 Creative exploration of Van Gogh's Starry Night, painting by Jenny Leigh Hodgins
by Jenny Leigh Hodgins
Listen to the Podcast version here. Plenty of adult music students have told me that they were not creative. I’ve always responded, ‘Nonsense!' Everyone is creative. Some of us have learned to tap it more naturally than others. Anyone who knows me uses the word creative to describe me. I blog, podcast, write, compose, play piano, improvise, sing, garden, take photos, make videos, design my website layout, present, facilitate. As a former music and piano educator, I've been known to tweak a lesson in mid-stream to make learning accommodations for my students, lead drum circles on the beach, and more. The point is that I know how to be creative. Ideas, thoughts, patterns, melodies, rhythm, words, drama, and humor burst forth from me as an unstoppable fountain. Creative expression is more natural to me than breathing. Immersed in creative projects, I sometimes forget to breathe! Incidentally, I’ve never met a child who was not able to be creative. Young people are fully tapped into the creative dimension. They need no map to get there. ​Adults, however, are a different story. We sometimes lose our way to creative freedom, due to stress and pressure from our daily responsibilities. We grow out of touch with ourselves, and forget how to listen to our intuitive voice. We pay too much attention to the harsh judgments from society, and shrink our creative energy in response. We foolishly compare ourselves and our creativity to others, with standards that aren't fair or realistic. There will always be art that's better or worse than ours. There will always be someone whose creative skills are more honed than ours. There will always be people whose creative output surpasses our own. None of this matters. What matters is that we allow our authentic creative expression to flow sincerely and honestly. If you’ve lost your way or simply need some help getting connected to your creative side, here are some things I’ve learned about how to be imaginative:
Setting aside time to explore creative adventure is not only healthy and enriching for you, it will lead to your creative development. The more you give your creative life, the greater energy it will ignite. ​Enjoy your process and Viva La Vie Boheme! Let me know if these suggestions are helpful or if you have more tips for tapping creativity by leaving a comment below! Thank you for showing your love of my content with a LIKE or by sharing this blog with others. Recommended articles: Belief In Your Own Creative Vision​ Keep Looking For Moments Like These To Celebrate & Appreciate ​ How To Use Nature To Reinvigorate Your Spirit How To Maintain Body Mind Balance As Fuel For Your Creativity 5 Ways To Use Music & Nature For Self-Care Believing In The Positive How I Created The Ocean With Music
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Sunset Photo at Siesta Key Beach, Sarasota by Jenny Leigh Hodgins
Photo Essay Series By Jenny Leigh Hodgins This is the first of my photo essay series featuring images from YourCreativeChord’s newly designed 2020 nature photo calendars. The calendars include monthly self-care themes highlighting strategies for nurturing your creativity and inspiration. I enjoy taking nature photos because each captured image represents my excitement, joy and appreciation for the wondrous beauty available within an ordinary moment. My pictures are symbolic of my personal dreams and inner prayers for experiencing life to its maximum potential. It helps that I live in beautiful Lexington, Kentucky, surrounded by agricultural and horse farms, near enough to the Kentucky Horse Park that I can ride my bike there. I also lived in sunny Florida for half my life, enjoying the gorgeous beaches of Venice, Fort Myers, Sarasota, Clearwater and Dunedin. I snapped the photo above at Siesta Key Beach, Sarasota, during a sunset walk with a friend, determined to capture the serenity of the sun’s gentle departure beyond the horizon. This memory reminds me of my sincere friend, who graciously spent the weekend with me there to literally force me to enjoy some relaxation in between my whirlwind of events surrounding that time period. The kindness of my friend’s compassionate gesture, the therapeutic nature of the deep, pulsing waves of the water, the setting of the sun as it sprayed its pastel wash of colors across the sky, and my deep love for Sarasota, as the place my Buddhist practice began (the starting point of hope in my life), exist within this momentary pause. Just