Today, as a special treat, we have GUEST BLOGGER Denise Mozilo Frasca. Please enjoy her wonderful blog post and be sure to leave a comment with your thoughts.

“…play is a catalyst…just a little true play can spread through our lives, actually making us more productive and happier in everything we do.” – Dr. Stuart Brown, author of Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul

The inspiration for this writing came from a week of babysitting for my 3 (“and ¾” I can hear him say) year old grandson. He is an especially imaginative child and insists that all grown-ups participate. At the end of the first day, I realized that my mindset had gone from serious to silly and my mood from somber to joyous. By the end of the week we had baked banana bread, pretended to be human race cars, created a train community, dressed up as robots using my pots and pans, and made pretend maps which we followed to find secret treasure (usually some mommy-restricted food in my pantry!) We also read many, many picture books.

Seeing the world through his imaginative play brought to light how important play is to an adult’s creativity as well as child’s. When you play, there are no set rules, there is no self- criticism and all your efforts are rewarded, because you are the creator of that world. Play naturally leads us to think of things as they might be, rather than as they really are. When playing it is easy for anyone to imagine a world in they can fly, or be transported to the age of the dinosaurs. Imaginative play gives you permission to explore areas you may otherwise feel inept at. My grandson is one of the few humans who has ever heard me play the guitar when we pretended to be a rock band!

As an adult, play provides an opportunity to expand your creativity beyond the constraints of societal expectations. If you are “just playing”- there is no need to explain or excuse your behavior. The state of mind you are in during play is about the here and now. This has been referred to as Flow, in Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s book by the same name. He contends that when you are fully immersed in an activity where you have energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity, then you have the optimal capacity for creativity and happiness. This state of flow is exactly the state you are in when you are playing. A playful attitude empowers the mind to remain open to explore and imagine a broader range of possibilities when looking for answers to new experiences. When you transfer that playful outlook to work and home life, you increase your ability to creative problem solve!

The benefits of play enhancing creativity are neurologically based as well. Best-selling author Steven Kotler writes about consciousness through flow states, in his book, The Rise of Superman. He speaks of how the prefrontal cortex calculates time. When playing, we lose the ability to assess past, present, and future. Kotler explains, “we’re plunged into what researchers call the deep now.” According to Kenneth Heilman, a neurologist at the University of Florida and the author of Creativity and the Brain, creativity not only involves coming up with something new, but also with shutting down the brain’s habitual response, or letting go of conventional solutions. Rex Jung, a well-respected neuroscientist sees creativity as a slower meandering in the brain using the frontal lobe in a more transient way (transient hypofrontality). When you play, you are using several areas of your brain in a way they are not normally used.

Businesses have long recognized the benefits of play, which is why they have retreats and team-building exercises. Encouraging employees to play with each other builds trust and boosts cooperation.  According to Dr. Stuart Brown, author and founder of the National Institute of Play, “There is good evidence that if you allow employees to engage in something they want to do, (which) is playful, there are better outcomes in terms of productivity and motivation.”

What is play for one person, can be work for another – so it is important for you to find joy in your play. For me, doing a crossword puzzle with a friend is play, for my husband it is chopping wood and building a holz hausen with the neighbor. For some it is pretend teatime with their child, and others it’s taking an oil painting class. The important thing is that your play should be interactive, non-stressful and stimulate your creative side. So the next time you have writer’s block, or are unable to solve a pressing problem, or are attempting to learn a complicated subject, grab a friend, or a grandchild, and go play…you’ll be surprised how the creative juices will begin to flow.

Relevant links:

http://www.ted.com/talks/stuart_brown_says_play_is_more_than_fun_it_s_vital

https://soundcloud.com/onbeing/creativity-and-the-everyday-1

http://www.deepfun.com/othergames/

http://www.motherearthnews.com/diy/stacking-wood-zmaz86ndzgoe.aspx

Guest blogger Denise Mozilo Frasca

Denise Mozilo Frasca is a writer, educator, wife, mother, and grandmother (not necessarily in that order). She has received the James Nicholson Political Poetry Award for her poem “Memorial Day,” and was a selected poet for Poets and Writers on War and Peace. Her poems have been published in Mother/ Daughter Duets, a collection of essays and poems about adult daughter/mother relationships, The Westchester Review, and The Manhattanville Review. She has been a guest blogger for Hillside Productions (http://hillsidehouseproductions.com/not-just-a-lullaby-denise-frasca-guest-blogger/) as well as an editor for countless colleagues. She is most happy when playing. Follow Denise on Twitter at @DeniseMFrasca.

