Has worry and stress sapped your creativity?
Any ideas for rebooting?
Creativity can get lost when our kids are struggling.
Finding your creativity is healing and helps you feel happier.
That’s why I’m so excited to welcome my friend and creative inspiration, Shelly Richenbach. Sherry shares how she became comfortable expressing her creativity.
You work with women in the creative arts. Can you share your journey and the benefits of exploring your creative side?
As a kid, I loved it. I think all kids love to dance, draw and even write. I grew up enjoying these things. I graduated high school, got married, and had three children. All those creative endeavors have gone astray.
My most creative project when raising my kids was making the occasional soccer banner.
I was never a craft person, so I always thought that if you were going to paint or paint, you had to be perfect.
I never imagined getting hold of pastels and paints. Children need something. my husband needs something School needs something. Something was always taking up my time and I started saying things like this. I start collecting grudges. It didn’t help me at all.
I noticed 2 women using it in my exercise class artist way By Julia Cameron. i had never heard of that. They were both talking about how great it was, and they were both trying to write. I thought I had to see what this book was about.
i bought artist way I bought it for myself as a Christmas present in 1998 and it sat on the shelf for two more years.
The journey was to open the book and do the first thing she suggested writing a diary. I was immediately amazed at how quickly I began to find my way.
I realized that I have this inner critic. I used the tools she gave me to identify her inner critic and learn new affirmations about turning negative thoughts into positive ones. rice field. I had a clash of relationships and values that I had in my life.
I realized that I had some toxic relationships that I wasn’t dealing with, and instead of taking control of those relationships, I put myself in charge.
So every morning all this little 3 pages of writing helped me gather information about myself and helped me see these value collisions. For example, I was a victim of this, a martyr, or in various negative modes that came to light, which included medicating myself.
It was like blinking a flashlight on what I was doing.
With the help of books I started to understand how to change these things. artist way For helping me recover and find my way into training in movement-based expressive arts education.
As I allowed myself to give myself this gift, this synchronicity began to occur. It sounds like magic, but honestly, it just allows you to live the life you want.
What suggestions do you have for helping women better understand their own humanity?
When I suggest that women keep a diary, they are often reluctant to do so. If you can break through resistance and make it your own.
Even if you can work hard at least once a week, walk in nature without hearing anything, smell the air, see what you see, notice what you notice, and blow on the trees. Really open your senses to the leaves and feel them. Feel the breeze on your skin.
We are creative from birth. Whether you’re strolling downtown, window shopping, or getting images to fill this, you need these images and artist dates. I call it full of juice colors, smells and sights. It keeps me energized.
To summon courage:
- Take a piece of 8 1/2 x 11 paper and make a little courage page.
- Cut out a photo you see in a magazine.
- Take one or a few magazines and shred them.
- No need to worry about how to cut out the shape.
- Prepare a few words and images on a piece of paper.
- Glue them together to make your little courage board.
Prepare a small piece of paper and make a self-portrait. It could be a collage or just a drawing. Who am I now in a few words and phrases?
On the second sheet of paper, who do I want to be or what do I want to do with my life? Then look at the two and see where you want to go. A vision board lets your imagination run wild with ideas about how you want to look and feel. What you see and imagine becomes you.
One of the easiest things for me is to have some flowers in my garden that I can just cut and grow. It could just be a few lavender or herbs. Cut them up and put them in a small vase, or just go to the grocery store and buy some daisies or flowers growing. , I’m giving myself something special. Colors and shapes remind me that I matter. I deserve a full and good life.
If you feel your life is “flat” and your creativity is stifled, how can you help yourself?
I was there. Sometimes I get to go back to the place from pretty good.Being a continuous creative being takes a lot of practice because I’ve forgotten how to do it.
Here are five that will help you:
1. It can tip over, so when you do, ask yourself, “What am I going to do besides going outside?” Go for a walk in nature.
2. I love getting sticky notes to use as permits.
Allow _______________.
Here are some things I write:
- Allow yourself to be curious.
- Give yourself permission to ask for help.
- Allow yourself to relax and take time for yourself.
- Give yourself permission to use your voice.
- Give yourself permission to take more risks.
- I even give myself permission to feel vulnerable and ashamed.
It’s very simple, but it works.
3. Great quotes.i look at every page artist way because it contains quotation marks. Sometimes quotes alone bring me back to reality. “Every child is an artist. The question is how to remain an artist.”
4. Also use a deck of inspiration cards. one, power thinking cards By Louise Hay. She’s a great author for self-esteem boosters.the other one is my daily affirmation card From Cheryl Richardson. Occasionally, I open the deck and randomly choose a card to guide me for the day. They are usually nice cards.
the third is Medicine Card: Discovering Power Through Animal Paths, By Jamie Sams and David Carson. There are animals in America that Native Americans thought had special powers.
Sometimes I choose animal cards, from squirrels to crows to hedgehogs. Each animal has a strong psyche and powerful potions. It’s a way to get you out of yourself. it is eccentric. It pulls me away from myself, it pulls me out of the feeling of ‘I can’t do it’, ‘I’m not good enough’, ‘I don’t have enough time’.
5. Two books I would recommend from Brené Brown are: gift of imperfection and Boldly. She also borrows from Julie Cameron about allowing herself to be this creative being.
How can creativity help parents who struggle with their child’s substance use?
If I could start over with my three kids, I should have picked it up artist way Because I was doing everything for others. So I was soaking in the well and giving everyone a big bucket of water. I was thirsty. I was handing out water, so everyone had water except me, but I didn’t drink.
You have to give your children something, no doubt about that. Yet my identity was about being a volunteer, trying to be the best volunteer, getting self-respect and fulfillment from taking care of more than caring, and letting myself blossom.
I now see the beautiful flowers in my garden and the gorgeous cosmos blowing in the breeze. I spent a lot of time helping others and neglecting my own needs.
Quote in artist way Carl Jung captures the answer to this question.
Nothing has a stronger psychological impact on the environment, especially children, than the unlived life of a parent.
I know my mother did everything for us. She informed us well. she wasn’t living her own life. It came out the wrong way. We all need to love and nurture ourselves over time. This creative method is almost a spiritual gift. Creativity and spirituality go hand in hand.
When I let myself do what I love, that’s when my children see their mother happy. I saw my mother
life is too short Get out there and live an abundant life.
I’m glad I found my way.
Sherry Lishanbach CADC, SRCD, Associate Producer of the film creative high. Certified Drug and Alcohol Counselor, Recovers®️I am a foundation recovery coach and an expressive arts educator. She brings dance and the arts to her students and clients, with a particular focus on addiction/recovery.She founded Next Steps for Women in 2010 and in 2009 founded the first Recovery Community Organizations in California. (RCO), Voices of Recovery San Mateo County. arts, and theater programs. She has provided development, support, counseling, and coaching to women of all ages and ambitions. Her passions include dance and performance, working and playing in nature, and behavioral health and recovery. activism to reduce the stigma attached to
