Episode 7 - How Bliss can increase your creativity
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Beth: Welcome to the BDI Create Today podcast. This is a podcast where we'll uncover and discover the who, what, where, when, why, and how it means to be creative or have more creativity. And together we'll explore the extraordinary impact creativity has on our lives in our heart, mind, body, and soul. And if we haven't met yet, I'm Beth Buffington, a licensed artist, digital illustration instructor, and a creative coach.
But mostly, I'm someone who is curious about how creativity weaves its way into nearly every corner of our lives. Each week, we're going to look at one of the sparkly facets that make up the treasure that is creativity. So join me each week to hear stories about how creativity impacts my days and listen to evidence I found that shows [00:01:00] science backs up the importance of creativity.
And meet people who have some cool stories to share about their unique creativity.
Hello, my creative friend. Welcome to another episode of BDI Create Today. I'm your host, Beth Buffington, and today we're going to travel inward into your creative mindset and explore some. Sometimes tiny, but very powerful emotions that can spark and warm your soul while you work in that all important creative zone.
So get cozy and grab your favorite art supply or crafty tools and be creative while we chat about creativity. First, I want you to think of an event or time when you felt a surge of [00:02:00] joy in a moment of contentment. Are you thinking, I don't know what you mean, Beth? Well, these would often be small moments, like when you realized.
You're gonna have your favorite meal for dinner tonight, or when you pick up the phone and it's an old friend you haven't talked to in a long time, or when you are working on a creative project and it moves from that sketchy, I'm not sure if this is gonna work, or even what. This is going to be stage to something that may be worthy of a spot in your portfolio or a gift to someone special.
Today, we're going to take a moment to inspect these moments, you know, the moments when you suddenly feel a little jolt of joy during your day or during your creative practice, we're going to take a careful look at how to be aware when these moments are taking place.
And then how to be mindful about appreciating and then using these micro bursts [00:03:00] of happiness to make you happier.
Today, we'll consider this facet about creativity, and that is creative success is not only achieved when we finish a project to perfection or to our satisfaction, but the best success in your creative practice. To benefit your creative spirit in heart, mind, body, and soul is realizing during the journey that the process of creating is filling us with moments of contentment, moments of happiness.
And when we realize this, that the journey is creating these moments of happiness, that, my creative friend, is an important part of success. in your creative practice. So these micro moments, when we notice them, when we notice that they're making us happy or [00:04:00] content or joyful, and we appreciate and record these events as a special memory.
This is going to help you become a happier and more confident creative in your heart, mind, body, and soul.
So how do we do this? To help us figure this out, I've got some ideas for you to remember so you can spot these micro moments when they happen. Today we're going to explore two words for you to use as tools to help you detect, and then save, and then apply these micro moments of contentment so you can grow your creative happiness.
What are the words? They are bliss. and revel. Let's first take a look at bliss. The definition of bliss was unanimous across all the dictionaries. When I looked up the meaning of bliss online and the definition of bliss is [00:05:00] this bliss is perfect happiness.
So, let's take a look at the moments when bliss appears, in your day or in your creative practice and how, like spotting a hummingbird in the summer, how quick and fleeting these moments can be and how easy it can be to even miss the moments altogether if you're not watching for it.
Now, when my girls were little, we spent a lot of time reading books. My ladies had this one book that we read a lot.
It was called The Bear's Water Picnic. It was about a bear who is taking his friends out for a picnic on a little raft that he'd built. And while the animals were sailing to Bear's perfect picnic spot, They became annoyed by some really loud frogs. Now, in the end of the story, it's spoiler alert, the frogs actually saved the day by getting the bears [00:06:00] raft unstuck.
And all the animals end up having a lovely picnic. And that's the story, short and sweet. Now the reason I'm sharing this little story with you is that Bear in this story had an interesting way of realizing when little things made him really happy. When something small but nice would happen, he would stop and he would say, Ah, bliss.
And he did this each time his day had a sparkle of happiness that was happening. I loved reading about this word, which is why I remember this book so well. And it's been a long time since I read this story to my girls. They now have their own littles. And I recently read The Bear's Water Picnic to my little grandbuddies.
And I realized that, you know, I still think about and I use this word. myself. I say [00:07:00] aloud, mostly to myself, ah, bliss. When little things happen to me that have that, you know, that little sparkle of happiness that warms your heart. So bliss, that's our first word. We want to be able to think of bliss as those tiny micro moments that bring us great happiness and maybe unexpected happiness during our day.