Jefferson Ross

Welcome to the newest installment of the Creative Spotlight Series – a series of interviews with inspiring and creative people who share insights into their creative process and work.

I am thrilled to introduce Jefferson Ross, a Southern folk artist who is a songwriter, singer, guitar slinger and painter weaving stories for the ears and the eyes. Based in The Peach State, Jefferson travels throughout the U.S. and Europe performing his original music and displays his art at festivals and galleries across the South.

For years, Jefferson lived in Nashville playing for a number of recording artists including Canada’s Entertainer of the Decade, Terri Clark, and shared the stage with Country Music greats such as George Strait, Toby Keith, Reba and Vince Gill.  He worked as a staff writer for a number of publishers on Music Row including Curb Music, one of the top music publishers in the world.

In 2010 he returned to live in Georgia with his wife and daughter and maintains a home and office in Nashville as well. You can find our more about Jefferson at his website www.jeffersonross.com.

Q: When and how did you discover you were creative? 

Original art by Jefferson Ross

A: I drew ALL the time when I was a kid and people would praise these little scribblings so I continued along with that then started to write stories and later songs.  It was always easy to be creative. I was encouraged.

Q: What are your creative outlets/projects?

A: I write a lot of songs and, every couple of years, make them into recorded projects.  I actually released two last year; one was a Christmas album that Thomm Jutz and I made as a duo.  Also, I paint a lot of folk art depicting old blues and country singers.

Q: Can you describe your creative process for us? 

A: Composting.  Reading, traveling, mowing the lawn, thinking, piddling, loafing..then letting all of that rest….compost  Then, I decide to go to work. Make some art.

Original art by Jefferson Ross

Q: Where do you get your ideas?

A: I don’t know. How do I make my heart beat? How I make my lungs work?  Ideas are just flashes in one’s brain.  The trick isn’t getting an idea.  The trick is to write down the ideas and to form them into something that is interesting and moving. Something that is personal and won’t bore an audience to tears.  I wouldn’t worry about trying to get ideas.  Just write, write, write, paint, paint, paint, play, play, play…whatever.  Working will produce the ideas…not the other way around.

Q: How do you get inspired?

A: By not trying to “get inspired”.  That whole idea of getting inspired suggests that you require something outside of yourself to make art.  Turn on the faucet.  The water can’t flow until you do.  Activity breeds on activity and not waiting on some outside force to sweep you along to greatness. Humble opinion.

Photo by Don Teuton

Q: What do you do when you’re not feeling creative? 

A: Make art anyway.

Q: Do you have a schedule or routine for creating?

A: I used to be much more structured.  I once wrote for publishing companies in Nashville and therefore co-wrote a great deal which, if nothing else, is a good thing because it forces you to create schedules.  It’s pretty amazing the body of work one can amass if two or three hours of scheduled creative time can be set aside each day.

Q: Do you consider yourself to be a night person, morning person, or something else?

A: I’m sort of a lunch person.

Q: Do you have any creative tips for others?

A: Give yourself permission to suck.  Write wildly. Paint sloppily.  Then, come back in and edit with a detached perspective.  Kill your darlings, as Stephen King has advised.

Q: What artists/creative people inspire you?

A: The ones who seem to be entertaining themselves. Who aren’t afraid to appear foolish.  A few would be John Prine, Shel Silverstein, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Thomas Wolfe…the list goes on and on.

Original Art by Jefferson Ross

Q: What is your next creative project?

A: Working on a book of southern haiku and photographs.

Q: How do you juggle multiple creative projects?

A: By dropping the ball a lot.

Q: Where can we find out more about you and your work?

