Tag: creative time studio

What I am Working On Now – July 2017

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Most of July 2017 I am based in our Latvian countryside house nearby Kadaga / Adazi.

This month is dedicated to regaining my own balance, reconnecting with my own past, clearing out old books and papers, exploring my family roots and mental traveling through time…

There is a possibility to join me for Finding Creative Flow sessions – contact me for more information.

As a follow-up to the Time Perspective Network meeting in Potsdam, I’m collaborating with Marc Wittmann on a paper: Orientation to the present and future and its role in pro-environmental behaviour and sustainability.

I’m continuing to work on the #100daysofinnerart project, which I have decided to exhibit during the art festival in Tunisia later this August.

I’m taking more visual notes while on location for my Book of Memory: Riga Chapter project – follow along: #bookofmemoryrigachapter

I’m coming back to the idea of creating something out of my father’s music collection of over 4000 tapes and various other objects from the Soviet times – Blast from the Past. Contact me if you have any ideas or museums that might be interested in this!

Working on the second leg of the Indvielsen project – stay tuned to see the new portraits!

End of July – beginning of August, I’m traveling with my mom to her home town – Chelyabinsk, Russia – to spend some time with my aunts and cousins and their kids.

How do I manage all of the above and a few things that were left out? I love working with my version of the bullet journal and I also follow my own medicine regarding taking the creative breaks.

I am available for giving workshops on how to deal with culture shock and using creativity as a resource. I would be thrilled to develop a tailored talk / workshop regarding time, creativity and your field of interest.

Best ways to keep up with my progress and stay in touch with me:

  • subscribe to my newsletter with my recent discoveries and updates & invitations to my exhibitions / pop-up galleries openings, events I’m organizing / hosting, talks & workshops I’m giving, etc.
  • see my visual explorations on Instagram
  • follow my occasional banter on twitter , updates on facebook or browse my blog on Medium

Find out more about me on my about page

Page inspired by Austin Kleon and nownownow community

Page was updated in July 2017.

What I am Working On Now – June 2017

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Most of June 2017 I am based in the Stavrianna organic farm nearby Diakopto, Greece.

Here I am:
– hosting my new course Finding Creative Flow through Sketching and Writing – there are still a few spots left for the session starting on June 11 – contact me for more info
– sketching daily
– doing yoga every morning
– meditating
– going for bike rides around the area, location scouting for best points to see the sunrise or sunset, exploring the nearby villages and beaches
– enjoying the locally grown organic vegetables and fruits and other local delicacies

– struggling to make a sound on my Turkish flute

– getting better at working with aquarelles – I have decided to join the 100 days project with #100daysofinnerart – where I observe what catches my attention on a particular day and how exactly do I feel that day and transform that into abstract paintings. it is interesting to observe the results so far – the choice of color palette and the brush used changes every time.

– planning the new sessions of Creativity as a Resource course and Creative Rendezvous sessions back in Copenhagen to start in autumn – sign up for the mailing list to keep up with the news and not to miss special offers.

– working on the second leg of the Indvielsen project – stay tuned to see the new portraits!

Towards the end of June am invited to host a session “Individual differences in time perspective and sustainable behavior: Game and debate” during the mini symposium “Thinking the present and the future – Psychological insights on the role of subjective time.” at the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies e.V., Potsdam, Germany, 22.6.2017.

How do I manage all of the above and a few things that were left out? I love working with my version of the bullet journal and I also follow my own medicine regarding taking the creative breaks.

I am available for giving workshops on how to deal with culture shock and using creativity as a resource. I would be thrilled to develop a tailored talk / workshop regarding time, creativity and your field of interest.

Best ways to keep up with my progress and stay in touch with me:

  • subscribe to my newsletter with my recent discoveries and updates & invitations to my exhibitions / pop-up galleries openings, events I’m organizing / hosting, talks & workshops I’m giving, etc.
  • see my visual explorations on Instagram
  • follow my occasional banter on twitter , updates on facebook or browse my blog on Medium

Find out more about me on my about page

Page inspired by Austin Kleon and nownownow community

Page was updated in June 2017.

