How "Artist Dates" Lead to A Vibrant Life

In this episode, I share about the concept of the “Artist’s Date”, inspired by Julia Cameron’s book The Artist’s Way.

 Did you know that play is not just for children and that creativity is not just for professional artists?  All of us have both an inner child and an inner artist.  Together, they can be both powerful and transformative.

Making space for creative fun (even when life feels overwhelming) & prioritizing rest and play (BEFORE work) can help you live a more vibrant life.

Main Points:

• An artist date is time that we set apart every week to do something that we think is fun, creative, and that brings us joy. 
• It is critical to rest first. From that place of rest, begin to notice what would be fun for you to do.  
• It can be anything that appeals to you- painting, cooking, dancing, pottery, writing, drawing, flower arranging, etc.  The list is endless!

Links 

• Join Kelly's Group Coaching Program
• Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way

Let's connect.

I am cheering for you!

Transcript

Speaker: 0:00

Hey there, hope you're having a wonderful week. This week we're going to be talking about

0:03

the Artist's Way by Julia Cameron.

Speaker 5: 0:15

Welcome to the Live A Vibrant Life podcast. I'm life coach Kelly Titz, and each week I'll be here to encourage and equip you with the tools you need to grow in self-awareness and invest your best energy in your dreams and your purpose. I believe self-awareness changes everything. Let's get started.

