TRANSCRIPT

Welcome back Lovely Creative to day seven of Light Up Your Creative Joy, our last day together on this mini course. I hope that you have found the last few days inspiring, I hope they've helped you to reconnect with different parts of your creative self, and I'm really excited about us working today together through the Creative Intentions workbook.

I'm going to go through each page of the workbook and I'm not going to pause for the time it takes me to fill them in because we all work at different paces. So I'm going to say at the end of each page You might want to pause the video here, which might feel slightly repetitive after the first few times, but it lets you pace yourself and do this in a way that feels right for you, rather than having to chase to keep up with me or feeling like it's going too slowly and getting frustrated.

So just to quickly give you an idea of what we're going to be doing in this session, first we're going to be looking at the learning from the Light Up Your Creative Joy week.

So that's looking back on the different activities that you've done over the past six days, And using them as signposts to things that you might want to bring forward in your creative future. Then we're going to reflect on what your last 12 creative months have been like, so that you can take some of that experience and perhaps some things that were working and some things that weren't working for you, and that will help you to feel more kind of informed and guided and have more of a sense of purpose when you go to setting your intentions for the year ahead.

We're then going to do a guided visualisation. I cannot say that word, I keep tripping up on it. But that's the intention, to do a guided visualisation, which takes you to hopefully a place where you can open up the possibilities of what could be ahead of you.

And then we're going to look at how you can turn some of those ideas into actions to help making that imagined future more of a reality.

So the things that you're going to need to do this are firstly a printout of the Light Up Your Creative Joy Creative Intentions workbook. I have printed mine as you can see in black and white You don't have to use all your expensive printer inks, but you can if you want to I just didn't have any blue So I printed mine out black and white and you also need a pen and a pencil because you might want to write and draw two different prompts or any kind of creative medium that you feel like using, but something that's quick and easy, doesn't involve a lot of mess, because we're not going to spend very long on each question.

We're going to be here for at least half an hour, so I have a cup of tea, and I also have a glass of water, and I've got a cardigan that I'm sitting on in case I get cold. So please do anything that you need to do to make sure that you're comfy and cosy before we get going.

The first section is 'Learning from the Light Up week.'

It's really a way to recap and review what has come up from the things that you've done in the other prompts. And I've called it a reflection on what the week's activities have illuminated for you, because my hope is that. It's brought up some ideas or raised some questions that are going to be useful for you When you go on to thinking about your creative intentions for the year ahead.

So first, we're going to be looking at inspiration boards from day one So you might want to stop the video and find that and the first question is 'is there anything that surprises you on your board'? Especially something that you look at and you realise perhaps it connects to something you were interested in in the past or something you've wanted to do for a while.

Or maybe something that you didn't expect to find exciting enough to pin at all, or record at all. And you're like, wow, you are obviously something that is new in my life. 'What are you most excited about or drawn to'?

If you had to describe the feeling of your inspiration board in three words, what would they be? So these can be any three words that you feel drawn to, that you like. However, I would say general words like inspired or more creative Don't really help specifically signpost towards what it is about that that inspires you or makes you want to be more creative so something like peaceful or energized or curious or thoughtful those words really do embody, I would say, the energy that you might be wanting to bring more into your creative world.

The next prompt is, looking at your board, what do you most want to bring forward into your creative future?

That could be anything from, I want to make something that looks like this, to I want this lifestyle, it looks amazing, to simply, I want more painting in my life. So, I'm sure you'll do that in the way that is right for you, and you might want to pause the video here while you fill in those prompts.

Next we're going to be looking at your creative passion map from day two, so you'll want to get that out. And the prompts are, which creative activities or mediums are you feeling most connected to at the moment? So that is obviously going to be on the passion map. You could write the ones that are closest to the centre or to whatever you use to represent yourself.

Is there anything on your map that you feel is important? But you haven't been able to bring it into your field of attention yet. So that would be something that like, for example, on my passion map, was a star in the distance. But just because it's not something that I'm actively doing, doesn't mean it's not something that is really important to me or I really want to do in the future.

