Creative Wellness Letters - you can see clearly now… 👓🌅

Hi Reader, 

How clear is your vision? 👓😎

My word of the year for 2023 is VISIONARY, and it’s been one of my best and most meaningful words of the year ever! (I also got my first pair of glasses shortly after turning 40 in May, so, literal clearer vision, too! 😂)

I wrote and podcasted about this back in January, if you want more info on the word of the year concept.

This year has been full of deep reflection (on top of my usual level) into my priorities, values, career direction, and all of that big stuff, including some shifts that I talked about on the final episode of Being A Whole Person, which are gradually taking shape outwardly.

In that big-picture overview mode, I think a lot about my creative vision, like what my work generally tends to be about, and what’s important to me to express, which can get lost once we’re feeling too busy and possibly burned out.

The most important part of the word VISIONARY has been turning it into a filter for decision-making:

Does this action/task/project/etc. help my vision become clearer and more distilled, or more clouded and diluted?

For me, the word VISIONARY has often conjured images of big, important goals, organizations, multi-year plans, and things like that. But, practicing being visionary shows up in all kinds of small, normal-life-sized ways, too.

Sometimes preserving my vision looks like lying down on the couch and playing a video game, because my capacity for big/critical thinking isn’t there, and it will return after more rest.

Visions don’t usually show up all at once, either. They reveal themselves in bits, so we have to be listening in order to receive them.

There are so many scheduled activities in our busy lives, many of which are important and welcomed, but take us away from our creative practice, and often, the more of those things we do, the more spread thin we feel.

That doesn’t mean that we have to stop doing everything else and run away to a creative retreat forever. (Although, that does sound nice temporarily!) Our experiences definitely feed our creative output.

What’s most impactful is to design a life that helps keep your creative vision clear - the more we can set up the conditions for clarity via our habits and routines, the better.

Here are some of my essentials:

• Eating healthy food
• Drinking plenty of water
• Exercise (my #1 for a clear mind!)
• Meditation
• Quiet time to think
• Journaling
• Connection to ideas
• Asking myself lots of questions so I understand my own feelings and thoughts
• Having a dedicated daily time for piano practice
• Regularly scheduled “cat + couch days” to make sure rest doesn’t get edged out
• Aimless adventuring (Magic Mondays)
• Generally listening to my body for signals about my energy

Keeping as many of these going as possible (no pressure to do them all at once, or achieve perfection, of course) helps me not only stay in touch with my creative vision but have the presence of mind to actually trust it!

As much as hard work and “burning the candle at both ends” gets glamorized, it’s not sustainable and can make us lose our sense of self, which is essential for connecting with our creativity.

The more scheduled daily activities and interactions I have, the more I feel those “glasses” starting to get cloudy. Then I might just get too tired to care about my creative vision, for the time being, at least.

We all have different limitations, so my equation for how busy my life can be may not be the same as yours, and of course, it’s always fluctuating, we’re humans!

Basically, pay attention to what makes your mind feel more or less clear, and adjust your life accordingly.

Like any change, it doesn’t have to happen all at once - the first step is simply noticing and becoming more aware. Maybe that looks like just writing down what gives you more energy and what depletes your energy as you notice it happening in real time.

Then you can gradually start to weave in more of the energy-replenishing activities, and fewer of the depleting ones, and you’ll start to feel the difference as you make more space for honoring your creative vision. ✨

May it be so! 

What's diluting your creative vision or giving it more clarity? I'd love to hear about it!

I'm always rooting for you, and my inbox is always open, so please feel free to reach out if I can help in any way - I love hearing from you!

Have a lovely week! ⁠

Rebecca

• We are brains AND we are bodies. - My friend Michelle LaCroix has been sharing some lovely thoughts about her creative process in her writing practice.

• How Nature Makes Us Healthier and Happier - File under: "yes, I knew that but it's always nice to hear it verified by science"!

• Glimmers are the opposite of triggers. How to find them. - Like most creative folks, I'm always collecting glimmers!

• Ep. 72: Coda: Reflections, Endings, and Beginnings

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