Now let's turn our attention to our second word, Revel.
according to vocabulary. com, revel means To take great pleasure. Now, if you revel in something, you're not just pleased or even excited. You're overwhelmed by the pleasure in the moment. And I loved that vocabulary. com also provided a bit of history about the word revel.
And here's what the site shared. Revel used to mean riotous merrymaking. Now it means to bask in the self [00:08:00] reflected glow of your own pleasure. The example the site gave me was, you revel in your victory lap after winning a race. So, you want to think of it as a high level of pleasure.
Let me tell you a story of why the word revel is something I think about often and is the reason I'm sharing the word revel with you today.
I have a friend, and when she was turning 40, she realized that This was going to be one of those big decade birthdays for her and she decided to show to herself that she was just as strong and vital at 40 as she had ever been.
So she decided she would enter into a women's triathlon that was happening in our town late that summer. Now she spent months training and preparing herself to swim, to bike, and run for this big day.
On the day of the triathlon, I went to cheer her on and I [00:09:00] remember talking to her before the race and she told me so. I have never forgotten. She said someone had shared with her during her training that it was important on the day of the race to revel in the moments of strength and happiness that she would feel as she swam and biked and ran the race.
She shared that it was important to remember to revel in the good moments and not dwell on what might be difficult or only focus on the overall outcome of the race. Being able to revel in good moments would give the race a more positive outcome for her, and it would create good memories about the race day that she had trained so hard to get ready for.
I remember we talked a bit about how one reveled successfully, and she told me, you need to actually think about what it physically feels like at the moment you feel happy.
And [00:10:00] to this day, I try to remember to realize my bliss and then to revel in the good moments during something I have prepared hard for. Something that might even be challenging or super exciting. It is so easy just to focus only on the outcome or things that you are worried about and forget to enjoy the blissful moments during a journey.
So when my girls were in school and they would practice and train for a sports event or a concert, they would often come to me worried about the event they were getting ready to do. And as a mom, I would do my best to encourage them as they practiced and rehearsed and talk with them about their training.
And I would encourage them the best I could, and I would try to help them see the confidence in themselves that I saw in them. And then when they came home after an event, I would literally stop them while they were telling me about the outcome. And I would [00:11:00] say, take a moment to feel your happiness, feel the contentment that your hard work has produced.
What are you feeling right now? What does it feel like? Revel in the moment and enjoy your happiness. Using the words bliss and revel as tools to help you look, see, feel, and record the goodness during a creative journey is an important part of turning your mindset from negative to positive.
to help you become healthier and happier in your journey as a creative. It's so easy to get caught up in the results that we aim to achieve in our creative pursuits. It's super easy to think that perfection is the only success we can pull from creativity.
Can you finish this project in time to give as a gift or decorate your house for a holiday or celebration? Or can you [00:12:00] prepare this project for a craft show and sell it successfully? Or can you get it ready for a licensing submission? Or whatever reason you might have given to yourself as the outcome for your creative work.
Now, while outcomes are important, don't get me wrong, finishing projects is truly important. Being overly focused on only getting a positive outcome can blind us from the real reason being creative is important to us. Remember, being creative is true. Just as vital to our health and happiness as sleep and exercise and good nutrition.
The creativity we discuss here on Create Today is your creative practice, your journey. taking you to the outcome. Your creative journey is only going to support your happiness. If [00:13:00] it isn't causing stress, your creative practice needs to give you a place to feel comfort and safety, peace, and contentment while you work.
Even if the work you're doing is challenging and the outcome might be really important, like finishing a triathlon. So my friend, here's the secret. You need to be able to seek out and realize when you are experiencing those micro moments that bring great satisfaction. And you need to take time to revel, which is seeing and feeling, and then remember to save these moments of bliss as they happen.
They will be the good memories that will support your creative confidence and give you that confidence to continue your journey, no matter the outcome of the project that you're currently working on. Just like Bear during his water picnic, his whole. Day was not perfect. In fact, it was a day [00:14:00] that was supposed to be filled completely with pleasure, but it came with lots of challenges and some things that needed to be figured out that were not part of his plan.
But when something made Bear smile, he stopped. And he took a second to appreciate the moment and bear purposely celebrated that little moment by saying ah, bliss to note his gratitude for the happiness that that moment in the day had brought to him. My friend during her triathlon and Bear at his picnic were able to see and then actually feel the moments that brought them bliss during their journey and they remembered to revel.
in the moment.
