Present and Playful: Cultivating Creativity

Hello friends, this is Timothy Kimo, Brian, your head instigator for create

art podcast, where I bring my over 30 years of experience in the arts and

education world to help you tame your head critic and create more than you consume.

So this year in 2024, I'm doing a series that's called making fun a habit.

And that's all part of a book by Michael Brennan who wrote it.

It's called make fun of habit.

It's a workbook that goes through an entire month.

And what I've decided to do is take each day and make it into an episode.

So there'll be 30 episodes dedicated to this book or

focused on this book actually.

And I had Mike Vernon on my other podcast, find a podcast about.

Which you can find at find a podcast about dot X, Y, Z.

And he has a podcast.

It's called creative chats.

You again, links are going to be in the show notes for you on that.

So you don't have to write that down right now.

But what this book does is it's a workbook and it helps you go through

steps to rekindle fun in your life and get back to where you're most creative.

So each day has a different.

This theme this episode's theme is going to be on being present.

Something that I really like that Mike does is he breaks it down into

an assignment for you where he'll give you questions, action items, and tips.

So basically I'm going to go through that here for you.

And while I'm going through that for you, think about, ways that you can be present.

So let's go ahead with the questions.

First, first question is when was the last time you went on a long walk?

What was that like and how did it feel?

So it's been a long time for me to go on a long walk.

I do have my little step tracker attached to my wrist at all times, but

it's really been a long time for me.

Going on a long walk by myself.

I think I used to do it.

Oh, probably in 2023 is I would walk around the neighborhood during my work

day, just, for about 15 or 20 minutes.

And those were nice.

Nobody was bugging me.

I was able to be alone with my thoughts and really enjoyed that.

And maybe I need to get back into that.

But.

For me, one thing that I do is I do massages every other

months and that is a hour.

One hour out of two months where I'm just getting myself pampered, where,

the attention is just on me and I usually have a really good time.

I have a very good massage therapist here in Fredericksburg, Virginia and

that's something I do for myself.

And also I see a chiropractor that's about 15 or 20 minutes, but

I prefer the massage much better.

So maybe I need to start going on long walks.

Maybe you need to start going on long walks.

Let's go on long walks.

Together.

Second question is, even if mobility is an issue, where can you spend time

undistracted and being in the moment?

Again, I go back to my massage back in the day I used to, go to the

coffee shops when I didn't have family and other responsibilities,

I'd go to the coffee shop and sit there for a couple hours every day

or every other day and just, absorb everything that was going around me.

And going on around me.

That is something that, yeah, I would definitely like to get back

into for my own mental health and for my own creative health.

Just focus on one thing and not let anything else bother me, whether it be

a piece of poetry or a sketch that I'm doing or painting just to be out there.

And I'm a weird type.

I will admit that right now.

I like to be out in public when I'm being alone.

I can go to a movie by myself.

I can go to dinner by myself.

I'm one of those types of people that I can go out there and be just

perfectly fine alone myself, or maybe walking through a bookstore or

something along those lines, a comic bookstore as well, that counts too.

Third question is how can being fully present affect your sense of fun and play?

So I think.

With being present and being in the moment, it really affects my

sense of fun and play by blocking everything out that goes on in my life.

I'm a dad of twins.

I have a wife.

I now have three cats.

The third cat we just rescued his name is socks.

He lives down here with me in the man cave studio.

So you may hear him from time to time in the future wanting to get on the

podcast again, his name is socks.

So.

He's pretty quiet right now.

I'm just, I'm crossing my fingers, but I think being fully present

really gets me in a better mindset.

So that way I can accept fun and play in my life.

Cause sometimes I can get too deep in my thoughts and too

negative on certain things.

So if I'm here in the moment, not worried about the future, not worried

about what happened in the past, but just here with, my writing, with my

music or with one or two people just sitting and talking about things

and being present with them and not.

Thinking about the million of other things that I have going on in my life

that gets me in the right mindset.

And I think for me, I need to be in the right mindset to have fun and play.

So some days I don't feel like having fun or playing, so that can always be a

problem, but that's how I get around it.

So the action items that Mike gives us is first and foremost,

take a few deep breaths.