So I wanted to give you an opportunity to, break down, I guess, the hierarchies that form on that creative passion map and say, actually, that thing didn't get much space on my map, but it's important in my heart. Is this how you would like your creative passion map to look in six months time? And if not, what would you change?

So it's an opportunity to start that process of asking, what do I want my future to be? What do I want my creative future to entail? And what don't I want there? Because it's not bringing me joy anymore. So if you want to stop the video here, you can go and fill in those prompts and I will see you in a few minutes.

So let's consider the creative prompts from day three on idea generation. So that was when you took those inspirations from your board, mixed them up and used them to play a game to help you come up with unexpected or different creative ideas. The prompts are, what did you discover that was new or unexpected through the idea generation activity?

Especially something that made you laugh or surprised you or seemed like something that you would never have put together. I think those things can be just a door that can open to a slightly different way of working where we might discover things that we didn't see before.

Can you imagine more playful or intuitive ways that you could approach your creativity? So here I just wanted to give you the space to have a think about Are there other ways that I could do this that would make more sense to me? Are there, like, different approaches I could take? Maybe randomising in a different way, or doing something more intuitive with the materials and the mediums that you're using.

So, kind of maybe approaching a piece of paper or canvas with no idea of what you're going to do, or sculpting with just a piece of clay to see what comes out, or taking your camera and photographing using. say, the letters of the alphabet as your prompts, as opposed to always looking for that kind of thing that you're supposed to be doing as a creative, just giving space for new ideas to constantly come through.

So if you want to pause the video now, I'll see you when you've had a chance to think about that.

Next, we're going to review day four, Supporting Your Senses. So the prompts are, what changes did you identify that you can make in the space or spaces in which you create that can better support your senses? So, was that lighting, sound, temperature, what you're wearing, anything that would make you feel more comfortable or welcome, anything that would make your space feel more inviting or more creative?

What's the first thing that you want to remove from the space or spaces to facilitate creative connection and flow? So, as I've said, probably for me, the first thing I would remove is the studio lights because they're so bright and they give me a headache. I don't use them when I'm doing my own creative work, unless I'm filming, and a way around that for me, for example, would be thinking of going on Reddit and just looking and asking to see if anyone has any suggestions of ways to light a creative space or a filming space that doesn't involve quite such harsh LED lights.

What's the first thing you want to add to the space to facilitate creative connection and flow? It could be something as simple as leaves that you collect on a daily walk. It could be some flowers. It could be a notebook that's important to you that you have, like, in the middle of a desk so you always know where to begin on a given day with your creativity.

Anything that feels good to you. a comfy pillow. Whatever you feel is going to help you get into flow more quickly and lower that resistance to engaging with your creativity. So I will let you do that for a few minutes, and I will see you to talk about day five.

Hello! So now we're going to move on to looking at day five, which was exploring creative play. So you might want to find your notes from that one.

The first prompt is, of your three play invitations, which did you find most comfortable to explore and why? Was it because it was physically the most comfortable? Was it the one that you felt least embarrassed about? Was it the thing that you've done the most before in your life so you felt most comfortable doing it because you felt more confident around it?

Which did you find most challenging and why? So, in the same vein, was it because it was something that you'd not done before? Was it something that you didn't really feel that you knew how to do? Or maybe it's something that you did do a lot of in the past and you've got some sort of negative relationship with it or some sort of connotation that makes you feel uncomfortable.

Can you think of any other play invitations that you would like to introduce into your creative practice? Could it be walking? Could it be using a ball and throwing it at the wall to make a rhythm?

Could it be making a huge mess and giving yourself permission to do that, because how often do we let ourselves make a mess? Could it be trying something that you've never tried before with absolutely no weight or expectation on being good at it, simply just wanting to explore it and have a go? So I will let you have a think about that, and I'll see you in a minute.

Hello, and now we're going to have a quick look at what you discovered during Day 6, which was Connect to Your Creativity, where I invited you to write a letter to your creativity. So the first prompt is what did you feel when you were writing your letter to your creativity?