A: jeffersonross.com

Q: Is there anything else that you’d like to mention – about you, your work, or on the topic of creativity?  

A: “Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both together go to the making of genius. Love, love, love, that is the soul of genius.”- Wolfgang Mozart.  Love what you do!

“Jefferson Ross music is flannel-warm in the chilled autumn. It is a calling to decency, to chuckling open-mindedness. It is an invitation to art and sound, to words and ideas. It is the world’s greatest dinner party, set somewhere in the dusk of soft Georgia summer, with bootleg preacher Will D. Campbell, impressionist painter Paul Cezanne, and prophet of kindness Martin Luther King, Jr. in smiling attendance. It’s a little bluegrass-y, but it’s not bluegrass. I just like it, that’s all.” – Peter Cooper, Nashville, TN

“Jefferson Ross stands in a small elite circle of songwriters who can take you in and make you a part of the song. Some of his subjects are simple truths, some complex, but all are amazingly insightful and entertaining.“- Ernie Hopseker, Ocean Beach Radio

4 1/2 stars ”Lyrically, Jefferson Ross is a genius but ultimately I think the best quality of his records is that as a singer-songwriter he never forgets about the importance of a decent tune and there are plenty of them on this quality release.“-Duncan Warwick, Country Music People Magazine, UK

Lavrisa’s most recent release

I am thrilled to introduce Lois Lavrisa, a personal friend and a talented and successful author. Lois has just released “Homicide by Hamlet,” the third book in her Chubby Chicks Club series of cozy mysteries. You can order your copy at http://amzn.com/B019IVCPVI and find out more about Lois at her website http://www.loislavrisa.com.

Q: Where are you from and where do you live now?

A: I am from the rough and tumble, low middle class, Southside of Chicago. Right after our wedding honeymoon, my husband Tom and I moved to Sweden and lived there for two years, after that we moved to Atlanta. For the past 22 years I have lived in beautiful warm Savannah, Georgia with my hubby and four children.

 Q: Can you tell us a bit about your background and about your life?

A: How long do you have? I’ll try to give you the condensed version.

Growing up on the south-side of Chicago provided me with an abundance of story ideas. Throughout high school and college, I waitressed to support myself and paid my own way through college. Earning both my Master and Bachelor of Science degrees in Journalism and Communication with minor in Public Relations-provided ample opportunity for a lot of writing. After completing my Masters degree, I had many jobs including writing training programs for a Fortune 500 Company and teaching many years as an adjunct professor. My fifteen minutes of “fame” came when I was a professional cheerleader for the NBA Chicago Bulls. I’ve been married to my aerospace husband Tom for 25 years and we have four children- two sons and two daughters (and two cats who think they are my kids.)

Q: When and how did you discover you were creative?

A: I do believe that everyone is creative. Perhaps not in the outward way of creating a sculpture, painting or drawing a picture, writing songs or other artistic expressions. Each and every one of us every day has to be creative, as least in the Merriam Webster definition of creative: the ability to make or think of new things. Don’t we all have to? As simple as finding another route to work after you see delays due to construction. Perhaps discovering you are out of your usual breakfast so you use what is on hand to whip up a new meal. See? Everyday in many ways we all are creative according to the definition “the ability to make or think of new things.” You could probably think of hundreds of more ways too.

Book Two of the Chubby Chick Series

Q: What are your creative outlets/projects?

A: Many. I’ve painted, did ceramics, made my own organic natural lotions and other creative projects. But my main outlet is telling stories. Making up stuff. After all, writing fiction is what I do for a living.

Q: Can you describe your creative process for us? Where do you get your ideas?

A: My creative process is usually inspired and driven by what story idea is calling my name, tugging at my thoughts, filling my dreams. It could be a character or a plotline. It could be something that I read or heard then I thought “what if?” and ideas start percolating. Maybe I overhear a conversation (I promise I am not a stalker, but it’s not hard to eavesdrop everywhere you go) and I begin to formulate more ideas.