0:36

This week we're going to talk about play specifically through the lens of one of my favorite books, which is The Artist's Way In it she talks about the fact that we all have this inner child that's an artist. I've shared before that having been a kindergarten teacher and a pastor that worked in children's ministry, if you can be around a very young child, they believe that they're creative. And they want to show you their Play-Doh creation or what they made outta Legos, or they want to gift you a card that they made with their new box of crayons. We were meant to stay creative, even though people around us, said things and did things that made us think that that wasn't a valuable part of where our energy should go. I want to ask you to close your eyes, put your hands on your heart, take those deep breaths with the big sigh out, and believe that you are a hundred percent valuable, a hundred percent loved. Nothing more is needed. What would you like to do? What would be fun? Stores have back to school specials where you can get a box of 24 Crayola crayons or watercolor paints or pretty colored pencils. I wonder if that would be fun for you to go somewhere and get a notebook or a journal or some paint and just allow yourself to do something for no reason other than to just play. An artist date is time that we set apart every week to do something that we think is fun. If you don't have the energy to have an artist date, you need to spend more time in step one, which is rest. Now that I'm aware of this, it surprises me how many times I'll have a list of things to do, but when I check in with myself, the only thing that I really truly have the energy for is rest. I'm mentally, emotionally, physically, or spiritually tired. So rest first. From that place of rest, begin to notice what would be fun for you to do. What would be the ideal artist date? Once you've decided that you're worthy of it, now your brain has a job, when can you do it? I want you to choose a date and a time, and maybe right now your life is in a place where all of the energy that you have is already allocated to the responsibilities and the relationships that you have. But is there 20 minutes somewhere where you could take open a box of Crayola crayons and color just for the fun of it? Maybe you want to go and do a pottery class. Maybe you want to cook something just because it's fun for you to do so, or put together a flower arrangement. I don't know what brings you joy, but gift yourself some time then decide you're worthy of an artist date. A time with yourself. Just for the purpose of creating and doing something that brings you with joy. So again, it starts with some time alone for us to notice, and then committing the time and energy that we need in order to have an artist date. Ideally it's every week. I know for many of you, as it was for me when I began this work, that seems impossible when I started to learn about things like caring for my own soul. I was a young mom with three daughters who weren't in a lot of activities, just two activities each. My job, my husband's job. Our life was a little bit past capacity. When this idea was introduced to me, I remember being very, very angry that the supervisor that I had was asking me to set apart a half day on Wednesdays to rest and to be in community. It felt unfair because the two men that I worked with, they didn't have children. They had full-time hours allocated to the role they were doing. I had part-time hours and it felt like I was just constantly balancing plates that were spinning and falling and spinning and falling. Maybe some of you know what that feels like, that life is just running so quickly- there's no way to do everything well. Even though it seems impossible, my encouragement to you is to find that little space first to rest, to sit and just notice, am I tired? Do I have energy? And from that place of rest to decide"what would be fun for me to do? Where can I allow that little artist child inside of me to come out and have an artist date?" the Enneagram, Is a language of wisdom. It helps us understand ourselves. Why we think, feel, and do life the way we do? I'm going to overview what might be the thoughts or feelings or actions that are keeping you from moving forward. In the Enneagram, there's nine ways of thinking, feeling, and doing life. Enneagrams five, six, and seven are people who think first. And when you think first, in order to have some time to be creative, you're going to not only need to notice your thoughts, you're going to maybe need to take some of them, as scripture says, captive, and replace them with truth. Notice what you're thinking. What do you think about gifting yourself time to rest and then be creative to have some fun. Allow yourself to notice the thoughts. Maybe get a journal, put them down. Allow your brain to see, oh, I see you. I see that thought that says you don't have the time. This is silly. There's no need for it. And then allow yourself to think a new creative thought. I wonder what would happen if, what would it be like if I could? Just some creative thought that could help you sort of put the other thoughts aside for a moment. If you know that you're a five, six, or seven, just notice that your thoughts are powerful and they are always what is at the front of what you're noticing about life. You're noticing your thoughts, so let's just give yourself a moment to allow the ones that are there and then maybe create a new thought that could serve you. I wonder what would happen if I did gift myself 20 minutes a week for the next three weeks just to do something silly that I like. And again, because it's been a while since we've done this, it might be fun to start with something as simple as a box of crayons and just see what happens without making it mean anything. If you are going to take a box of crayons and make it mean"this is just dumb and there's no need to be doing this", it's going to be hard to be creative. What if you just be creative for the fun of it? The next group is the eight nines and ones. You're going to process life through your body. You're just going to somatically know what you want to do and what you don't want to do. So notice that. What would you like to do that could bring some creativity and fun back to your life? Notice in your body, is there a sense of like, your shoulders are heavy or your jaw is creating some tightness in your head? Pay attention. Notice it, and then decide what would I like to do? Do I want to go do something creative and full of movement? Maybe you want to put a song that you love and dance. Maybe you want to create some music. Finally the twos, threes, and fours. That's what I am and we process life from our heart, from our feelings. Emotionally. We're going to process how it feels to decide to give time to be creative. Oh, that might feel like it's just unwise. It might feel like a judgment in my body to stop. Working so hard and do something for fun to rest first and then have play. Noticing that those feelings feel uncomfortable. It's new to think of myself as a hundred percent valuable, a hundred percent loved, worthy of rest and joy. So again, just noticing in your own life what you're thinking, what you're feeling, what you want to do, and what you don't want to do. Start with rest and then allow yourself a time each week 20 minutes, a half day, a whole day, whatever it is that would serve you and do something that you would consider fun. On the path to delight and to joy expect to feel uncomfortable. If this is new, if it's something you haven't done very much. The fun part about getting out those art supplies is it gives our brain a way to express itself without words. And so coloring painting, making something out of clay, it's going to release the artist in you and again. Why would we want to do that? Because we were created to live a vibrant, abundant life. A life where we rest really well and we remember what brings us joy and we do more of it. If we were to live a life where we were very curious instead of judgmental, and we noticed what we enjoyed and filled our own soul with sunshine, what do you think would be radiating out in your life? I'm just walking this path with you. I want to say, this is not something that I have figured out. There is no one and done to this, but I have been walking this path long enough to notice the difference in my own life. When I take the time to rest well and then do the things that bring me joy, I am less grumpy. I am less resentful, I'm less frustrated. I have more grace for others. And I'm living more of what I would describe as a vibrant life. A vibrant life needs rest and fun and work. All three are important, but we want them in that order. I don't know about you. I have a lot of people that I listen to on podcasts. It's one of my favorite things to do with my time. One of my favorite life coaches says something that I just completely disagree with. Her whole philosophy is work hard and then you can play hard. I don't think that's the path to joy in a vibrant life. The path that I think will serve you is to figure out what rest looks like for you mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. And to take the time to do that until you're no longer tired. And then from that place of rest to go and do something that brings you joy. And if you don't remember yet, nothing's gone wrong. Start with something simple like a box of crayons and a piece of paper. Some of you'll write words in different colors. Some of you'll be drawing pictures. Some of you will just put on some quiet music and allow just a very random, abstract piece of art to be creative. All of those would be beautiful and powerful. Go dance. Go create, live a life where there's time and energy dedicated to you and your artist state. I promise that's an important step on our path to creating. A vibrant life. I hope you have a wonderful week.

Speaker 3: 10:19

I hope you enjoyed this episode. I look forward to talking again next week. Thank you for joining the Live A Vibrant Life podcast. I hope our time together encourage you and we'll equip you with the tools you need to move into the vibrant life you desire. I'm here to help you live a brave, creative. Purpose-filled life. And if you'd like to learn more, you can follow me on Instagram or Facebook, Kelly tibbits life coach, or visit my website kelly tibbits.com. I look forward to connecting

Speaker 4: 10:48

again soon.