And of course you might have felt a range of emotions, it probably wasn't just one emotion and I think they're all important and they all show kind of , different aspects of how your creativity functions in your life and who you are and your story so they're all important. Did the letter help you to identify anything you'd like to change about this relationship and what aspects of your relationship with your creativity are you happy with and you'd like to bring forward?

The thing is, I know you don't always have complete control over all of these things, especially, for example, if work is taking time from your creativity or there are maybe resources that you can't access, but the kind of goal with this letter is to help you look at what you can change now, even if it's only small changes.

Small changes can make a big difference. So I will give you a few minutes to go through that and respond to that in your own words, and I will see you in a moment.

So, now we're on to the next stage of the Creative Intentions Workbook, which is the Reflect stage. Let's move on to thinking about your creativity over the last 12 months. I've said, every phase of our creative journey has its joys and its challenges. As you think back on the ebbs and flows of your creativity across the year, you might find there are things that worked well and some things that just weren't right for you.

Reflecting on what you want to bring forward and what you want to leave behind creates an opportunity to move into your creative future with more intention and purpose. You can respond to the prompts in whatever way feels right to you, so I've said you might want to write answers out, free write, or doodle, or you could record them as audio recordings.

But as I've said, don't forget that all projects were important, even if they didn't really work out how you hoped. They all brought new learning and they should all be celebrated as part of your creative journey. So the first prompt is, what creative projects or ideas most lit up your creative joy over the last 12 months?

Don't feel you have to put 100 things. It's not really about that. It's not about demonstrating that you've had your most creative year ever. It's simply about looking at the places where your joy was sparked and how we can continue to spark that joy and help it grow into something more. Which taught you lessons and challenged you in new ways, even if they didn't turn out exactly how you imagined.

I think something that's not talked about enough by creative people is how much time goes into things that don't work out, how much of our creativity is really about trying things and making mistakes, or going, that isn't something I want to pursue. Because that's all part of the creative process and sometimes, especially in the world of social media, it makes everything look really easy.

Everything's, made into a 10 second or a 60 second reel and we don't really see all of those little ups and downs and learnings that happen along the way. What actions and choices helped you to stay connected to your creativity? So a word that probably a lot of people would use here is habits.

I don't like the word habits because I don't think it works particularly well for people who are neurodivergent. Especially, you know, people who are ADHD, like myself, it just feels like habits aren't something that really last a long time in my life. And I've put a lot of effort into trying to introduce habits that have ultimately kind of fallen to the wayside.

So, actions and choices, I feel, is more helpful because it really does make you think every day you're making choices and taking actions that are contributing to the life that you're living. And so, I invite you to think what are those small things, whether it's giving myself ten minutes to read my book every day, or it's sitting down at a desk, where I'm going to at least try to make some sort of creative action happen a few times a week, or it could be going for a walk every day because it inspires you and it helps you feel well, so you're in sort of the best possible place to approach your creative ideas.

Is there anything you feel it's time to let go of so you can move forwards on your creative journey with more freedom and joy? I think letting go is really difficult, particularly if you're someone with lots of projects and ideas, because you've invested into every single thing that you've done. But ultimately, not everything is meant to come forward with us.

Not everything is meant to become a big project or last forever. And, Going through the process of letting go and maybe even introducing rituals or a kind of letting go ceremony that you do for yourself when a project just isn't right anymore Can be really liberating and it makes space and time and energy for things that you do want to do right now.

So I will give you some time to work through those few pages and I'll see you when you're ready.

Now we're going to move on to the envision section, which is imagine what could be possible for the year ahead. So if you're someone with lots of ideas, you might feel pressure to instantly close down things, to control your wild creative dreams I've written for something more sensible. And that is what we're taught to do.

I think most of us are taught not to aim too high, like not to reach for the moon, and to do things that are sensible and that are easier to put in action and I do believe that it's all about taking the easiest actions sometimes. But we're going to get to that later because I think first we have to open up what is possible.