I do a lot of self editing which means deleting, rewriting, changing and so on. Actually, the first manuscript I completed, well over 300 pages, I “shelved.” It was an incredible learning experience and that journey taught me that, yes, I could write a book. If you count that shelved book, I have completed five books, four that are published. I’ve been a freelance writer for newspapers and magazines. My favorite form of creativity though is writing full-length stories.

Q: What do you do when you’re not feeling creative?

A: Phone a friend or meet up with one for coffee or lunch. Seriously. All of my friends are creative, and just being around their energy and being with them sparks my joy too. Their enthusiasm either by just being themselves, or by them supporting and encouraging me has been a creativity life saver.

Q: Do you have any creative tips for others?

A: Trust yourself, trust your journey. It is so easy to get caught up in following what works for some one else. And trust me, I used to do that, but their journey is not yours. Listen to your gut, your instincts. It will not lead you astray. Even if you do make mistakes, re-group, understand what happened, and move forward. Forward momentum is so important. Do not stagnate. Whatever creative outlet you have, do it or think about it every day. I’m a believer the more you do something (as long as you learn along the way) the better you get.

The first book in the Chubby Chick Series

Q: What artists/creative people inspire you?

A: Wow there are so many I love. But I will try to name some. As far as painters, Rembrandt, Claude Monet, Renoir, and Van Gogh, Mary Cassatt, Picasso, Mary Stevenson Cassatt, Georgia Totto O’Keeffe. Music, wow I can go from classical to rock to country to jazz – way too many to name. Writers? Agatha Christie, Stephen King, Mark Twain, Ernest Hemmingway, JK Rowling, Sue Monk Kidd, and many many more.

Q: What is your next creative project?

A: My next and fifth book, KILLING WITH KINGS, which is the fourth in my cozy mystery series. There will be a total of five books in the Chubby Chicks Club cozy mystery series set in Savannah Georgia. They are centered around a group of four friends who get thrown into solving a murder. They are fun, fast paced mysteries full of southern charm.

Q: How do you juggle multiple creative projects?

Lavrisa’s first release

A: Truth be told, I don’t. Although I constantly take notes and ideas about many stories/projects, I only work on one manuscript at a time. With four children, one hubby, many friends and a lot of commitments – that is all I have time for. Bottom line, I love what I do for a living, and I feel honored beyond compare that this is my career

Q: Where can we find out more about you and your work?

A: You are always welcome to visit my website where you could also sign up for my newsletter too, www.loislavrisa.com, my author Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/authorloislavrisa/ or twitter @loislavrisa. I am also on Instagram @loislavrisa and pinterest at Lois Lavrisa.

ORDER HER BOOKS HERE:

Homicide by Hamlet http://amzn.com/B019IVCPVI

Murderous Muffins http://amzn.com/B00MT79E0Y

Dying for Dinner Rolls http://amzn.com/B00EXZQAHK

Liquid Lies http://amzn.com/B007GQ10WS

I began practicing yoga around the same time that I discovered music. As I pursued a career as a singer/songwriter, my yoga practice also grew and I eventually became certified to teach. These two loves have supported and sustained each other over the years. Now, as a Creativity Coach, I frequently draw on yoga and meditation concepts and practices to help support people in their creative work and offer “Yoga and Creativity” workshops.

Here are just a few of the ways that yoga can help support our creativity:

Yoga helps us to be more present

In order to create, we have to be truly present with whatever we are creating. Yoga teaches us to focus on the breath which in turn helps us to be more present with our creative work and our lives in general.

Yoga helps us to let go of resistance or blocks

Everyone has heard of “writer’s block” and this can hold true for any form of creativity. By overcoming resistance in our yoga practice, we learn how to overcome resistance and blocks in our creative work as well.

Yoga helps us to open our hearts and minds

In addition to learning how to open up our bodies on the mat, we are also learning how to open up our hearts and our minds. This translates to our creative work and we can find ourselves creating with more openness and freedom.

Yoga helps us create with more authenticity

One aspect of our yoga practice is that it can help us discover who we really are. The more we practice the more we shed external layers that reveal our true nature. Yoga helps us to tune into our instincts which can lead to greater authenticity in our creative work.

