Inner Creativity

Somewhere along the line we have learned that we need to be stressed to find the solutions to our problems.

It turns out that is a serious misunderstanding.

Human beings have a creative capacity which is harder to access when we are wound up and stressed.

We can access that creativity much better when we are calm.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to the Calmcast, A time to feel calm and think clearly. I'm Claire Downham, The Queen of Calm, A transformational life coach. I was a burnt out headteacher who finally made the journey to calm after years of trying and I want to prevent you from having to do the same. The Calmcast is a series of short explorations gently guiding you back to your natural state, Which is calm and clarity. Just listen like you would listen to music with an open mind and curiosity. There's nothing else to do. Now let's relax into today's episode. So those of you that are actually watching me live physically, You will see that there's a change of venue today and it really is part of the same, It fits in with what I'm going to talk about this morning because I'm going to talk about inner creativity. Because at the moment it seems like there's a lot of things to be stressed about, Doesn't it? You've probably noticed that the price of your household fuel is going up and the price of your fuel to go in your vehicle is going up and the price of food. I'm shocked every time I go to the supermarket for a moment there, It's like, Oh my goodness, The price of such and such has gone up again. Some things are going up it seems every week. Now it seems to me that the message out there is that we need to be in this state of extreme stress and panic in order to deal with this situation. That moaning and stressing about it and panicking about it and having some kind of idea of ourselves in the future, Not able to put a roof over our heads, Et cetera, Is somehow going to drive us to change. And I think where that comes from is that when we are caught up in our thinking and we're caught up in a state of panic, That it looks like that's a way to get us to take action because that system in your body, That the principles of how that system works is that that is a system that was created to get you out of trouble fast. I. E. There's a real saber tooth tiger coming to get you. Your body's job is to produce the hormones that put glucose into your bloodstream, That have your body perhaps go to the toilet so you lose weight quickly and get you out of danger fast. The trouble is that we're using our thinking to put ourselves into that state. And it's just a misused system, Really. It's a system that's working in all of us all the time, But it's being misused. We don't need to be in a state of panic to put things right or to change things or to have some solutions to something that might be happening. So the reason I'm upstairs in the bedroom now, Which is quite tidy behind me, I are, Is that it's cold in my office downstairs, Quite dramatically colder downstairs. It has a big patio door, My office. So there's a lot of places where heat can escape and it gets no light until the end of the, I probably moved back downstairs this afternoon because the downstairs of the house, That back window will start to get some sunlight and then it'll be warm. Our bedroom is warmer. We've been in here this morning sleeping, Well, Not until very late in my case, A bit of the morning. And hot air rises, So the upstairs is going to be warmer than the downstairs. So that's just one thing where I've seen scope for, We're all going to avoid putting the heating on for as long as possible. I've finally turned into my father. And so we're upstairs. I'm upstairs in the bedroom where we're both working upstairs to conserve some heat. And the other thing that's happened is we've just started to look at creative solutions for saving money. So we've looked at our menu plan and we've introduced a few more vegan meals as opposed to meals that have got fish in. We don't eat meat at home. I don't eat meat at all, My other half sometimes eats it when we're out and about. So we've done that. We shop, Do the bulk of our shopping, Like all the tinned stuff and all the non-perishables we buy once a month. So that means that on the other weeks when we've run out of vegetables and fruit, We really only have to go in the fruit and veg section of the supermarket and everything else is already purchased. So that kind of means we're not tempted into buying bits and pieces that we don't really need because that's what you do, Don't you? There's all these tempting things everywhere. So that's another thing. And then this weekend we spent a lot of time pre-preparing food. So we've made enough pesto to last us the month, Which has gone in the freezer. We made our own pieces from scratch. We make kombucha, We made our own hummus. So more and more, We're pretty from scratch cookers anyway, But we're making more and more things and we're stocking up things. So we've got a month's worth of various things in the freezer now. At some point this week I'm going to batch cook a big chili and that'll get portioned off into the freezer. And what that means is that when you batch cook a big chili on the hob, And then you portion it off, It's not going to use very much electricity. You're making it all in one go. So then when you reheat it in the microwave, Whatever, You're not using as much power. So there's so many things and in terms of how we entertain ourselves, We're just doing things simpler. And actually once you realize that your feelings don't come from those things that you do anyway, You find joy in this. We found joy yesterday. We had a lovely walk down the canal and back and we just loved looking at, It was a beautiful day, Looking at the seasons changing. I spotted a lot of beautiful trees that were just changing color. We were watching nature. We were looking at all sorts of things that were going on, Other people and scenery and what have you. Now all of those things, All of those ideas to save money and those things that we can do to make life a little bit easier don't come to us when we are super stressed out. They come to us when our minds are quiet. We just work better when our minds are quiet. Now that is not a guidance for you to try and make your mind quiet. But in the moment when you see yourself becoming riled up, Becoming panicky, Becoming worried, Becoming stressed, Something magic happens when you just see that that's what's happening. When you see yourself and how you're functioning as a normal human being, Because it is a normal human thing to get upset and worried about things, That's just human. Your mind does that, Just like everybody else's mind does that. But when you see it happening in the moment, When you realize that that uncomfortable feeling is generated inside you, It's just some misaligned energy that's coming from it. It's coming from thought. When you see that in the moment, It just self-rights is the best way I can put it. Because once you realize that this churning over that you're doing, This thinking that you're doing is what's creating the awful feeling, It doesn't make sense to carry on. If you think the price of fuel, Both kinds of fuel and food and everything else is what's creating your feeling, Then of course the only thing to do is stay in that wind-up, Bound-up place because, Well, There's nothing else to do because you can't do anything about the outside world. Whereas when you see that it's you, I don't mean that you, You know, You're a naughty person, I do mean that when you see that you are functioning like any other human in that when you think things you feel them, Particularly those things you give a lot of energy to. When you see that, That is freedom. Because you no longer have to be a victim of the stuff that's happening in the world or the behavior of other people or anything else for that matter. There's just a bit more space for clarity, For creativity, For ideas to come through you and that's helpful. And we all could do with more of that, Not just around our personal circumstances, But generally in the world. You work better when you can't. I'm pretty sure you've probably seen that actually in yourself some of the time. And all there is really to do is to be aware. If you're trying to find a solution while you're wound up and upset and stressed and worried you're probably finding that really hard. Whatever it takes for you to just slow down a little bit. To know with hope that that capacity for creativity and calm and clarity is inside you right now. You can't hear it if your head's noisy but it is inside you, It always is. And then we had such a fun weekend on a very small amount of money and actually we're saving money in our fun. That's available. Listen, If a total stress-head queen of worry can reach this place, When I see it this way, Then it is available to everybody including you. Everybody has this capacity inside them and there is a possibility for everybody to see it. Parts of love. Thank you so much for listening. There's nothing to do now but bring some awareness to how this is working out in your life. Listen regularly to experience longer and longer periods of calm. This has been The Calm Cast with Clare Downham, Queen of Calm. Take care and keep listening.

Reviews

This is a favorite that I will listen to when needed. I like being in a state of calm & also love to batch cook & bake, which makes me not only feel calm, but I can also be creative. Quilting is also my creative & happy place. Thanks to these, I now mostly live happy & calm. Thank you.