as an entire lifetime of memories, personality, knowledge and emotion are represented within a person’s name, a single photo is full of kaleidoscopic meaning. My photos are about slowing down enough to take one, solitary second out of a busy life to celebrate myself, my progress, this chapter, and the hope of the next one. It’s about letting my creative heart lead in my daily life, not my head. I don’t compare my nature photography to other great photographers. Though I admire and deeply respect the works of others who’ve dedicated their lives to mastering technique and skill, that is not what inspires me. I began taking photos because I was deeply moved by Daisaku Ikeda’s photography and underlying philosophy. He doesn’t claim to be a professional photographer. He began taking photos to commemorate experiences with others and leave something behind to encourage them. I bring my photos to YourCreativeChord with a similar hope and intent; to inspire us to continually expand our lives by letting our true authenticity be the ultimate authority of our creative process. My photos are about seeing the world through the lens of my Greater Self (not my lesser self, ego). I share my nature photography as a way of recognizing and celebrating our universal yet vulnerable point of human connection, and to experience the rejuvenating power of nature’s beauty within my images. My photography is meant as an example of courageous creative exploration, as that is a prime point for me as a creator. I blog and podcast about the importance of allowing creative adventures, setting aside the theoretical mind, to allow one’s heart to express itself, unhindered by any limitation. I’m a writer, poet and composer, but I venture into photography without my thinking hat. Instead, I bring childlike wonder and profound appreciation for nature’s astonishing allure. I want to share this with you as a way of encouraging you to see your world as the artist within you knows it to be. When you see my photos, my hope is that it sparks your belief in your own creative vision. Enjoy the view. ​ If you loved this blog don't forget to show your awesome support by Liking the link, Subscribing for more updates and adding your comment below! Recommended articles: Keep Looking For Moments Like These To Celebrate & Appreciate ​ How To Live A Life of Joyful Creativity How To Inspire And Drive An Artist’s Creativity ​ Empower Your Creativity & Wellness with This One Thing! It's ALL Okay-Just Do YOU Why Should You Dream Too Big & Harness Your Powerful Imagination? Defeat Fear & Doubt with Your Courage & Capability How To Decrease Your Anxiety & Live More Mindfully; An Empathetic Perfectionist Helps You Balance Your Life How To Deflect Negativity To Become Happier Believing In The Positive Your Troubles Are Your Progress Barometer & Catalyst For Your Full Potential Find YourCreativeChord on Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, Linkedinand Facebook!​  Yuko-En Garden, Georgetown, KY. Photo by Jenny Leigh Hodgins by Jenny Leigh Hodgins Prioritize Your One Thing For Greatest Impact Gary Keller’s #1 Wall Street Journal Bestseller, The One Thing The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results offers powerfully effective advice on working toward goals. Keller suggests the power in prioritizing boils down to choosing only ONE thing to focus on at a time. But Keller’s real gem of wisdom is his strategy behind how to select that one thing. Keller’s guidance is to choose the one task that has the most powerfully direct effect on reaching your specific goal. Plan your day, week, month, quarterly actions around this one prioritized goal. Goodbye multi-tasking. Close out all other programs, postpone meetings, let your people know not to disturb you, shut the door, and do that one thing without interruption. That one thing has to be something that will make the greatest impact or momentum toward reaching your desired goal. Do Things That Matter Most To You And Let The Flies Go Once you choose one thing to focus on, know that you will have to let other things slide to complete that one thing. That’s the art of prioritizing; you don’t do every little thing, or take every call, or answer every email, like swatting flies as they appear at a picnic lunch. Really. How much good does all your arm-waving do, anyway? Flies will always be there. Or they’ll come back. They know where to find you. It takes adjustment to let go of tasks you’ve habitually maintained, despite how little impact they make on what’s important to you. We’re so used to being