TRANSCRIPT

Hello again and welcome to day one of Light Up Your Creative Joy. So today we're going to be looking at an activity that will hopefully inspire you and hopefully open up that question, what am I excited about? What lights up my creative joy? So first I thought we should talk about this idea of creative joy. I'm going to be using that expression a lot and I know it can be difficult to pin down because joy doesn't feel the same to everybody.

So for example, I think a lot of people would describe creative joy as being a bubbling up of positive feelings, So it could be this sense of well being or happiness and it's warm and fuzzy and it comes from doing things that you like or seeing something that makes you feel really happy.

But I know from having many conversations with many people about their creativity, creative joy can actually mean different things to each of us.

Like I say in the handout, for some people, doing a TikTok dance could be the epitome of creative joy, could be so much fun, and for another person it could be painfully cringey and something they would do anything to avoid.

So, while we think about this, maybe you want to close your eyes, or you want to look down softly, whatever you feel comfortable doing. I want to invite you just to listen to the examples I've got of creative joy, and think if any of them really feel like they resonate with you. So as I talked about, maybe creative joy is something that makes you feel happy and elated.

I think that's probably what most people do consider creative joy to be,

but I've had conversations with other people who say that for them, creative joy is a sense of peacefulness and contentment, that when they feel that they are doing something very mindful or meditative, they feel that sense of harmony with the moment, that is their idea of creative joy.

Other people have told me that it's a sense of anticipation and excitement that they're looking forward to doing something that they really want to do and when they get to do it the joy is in the reward and the fulfillment of getting to do that thing.

And other people have said that for them. Creative joy is very much like tapping into their curiosity and their wonder and opening up the potential of ideas and what could be this kind of sense of freedom and feeling uninhibited and that you can play.

So when we realize that people's concept of creative joy is very different, of course the act of creative joy is going to be different for different people too.

For those who find creative joy in mindfulness, it could be that experience of calm, deep focus on an activity, whereas for somebody else who, for example, finds creative joy in being more playful, it could be being very energetic and excitable and really throwing themselves into something.

So some real life examples could include being on a walk in nature and finding something that really lights up your soul because it's so beautiful and you want to capture it as a photograph or a painting or a sketch

or it could be being in the joy of a paint splattered studio and it feels like you're surrounded by this kind of exuberant creative energy.

If you're a writer, maybe it's when you're in that flow of writing words and it feels like they're flowing through you and your pen and spilling out onto the page. You're finding so much delight in creating that imagery or building worlds or telling a story.

Maybe it's making music or even listening to music and moving your body in response. Perhaps it's moving your body in response to your own tune that comes from within you.

There are just so many forms of creative joy and they're unique to each individual. But if you are feeling like you haven't connected with those examples and you're not sure what creative joy is for you yet, a good starting exercise could be to free write for 10 minutes.

So you put at the top of the page, 'what is creative joy to me?' And just write whatever comes out. Doesn't have to be clearly constructed sentences, it doesn't really have to make sense, it's just an opportunity for you to kind of open that question up and see what happens.

And if you're someone who processes things verbally, like me, you might prefer to record yourself talking or you could just have a conversation with somebody else.

So then what do we do with all of this? Well, I think a really great starting point is that we make a beautiful inspiration board that we can refer to.

I've found in the past when people have done this activity, it doesn't tend to just be an inspiration board. It's sort of like halfway between an inspiration board and a vision board because they put the things that inspire them and inspire their creativity. But often it also involves a lifestyle or a kind of idea of who they want to be or where they want to go in the future.

As an example I've just got this inspiration board I keep behind me and at the moment it's got some illustrations by Beatrix Potter and Jackie Morris, some herbarium samples, some prints by Anna Atkins, and some old cigarette cards which have illustrations of aquatic creatures. And, some jayfeathers that I found in a book that I bought on birdwatching from a charity shop.

And those are all things that are just really lighting me up at the moment, and I like to have them behind me to remind me of that.

But that's only really one snippet of the things that I love, and I've also made a Pinterest board which I'm sure many of you have come across already. Mine got a little bit out of control because there are so many things that inspire me. But you can make that or start that today and it can be something that you continually add to as time goes on.

And you can also make one in Canva. I've included a video of myself making a mood board in Canva using one of their free templates Canva is free. They do have limited access to some elements like mood boards and images and photographs.

But there's a big royalty free library that you can use there. And also some beautiful fonts and a wide colour palette.

So those are just some ideas of how you might want to make your board and there are lots more prompts and ideas in the handout which you can download in your email. This really isn't about creating the most beautiful mood board, or something that's stuck in stone for all time. It's more about the process of asking the question, what brings me creative joy?

And if your immediate response to that is, today I'm really excited by trees and shells, then run with that and new things might pop up as the week progresses, and you can just add them to your boards if you want So I hope you have a wonderful time making your inspiration boards.

We're going to be using them tomorrow to inspire us. If you can't get things done by the next day, which is when the next prompt will be released, please don't feel under pressure around that. I'm sending something out every day because then it's a nice contained seven day experience, but you could do a video a week if that felt better for you.

However, if you do finish your inspiration board, I would love to see it. You can find my email address in your daily email. And otherwise, I will see you tomorrow.

Bye bye!