Finding your passion – a life changing experience

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Having a passion in life and for life can be literary a life saving and changing experience. The story of Prof. Rafi Eldor and his struggle with Parkinson’s disease is an extraordinary inspiring example of it:

Variety of courses I offer in my Creative Time Studio are aimed exactly at that – to help you to discover your passion and also equip you well during the initial stage, when making the first steps can be hard, to provide you with different tools that can help to overcome the uncertainties while finding your way and getting in touch with your creative flow.

Creative Flow as a Resource – here is to a great start!

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Just this Wednesday, February 1st, 2017 the course Creative Flow as a Resource hosted by myself and Jennifer Bruder of Brain Dialogues, was set in motion towards the new direction.

It is a new beginning in many ways – participants are starting their own creative journeys and for us – it was the inauguration of the new creative space our Studio has moved in to recently.

We salute to our brave participants, who brought in loads of creative energy and an open mind!

We are setting the stage
We are setting the stage
First creative results on display
First creative results on display
Jennifer is getting ready to introduce herself
Jennifer is getting ready to introduce herself
Anna
Anna
Natalyia and Jennifer
Natalyia and Jennifer
Finding your strengths
Finding your strengths

Although the course has started, we invite you to try something out as well – a simple exercise that you can do once a week, or once a month, for example – a sort of check-in.

Take out your journal if you have one, otherwise a pen and paper, and follow these 4 simple steps:

  1. Ask yourself a question: “Where am I now?” – in terms of physical place, your emotional state, personality-wise, etc. Spend a few moments to reflect. Take your time, but also don’t overthink. When you are ready: Write, color, draw, create, etc.  three answers to this question.
  2. When you are finished, ask yourself: “Where do I want to be?” You set up the time-frame – in can be by the end of the week, in a months, or half a year. When you are ready: Write, color, draw, create, etc. three answers.
  3. These two questions can take you through a big, and rather overwhelming, picture. But every big expedition starts out with a first small step. Examine your answers to the second question and decide on one thing that you can do this week, something that will bring you closer to where you would like to be and do it! Is it time to visit the arts supply shop and buy a canvas and paints?; a travel guide?; to take an online course?; or simply go for a walk?; pick up the phone and call a friend?…
  4. When you have completed steps 1–3, come back to the exercise, and reflect how it felt to move towards your forever-elusive dream, the goal there isn’t time for, or the people you miss. Is there something you want to revise in steps 1–2? Can you continue adding onto step 3?

Here is what one of the participants mentions on the topic:

Natalyia | Creative Time Studio

@creativetimestudio made me really think. I am rather clear about my own #now, but what I want to be, see myself, feel, discover remains to be revealed. There of course will come #lifeprocess surprised – those, hiding under the yellow sticky notes. #personaldevelopment #creativeprocess #thinking

We’d be happy to hear about your own discoveries either in the comments below, through instagram #findingcreativeflow, or facebook Creative Time Studio, Brain Dialogues

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Creative Flow as a Resource – course starting February 1, 2017

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Creative Flow as a Resource is an engaging and personally challenging 4-week course designed to serve as a window for exploring options for creativity and self-improvement in your day-to-day life. Participants meet once a week to learn new skills, create, discover and to share. Throughout the week participants are required to take a few hours just for themselves, away from usual stress, uncertainties, and routines.

Creativity is a Resource: and this course aims to create conditions in which you can find your own path to realize the plans and dreams you have, to nudge you towards what you really want, to refresh, to gain strength and to relieve you from daily stresses. Participants feel revitalized and learn many tools that can be used to continue their creative and personal journeys. It is possible, to turn the ordinary into the extraordinary.

The course foundations are built upon research in positive psychology, creativity and cognitive science. The aim is to help you to find your passion and improve well-being.

This course is offered by Anna Sircova and Jennifer Bruder. We both have PhD’s in psychology where Anna is an expert in creative processes, well being, psychology of time and so much more. And Jennifer’s focus is in neuro-cognitive psychology and the creative brain.

Feel free to contact either Creative Time Studio if you have any questions.
You can read more about Anna at Creative Time Studio and you can read more about Jennifer at Brain Dialogues.

Practical Info:

This is a 4 week course.
February 1st, 8th, 15th and 22nd from 18:00-20:30
Sønder Boulevard 68, 1720, Copenhagen

Please register here

What will you need?

