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Playtime Helps Adults Enter Flow

Playtime creates greater flow.
Spirographs, Etch-a-Sketch, and Slinkys are just a few ways to re-enter flow through playtime. What was your favorite activity as a child? When was the last time you tried it as an adult?

Adults Enter Flow with Playtime

What was your favorite craft to do as a child during playtime? Chances are the activities still appeal to the kid within you. Playtime is beneficial in many ways. First, it allows the brain downtime from the stressors of a demanding job or jobs. (Let’s get real. Most creatives hold multiple jobs to make a living. Musicians, artists, dancers, and writers all create, yet often teach, too.) Next, playtime taps into childlike wonder, which fuels creativity. Finally, taking downtime while coloring with gel markers or looping potholders is simply relaxing.

The Games People Play

A Spirograph design kit was one of my favorite activities as a child. It was so much like my Dad’s drafting desk! He would take me to Teledyne Penn-Union on Saturday mornings where he would do overtime. He set me up with wheels, circles, and triangles, and, then, pin them in place. Then, he would sharpen colored pencils and give me a few different colored pens. I was out of his hair for a few hours! A few years later, Santa gave me the real deal. Also, I enjoyed my Etch-a-Sketch, Slinky, and Colorforms, too.

Your Turn

Take out your journal. For 15 minutes remember and write about activities you enjoyed as a child. Maybe. like my father, you played kick the can? Then, pick one item in your inventory and either find it in your own home or purchase a playtime kit. You probably have items in your home to do a homemade project, like paper mache. Sound fun? Look here for details: https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/no-cook-paper-mache-paste-recipe-1253087

Here’s to growing your flow,

Marisa

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Music’s Rhythm Rolls in Flow

Roll with Music’s Rhythm for Flow

The Rhythm is gonna get'cha!
Take a music break to find flow through rhythm.

Music’s rhythm is a great self-help tool. Creatives can easily put it into practice. The spontaneous drum beat, rattle shake, or chime ping finds flow. How? There are a few reasons. First, movement is forward reaching. Each sound created resonates into the future. Next, the strumming, tapping, or jiggling is a pleasurable physical sensation. The action moves us outside the current situation. And, the rhythm is comforting. Finally, music and other art forms re-enforce the experience. Bongos patted during an enhanced poetry reading is an example.  A synergy heightens both the drummer and the poet. And, that interaction influences anyone listening in a positive way, too.

The Sound of Music

Having assorted instruments in an office makes it easy to take a music break. Then, when tension builds over a looming deadline, a few minutes spent plucking a juice harp can help. And, of course, a guitar or miniature xylophone, or even the soothing sound of a metronome, can do the trick. The point is to find sounds that feel reassuring. Or, satisfying, to listen to or create.

Your Turn

Over the weekend, take time to dig out your harmonica. Or, find the bugle that is in the attic from marching band in high school. Polish up the instrument. Need to buy one? Look at thrift stores or music shops for used triangles, tambourines, or other small-scale instruments. Put them on a shelf in your office. There they will be at the ready for a spontaneous jam session. Work out any block with ease. Realize that the music literally lifts your vibration internally and externally.  As Gloria Estefan and The Miami Sound Machine reminds us: No way, you can fight it every day/ But no matter what you say/ You know it the rhythm is gonna get’cha…. Want the whole song? Click here to watch after the ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-INTCDod2TA

Here’s to growing your flow,

Marisa

 

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Grow Flow With Random Acts of Kindness

Practice the magic of kindness to grow flow.
Kindness comes in a lot of forms. Why not extend the power to help transform someone’s life beyond Valentine’s Day with some magic of your own?

Kindness Creates Space for  Flow

Kindness creates space for flow in a number of ways. First, it makes us feel good to help others. Next, kindness is contagious. It causes a ripple to go from a recipient to recipient. So, we may think we are only helping one person, but in reality the chain reaction goes far beyond anything we can imagine. Finally, performing random acts of kindness (RAKs) enables us to practice being conduits of flow. The more we give without expectation, the more we are open to receive.

Care Moves Beyond Valentine’s Day

In her new book, It’s Not Your Money: How to Live Fully from Diving Abundance, Tosha Silver discusses becoming a source of kindness. She writes: You have to want to let God use you to give. You have to want to be part of the Flow, not only financially, but in every way. There are many ways to give. In turn, it allows us to receive in countless ways, too. Flow is a major theme of all of Silver’s books, seminars, and teachings. To learn more about her offerings, see her website: https://toshasilver.com/

As a former Girl Scout leader, I had the troops craft and deliver valentines to the folks at the Soldiers and Sailors Home where we lived. The veterans were so touched that these youngsters would make them cards and spend time chatting with them. Then, the girls voted to expand the card making and delivery project to include Veteran’s Day, too. The supplies for the craft were simple. And, so were the messages, including Happy Valentine’s Day!  and Thank you for serving! 

