S3 E32: Magic Monday: My Most Important Ritual for Exploring Creativity
It can feel impossible to carve out time for creative rituals, gathering ideas, and big-picture thinking, when they’re important, but not urgent, and you have a million other things to accomplish. Following your curiosity and sense of wonder is not a waste of time!
Listen in to hear about my most important habit that supports my creativity, how I fit it into my schedule without feeling unproductive, and how you can spark more creativity in your art and life.
RESOURCES DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE:
Sign up for the free Feel Good Creativity Unchallenge (5 days of super easy creativity + wellness prompts)
TRANSCRIPT
Hello, everyone! Welcome to Episode 32 of Being A Whole Person. Today I'm going to tell you all about my most important weekly ritual, which I call Magic Mondays, which maybe sounds cheesy on first glance, but I'll tell you all about it in a second.
First, I have two announcements for you. First of all, you might have heard me talk about the Build Your Seasonal Self Care Kit workshop for spring, which happened at the end of March, and the recording is still available for another couple of weeks, for everyone who feels like their normal self care just isn't cutting it, and you need to take care of yourself in a way that's really replenishing, that fits your needs at any given moment. You want practices that take different amounts of time, because it always feels too hard to fit in self care.
That's all in the workshop, you'll get to make your own menu of practices from the micro to the full day, based on the framework of nine different types of rest. People who have participated have really loved it, and find that they're using this menu and master list of self care all the time, that it's really coming in handy. So if that sounds like something you need, check out the link in the show notes. It's on a sliding scale from 10 to $35, because I really want it to be accessible for everybody, and I hope you enjoy it.
Announcement number two: I'm doing a free coworking session on Tuesday, April 27, at 10am. Pacific. There's also a link in the show notes about that. I've heard from a lot of clients and friends and people in general, that they're having a really hard time focusing, one year plus into a pandemic. Things are still changing, things still don't feel normal. It's really helpful to have some accountability, and some people to show up with you to just get some work done. Of course, if you've been listening to this, you know, I'm all about compassionate productivity, not toxic productivity or hustle culture.
We'll spend the first few minutes getting in the right mindset to work in a way that works with your energy on that day. Then we will state our goals out loud to each other or in the chat, and we'll get to work. This will just be an hour-long session the first time. I'm trying it out, and I'm really excited. I'm sure there's going to be more to come because I know this is something that people really need, so, look for that in the show notes as well.
So let's get into the episode. I know that Magic Mondays might sound a little bit silly, but it feels really resonant to me. You might have a different word in place of magic for this expansive feeling that you want to create. But, Magic Mondays started, because during most of the year, I have a rehearsal on Monday nights. I want to prevent myself from unintentionally working a 12 hour day, because I will do that if I don't put some intentionality in place.
When I work tons on Monday - this is a real phenomenon - people have more energy on Monday because they're coming off the weekend. Then they go go go, and they burn themselves out, and then Tuesday, you're super exhausted, and you're like, “Oh no, I have the whole week ahead of me. Wow.” So I don't want to do that. In order to do that, I decided not to start working until afternoon, so that I don't put in those long hours.
I start my week with a mini-adventure morning. It's kind of a variation on the artist date concept from The Artist's Way, if you're familiar with that. You just kind of take yourself for a date to do something that seems like it will feed your creativity. A lot of those things are not accessible and haven't been during COVID times, so this is kind of a variation on that, where I usually go to a park, or a garden, or maybe I walk around a neighborhood that I'm not as familiar with, just to kind of check it out and see what's going on, see what I notice.
I also talked about this concept of taking a noticing walk around your neighborhood or wherever, in Episode 11 Finding Magic in Dark Times, which I will link to in the show notes. You may have heard me talk about my daily walk, and how that's the most important part of my routine. It's perfect to take a mini adventure because it's like my daily walk, plus exploring, more exercise, more time outside means more endorphins. It's totally perfect.
Also, I always joke that visiting gardens is me living out my destiny as a Hass, because my dad co-wrote a book about growing roses in cold climates. My aunt studied horticulture, and two of my uncles grow thousands of dahlias at the Hass family farm. If you have my album, Florescer, and you see the flowers on the cover, that is where those pictures were taken, which is pretty cool, both for the family connection, and I just love dahlias, too.
I love exploring, especially living in a newish place. It's been almost two years that we've lived in the Bay Area, but it's huge, there's so much to explore. I'm on a mission to visit all of the East Bay Regional Parks, and a lot of the city parks. I may have made a spreadsheet to track it because I'm a little nerdy about it, which is awesome. I use nerd strictly as a compliment, not as a put down.
Here's where the magic part comes in. The beauty of nature is really inspiring, especially when I'm exploring new places that just really sparked my curiosity. It really helps me feel more expansive, it makes me feel more hopeful. That just lets me open up to possibly new dreams and aspirations that maybe weren't going to come forth if I hadn't made myself do that.
I like to let my curiosity guide me as to which way I'm intuitively drawn to walk. Sometimes I'm at a park where there's a trail, and, you know, there aren't as many choices, but there's usually some choices. I'll look one direction, or look the other direction, and I usually feel drawn one way or the other. Sometimes it's a more practical concern, like this trail is going to take a really long time, and I only have this much time or whatever, but I like to use intuition for that as much as I can.
