Creative Zen Transitions

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Pests are usually tiny, but if they are allowed to take over, they
can destroy your garden.

In the organic garden, there are several ways to accomplish pest
control. For chewing insects, like big worms, the easiest pest
control may be simply picking them off each morning and disposing
of them. For sucking insects like aphids, a soapy solution
suffocates them, and even just blasting them with water from the
hose will help get them off your plants. Natural garden predators,
like ladybugs and the praying mantis may be happy to keep your
garden free of pests. Ground red peppers are said to keep some
insects away, and beer for snails is a classic.

Each strategy works against a different type of pest, and if one
isn't working, it's easy enough to try another one.

In your creative garden, pests are the distractions that interrupt
your creative time, and keep you from creating. Pests can be
people, issues you can't get out of your mind, low-priority tasks,
or anything else that keeps you distracted. It's good to remember,
too, that not everyone's distractions are the same! For some
people, trying to work in a noisy environment is not an issue,
while for others it may be totally incapacitating. This brings up
the importance of really honing in on what is at the heart of what
is distracting you. It may not be what you think!

Like in your garden, you may have to try out different strategies
to combat these pests. 

The first part of your strategy is building awareness. What things
prevent you from giving yourself permission to relax and devote
yourself to your creative time? Are there specific people who
distract you when you sit down to create? Do your own thoughts,
feelings, or attitudes distract you and rob you of peace? Is your
life filled with endlessly distracting trivia, so that you don't
feel you can take time from it all to create? Is your work area
cluttered, leading you into cleaning and organizing, rather than
creating?

Identifying where the problem actually lies is the first step to
taming those pests. There are two specific situations that I'd like
to bring your attention to.

One occurs when distractions show up and we are not really ready to
create anyway. We're uncertain, fearful, procrastinating a bit, and
when a distraction comes along, it delivers us from this situation.
We grab hold of it, and go off with the distraction, happy not to
have to deal with our creative uncertainty. We are actually
welcoming distractions in this situation, because they provide us
with a perfect excuse to avoid a deeper issue. One place to look at
this deeper issue is back with our garden's weeds -- negative
thoughts. Are we feeling inadequate or hopeless? Perhaps we need
some grounding and centering. Or are we simply uncertain about how
to move forward? Perhaps we need to spend some time daydreaming
about what we're wanting to create next, and how to go about it.

Distractions can also show up when we ARE ready to create, and
steal away our time. When this is the case, we need to find ways to
keep those distractions out of our creative time, at the very
least. Another option, which will free up even more energy, is to
get those distractions out of your life in general. This requires a
bigger commitment of time, at least at first, but does make life a
little easier in the long run. 

Figuring out what purpose the distraction is serving -- whether it
is a welcome or unwelcome visitor -- is key to figuring out how to
deal with it.

If you find it to be a welcome visitor, it is time to stop and
figure out what is really going on, to figure out what you are
avoiding with the distraction. Many times this will tie back to
some type of fear about creating.

If you find it to be an unwelcome visitor, then it is time to try
out strategies until you find one that works. Teaching other people
in your life about boundaries so that you have uninterrupted time.
Clearing clutter so that your mind is as open as the creative space
around you. Choosing to eliminate from your life things that do not
contribute to your life or well being. Or clumping those
distracting little tasks and details together to be dealt with at a
common time. 

In modern life, distractions are increasing. While some of these
pests are not within our control, many of them are, and minimizing
them will give us more energy for our lives. When our lives are
overrun with distractions, then our creativity as a whole suffers,
much like our garden.

At the very least, we can choose to make our creative time a
pest-free zone! It's a great place to start.

~~~~~~~~~

Creativity Spark

Our primary goal is to bar distractions from our creative time and
space. You may choose to expand this to reduce distractions from
your life in general. 

1. What distractions do you find interrupting your creativity? Are
the distractions offering a handy excuse to help you avoid an issue
that you need to deal with? If so, look into that issue more
closely.

2. Develop a few different strategies that you would like to try.
Depending on your specific issue, you may try setting boundaries
with others to guard your creative time, working to eliminate
distracting thoughts, or finding a way to effectively deal with
life's trivia. You may pick up hints through books, the internet,
or TV shows. 

3. Call on others to help you implement some of these plans.
Discuss your creative time rules with your family, offer to
exchange support or time with a friend, develop a meditation
practice including supportive audios and books, get yourself taken
off junk mail lists and hire a housekeeper. Anything you think will
work for your situation, now is the time to get support and get
into action.

4. Evaluate and adjust. When things aren't quite working right,
that's not the time to give up! Instead, evaluate why something
didn't work, and try adjusting things a bit. Don't expect one thing
to be a solution for everything. Life is complex, as I'm sure
you've noticed by now!

5. Focus on creating, not implementing strategies to reduce
distractions! Yes, it takes time to get things in place, evaluate
and adjust. Just don't get lost in it!

~~~~~~~~~

About Caroline ...
Caroline coaches people who want to incorporate creativity into
their daily lives. By working on our creative projects, we are able
to transform our lives, and bring about a sense of peace and joy.
Creativity is also a wonderful way to navigate life's transitions.
For more information on individual and group coaching programs,
live and virtual retreats, and more resources to help you get going
on your creative projects with comfort and sustainability, please
visit our website at www.creativezentransitions.com

For insights on creativity and life in general, please visit the
blog at http://www.creativezentransitions.typepad.com/

Zenspiration!
Caroline's podcast of creativity meditations will get you in the
right frame of mind to begin creating. They change every week, and
provide focused inspiration related to the current newsletter topic
... usually! Click on the link to listen ...
http://www.audioacrobat.com/play/Wqsngmz4