busy. But not necessarily productive on the things that matter. Get in the habit of concentrating solely on that one thing that moves you closer to your ultimate goal. Keep your attention on that one job each hour/day/week until you complete it. Then move to the next most effective thing. Sacrifice The Lesser Things On Your To-Do List I love this strategy. I must confess I fall off the one-thing-wagon at times. But when I make the effort toward my most important daily task in this way, and stay the course on that one thing in front of me, I accomplish what is necessary for my success. And it makes me feel great. I struggle with letting go of juggling an endless supply of other tasks to attend to my mission of prime concern. But I find those other things are far less meaningful or enjoyable, and definitely don’t have as much impact on my big goal as my top assignment. Failure And Your Problems Are A Powerful Catalyst To Your Success I recently spoke with University of Kentucky Associate Professor Ryan Hargrove, of the Department of Design and Agriculture on the creative process. Hargrove teaches metacognition and creative thinking through his class, ‘Living On The Right Side of the Brain.’ [Listen to the podcast of my interview with Hargrove on the creative process.] Hargrove shared that creative thinking leads to successful outcomes, whether it’s a problem to solve or an inspiration for a new creative project. Through his work with students, and collaborations with creative professionals, Hargrove has found that a key aspect to creative flow is allowing for and valuing failure as part of the process. Getting Comfortable With Being Uncomfortable When failure is used to reflect on your way of thinking, to consider what went wrong, it often functions as the catalyst for a new approach. Hargrove says it’s important to be willing to endure the discomfort of a problem state, or a failure, as that area of awkward ambiguity or angst is where a creative solution or inspiration springs forth. Instead of being a reason to quit, failure can lead to extraordinary success. This is due to the significant mental effort of reflection on your previous approach to the problem. Analyzing a failure results in learned lessons and knowledge, allowing fresh perspectives to emerge. How To Use Failure As A Springboard To Success Sticking with this process takes you past your comfort zone, to think differently than you have until this moment. Working through a problem or failure is a critical and powerful means to creativity and solutions. So don’t worry about failures or new obstacles that arise on the way toward your goals. These allow you to expand your creative vista and reach beyond your current condition. This is the kind of energetic momentum necessary to reach your bigger goal. It Ain’t Over Until You Decide It’s Over Don’t get too comfortable with your success, either. Each time you reach a goal, you’ll have to start the process again from the top. For every victory gained, you’ll have the next level’s box of new, perceived restrictions to surpass. But continuing to extend and multiply your goals will open your path to a new sense of accomplishment. Each new measure of success provides yet another shot for you to further expand yourself. You’ll only feel a plateau until you reset your goals outside that box. The sky is the limit. Oh, wait! Not anymore! Share your thoughts in the comments below about this approach to reaching your goals! Share this with a friend on social media or email! Recommended articles: How To Live A Life of Joyful Creativity Why Should You Dream Too Big & Harness Your Powerful Imagination? Defeat Fear & Doubt with Your Courage & Capability How To Deflect Negativity To Become Happier Believing In The Positive My Top Tips For Winning Over Your Insomnia Your Troubles Are Your Progress Barometer & Catalyst For Your Full Potential  University of Kentucky Associate Professor Ryan Hargrove By Jenny Leigh Hodgins CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO PART 1 of my 2-part podcast, featuring my interview with University of Kentucky educator Ryan Hargrove, on tapping the creative process. See below for details. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO PART 2 of my 2-part podcast, featuring my interview with University of Kentucky educator Ryan Hargrove, on nurturing creativity. See below blog for more details. I had an insightful conversation about the creative process with Associate Professor Ryan Hargrove, of the University of Kentucky’s Department of Landscape Architecture. Hargrove teaches metacognition and creative thinking through a variety of projects, trips, interviews with creative professionals, and a class called “Living on the Right Side of the Brain.” Hargrove’s future goals are to provide more active learning opportunities through creative reflection and association deep dives for all University of Kentucky students, including electives, co-curricular activities, trips, and long-term masters projects. Viewing People & Creative Ideas Holistically Hargrove’s teaching methods and views on creative thinking both educated and inspired me. His strength as a teacher of creative thinking is his prime focus on understanding the individual person. He looks at how each person learns best, digging into discovering how they think. This undertaking guides his teaching and mentoring strategies. His inclination toward empathetic listening is refreshingly disarming. When teaching students, he takes into consideration that each person has arrived from a different path, with a unique learning speed, baggage, and skills. Hargrove instructs with less of the theoretical, knowledge-pouring traditional manner, and more of a holistic process aimed at bringing all aspects of each individual’s strengths and weaknesses to navigate problems. This resonates with the creative process itself, as it functions in connection with all aspects of the whole being, too. His responses to my questions delving into best practices for tapping creativity were encouraging to me as an entrepreneur, writer, poet, composer, pianist, vocalist, and hobbyist photographer. His viewpoint is valuable to any creative professional or anyone interested in tapping or improving creative flow. Here are some of the points from my dialogue with Hargrove that stood out as most useful to those interested in nurturing creativity. Is Your Creativity Divinely Struck Or Consistently Disciplined? Although inspiration can and does strike sometimes from seemingly divine intervention, the reality is that most brilliantly creative people consistently work hard at their craft. By continuously doing this disciplined work, the creative person is more able to capture ideas readily and link diverse pieces of information together in a new way. Commit To A Way Of Seeing Life Hargrove made the point that creativity is not an “on or off switch,” but rather a commitment to a way of seeing the world. Creative professionals typically are always open to receiving ideas for inspiration. They constantly seek out new ways of looking at life, new or different perspectives, techniques, styles and experiences. Learn To Think Creatively Versus Knowledge Is Power Gaining knowledge is important but is not the end all. Especially as we have access to knowledge at our fingertips with electronic gadgets, learning to think creatively is a more valuable asset. This skill leads to transformative ways to solve problems and open new creative ideas. Adjust Yourself To The Moving Target Successful creatives don’t have the creative process figured out. They know creativity is fluid, always changing, and that their creative flow is also morphing over time. They accept this and adjust themselves to the moving target of inspiration. Mindset Is Your Best Skill Successful creative people know themselves well. They know that listening to yourself, and being in alignment with your creative process is instrumental toward creative production. Divergence Is Enlightening Immerse yourself in new perspectives to grow. From exploring podcasts, blogs, books, doing new things like painting, dancing, cooking, new music, trying a new sport, traveling to new places, to meeting new people. Engaging in conversations, working on problems with others, or trying new experiences or things are valuable in two ways:
Be Open To Inspiration Be open to the idea that a eureka! moment can come from anywhere. Creatives know that being open to inspiration means it can come from unlikely or unexpected places. A four-year old child. An elderly man at the park. While shampooing in the shower or during a bike ride. While taking the trash out. Or from a completely unrelated conversation with a friend. Anywhere and anyone is acceptable and welcome as inspiration! Reflection Is Where Creative Force Ignites Taking time to reflect on the problem or time away from a creative project or daily responsibilities is a crucial form of nourishment for the creative mind. There are two kinds of downtime that are helpful to sparking inspiration:
These are moments when you are not actively pursuing creative tasks or solutions to a problem.
