Today’s intention is:
To play. Play music, play with food or play with a friend. Play is an on-ramp to imagination, invention and expression. The world needs all we got.
This post is the second in a series of five. For the series, I highlight each of The 5 Buckets recognizing the upcoming release of my book by the same name.
The Creativity Bucket
My friend Greg pops into the Zoom room. Then Tiffany, Alex and Kevin join as well. I share audio from my laptop and play Future Strings in E to welcome everyone. Thirteen participants in total trickle into the video meeting.
It is the sixth week we are meeting as a group. We begin by reflecting on our intentions and sharing observations with each other. One by one we explain what we did or didn’t do and how our intentions served us. I enjoy hearing each person speak. Every story is a little lesson I take with me.
Next, I introduce my friend Chelsea to share a project. She’s building a website to promote her coaching business and share ideas for balanced, healthy living. She explains her initial motivation, the educational program she studied and her planning process. Lastly, she walks us through the site she’s created.
I ask her to share more about her planning process.
What first steps did she take?
What was going through her head?
Turns out she had a challenging time getting started. After investing in and completing her coaching program, she felt hesitant. She even had a few potential clients reach out. Yet, she still had reservations about following through with the project.
So, she took a visual approach. She gathered online imagery she felt aligned with the ideas in her mind. She started a Google Slides presentation and pasted each image she found. One by one, her vision took shape. She slowly gained clarity and confidence in where she wanted to go with the project.
Just a day earlier, my friend Jake shares a project. Jake is a designer, photographer and musician. For starting his project, he created an MP3 file featuring ambient music combined with an 8D audio effect. I listen to it and the sound moves around my head. After listening only a few minutes, I can tell Jake created something special.
I think back to my first moments recording thoughts around The 5 Buckets. I remember scribbling in my journal. I wrote quickly, thinking I might forget. Here’s a picture of what spilled out onto the page:
It took writing only 60 words to springboard some big changes. After those 60 words, I record four weeks of intentions on the next page. A few weeks later, I write a ten thousand word manuscript in a Google Doc. Then sixteen newsletter posts, nine podcasts, hundreds of social posts… you get the idea.
For Chels, she used images to bring her thoughts to life.
For Jake, he used sounds to share his idea with the world.
For me, I used 60 words.
It doesn’t matter if we sketch, strum, jot, film, snap, click or drag our ideas into existence.
What matters is that we do it.
Creativity takes practice.
Practice enough, and we surprise ourselves.
Magic shows up.
You have magic in you too.
How will you share it with the world?
Don’t wait. Start small. Learn as you go.
I wish
I returned to a trusted exercise last week. I created a Wish List.
One my favorite authors, Julia Cameron, describes the creative exercise in her book, The Right to Write:
Set aside fifteen minutes. Set pen to page and number from one to twenty-five. Then, very rapidly complete the phrase “I wish” twenty-five times.
Wish lists are more potent than they appear. Written out once a month, they actually move us on a subconscious level to act in the direction of our dreams. It is my experience that the mere act of putting wishes on the page begins to put them into motion.
Here are a few wishes I recorded:
I wish I were writing more
I wish my parents lived closer
I wish I’d cook more
I wish we had another dog
I wish I felt less afraid
Your turn. Give it a try and let me know what you think.
Let’s move ourselves to act in the direction of our dreams.
Just a few paragraphs
Last week, I had the pleasure of interviewing bestselling author of The Six Habits, Laura DiBenedetto. During our discussion, Laura describes what happened when she tried to ingrain six habits into her life in 90 days:
Her joy helped keep her committed. And what started as just a few paragraphs, turned into a 25,000 plus word book.
It’s incredible what writing words on a page can do.
Feel like listening to the entire conversation? Check out the Student of Intention Podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.
Until next time,
Don’t wait. Start small. Learn as you go.
🙏🧡🤘
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