Your Turn

Take a clue from Glinda, the Good Witch of the North in the Land of Oz. Get out your (invisible) magic wand and create kindness wherever you go. Find ways to ensure others of their own talents, gifts, and/or goodness. Call or visit an elderly relative. Share a plate of cookies – or a box of Girl Scout Trefoils – with a new neighbor. Let someone go ahead of you in line at the grocery store. Hold the door open for a mother with young children. You get the idea. Go for the Girl Scout motto: Turn a good dead daily! And, then for a moment feel the warm sense of flow that floods your heart. At the end of the day, take 15 minutes to journal about the experience. Consider some of these questions as you write:  Who did you help? How did they react to your kindness? When will you take time to do RAKs again? Hopefully soon!

Here’s to growing your flow,

Marisa

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Try New Recipe to Add Flow

Create flow with new ingredients.
A new menu can help create new subplots, characters, and more!

Add Zing with New Recipe

When you are needing some self-care around mealtime, why not try a new recipe? The chopping, shredding, dicing and slicing works wonders for writer’s block, as Julia Cameron notes in The Artist Way.  Also, cooking ethnic food exposes creatives to new cultures, flavors, and ingredients that may very well spark new subplots, characters, or motives in fictional works. Finally, cooking a different recipe promotes a sense of play, which helps stir your creativity.  Need inspiration? Look what happened when I found this lovely meal plan when recently visiting Sarasota, Florida, for a wedding.

For One Meal Try Vegan

My husband and I were walking around St. Armand’s Circle. There were many publications put our for locals and visitors. The free guides and magazines showcase the area’s tourism, recreational activities, and wildlife. I took one home with a vegan meal on the cover. Later, I could not locate the magazine in my office. Luckily, I was able to find the recipes online for a vegan feast. Then, I made this savory meal for my visiting in-laws. None are vegans, but they enjoyed the meal’s heartiness.  It featured caramelized butternut squash steaks over creamy polenta. I served roasted mushrooms and pan-fried Brussel sprout leaves with it. Here is the game plan from the fun culinary folks at Edible Sarasota: http://ediblesarasota.ediblecommunities.com/recipes/caramelized-butternut-squash-steaks-over-creamy-polenta-pan-roasted-mushrooms-and-fried

Your Turn

Maybe making a whole meal isn’t your deal. Here is a half-dozen ideas to try! Bon appetite!

  • Try a grilled peanut butter and sliced banana sandwich on whole wheat bread
  • Construct a spinach salad with black olives, a scoop of hummus, and tomato slices. Dress it with olive oil and balsamic vinegar
  • Bake a veggie quiche and serve with a side salad.
  • Mix up a batch of Chex-like mix
  • Slice up strawberries, watermelon, cucumbers in a salad and season with lime juice and chili powder
  • Stir mac-and-cheese together and add steamed asparagus

Here’s to (deliciously) growing your flow,

Marisa

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Hot Bath Self-Care Ritual Restores

Heal With Hot Bath for Flow

Writers, artists, dancers, actors, sculptures, and musicians – really all creatives – need a hot salt bath to promote flow. A bath is a wonderful ritual for a number of reasons. First, is calms down the aches and strains that come with creative jobs. Also, the envelope our weary minds in a sensation much like being back in the womb. Finally, they create space for new ideas to incubate while resting.

For comforting self-care, try a hot salt bath with baking soda and lavender oil
A hot bath laced with kosher salt, baking soda, and lavender soothes muscles and relaxes the mind as a self-care ritual for creatives.

Create Home Spa Oasis

To create the home spa oasis of your dreams, use between two and four cups of coarse kosher salt, one to two cups of baking soda, and several drops of lavender oil to relax. To perk up, replace the lavender oil with a few drops of lemon, grapefruit, or sweet orange oil. If you have sensitive skin, aviod the citrus oils as they can cause skin to feel scratched or broken if too much is added.

While Epsom salt is usually the standard go-to for baths, switching up to coarse kosher salt helps on both physical and spiritual levels. The suggestion came from my friend, Lois Thompson, who performs a variety of quantum balancing practices on her clients. While it clears pores, the coarse salt also helps to restore one’s energy balance as psychic cords of attachment are cut. Just thinking and forgiving anyone – including one’s self – for actions or inactions that cause distress, can go a long way in a hot salt bath. Interested in learning more about the services that Lois and her daughter, Julia, provide? Visit their website here: http://quantumbalanceerie.com/

Your Turn

There is no journal writing with this post. Simply run a bath and add the ingredients. Light a few candles. Then, release all that is not beneficial to you for greater creativity.

Here’s to growing your flow,

Marisa