and really speak to you if you listen.
Minette, I love your program. Very creative and good for the soul!
Thank you Cheryl! I find my magic in nature and on that page in my art and writing.
Hi Minette, I’m really looking forward to finding out more about you thru July. 🙂
Thanks Veronica!
Colorado is beautiful. I’d really love to visit someday! I like the exercise of looking at things differently. it’s also meditative.
Hi Janet, yes Colorado is a wonderful place to have family and be able to visit every year. It is such a gift!
Mindfulness is so important in all things. It makes me sad knowing how many people never really pay attention to their surroundings. Thank you for the reminder.
Thanks, Tara, it’s so true. The more quiet time I create and the more I practice mindfulness in every area of my life, not just mediation, the more my creativity expands.
Yes, I agree. When we pay attention, we notice things that we never noticed before. I participated in two consecutive photo-a-day challenges hosted by FatMumSlim (in May and June), and got a first-hand experience of this pronounced change of perspective with awareness. The same flowers in my building, the same background behind them, and yet I never noticed before how beautiful the overall effect looked.
Yes, the intention to notice things like an artist is what makes one notice things like an artist. Another helpful thing to spark creativity is looking at other people’s art–something few people seem to take the time to do!
[…] Yesterday, I wrote about the power of noticing and how important it is to see the world with fresh eyes. Paying attention to the world around us has a rippling effect that opens our creative mind so that we are receptive to new ideas, inspirations and motivation to create! You can read that post here. […]