Yoga helps us get more comfortable with the uncomfortable parts of ourselves

In particular, practices such as Yin yoga and meditation can help us to truly examine ourselves and make friends with the dark and uncomfortable sides of our nature (we all have them!) Since our creative work can also involve a similar exploration, these two practices support each other immensely.

Yoga teaches us to go outside of our comfort zone

We learn how to challenge ourselves appropriately on our yoga mats – to test our edges and notice where we have drawn lines to keep ourselves in our boxes. As we begin to test these lines and edges, this can spill over to our creative work and we may notice that we begin creating outside the box as well.

Yoga helps us develop discipline, routine, and structure

While words like “routine” and “structure” may not sound very creative, it can certainly help with our creative output if we have a regular and dedicated creativity practice. If we show up for our yoga practice regularly, this can affect other areas of our lives, including our creativity. Many creative people struggle with a regular routine – and a yoga practice can help us become more focused and disciplined in general.

Yoga makes us braver

It takes a certain amount of courage to get on the mat and explore new and challenging poses. The more we get comfortable with taking these risks the braver we can be in our creative work.

Here are some specific ways that you can support your creative work through your yoga practice:

• Practice regularly.
• Practice different styles of yoga – have a routine, but also be open to trying new classes and styles. It’s okay if you don’t connect with all of them – just trying them is enough!
• Come to the mat with an idea or question about your creative work.
• OR the opposite…just let go completely of whatever you are working on and you might be surprised by what arises when you create that space!
• Keep a pen and paper by your mat and jot down ideas as they come up.

This is a cross-post with the wonderful local blog Sayogavannah.wordpress.com, a blog for yogis in my beautiful and creative Southern city of Savannah, Georgia created by Mary Crouse and Stacey Sedory. Please be sure to check it out and support their work as well!

Are you interested in hosting a workshop in Yoga and Creativity…or would you like individual Creativity Coaching that can draw on yoga and meditation techniques? Please contact me at Creativity@LaurenL.com – I’d love to talk to you!

Namaste and Happy Creating!

Do you think that you need vast quantities of unlimited and unstructured time in order to be creative?

Do you wish that you had this kind of time to follow a dream or passion?

The reality is that most people these days are incredibly busy and have multiple demands on their time. Does this mean that we can’t be creative?

Not at all!

A helpful practice is to find just twenty minutes a day to dedicate solely to your creative work.

It can be at any time of day that works for you. Many find that first thing in the morning works well. Why? Because as our days progress we run out of time and energy. It can be challenging to feel fresh and creative at the end of the day when often we just want to rest.

That being said, some people are night creatures who feel most creative in the middle of the night when the world is still. Whatever time of day works best for you is the best time to try this practice.

Here are some simple steps to add twenty minutes of creativity to your day:

1. Find a place where you can work.This can be anywhere where you feel comfortable creating and where, ideally, you will not be interrupted.

2. Set a timer for twenty minutes. Your smart phone should have a timer and an inexpensive egg timer works just as well.

3. Commit to doing ONLY your creative work during this twenty minutes. This is key! Do not check your phone, Facebook, get up and make a cup of coffee, play with your cat etc. Sit in your chair (unless your project requires standing or some kind of movement) for the allotted twenty minutes and focus solely on your creative project. Give it all of your attention – and intention – during this time.

4. Do it consistently. If you have a project that you’re working on i.e. a novel, a CD, a work of art etc. try to do this every day, if possible, or at least five times a week. Every skipped day means that you get further away from your project and it gets harder to return to it. Also, the more consistently you do this, the more your creative work will open itself up to you. It’s like a muscle that needs to be exercised.

5. Enjoy the rest of your busy day and life knowing that you made some much-needed time for yourself and for important, meaningful, soul work. You will see how good it feels and it will spill over to your more mundane tasks and chores. Everyone will notice that you’re happier – including yourself!

Can you find twenty minutes in your day?

Has anyone tried this practice? What are your thoughts? Is anyone curious enough to give it a try? I’d love to hear how it works for you!

This blog post was brought to you by a timer that was set to – you guessed it – twenty minutes!

Sunflower photo by Danny Dennis