Want to radically change your creative practice to invite more flow?
Do you find yourself frustrated with conventional advice about creativity and writing? Or exhausted by the grind of your life and trying to fit it all in, thinking there has to be another way? I’ve grappled with these issues myself for years, and through research, coursework, writing projects, and working with other creatives, I’ve created a method to help you establish your own unique creative ecosystem so that you can write or make art with more ease and enthusiasm.
The Creative Ecosystem
Helping you navigate the inner game of making art
Our inner lives—full of thoughts, feelings, memories, imagination, intuitions—show up when we sit down to write or make art in both noisy and stealthy ways. They are like ecosystems, full of complex relationships and cycles that we sometimes don’t consciously understand. To make art or write on a regular basis, we have to figure out what makes us as individuals tick.
And this understanding is crucial, because our creative work is about so much more than the work itself! It’s about adapting to change and finding our rhythm, problem solving, setting up forms of discipline that we actually look forward to, rewiring those pesky neural connections so that our negative thoughts don’t control our behavior, and—oh yeah!—feeling ALIVE and doing work that deeply matters to us.
While we can’t always be in an inspired state, it is possible to increase the chances of experiencing a more open and playful headspace that leads to better work. The way you create is also how you live your life: you can resist what is, or you can work with where you are here and now and find a way to finish your essay, proposal, novel, play, painting, whatever it is.
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As a coach, I will help you:
- Show up to the blank page with more enthusiasm, confidence, and clarity
- Change your relationship to difficulty, lack of time, and lack of self discipline
- Tap into your wild imagination when you sit down to write or make art
- Find your voice
- Create and finish your “small assignments” (the work that you aim to do during this time)
This 2-3 month coaching package is ideal for those wanting to jump back into a project, start a new project, or anyone trying to find a more sustainable way of working on creative projects. It’s for both professionals and amateurs, because all of us sometimes need help experimenting with what works and cultivating self-awareness to make the work easier.
Coaching has made such a difference to my creative confidence, and I believe it can help you too. If you would like to work with someone who is a teacher, a sensitive listener, a fellow creative, and a tireless researcher into what works, check out the four areas I cover below.
We’ll cover four key areas (see below) with weekly coaching calls as well as exercises, lists of resources, and worksheets that suit your needs. I’ll also be there to answer questions over email.
We’ll start with a complimentary two hour session, so I can get to know you and your goals right away and help you find new ways of approaching the work. For two months, the investment is $500, and an additional month would only be $600.
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1. Maintaining your energy and momentum
- Learn to understand what core desire motivates you and what emotional buttons to push that bring the best work out of you
- Identify what depletes your energy and how to combat energy-draining behaviors or thoughts, such as excessive decision-making, too little or too much social interaction, etc.
- Figure out specific, personalized ways to refill the well when inspiration and good feelings are running low
- Use the concept of “short journeys” and micro-shifts to try new things and build confidence as you tackle a longer project.
2. Expanding your imagination
- Learn to design your environment to reclaim your attention from the ever-present distractions so that you can focus on and envision the work that calls you
- Try improv exercises and writing prompts that help you get out of your head and bypass the inner critic so that you can learn to trust your creative instincts
- Reframe your problems to a solutions orientation by asking yourself more generative questions when evaluating your work or your progress
- Understand the value of your unique perspective/contribution to your field: where you might fit in and what gaps you might address, and how to be part of a larger cultural/communal conversation
- A meditation for connection to a bigger purpose and the collective imagination
3. Managing your mind
- Learn to think the way successful, prolific writers and artists do (hint: it’s often the exact opposite from what our teachers and parents told us to do!)
- Figure out what stories you tell about yourself that hold you back and rewrite the script
- Learn to use distractions and spontaneous impulses productively, instead of letting them scatter and confuse you
- Get comfortable with spotting counterintuitive warning signs—thoughts that seem to be helpful or true, but that really indicate that you need to change your approach
4. Creative surrender and self-trust
- Develop trust in yourself—your intuitions, your vision, and your ability to pull it off—by learning to keep small promises to yourself and keep track of your wins
- Trust the process: learn ways to let go of control while creating for more inspired ideas
- Follow the wisdom of ancient spiritual teachings: get comfortable with the emptiness from which ideas emerge
- Find your own form of meditation (from the many styles out there) that suit your creative process
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If you’re curious about this program and how it can lead to creative transformation—
BOOK A CALL
Let’s see if we would be a good fit for each other.