The Power of Play- Your Creative “Back Door”

by | Mar 17, 2025 | creativity

Have you ever stood at the front door of creativity- knocking but getting no answer?

I spent time there, believing that creativity would answer if I only knocked the “right” way.

Then one day, I remembered there is a back door- and it swung wide open, as I engaged in play!

When the Front Door Is Locked

Let me share a story about Anna, an educator I worked with who felt pulled between teaching, writing, and sculpting. The frustration created a creative block to where she couldn’t do anything. She felt frozen. Even though she loved her high school students, was draining her as well.

“I just feel like I can do anything creative anymore,” she told me, frustration evident in her voice. “I’m tired, and I feel if I write, then I should be sculpting, and if I am sculpting, I should write. And sometimes, I just need to veg.”

I understood the feeling of being pulled in many directions, and frustration and exhaustion that went with it.

That’s when I introduced her to the back door.

I met her at her house with pens, paper and blankets!
“Blankets?,” you may ask….

Let me introduce you to the back door to creativity: PLAY!

The Power of Play: How to Stop Knocking on the Front Door

Instead of going headfirst into her schedule, and trying to find time to meet her work and creative expression needs, we built a fort! That’s right!

We took blankets, some chairs and built a fort. We threw some pillows in there to be comfortable. I brought my bag of “tricks” (pens, paper, colored pencils, crayons, coloring books).

We dumped the coloring tools on the floor and dived into coloring and sketching. After a bit, I had her start using the color pens and blank paper to organize her thoughts. As we worked over the next 90 minutes, she came to the discovery that her creative works almost had a seasonal cycle. She began organizing her time around teaching, writing and sculpting in such a way that she no longer had the pull that she wasn’t doing enough.

Why the Back Door Works

When kids play with building blocks, they’re not trying to be creative, they simply are playing. For example: I have watched kids build roads with blocks, then drive match box cars on them. Ten minutes later, they built a tv for their dolls.
Play is their work.
They often aren’t worried about:

– Ideas being “good enough”

– What others might think

– Following the “right” process

They just play. And in their play, they create worlds of their own.

Myths That Keep Us Standing at the Front Door

Myth 1: “Creativity is only for artists”

Reality: Every time you solve a problem in a new way, that’s creativity. The accountant who develops a clearer way to explain finances to clients? Creative. The parent who invents a game to make chores fun? Creative.

Myth 2: “I’m not creative”

Truth: If you can play, you can create. Remember playing make-believe as a child? That same ability still lives within you.

“What did you do as a child that made the hours pass like minutes? Herein lies the key to your earthly pursuits.” – Carl Jung

Myth 3: “Creativity is just a fleeting moment”

Fact: Like any muscle, creativity grows stronger with play. And creativity has “muscle memory”, so it knows how to be creative. With each practice of play, the more readily creativity will come to you.

Opening Your Own Back Door

Try these simple play exercises to access your creativity:

1) The Mentor/Hero Solution

   – Think of a current challenge

   – Choose a mentor, or a favorite hero from a book, movie, or show?

   – Ask yourself: “How would Tony Robbins/Wonder Woman/Business Professor handle this meeting?”

2) Everyday Objects Solutions

   – Pick up 3 easily accessible objects.

   – Ask Yourself: “What would this pencil/cup/book suggest or do about my problem?”

   – Write EVERY possibility down. Don’t let yourself edit before you get it on paper. You will be surprised by the answers.

3)  Problem Reversal Game

   – Take your problem and completely reverse it

   – Solve the reverse problem

   – Flip the solution back

A final thought on these exercises: everyone starts at a different place. If you need to start a step before- just play. Do you have kids- then you have a playground available: art supplies, playdough, toys, blocks….all of these play items engage you creative muscle. No kids: pen and paper= doodling, sketching…look around write down three object and create a short jingle using all of them. It seems frivolous at first but the play strengthens are creativity.

Real World Magic

I met with Anna in the early fall, by the winter break, she felt as if she had put herself into a good rhythm of balancing all three. Now, Anna has finished a novel, and has a profitable side business with her sculptures.

She just need to play her way out of being stuck!

Your Invitation to Play

Creativity isn’t about the arts – it’s about being awakened to possibilities.
It is about opening the back door when the front door is locked.

So- If you haven’t already- go play today.