1) 30-60 personal minutes a day: just for you
2) a wish to push yourself to the next level of your personal journey
3) join this kick-off meeting on February 1st at 18.00

Places are limited.

Cost: 1600 dkk

Tea, coffee, snacks and all creative supplies are provided.

Creative Flow as a Resource – week 1

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Just last Sunday, November 13th, me and Jennifer Bruder have started the Creative Flow as a Resource course for those who are looking for a new direction in their daily or professional lives and for those who want to bring in more creativity in the daily lives.

It was a great start with loads of creative energy and flow! We are looking forward to see and hear what our creative participants will do for their creative rendezvous during this week. Follow along or share your ideas on #findingcreativeflow.

Creative Time Studio
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Creativity as a Resource – workshop at PWN – Copenhagen

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This past Tuesday, I had the pleasure together with Jennifer Bruder from Brain Dialogues to host our Creativity as a Resource Workshop for the Professional Women’s Network, Copenhagen chapter.

It was a very lively and cozy forum with 12 professional women from all over the world, who eagerly tapped into their creative side that evening. In just 3 hours we explored a wide range of issues, such as how to become more efficient, less stressed, and more creative with our daily tasks.

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We have experienced how framing and limiting time can be a tool to boost creativity – it helps to cut out our inner censor and place all of our focus on the process of creation itself.

We stressed that creativity is a skill that can be trained, much in the same way you train your muscles. Thus, it follows, you do need to make time to be creative. The good news is, by giving ourselves 10 minutes a day, we can greatly build on our creative skills and our creative brain. There is no need to look for special days, nor a special atmosphere in order to get into the creative mode. Establishing a daily 10-minute routine will make an enormous difference to your energy, mood and to the quality and novelty of your ideas.

We have also traveled through time during the workshop – tapping into our past experiences and positive emotions, through relaxation and meditation, drawing the inspiration from these experiences and creating something new in the present moment. And we have imagined a few alternatives, some very short sketches of the future possible self. We know that techniques designed to tap into your memories, your emotions and your real and imagined experiences enhance the creative process. Mindfulness is an excellent tool to get this going.

We had a wonderful time and we were so thrilled to feel the inspiration and energy flowing in the air throughout the evening!

If you’re curious to experience your own creative energy, build the creative muscle, and gain motivation for establishing your own creative routine firsthand, we are offering a longer, more in depth course beginning on November 13th. We will meet once a week for four weeks and we would love to have you join us.

Looking forward to exploring creativity together with you!

Anna & Jennifer

About the Hosts:
*Jennifer has a PhD in Neuro-cognitive psychology and owner of the Brain Dialogues, where she translates how brain science can be applied to education, personal development and the workplace.
*Anna has a PhD in psychology and is owner of Creative Time Studio and altogether a very creative person!
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How to be happy: Don’t compare yourself to others

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Some days are like that – the first thing you want to do is to clean up the space around, to restructure, to create opportunities for new things to happen.

Spending 5-10 minutes for going through some papers that got accumulated over the past few weeks, throwing some things out, putting away some others, creating space for new or more relevant to be in front of you – feels so rewarding!

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I don’t curerntly have an opportunity to set up a permanent table for my creative projects. A friend shared her tips how she does it – she uses a window sill or a small shelf when she is on the go and once more settled, sets up a table. My window sill is currently an extension of my working desk and sudden;y I realized, that actually it doesn’t have to be. Most of my work realted stuff I can bring to another place and actually set up a small creative window sill here.

While cleaning up, I have stumbled upon some interesting previous work. My first attempt at making a cut out poetry from the newspaper headlines, and also my work on vitality from February, when I was rather sick and really needed some strengths to get over a cold. I’ve done it in one of the Creative Rendezvous sessions. We chose a strength that we felt like we really lacking at the moment and tried to picture it while using a non-dominant hand. It was very inspiring – since themovements become more free, since you can’t control the very fine movements that your dominant hand is capable of doing. It felt invigorating and liberating at the same time.

One of my favorite excercises in the Creative Flow as a Resource course is my adaptation of a Life Ring exercise. I believe that it is very beneficial for own mental health and life satisfaction not to compare your place in life to others, but to you, 3 months ago or a year ago. Reflect on how are you actually doing since then? What has changed? What got better? What goe worse? What can you improve? Are your priorities and interests still the same?

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