So I'm suggesting that for the next 10 minutes you put realism aside and you just give yourself a permission space to be bold and expansive in your vision of what the next 12 months could contain. Obviously try to not involve things that are beyond your capacity to influence. Uh, you're probably not going to get an extra £50,000 out of nowhere.

You're probably not going to suddenly have all the time in the world, if right now you only have a few hours a week. So those are the kind of things that might just frustrate you. But I'm talking more about not limiting your ideas of what you could create. Because Say I said I wanted to make a play, and it, in this session, felt really exciting.

And then I looked and thought, oh actually I've only got a few hours in my studio, don't have the money to put on a play, I've never directed. And I might initially feel deflated, but what could, 'I want to create a play', become, when I think about how it could be possible, even with the very real limitations in my life.

So that could be, I want to do a five minute one woman show. Or, I want to make a puppet show that lasts ten minutes. Or I want to write a monologue and then ask somebody who I know who's got experience acting to perform it for me in return for something that I could offer them. So there's just so many different ways that things could become art.

But if all we focus on is what we don't have, then we don't find those creative solutions that allow us to get closer to our dreams. And every step we take brings us closer. And that is how we make these big things happen in the end. I think when we focus on I want to move from step one straight to step ten. We become preoccupied with how hard that challenge is, and how unlikely it is that we're going to achieve that. But sometimes we don't even need to go to step ten. We could get to step four and feel that we've done something creatively fulfilling, or we're proud of what we've achieved,

and actually it could facilitate something bigger happening in the next few years, if you would prefer to journal rather than follow this guided visualisation, the prompts are on the following page for you,

but I've also put a space on the sheet where you can draw or note your responses if you want to.

if you'd like to join me on the guided visualisation, First, I'd like to invite you to make sure that all your comfort needs are met. You're not cold, you're not hot, you're not thirsty, you don't need to pause this and take a break so that you can find more focus when you're doing it.

If you feel ready, then you can either close your eyes, if that's something that you're happy to do, or if you'd be more comfortable, you can just look softly down. And first, I'd like you to think about the word expansive. What does expansive feel like for you? Where would you be if you were in an expansive environment?

Would it be , on a beach looking out at an endless horizon. Would it be in a field surrounded by rolling hills? For me, it's often this idea of kind of being in space surrounded by the stars but I know for some people that's cold and a bit scary. So think of a place where you feel that there's an expansiveness, but you feel safe enough to be in there and welcome that expansiveness.

And then I'd like to invite you to imagine that you take some steps forward in that space and it brings you to a year ahead from where you are today.

From there you're going to move locations to somewhere that has more of a connection to your creative future. So, where are you a year from today? Are you in the same place? Are you somewhere completely different? Are you sitting or standing or moving? What can you feel? What can you smell?

What can you see around you? Is there anything around you in your creative environment that stands out or that you think is really important and you want to take note of? So how is your creativity developing in this one year from now version of you. Are you working on several projects, or are you just doing one at a time?

When you think about these projects, can you imagine what they are? Can you see what you're working on? Is there a table in front of you when there are some projects in process, for example?

You might want to have a look at your projects. Imagine looking at notes or diagrams, maybe picking things up. Maybe what it'd be like to hold that patchwork jacket that you've always been wanting to work on.

So if you were describing how your relationship with your creativity feels, what three words might you use? Do you say you felt happy? content, fulfilled, joyful, busy, motivated, and overall, what role do you feel that your creativity is playing in your life in this scenario? So I'm just going to let you spend a few more minutes in that space, thinking about where you want to go, what could be possible for you in a year, and trying not to focus too much on the can't haves and don't haves, because all we want to do is create space for possibility.

And to give inspiration and invitation to come and find us. So I will sit here for a few minutes and then I'll let you know when we're going to move on to the next section.

Okay, so if you want to gently bring your attention back to what's happening around you right now, and if there's anything you want to note or doodle down, I'll give you the chance to pause the video and I'll see you when you've done that.

So I hope you enjoyed imagining the possibilities of what could be in your year ahead. Now we're going to start laying that path. So we're going to do 'Set Your Intentions', we're going to start transforming that vision of your creative year ahead into something that has actionable steps so you can start making it a reality.