If you’re ready to find your own creative back door, join me and intentional living expert Noralee Cole for our upcoming workshop, “Magic Mindset: Unleash Your Creative and Intentional Self.” Together, we’ll explore how play and purpose can transform both your professional and personal life.

Remember: The front door to creativity might sometimes be locked, but the back door is always open – if you’re willing to play.

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Seven Steps to a Daily Creative Practice

Seven Steps to a Daily Creative Practice

by | Aug 20, 2018 | artists, arts, creativity, inspiration, inspirational, writers, writing

I talk a lot about creative activities and things that you can do to improve your creative self but I want to talk to you about creating a daily creative practice. I advocate a lot that your creative time spent does not need to be more than ten minutes in a day. But how does one create a daily practice? Here are the steps to developing a ten minute daily creative practice.

  1. Set a specific time that you can be creative each day. It works best if it can be at the same time every day, however, I know life comes up so make an effort to put the time in your calendar each day so that you know for those ten minutes you are occupied with being creative. Think of being creative as part of the work of your soul. Your being needs creativity to thrive. Otherwise, unused it festers into something else. Making time for it is of the first importance.
  2. Make room for it. When I began making pendants all I had was a tv tray in the living room where I would work on creative stuff while everyone around me was watching television or playing games. I didn’t have space to myself but I had a space that was mine. If you are lucky enough, and your kids are back in school or all grown up, then you get to have some space to yourself. But create some room for being creative. This is the second most important part because if you don’t have somewhere to be creative, you won’t do it.
  3. If you don’t know where to start, start anywhere. Unsure if you want to paint or write or uncertain what you like creatively? Look at what you are drawn to. If there are several things, try one thing at a time. Maybe one day your journal for ten minutes, then you try a poem the next day but the day after you watercolor paint or play with clay. Eventually you will find what it is that calls you. If you don’t like it, then you have only spent ten minutes and you can try again the next day. Think of it a a sort of spiritual playtime to connect with your creative self.
  4. Begin. Make a commitment to start your practice on a certain day and commit to say seven days in a row. Then commit to two weeks in a row and so on. The new research shows that it takes an average of sixty-six days to form a new habit. Build it a couple of weeks at a time and by the time three months have gone by, you have created your new daily practice.
  5. Continue committing and recommitting. I have learned this through my new exercise routines as life comes up and trips and other events get in the way. Don’t beat yourself up over it, just recommit to starting over and keep going. It isn’t the end of the world. Life isn’t going to always stop for us plus we need vacations and outings with friends or have family dinners. Do the best you can to make the time sacred and commit to it but allow yourself to be flexible and not rigid. There have been times where I skipped my creative practice for meeting with a friend and was more inspired through that meeting that I came home and did creative work anyways.
  6. Try new things. The problem some people have is that they get bored doing the same thing every day…some people thrive on the routine. Don’t change the commitment. Change the activity. Scour Pinterest for new ideas. Read craft blogs or DIY blogs or writing blogs for other ideas. Even here I list prompts every Thursday as well as ten minute projects on Tuesdays. You don’t have to do the same thing every day.
  7. Just do it! That’s it. Show up every day and be creative. Allow  yourself at least ten minutes. You might find yourself expanding to fifteen or thirty over time depending on what you are working on. Ten minutes to just to open that window and let some light in on the creative soul. It doesn’t mean you have to stay there. Grow from it. It will feel great to move into your creative self more often. Your soul needs it.

There you have seven steps to creating a daily creative practice. Do you already have a daily practice? What does it look like? If you don’t, what would you like it to look like? Feel free to answer in the comments or on the Facebook page. Happy creating!

Creativity in a Busy World

Creativity in a Busy World

by | May 8, 2018 | artists, arts, creativity, inspiration, inspirational

In a world that often moves too fast and is too busy, it is easy to lose sight of our creativity. Our lives get overloaded. Kids, maybe parents, jobs, housework can swarm around us and take up most of our waking moments until we fall, exhausted into our beds. It is easy to see how creative expression can be sidelined. However, I want to tell you that the act of creativity does not have to happen in huge, planned out moments of time. It is possible to dedicate just five or ten minutes to a creative project or exercise. Everything from coloring pages to drawing mandalas, from painting to making jewelry or even five minutes of journal time, all count towards your creative spirit’s health.