That's something I tell my kids all the time, take a breath, relax, but it's

true when we take a few deep breaths, you can do meditation apps on your phone.

You can, or on your watch or just You know, on YouTube videos, you can

do meditation in in multiple ways.

And that really helps us get present and get in the moment.

But the easiest and simplest way is just take a few deep breaths.

Think about what's going on right here, right now.

When you take those breaths, it gets you into action item number two,

which is pay attention to your senses.

What are you feeling?

Is there tension in your body?

Is there something that is not feeling right in your body that could be causing

the irritation that is not allowing you to be in the right mindset for fun and play?

Let's fix that.

Whether we need to go to the doctor, the masseuse, the chiropractor, acupuncturist,

whatever you need to do to get rid of that irritation, whatever is bothering you.

And it could be a health condition.

Whatever is bothering you.

Find a way to remove that so that way you can get in that right mindset.

Which leads into number three, notice your thoughts and feelings.

So I do see a therapist every other month.

I basically have what I call a doctor day.

See my chiropractor, my massage therapist, and my, a mental therapist.

And I do that every other month and pretty much within, three days of each

other is how I schedule it for myself.

And it does wonderful things.

I'll think about what I, throughout the two months, I'll think about what

I want to bring up to my therapist and it really gets me in tune with what

my thoughts are and it slows them down because my thoughts can go a million

miles an hour and that gets nothing done.

And working on multiple things at the same time gets nothing done.

But if I'm working at one thing and just worried about that one thing

or being attentive to not worried, being attentive to that one thing.

I feel a lot better.

And when I feel better, My mental health is better when my mental health is better.

My physical health is better.

My physical health health is better than my art is better.

The fourth action item is to be curious.

Look a, if you're watching me on YouTube, look at the videos, I look at the videos.

Things on my wall, the books on my wall, the records, got a PlayStation

four and a big old screen TV there.

I've got art on my walls.

So I being curious is not a problem for me.

I am always curious.

I want to meet new people.

As you hear on interviews with the show, I want to see what's working

for them and then, share it with you.

So always be curious.

And then the last action item is to let go of expectations.

Am I going to be the number one ranked podcaster in the world?

Am I going to beat out Joe Rogan?

No, I'm not.

And I'm not worried about that because that's not my goal.

My goal is to do this podcast and have fun doing it and to enjoy doing it

and to communicate with you the things that I have found, things that work

for me, struggles that I may be having, things that I need to remind myself to

get back into to make my art better.

But yeah, letting go of those expectations and just, if I'm working on a sketch or if

I'm working on a poem, I'm not worried, is this poem going to make me a millionaire?

I'm not, betting the, I'm not betting the farm on this next

poem or this next sketch.

I'm just doing it because it does good things for me when I accomplish

a task like that or finish a project.

It does great work for me, again, with the podcasts, my expectation is that

I put it out there and, hopefully you reach back out to me and tell me what you

like, tell me what you didn't like, or give me ideas or ask to be on the show.

That's my expectation is just to have some fun with it, to spread the information

that I have found that works for me and maybe help somebody out along the way.

And I think it's helping you out along the way too.

All right, Mike's tips.

And there's six of them.

Tip number one, set aside some time each day for play.

Put that in your calendar.

We all have calendars that we're attached to, whether they're paper,

digital, or they're in our mind.

Set aside time each day, make it an appointment.

Were 15, 20, 30 minutes, an hour, whatever you need, whatever you can

fit in, make it a habit, hence the name, making fun of habit for the book.

Ingenious.

I think.

Number two, find a quiet place to play.

Find a place where you're not going to be distracted, where you can focus

on that play time that you do need.

You need to go see your doctor.

You need to go see your friends.

You need to, maybe see your family, get out in the world, set some time for you.

Third tip is focus on the present moment.

Don't worry about what you know, don't worry about trash day tomorrow.

Don't worry about when your bills are due.

Don't worry.

Don't worry about how is your 10 year plan going?

Just.

Focus on what's happening right now.

One of my kids has a problem with that because they have ADHD.

So they're always focusing on what's going to happen tomorrow?

What are we going to do tomorrow?

Am I going to get to play on this tomorrow?

