10. Becoming More Aware

June 3, 2019

Focusing on thoughts/feelings of the things I am doing helps me in thinking about my involvement with them. Realizing what I am doing too much or not enough gives me a new perspective on my life. Being in our daily routine becomes about what we have to get done at times and often there is little room for creativity.

In counting my actions along with thoughts and feelings with them, I was able to consciously choose the areas that I wanted more consistency. Areas of nature and creativity I made time for which I noticed affected my mood in a positive way during the more mundane actions. My thoughts are filling with more creative ideas during moments throughout the day. More creative thinking pushes out any negative thinking. I will be posting images soon of the data I counted and measured.

This week I am traveling and exploring thoughts on how stepping away from daily routine can increase artistic thinking and further develop stronger habits of living an artful lifestyle.

11. Finding My Flow

June 9, 2019

After counting what I was doing I continued doing so but focused on thoughts/feelings while doing them. I thoughtfully considered the areas that were too excessive and not consistent enough from the week before. I’ve realized that spending the time in being mindful on routine tasks, I am able to make changes where they are needed that inspires more creative thinking. Some times we get into this ”go go go” routine that we forget to slow down and make time for creativity. Spending time to paint and draw in-between my daily routine details helped me feel connected to myself and less stressed in those mundane areas.

This is artwork I made from the second week’s data. It feels lighter and not as intense as the first week.

The green numbers are the second week’s counting data to compare with the first week’s.

The second week’s data...more creative time and nature :)

12. Moving Away from the Path of Least Resistance

June 9, 2019

I am currently on across country road trip for 17 days from Florida. We are on day 9 and driving to Mount St. Helens right now from Washington State. When we are done we will have traveled through 19 states. I’ve never traveled this far for this long. I’ve always struggled with travel anxiety and the mental preps that come with it.

I recently watched The Creative Brain on Netfix and the "path of least resistance" was mentioned. As I thought more about it, I acknowledged that I do tend to stay in my comfort zone too much. The main reason is anxiety. Having to plan for so many possible outcomes when venturing out is exhausting. If it wasn’t for my research right now in developing an artful lifestyle and forming new ways of thinking using creativity, I am not sure I could have gone on this trip. I’ve completely stepped out of my comfort zone and submerged myself into nature. My family has helped me count data of things we are experiencing and it’s been amazing.

“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail”. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson