Tag: personal well-being

Finding Creative Flow: Next Stop – Latvia

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Finding Creative Flow course is about to start in Greece – we are starting the creative journey this Sunday, June 11.

This summer I am moving around a lot. After the sustainability meeting in Potsdam, I will be heading a bit more north, to Latvia. In case you are nearby and would like to have a taste of the Finding Creative Flow course, you’re more than welcome to join me there from July 1 to July 23.

This time around I am hosting the course in our family house in Latvia. It is located in Kadaga, which is about 24 km away from Riga, not far away from the road to Tallinn. It’s a 3-bedroom house, with spacious living room and a nice outside patio looking at the forest.

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July in Latvia is probably the best time of the year. Of course, it is located on the Baltic sea, so the weather can always bring some surprises, but usually it is sunny and warm. Perfect weather to go on bike rides around the nearby villages, go for hikes in the nearby forest, collecting berries and mushrooms. Our patio is the best place to have a BBQ and watch the beautiful sunset. We can listen to different music from my huge collection and play some instruments as well – there is a piano and an acoustic guitar.

Kadaga is about 24 km away from Riga, not far away from the road to Tallinn. There is a lake with the sand beach nearby, and places for volleyball. There is also a tennis court and a swimming pool with sauna in Adazi (2 km away). It is about 15 minutes away from the sea (by car) – Saulkrasti, where Jazz Festival takes place. There is a farm nearby where we can get fresh milk and other products locally produced.

I am open both to individual inquiries and small groups up to 3-4 curious minds to join me in Latvia.

We will do sketching and writing. You don’t have to be able to draw to join this workshop, but you must be willing to draw anyway. We will do mindfulness exercises. We will go on long walks in the surrounding area. We will sit silently in nature. We will observe sunrises or sunsets. We will actively explore the space around us, paying attention to small details, overall patterns and color change.

We will listen to the space around us and inside us and put it into words and images. We will be alone and we will be together.

We will actively explore the Latvian countryside, sketching at the local food market, or visiting the fisherman’s villages, walking in the sand dunes and pine forest, visiting medieval castles, tasting the locally crafted beers and cheese.

Booking:

The course fee: up to 5 days – 1800 dkk / 250 euro + VAT (25%)

Deposit of 500 dkk / 70 euro + VAT (25%)  is payable upon sign-up

The fee does not include transportation to the location, accommodation, meals or personal art supplies – however they can be organized if you wish. Contact me for more information.

Accommodation

20 euro / 150 dkk per night – minimum stay 3 nights

“10 things I could’ve done, but didn’t” or what to do with the self-blame

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During the last session of Creative Rendezvous I included a prompt from Austin Kleon’s “Steal Like an Artist Journal”: “10 things I could’ve done, but didn’t”. My own immediate reaction was that I couldn’t come up with what to write, and managed to list three things. During our discussion, it became evident that actually this prompt can easily move into self-blame and regrets domain. This got me thinking what would be a more constructive approach instead?

Eventually I managed to complete the list and after analyzing the answers I came up with the following strategy how to deal with it, how to prevent self-blame and have a more positive outlook when evaluating the answers.

Divide your answers into four groups:

1. To celebrate – maybe it was actually good for you that some things on your list did not happen. For example, if you’re working on quitting smoking, then saying “I could’ve smoked a cigarette last night after that beer, but didn’t” is great, it’s an achievement – celebrate that, compliment yourself on it!

2. Still to celebrate (+/-) – the outcome generally is more on the positive side. For example, “I could’ve spend more time and finalize the article, but instead I went to bed early” or “Could’ve taken more photos during the session, but got totally engaged in the moment and forgot”. The issues mentioned in the “I could’ve done” part are “nice to have”, but overall outcome is still positive. The “didn’t” part has a positive quality to it, something positive, energizing, valuable happened instead. The “nice to have” part can be looked into further – is it something that you should work on or it’s ok as it is?

3. To act on – a group of issues that you would like to act upon, for example “I could’ve done more yoga”, “I could’ve listened to those classes I bought on Creative Live” and there is no continuation to it, there was nothing else with the positive outcome that you did instead. First of all, see how many of those you have in relation to the previous groups. Then weigh them. Do those things bring you closer to your dream, to your “true north”? Ask a follow up question: “If I spend some time doing this next week, will it bring me closer to my dream?” If it will, then that’s an item to act upon. And if not – it goes to the last group:

4. Not to pay attention to.

If still not sure where to start and which issue to choose to work with, then answer these questions for each item (inspired by one of the exercises in Julia Cameron’s book “Way of Artist”):

– Does it cost money or is it free?
– Expensive or cheap?
– Alone or with somebody?
– Job related?
– Physical risk?
– Fast-paced or slow?
– Mind, body, or spiritual?

This should help to make a decision – which is the issue that you would like to act on in the nearest future. Evaluate your calendar – how often can it happen, when exactly?

Schedule it in, make it happen and enjoy it!