As I've written, remember that none of this is set in stone. You really don't have to be too linear or prescriptive about how things will happen. It's not a space to start, like, writing lists or step by steps. It's about leaving space because things will inevitably grow and change and evolve as your year progresses.

But also giving yourself those starting points, those first steps that are going to help you start moving towards. where you want to go. So the first prompt is, what do you want the main emotions that you feel in your creative practice to be over the year ahead?

And then as that connects to the next prompt, what everyday actions or behaviours could support you in feeling this way? So on a wider scale, that could be that if you want a peaceful year, then the actions that you want to take to protect that peace would be Only saying yes to things that you really want to do, setting clearer boundaries with people, perhaps saying no more, not taking on more than you have capacity for, so maybe working to identify what your capacity is.

Or it could be simpler, everyday actions, like meditation or creating time for movement or giving yourself an opportunity to work in your sketchbook a few times a week. There are just all these little things

that support you in feeling overall that you're living in the way that you want to live when it comes to your creativity. And we won't always get it right, and sometimes we'll feel that we're completely out of alignment or we're going in the wrong direction, but it's always an opportunity just to be aware of that.

Not to give yourself a hard time, but simply to say, Is there anything else that I could change? What medium would you most like to explore and are there any big projects that you would like to make happen this year?

So when I say big projects, really you can define the scale of that, it could be something as big as starting a podcast, it could be something as big as having an exhibition, or it could be something as big to you as filling a sketchbook. I've never filled a sketchbook, but if that's something that you want to do, how can you make that happen?

And then also, what smaller mini projects or creative play opportunities would you like to find? And I've included this because I don't want the emphasis to be that you should choose one or two big projects and they'll dominate your year. Unless that's what you really want, because the majority of people I work with tend to be multi-passionate, I know that asking people to choose one or two projects is just overwhelming, it results in procrastination and boredom, and they feel that they're creatively limited, and ultimately they don't make as much as if they have smaller mini projects. that they can turn to when they're feeling low on energy, or they need a bit of a boost, or they need something a bit more fun, or playful, or exciting.

So, I've invited you to just put those because they might be something that you can add in as like the mix of your creative year. And finally, if you were writing directions to help guide your future self through the year, what would they say?

So this would be where we take the prompts from the first few days. We take all the things that you've thought about during this session. And if there is something in the back of your mind, like for me, um, something that sends me off in the wrong direction all the time. as I get overburdened with admin tasks, I am a bit of a perfectionist and I tend to spend too long on things that really aren't that important, and that takes away from the time that I should be doing my own creative work.

So, knowing that, a direction to my future self might be make sure that you're doing , the essential, not the extra, and also ask for help or bring in help if possible to free up your time from the admin and let yourself have more time to play. So you might have something that you can see is kind of a, uh, a tripping up point for you.

But it can be difficult to remember because those kind of, , behaviours and automatic reactions within us run quite deep. So just a reminder to your future self, little signpost, don't fall in the admin hole or whatever's right for you. So I'll let you have a moment going through those prompts and I will see you in a minute.

So we're on our last activity, which is 'Create A Guiding Light. Make a guiding star to help guide you through your year ahead'. This is something that you really don't need to spend very long on. The intention is really just to end on something fun and easy and uplifting that you can refer to as a touchstone as the year goes on.

So you might want to write an affirmation, you might want to draw a symbol that represents where you want to go and the values you want, when you go there, or just maybe you choose a colour or, , a word that really represents what you want the next year ahead to embody. So I'll give you a few moments to play with that and let you pause the video and I'll see you when you're ready.

So that brings us to the end of Light Up Your Creative Joy. Thank you so much for joining me for the last seven days.

I hope that you've been able to reconnect with the magic and wonder of your creativity, that you've maybe explored new playful ways of working, and that you have celebrated all the wonderful parts of your creative self.

I would love to hear where your creativity takes you over the next year, so please do feel free to get in touch with me at info@eleanorchaney.com. Otherwise, good luck on your creative adventures, and take care, bye bye.