I do this often. I recently created a prayer flag mobile for someone who just had a baby. Over all, it was quite the process from painting the fabric to stamping the designs, and then because it was for an infant, I laminated the flags so no paint was exposed. I attached it to a small wreath that I also decorated with ivy and flowers. I broke the tasks into small ten to fifteen minute increments that I could work on between other projects, kids, etc. The project took about a week to finish but it got done. I could have easily said, “Nope,. It’s just too much work,” but in doing it in small pieces, I had the creative satisfaction of completing a project that was important to me and fulfilled my creativity needs.
Your creativity needs to be taken care of in the same way you would attend to your mental or physical health. It is part of your part of your health. Creativity helps physical, mental and spiritual aspects of our selves. It is why it is such an important practice to attempt daily, just as you might meditation, or jogging. In fact, these practices done together, help one another. The act of being creative brings our mind to life.
I am encouraging you to seek out small daily acts of creativity. Sneak the time in during soccer practice with a journal in your bag. Or maybe give yourself ten minutes before you go to bed to draw or write or begin a painting. No one says it has to be a completed project, just take the time to invest your creative self.
There have been a few days where I have come to the end of the day and I feel like I am missing something and it is because I have not done any creative work. I make an effort, sometimes just making simple artist trading style cards or I journal. Some days, I paint or draw mandalas. I want to encourage to find a practice that suits your desires and needs. Are you a needle pointer, a knitter, maybe a wood-burning person ( like my friend). If you need to, try scheduling it into your day, the same way you would schedule your workout or plan a menu.
If you aren’t sure what you want to do creatively, start with something small, like picking up some pens and colored pencils with a coloring book or a small palette of water color paints and paper. Pick up a journal and write for five to ten minutes. Play with play dough. The point is to start doing something to be creative.

If you are stuck creatively, maybe you need a little guidance or coaching along the way. Maybe you just need a boost through out your week that you need to be creative. I offer two coaching packages that are just for these occasions.

The first package is the Encouraging E-mail Coach. This is a subscription designed to prompt you during the week to reach your creative goals and hold you accountable to them. It is a simple coaching program designed to jump start your creative endeavors. Three encouraging e-mails will go out over a 7 day period to cheerlead you on your creative project. At the end of seven days, send me an e-mail and tell me how you did and where you left off, and we will keep going from there.

The second package, The Creative Play E-mail Coaching, is a more intense email package. It is more interactive with us working together toward your creative goals that include homework assignments to get you there. There will be up to five e-mails a week from me, and you can feel free to e-mail me anytime with questions and epiphanies. This package can be done in 30, 60, or 90 day increments, depending on what you want to accomplish.

My goal here at The Creating Room is to feed and encourage the creative soul. I believe that we all have within us the ability to be creative and that it arrives in us in different ways. Sometimes we might not have yet discovered what that is. That’s okay. I am inviting to come along on this journey to discover your creative self…to seek out the creative soul within you.

Ten Minute Self- Care Rituals

Ten Minute Self- Care Rituals

by | Feb 20, 2018 | creativity, inspiration, inspirational, lifestyle, Uncategorized

The phrase self- care is abuzz everywhere. Therapists are recommending it to clients, as are coaches and spiritual teachers, even in some places of business, the phrase is being used to make sure employees are taking care of themselves. What does self- care mean? The act of self- care is to attend to ones own mental, physical and *spiritual health. These are key components of human existence. When we don’t attend to our personal needs for whatever reason, we can slip into depression, become angry and bitter, disappear into isolation, or fall to unhealthy habits such as drinking heavily or using drugs to hide how we are feeling. Caring for ourselves is shown to improve mood, connectedness with the world, and improve our physical well-being.

What does self- care look like? It can look like many things. For example hiking in the woods, to yoga, meditation, or reading a good book. The possibilities are as many as there are people that make up the world. One of my favorite forms of self- care is curling up someplace with a book and reading until I lose track of time. (Rarely happens but when it does, it is a treat.) However, we don’t always have long periods of time to attend to our self-care. We may only have the amount of time that it allowed on a work break or in between classes, or between picking kids up from here and there. I have put together a list of ten minute self- care ideas that you can do on your own or with the help of a smart phone, or a couple of simple tools.