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Now, welcome back to our discussion about how to see and feel bliss and then how to revel in that moment. Being aware of bliss and revel may sound like a good idea, but how does a busy person figure out how to make this happen during their creative time? And, or throughout their regular days and weeks as a busy person.
Well, you know, I wouldn't talk about a topic if I didn't have two things to share about it. One is metaphors, and the other is to give you a list to help you apply the things or thoughts that we've talked about, how to apply [00:17:00] them to your creative practice.
The metaphor this week is hummingbirds, and they are hands down one of my favorite birds. It is an absolute thrill to see one of these little lightning fast birds flit into my yard and spend a second or two sipping nectar from my flowers. They are a great example of how tiny and yet powerful bliss can be.
If you don't take a moment to enjoy having the hummingbird in your yard, you'll lose that little jolt of joy that you can receive when you spot one of these tiny, yet powerful birds. But you gotta be on the lookout for them so that you can see them when it happens. And then you've got to be ready to understand that they're only going to be there for just a second.
So absorb their beauty while you have that moment. They bring the bliss, and then you have to remember to be there to revel And that quick silver moment. And now [00:18:00] let's figure out how to get a bit organized on how to look, see, feel, and then revel in these moments of bliss. So let's take a moment right now to take some notes about how to start a mindful practice of seeing and feeling the moment you want to revel so you can remember the bliss you've encountered during your creative journey or during your day of just being alive.
Here is a list of practical tips to foster mindfulness so you can remember to revel in your creative bliss. Number one, write the words bliss and revel on post it notes and put the notes somewhere where you're going to see them often.
This might be on your bathroom mirror, your refrigerator, your computer, or somewhere in your studio or crafting area. It might be great to have a post it note with bliss and revel in multiple places in your [00:19:00] house or in your car just to remind yourself all throughout the day to see and feel And save these tiny blissful moments and then revel in their goodness.
And here's one last idea about having these words on post it notes. I'd say, like, every couple weeks, rewrite the notes. Otherwise, you're going to stop seeing them. and you're going to stop remembering to think about them. So when you make new notes and you put those new notes up, maybe in a different place, you're more likely that you're going to take a moment to remind yourself to see bliss and then revel in the moment of bliss that you've seen.
Number two, consider recording moments of bliss that you've reveled in and then add them to a journal. Studies show that happiness increases when we take time to list the things we have felt gratitude for.
Beth: Often, it is hard just to [00:20:00] sit down in front of a journal and pull things that we are grateful for from thin air. We just sit down and we go, okay, what am I grateful for? Go. And it is often hard to think past, I'm thankful for my house. I'm thankful for food.
We really need to dive deeper than that. And when we're aware of our bliss and the things we've reveled in, journaling will be easier.
So, remember that if you're mindful of the words revel and bliss, and you're on the lookout for them throughout your day, and you're reminded of them by your post its, it will be easier to remember what to add to your creative list each day as you journal.
Number three. Create a micro ritual of stopping to feel the happiness when you detect you're feeling the bliss from a moment of contentment, joy, or excitement.
So taking time to actually [00:21:00] feel the feeling you are feeling, that will help you become more aware of your happiness. So sometimes it helps just to think, where am I feeling the joy? Is it in my heart? Is it in my head? Where is that emotion happening?
It's a little bit different for everyone. Some people even feel colors when they feel bliss. Think about that. Do you think of a color when you're super happy and are different types of bliss, different colors? Super interesting to think about. Might be a really cool thing to journal on too.
So taking time to actually feel the feeling you're feeling, okay, does that make more sense now? This will help you become more aware of your happiness and knowing that you are happy, that just makes you happier and makes the happiness last longer.
Number four, take note how being aware of this added focus on positivity [00:22:00] is helping you to feel stronger and more confident about your creative work.
And then don't be afraid to share this tiny secret with other creatives. You know, when you. get really mindful of something that is helping you feel happier and maybe more stronger and confident in your creativity when you share that with others, it's that ripple effect that when you find something that's super helpful in your life and you share it with others, you have something to share back and forth.
And also you've shared a. good thing with another person who is going to find that this thing is going to help in their life as well.
Now my creative friend, my fellow creator, the beauty of your journey lies not only in the finished products. that you are creating, but also in realizing the moments, big or small, of the joy and the contentment that comes to you along the way.[00:23:00]
Revel in your creativity. Savor those blissful emotions and let them become a cherished part of the artistic tapestry you are creating for yourself. So keep creating! But don't forget to revel in the blissful magic that happens each day as you travel along your artistic journey. Until next time, stay creative, my friend.
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