Am I going to get to do that tomorrow?

Let's focus on right now.

We're here.

We're living here right now.

Tomorrow will take care of itself.

We'll have challenges tomorrow.

We'll have things that interrupt us tomorrow.

We'll leave that for tomorrow We have enough to worry about today and not

even today We have enough to worry about right in this moment right here right

now Whether it's getting ready for bath or getting ready for dinner or for bed

or for homework or for whatever it is Let's just focus right here right now

And that can be a hard thing for people to focus on especially if you have

you know you're on the spectrum or if you're neurodivergent or what have you.

Fourth tip, be creative.

Come on, create art podcast, not creative.

Be creative with how you do your time.

Maybe you do your time in 15 minute chunks, four times a day.

Or maybe, one of those chunks, you focus on a sketch, second chunk,

you focus on writing your novel, doing a painting for 15 minutes.

Maybe you break it up that way.

Maybe that's how your brain works, but find creative ways.

to focus on the present moment.

Maybe you put a big sign up and say, Hey, focus on now.

And you make that sign with flowers or flames and smoke balls going

off, whatever works for you to get you in that present moment.

If things connect with others, there are others out there that are having

the same problems that you're having.

It's one of the reasons why I made this podcast.

Yeah.

I figured out other people are struggling with this kind of stuff too.

So why don't I go out there and the things that I've learned in my life.

Why don't I go ahead and share that out with others?

So that's why I do the podcast.

That's why I attend conferences.

That's why I do poetry reading every Friday night, just to connect

with the people out there, connect with a, my audience and be other

poets and see other artists.

So make sure that you're connecting with with other folks.

Get out of your four walls.

And the last tip is to relax and let go.

Just have fun with it.

Don't stress it.

If you don't get it perfect the first time, don't worry about it.

Building a habit like this takes some time.

You're not going to get it right the very first time and that's okay.

Nobody is keeping score here.

You're the only person keeping score here is you.

So if you can stop keeping score and that's maybe another tip

that we should add on to this.

Stop keeping score and just have Enjoy the moment.

Don't worry about the next moment.

Just be in the moment you're in right now.

Enjoy it.

Savor it.

Get everything you can out of it.

The next moment will take care of itself.

We'll, move to the next task at hand when it's time to do that.

But right now, enjoy where you're at.

All right.

I hope you've enjoyed this episode of create art podcast, where we're talking

about being present and being in the moment, if you got something out of it,

please feel free to give me an email.

Timothy at create art podcast.

com.

We have a YouTube channel.

Obviously, if you're watching this on YouTube, you found the channel.

Yay.

You can put comments on the channel too, for what you like, what you

didn't like, but I really want this to be a podcast that services you.

So I'm not doing something that you need me to do.

Or if you have a topic.

That you would like me to talk about or heck, do you want to be on the show?

Email me, let me know.

I would love to hear from you.

I also have an Instagram account, Twitter account, and a TikTok account.

Links are in the show notes there.

I do run a newsletter.

I'm getting away from it a little bit.

I need to get back into planning out the newsletter and I'm trying a few Program

management apps out to that's the cat.

Hey, you guys got to hear from socks.

That's right.

Socks.

Yes.

You're adorable.

Anyhow definitely check out the newsletter.

The links are in the show notes.

I put it out about once a month, but definitely if.

You've gotten any value out of this podcast.

Please let me know, shoot me an email, let me know.

Or, from the website, you can leave me a voicemail if you so desire.

So definitely do that.

I want this to be a five star podcast and I need your help in letting me know

how it's going to be a five star podcast.

And feel free to share it with a friend.

Speaking about sharing this with a friend, you can check out my other

podcast, which is find a podcast about where I help you outsmart the algorithm

and find your next binge worthy podcast.

You can find that one at find a podcast about dot X, Y, Z.

All right it's time for you to get on with your day.

I need to go ahead and get on with my day.

It's been a pleasure talking with you and.

I can't wait to hear what you're doing in your neck of the woods

with being present in the moment.

So go out there and tame that inner critic.

Create more than you consume.

Go out there and make some art for somebody you love.

Do it right now in this moment,

make that art for somebody you love yourself.

I'll talk with you next time.