Meditation: This is one of the most obvious ones and the one I seem to hear that most people are afraid to try. They are afraid they will fall asleep or do it incorrectly. What I have learned is that there really is no wrong way to meditate. It is all about taking the time to find a way to reconnect with yourself and if you believe in one, you higher power. It can be as simple as focusing on your breath for as little as five minutes. Letting thoughts go as they pop up instead of keeping them around to interfere with your quiet reflection. Another great thing to use is your smart phone and download any number of Apps that will guide you through a meditation. I currently love the App Calm. It plays soothing ocean waves when you open it and you can select different meditations that last about twelve minutes. Or use your computer or phone and go to YouTube to find an abundance of guided meditations that last from five minutes to an hour. One of my favorites for when I am particularly cranky is one called, “F*** That”, a two and a half minute mediation that lightens my mood when I need to let go of something that is bothering me.

Mindset Work/Affirmations: I love writing affirmations. They got me through some really rough times. I love them so much I currently have three decks of cards with different positive affirmations on them for sale on Etsy. I still work on affirmations (almost) daily. I do forget to do my mindset practice and it throws me off a bit. But working with a practice in the morning, for me, helps set my day up to be more positive and invites into my life the things that I want. I am not talking about just material objects, but ideas such as experiencing more kindness or compassion. When I write down what I want, I tend to look for it in my day on a subconscious level. I can spend around thirty minutes on my practice, however, the simple act of reading or writing affirmations to start the day doesn’t have to take more than ten.  Sometimes, I just pull a card or two and reflect on them in journal writing or in a meditation.

Get Moving: Our bodies need to move. The more they stay at rest, the more they want to be at rest and over time, we end up feeling worse. Exercise/ Movement, even in small increments has shown to have positive results on our mood and our physical health. In this article by Forbes, a study is cited that shows that even a ten minute stationary cycling experience at a moderate level showed improved health benefits. When we physically feel better, our moods tend to be better as well. A peer counselor I knew in the mental health field used to say, “Take your a** and your mind will follow.” So throw on some music and dance your heart out for ten minutes, walk, or ride a bike. Make those ten minutes count for your physical and mental well-being.

Develop a Creative Practice: Acts of creativity are good for our minds and our souls. We are born to be creative people. It is part of who we are. We are inventive and innovative. A creative practice does not mean you have to sit down and devote hours to a painting, though you are welcome to. It means we set aside time to let our imaginations out to play. This can be done in any number of ways. The boom in the coloring book market for adults is born from the discovery that even the act of coloring an already drawn picture, is an act of creative work and causes us to engage our imaginations.You can doodle, take out watercolor paints, or even use play dough. Play dough can be kept in a desk drawer and taken out to use during a ten minute break.  So can color pencils and a coloring book. Looking for something a little more challenging, a painting does not have to be done in one sitting. Break it up into smaller pieces of time that you can fit into your schedule. Creativity is an act of playing and we need that playfulness for our spiritual and mental well-being.

Eat Mindfully: This is a harder one but can have benefits to your physical and mental health. We often rush through meals, not really tasting what we are eating as we run off to the next thing on our to-do list. I know I used to do this regularly. However, I have begun taking the time time to taste my food. I take smaller bites, and therefor eat more slowly, setting my utensils down between bites. I realized I feel full sooner and am more satisfied because I actually tasted my food. I am not wanting for flavor because I was able to enjoy what was already before me. In slowing down and realizing I am full, then I stop eating. So often, we (in general) eat until we are stuffed and we can’t possibly eat another bite. By then we have consumed more calories than we needed and we, usually, feel like we can’t move because we are so full. Mindful eating keeps that from happening. I have more leftovers now, and I am ok with that. I am learning that I don’t have to eat my whole plate (an idea that was instilled in me as a child by my dad and step-mom.) It is a freeing way to eat. Paying attention, being mindful bleeds into other areas of our lives over time, and I am learning the art of slowing down and not rushing through everything.

These are five, fairly simple, and easy to implement activities to attend to your self- care. Only you can be responsible for your self- care. It is especially important if what you do during your day job is to attend to other people’s needs such as being nurse, a therapist, or a teacher. I am sure there are more out there. But we can only be our best self if we take care of our own needs as a person. I challenge you to pick one and try it today to see how it feels to take ten minutes and devote it to the care of you. Just you. Dance. Buy a coloring book. Listen to a meditation. Eat your lunch more mindfully. Take care of you.

(*Spiritual does not mean religious here).

