Between Focus & Flow In Your Creative Practice

This episode explores the link between our desire for freedom and our need for control (hello, perfectionism tendencies, I see you!).
We identify as freedom seekers, yet many of us don't feel free daily. On the one hand, our attachment to this free-spirited identity can prevent us from creating the helpful structure we need to be able to focus our energy and find flow in our creative practice and business.

Freedom and control cannot always coexist when working towards a life, business and creative practice that flows. On the other hand, some of us ironically struggle with letting go of our need to control every detail, whether in our creative approach, the outcome of our work, or how it's "supposed" to happen. In this episode, we explore a few solutions, including adding the right amount of (flexible and playful) structure, softening our grip on control, and learning to enjoy freedom (without shame or guilt).

Transcript

Come to this morning meditation to calm your mind and find focus for the day ahead.

Take a moment to welcome in your breath,

Stretch your body,

Open up your heart space and gently wake up.

Find a comfortable position that feels good as you're coming to a wakeful state,

Lengthening your spine,

Allowing the body to slowly exhale the night.

And when you get there,

Take a full belly breath and release slowly through the mouth.

You can yawn,

Stretch,

Make any adjustments here as you need and gently close the eyes,

Taking a moment to welcome in this new day,

Cultivating gratitude to be here and now,

Feeling excited about the potential of this day and everything it may bring you.

For all the possibilities that are being offered to you,

Take a deep inhale with your most hopeful energy and breathe out any doubt you may be carrying.

Scan your body to find any tension you may be holding onto and use every exhale to find more softness.

Let your breath melt away the tension from the top of your head down to your toes,

Softening the forehead,

Unclenching the jaw,

Relaxing your tongue,

Dropping the shoulders away from the ears.

Continue scanning your body to find any place where you may be gripping or holding stress,

Heaviness,

Stuckness and release.

Beautiful.

Let's start the day with focus.

Our creative mind has this truly magical power to imagine,

Create,

Envision.

It can visualize the big picture and feel every detail of it.

This vision lives in our mind's eye and it's our responsibility to bring it from the inner landscape of our imagination to the physical world.

And this requires us to learn how to focus our precious energy.

So first,

I want you to reflect on the feeling you would like to cultivate today.

How do you want to feel?

Maybe you want to feel calm and peaceful.

Maybe you want to feel energized or inspired.

Maybe you want to invite in some softness or grace.

So bring this intention to mind and observe where you feel it in your body and take a moment to fully feel this feeling.

Take it in,

Breathe it in and then let it go for now.

Now I want you to bring to mind three things that you would like to accomplish by the end of this day.

And then I want you to ask yourself what would be most important.

What will make the biggest difference on the rest of the week or the month?

Choose your main intention for today.

And state it out loud.

By the end of today,

I will have.

.

.

And check back with the feeling that you want to cultivate.

How can you get this done while honoring your intention of feeling energized,

Inspired,

Peaceful,

Creative,

Focused?

How can you infuse this intention with the energy you want to cultivate today?

Now let's become aware of the energy that's available to you today.

So get curious not only about the level of energy that you have this morning,

But also the type of energy.

So when you release any expectations for the day,

How does your energy naturally want to be invested?

Do you feel called to take action?

Do you feel like you would like to go inwards and reflect?

Do you feel like brainstorming or dreaming,

Imagining?

Do you feel called to connect and share?

So ask yourself what is the level and type of energy that's available to me today?

Where is my intuition pulling me?

And notice how this may affect your intention and your goal for the day.

So take a moment to readjust if you need to.

And now I want you to bring back to mind your most important goal and the feeling you want to cultivate,

As well as the energy that's available to you today.

So bring it to mind.

Feel it in your body.

Feel it in your heart.

And then I want you to visualize the end result.

Visualize yourself at the end of your day,

Putting the finishing touches on that goal.

The last word,

The last brushstroke.

Visualize yourself closing the door of your office or your creative space,

Turning off the computer or putting away the art supplies,

Feeling proud of yourself.

Today you did it.

You focused your energy on what matters and you got it done.

We often struggle to get things done,

Not because of our inability to focus,

But because of how much of an expert we've become in distracting ourselves.

So today I encourage you not to fight with your mind,

Wishing you were able to be more focused.

But instead,

Let's see how you can become less distracted and see what happens.

So I want you to imagine yourself in your studio or your workspace taking action on your most important goal for the day.

So go ahead and feel yourself typing on the keyboard,

Painting on your canvas.

Really immerse yourself in that picture now.

And then I want you to zoom out just a little bit.

So become curious of what's around you,

What's on your desk,

What's in your mind,

What may distract you.

Notice it and then zoom out again.

What about the room you're in or who's around you?

What else may distract you from your goal?

And zoom out completely.

Bring this full picture to mind.

And I want you to circle the things,

People,

Thoughts,

Beliefs,

Sounds,

Anything that may bring you out of focus.

Take a moment to ask yourself how you can push them away from your picture,

How you can eliminate them,

Or how you can set boundaries around yourself.

Do you need to lock the phone away?

Do you need to ask your partner not to disturb you?

Do you need to turn off the Wi-Fi so you can stay in your flow state?

Do you need to consciously say not today to your inner critic when it pops up?

So take a moment to look at what you've circled in your mind and find solutions around the distractions you may encounter today.

And if that helps,

You can visualize these distractions blurring your picture.

So every distraction makes your picture blurrier and blurrier until you can't really see clearly anymore.

So how can you bring it back into focus?

Take a moment to notice your distractions and find solutions.

And with your next inhale,

Offer yourself some words of encouragement.

This can sound like,

You got this,

Or I know you're scared but I believe in you,

Or trust yourself,

You can do this.

Breathe in those words and exhale slowly.

Breathe in again and this time,

Give yourself a permission slip for the day.

I allow myself to,

Or I give myself permission to,

And breathe it out.

Before we end this morning practice,

Bring back to mind your main intention for the day.

Visualize yourself getting it done and bring back the feeling you want to cultivate.

Really feel it in your body and then bring back the distractions you may face and the solutions you've considered.

Ground back into your words of encouragement and your permission slip.

Feel it all come together now.

You got this,

Dear creative mind.

I hope this guided practice was helpful in finding focus for the day.

If this would be supportive to a creative friend of yours,

Feel free to share with them.

And if you feel called to,

Share with me what you've created today.

So I can celebrate with you.

Thank you for sharing this time with me.

Good morning and have a beautiful rest of your day.