Where’s the adventure?

To live life to its full involves bringing a sense of adventure into the everyday; of taking ourselves to the edge of our self-confidence. It’s the place that Joseph Campbell calls “Crossing the Threshold” on the Hero’s Journey (see chapter 3 of my book Building Self-Confidence for Dummies). From this point we can choose to move forward into the unknown or sit around allowing life to happen to us.

But you don’t need to climb thousands of feet in the Himalayas or sky-dive to have an adventure. Adventure simply takes focus and determination, qualities that we can bring to everyday projects and relationships. It begins with that simple intention to step over the invisible threshold and engage with what’s there with a sense of curiosity, letting go of our self-consciousness on the way.

Last month I ran a weekend workshop with my husband, Bob (pictured here with a couple of dophin friends!) Called ‘Clear Mind. Clear Body,’ we created a space for self-exploration that combined our respective interests in yoga and writing. We booked the date, hired a venue, sent out invitations, planned a series of activities to stretch mind and body, cooked up healthy food and loaded the car with yoga mats and writing pads. A small expedition in deepest Berkshire here in the UK.

(The next one is on 8th May, contact me if you're interested.)

As in the classic Kevin Costner film ‘Field of Dreams’ when you create the space, people come. On the way to the workshop I felt the butterflies dancing in my stomach saying: ‘Why am I doing this?’ On the way home, with a deep sense of contentment, I remembered why. Our guests had fun and left with a renewed sense of calm and focus in their busy lives. The event centred, not on our fears, but on our confidence that we could contribute something that others found valuable.

Our small Berkshire adventure into the unknown became an adventure for others to discover what they’d like their lives to be like this year. Such is the ripple effect.

At its heart, confidence is an adventurous act, a willingness to commit to an uncertain outcome with an open heart and open mind. In this sense opportunities to be adventurous present themselves to us every day. Walking a new route to the shops, trying a new food for lunch, signing up for a class you’ve never taken before, volunteering your time for a charity, introducing yourself to someone new at work or talking to a stranger in a café. One small adventure builds on the next; this is how confidence grows.

Life is uncertain, accepting it and seeing this inbuilt uncertainty as the doorway to new possibilities lies at the heart of the adventure. So often, we are the barrier that gets in our own way. I invite you to look for new small adventures in the everyday of your life. Keep a diary for a month of the small things you’ve done that take you over that threshold. Have fun and let me know how you get on.

Ten top tips to close down creativity

Many of the people I work with in organisations are under immense pressure to perform miracles. Too much to be done in the allocated time. Unrealistic understanding of the real work and time involved. Expectations that they should be innovative, inspirational, creative, confident and competent - all of the time.

With the pressure so creativity declines. That's why the Saturday afternoon workshops; Clear Mind. Clear Body as well as the writers' events are so popular.

Stop for a moment to consider how your creativity suffers. Here are some of the ways I get in my own way.

1. Get too tired. Know that feeling of working late when you should be relaxing and winding down?



2. Eat sugar. Drink caffeine. How did I get tempted by coffee and a biscuit instead of water and fruit?
   


3. Take on extra work. That little word 'no' went missing.
   


4. Spend time with energy vampires. Again, I could have said 'no' to that invitation that didn't appeal.



5. Beat myself up for what I haven't achieved. Why not see the successes?
   


6. Compare myself with others. When I know their world is so different to mine.
   


7. Worry. About stuff that won't matter later.
   


8. Forget to go out and play. How dull is that?
   


9. Feel there's no time, so don't get started. Even ten minutes is worth getting started for.
   


10. Cut out the clear thinking time. When I know how these moments of space are so important.

I also know how unblock my creativity by turning these situations on their heads. Here's how:

First - Write down how you get in the way of your creativity as I've just done here.

Second - Take each statement in turn, flip it upside down and find the opposite situation.

Third - Identify one thing to do differently.

As an example, my number one of 'Get too tired' flips to 'Get too much rest'. OK, that's unlikely to happen. Yet, one thing I can do differently is to take a lie in or afternoon nap when I feel the tiredness builds. It's really that simple. And it's amazing just how it can feel wonderfully indulgent resting up a bit and how much faster the creativity flows afterwards.

Finding the muse

Scribble ends and writing really begins when I get in touch with the core of who I am, and relate to the world in a clear, non-judgmental way. Then I find the 'muse', a relationship to explore. It can be an abstract concept like freedom, or specific, tangible objects like the white hollyhock flowers braving out the Autumn weather that I see today from my window.

Last night I listened to some words from the author of 'The Artist's Way' Julia Cameron. It reminded me that creativity is a spiritual pursuit. When we take time for our creative exploration, we get in touch with our 'spirit' and that powerful, broader connection that makes the world a joined up place of similar souls.

Yet how easy it is to feel guilty about taking the creative time out. Julia has three guiding principles, her core tools that permeate her works.
1. Morning pages - where you write three pages of 'stream of consciousness' writing each day. This is relatively easy to do.
2. The Artist's Date - where you take yourself off on a solo, fun date each week. Time with yourself to explore an art gallery, a creative shop to buy sticky gold stars, anything that calls to you. This is where guilt sets in. 'Should I do this?'
3. Walk - a daily walk in the park, garden, beach, nature.

To Julia's ideas I would add my own muses- the discipline of a regular yoga practice, facing the blank mat like the blank page and allowing the movement to come from within. Contact with damp soil in the garden energises me as does the dynamic of the game of tennis.

As you allow yourself creative disciplines, make them personal rituals, so you find your muse.