I love stopping as much as I want to, to look at scenery, to look at foliage, to see what animals are hanging out. I'm also obsessed with the Seek app by iNaturalist which is an AI app that identifies plants and animals for you. That's been super fun for me as I've been getting to know the California ecosystem, and all these plants that I wasn't familiar with before, living in the Midwest. So I'll stop wherever I see a plant that I'm like, “Ooh, what's that?” and that just feels the curious expansive spirit.
When these things come together, it really just helps me access that spirit of wonder, and that spirit of joy that helps fuel my creativity. I also usually get my best ideas when I'm out walking, or in the shower, which is not applicable here, but you probably relate to this, that you tend to get ideas when your brain is doing sort of a neutral activity that doesn't take as much active processing.
It helps me get in the right headspace. It helps me figure out what I want the week to hold, how I want to feel, and just kind of, those moments when you're going, “What am I doing? What am I really doing?” You get to have an honest talk with yourself and go, “How are things working for me?” That's so much harder to do when you sit down in a computer, and all the possible distractions that come with that.
So, I love starting the morning away from devices, although I do use my phone to record notes, and to use apps and stuff - it's not the same kind of distraction.
I like to build in time and space for journaling, I usually bring my journal along because it's small, and I usually bring a bag anyway, because I want to bring water with me. So that doesn't feel like having too many things with me. Then I can stop on a bench whenever I want to, and write a little bit.
Sometimes I don't write at all, but I always bring my journal, just in case. Sometimes I come home and I write more afterwards. Maybe it's raining outside and I don't want to, or maybe I'm hungry, and I want to come home for lunch or whatever practical thing, but it's flexible.
Sometimes I also seed the adventure with a particular idea or project that I want to think about. that I know I need to kind of ruminate on and ponder, but things bubble up as I walk. But sometimes I have no agenda. Sometimes it's just you know what I need this time to just be,
and that's fine too. It all ties into what I actually need at that moment. I usually use this time for writing, and ideas that relate to this podcast and to my coaching business, not usually music, because I prefer to compose at the piano. But if an idea pops up, I'm ready to hum it into a voice memo, or scrawl it down on some staff paper. I actually have a staff paper notebook that I never carry with me. Now that I think about it, maybe I should start doing that, too.
But you know, it can be so easy to get lost in the grind, and stuck in the hamster wheel of your everyday activities, when everything feels like too much, and you have so many things to do, and you never feel like you're allowed to stop and think about big ideas or creative projects, because they're not urgent. But they are still really important.
If you never carve out the space for them, it'll probably rarely happen that you have time to step back and do this big picture. So having this ritual has been so, so helpful for me, because that space is just built into my schedule every week. Magic Monday for me usually is like a two, maybe three hour endeavor, because I usually don't go too far from home. If I drive somewhere further away, it might take a little bit longer, or if I do an errand on the way home or something.
But really, it's not that hard to fit into my day, even though I convinced myself for a long time that I couldn't possibly take the time to have an adventure. The benefits just so outweigh any time that you think would be taking away from something else.
In case you're thinking, Magic Mondays, that sounds like unicorns and bunnies, and you know, airy fairy, whatever. It doesn't always feel like magic. It's real life, real life is not always thrilling. So, you know, the magic is not a guarantee. But I'm always glad that I've taken the time for it.
It's never a guarantee, right? With the creative process, we need to create the conditions for magic, for that creative spark. That's how we invite it in. If we don't create the conditions, then we're not ready when it shows up. So we have to make that space, anytime we're engaging in the creative process, in any format.
If you want some super easy ways to do that, I have this great Feel Good Creativity Unchallenge that is five days of super easy creativity and wellness prompts, that help you set up the right physical and mental environment for creating, help put you in the right frame of mind and get you doing something creative, that's just bite size and easy to fit in. It's totally free. And you'll get five daily emails with the prompts. People have found this super helpful. So check that out, if that sounds good to you.
If you also have a flexible schedule like me, maybe you want to try this to start out your week next week. This could look like working from a new to you coffee shop on a patio, or maybe you work outside. Maybe you take a little walk as part of it, for a little dose of novelty and some brain charging physical activity. Even if you don't have the flexibility, if you have a more set work schedule, maybe you can still infuse your week with some of that same spirit by doing something that engages your curiosity and fills you with wonder.
Think about what the child version of you would be really excited about. If you're at a loss. It can be as simple as you need it to be, or you can craft more ritual around it. I would say, if you're feeling overwhelmed already, making it a whole multi-step thing might make it feel hard, and might make you not want to do it at all.
So, if you're just wanting to dip your toe in the water, you could start by setting an intention for your adventure. It could be based on a feeling, it could be a boundary like that you're not going to think about work while you're there. Or, you're not going to think about whatever thing is stressing you out currently.
I hope you can try it, and I hope that fun stuff comes from it. If you do, let me know - I want to hear about it. Tell me what you did. Tell me if any cool insights came out of it, or if you've taken any adventures recently, even small ones, that help spark your creativity in a new way. Or tell me about something you're planning on doing soon. I'm all ears, and I'm excited to hear about it. So I hope that is helpful.
Before I go, I just have one quick request that, if you've been enjoying this podcast for a while, would you be willing to write a review on iTunes for me? It really does make a world of difference in helping people find the show, helping me reach as many people and help as many people as possible. So thanks in advance, if you do that. I really appreciate it, and
I really appreciate you listening and being here with me.
So, happy Magic Monday. Happy Magic Day, whenever you decide to have it. Have a great week, and I'll see you next time.
Pianist and composer