 

What I know to be True

What I know to be True

by | Jul 13, 2017 | creativity, inspiration

I have made no secret of how much I love a good TEDTalk. I find them educational and inspiring. The most recent inspirational talk I have heard was from this year, 2017 TED Conference. It was by Anne Lamott, well known in writing circles for her book Bird by Bird. In this particular talk, Ms. Lamott discusses the twelve things that she knows to be true, written just before her 61st birthday. It is a mildly humorous and thoughtful way to look at the lessons we learn from life.

 

Inspired by Ms. Lamott’s talk, I decided to write my own list of things I know to be true at 43. Here is my list below:

  1. We are each traveling on our own journey through this thing called life. However, occasionally, we bump into other people on their journey, and we decide to take some of it together. This makes the voyage not seem as lonely or as difficult.
  2. A good piece of chocolate will calm most nerves. And the smell of fresh vanilla makes most people smile.
  3. Writing out what you want to say, especially when upset or angry, can be as cathartic as it is helpful to know what you want to say.
  4. If it doesn’t work, do not bang on it. Suck it up and contact customer service, just make sure you allow plenty of time for waiting.
  5. When you fall down, you will rise. You may take your time. You may need some help and some dusting off, even recovery from injuries, but you will rise again.
  6. Dress for your Joy. Nothing else matters. If people are going to judge you, they were going to do so anyway, so be happy and comfortable in what you are wearing.
  7. Creativity belongs to everyone. There isn’t a single person alive that does not have creativity within them. It looks different in every person but that is what makes it cool not absent.
  8. Time alone is good for the soul and the mind. The world can be loud and overwhelming, learn to disconnect.
  9. Be Grateful. Say thank you for any good that comes into your life. It changes how your mind sees the world. You begin looking for the good that there is.
  10. Be Kind. Nothing replaces kindness. We have a chance to be kind or to be cruel; to make someone’s day or to tear them down. Be Kind.

 

Click to Download Poster: What I

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Experience Awe Every Day

Experience Awe Every Day

by | Dec 15, 2016 | creativity, inspiration, inspirational

There’s a storm raging outside my window. The wind is howling, the rain is pouring and all I want to do is curl up with coffee, a good book and a blanket, maybe take a nap. Instead, I know I promised I would write myself a post today. On my schedule I was supposed to write a post about “awe”. I had read an article recently published in Parade magazine inspired me to think about all the ordinary ways that we have awe in our lives. But I find myself looking at my favorite spot in my office area that’s crammed into a corner of the dining room. There are stars and moons hanging on the wall, hand-painted, glittered, and cut out by my and my friends hands. They are from a blanket fort party nearly 2 years ago. After investing so much time into cutting them out, tracing and painting them, I couldn’t bear to let them go. They are the whimsy of my space. I realized as I was sitting here, contemplating what I should write this morning that my stars and moons are a very simple form of awe. They remind me of fairytales and daydreams and moments of possibilities. When they hung in the blanket fort along with white Christmas lights, they filled the room with magic. When I see them, I am reminded of their magic.

In the article I read on awe, it was compared to seeing an amazing Vista or what astronauts experience when they look at Earth from space or how we feel we see a newborn baby. Until recently, awe was ignored. It was thought to be an elite emotion available to some but not all. But researchers are finding that that is not true. We are all able to experience just as we are able to experience happiness, sadness, fear, anger, disgust and surprise. Awe is now being considered a basic part of the human condition, an emotion we all need. I have experienced when I climbed the side of a mountain instead above a waterfall and watched it from its source. I have climbed rocky cliffs sides near the ocean and sat perched high above where the gulls fly. In fact, almost anytime I stand by the ocean I feel awe. But these experiences are not always available nor are they always advisable.

Sometimes awe borders on the edge of feeling great and feeling afraid. Sometimes we look into those vast big experiences, we we feel not just the beauty but also the fear of being in a precarious position. Instead we can look for awe in the small things like the delight of the baby giggle or the full moon on a clear night, or the way raindrops shimmer on plants or how stars and moons hang in the corner of an otherwise plain office. What can awe do for you? According to the Parade article, written by Paula Spencer Scott, awe benefits us because it binds us together, can help us see things in new ways, it can make us nicer and happier, it actually often alters our bodies because it is such a strong positive emotion. Scott also has a brief page on “7 Ways to Experience Awe in Everyday Life.” I didn’t see the list originally, so I  came up with my own. Here are 10 ways to bring awe into your everyday life.