Reflection is evaluating what’s going well and what you could change to improve. Skill of Association The skill of association is a critical aspect of creative flow. This is the ability to absorb disparate pieces of information in an organized manner within your mind. And later, combine that information to create something new or to address a problem with a fresh approach using the incorporated new information. Having a way to organize new ideas or perspectives is key to the skill of association. This happens when you take time to sort through your experiences and become aware of interconnections with the new information before storing it in your brain. Asking how to organize the new idea in your head, why it’s interesting, or how it could connect to other things leads to an organizing system within your mind. This assimilation supports your ability to feel inspired by these new and interconnected things. Craft, Skill, Experience Creativity requires you develop your craft or technical skills, and develop a repertoire of both life and creative experiences. The more proficient you become at your craft, the more readily you can incorporate new ideas. The more you live your life, the more ideas and experiences you’ll have to draw forth creatively. Self-Care Habits There is power in practicing healthy choices. But the creative life can also lead to imbalance or unhealthy habits because it can be all-consuming. When an idea strikes, other aspects of your life may easily be neglected (eating, exercise, relationships, sleep). However, when you place top priority on consistent self-care, other aspects of your life will generally flow better. If you feel good physically, you can usually do better work. Surround Yourself With People Who Are Better Than You Connect with people whose skills and character you admire and who bring out your best by challenging you to grow and improve yourself. Ask people who will be brutally honest to assess your creative work. Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable Seek out new challenges. Push yourself beyond your comfort zone and learn to live with ambiguity versus certainty. The discomfort of ambiguity leads to generating solutions and creative inspiration because it forces you to change your thinking. Putting yourself in a situation where you must endure a problem state forces you to grow beyond your norm which leads you to new levels of inspiration. Embrace Failure Mistakes and failures are part of the creative life and are good if used to reflect on and adjust how you’re thinking about the problem or creative project. Use failure as a learning tool to improve your creative process. Failures provide incredible growth opportunity when used to assess your approach and try new angles of thought. The creative journey joins all aspects of your whole being, from the physical, emotional, mental to the spiritual. All your experiences are interconnected and have the potential to influence inspiration. LISTEN TO MY Podcast Featuring Educator Ryan Hargrove! The podcast posts in two parts: CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO PART 1! CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO PART 2! I’d love to hear from you. It means a lot to me that my content is helpful and empowers you. Please take a moment to let me know your thoughts below! Recommended articles: How To Live A Life of Joyful Creativity Why Should You Dream Too Big & Harness Your Powerful Imagination? Defeat Fear & Doubt with Your Courage & Capability How To Deflect Negativity To Become Happier Believing In The Positive My Top Tips For Winning Over Your Insomnia Your Troubles Are Your Progress Barometer & Catalyst For Your Full Potential Connect with YourCreativeChord on: Tumblr Share this with a friend on social media or email!  Let's learn to ride the waves! Photo by Jenny Leigh Hodgins by Jenny Leigh Hodgins Is your creative flow clogged? Or do you just want to tap into your creativity? Do you fight with insomnia, negative self-talk, overthinking, or depression? Do you struggle with how to progress as a pianist? Are you having difficulties keeping up with your caregiver responsibilities? Are you searching for a joyfulness in your daily life? I've struggled with all of these! As an entrepreneur, caregiver, composer, writer and hobbyist nature photographer I share my personal tips that work for tapping creativity, and inspiration! I also interview other professional creators, from artists to writers, to composers and creative experts. And it’s not ALL about struggle! There are moments and even full chapters and books about riding that wave of joyous creative output, refreshed balance and spiritual momentum! I offer TONS of valuable FREE content on empowering strategies for nurturing your creative and inspiration that I have used and still practice. All of these topics, from music to creative flow to handling stress and strengthening spirituality, are branches from the same roots. Everything is interconnected. It all flows from the same core of spiritual, physical and creative energy. When we take care of one area, it reflects in other ways, too. We're complex, deep, light, funny, serious, talented, methodical, rebellious, sensitive, bold beings, and everything in between! The different things I blog, talk about or teach, reflect the holistic interconnectedness of a creative, healthy, spiritually well and whole person. Like YOU! Check the ABOUT page to learn more about why I'm the perfect person to offer empowering strategies for nurturing creativity and inspiration for you! I'll keep the great value rolling out for you in my blogs, podcasts, products and courses! Creativity and inspiration are worlds that EVERY HUMAN has the potential to explore and THRIVE. Join TEAM YCC and let me show you the way to prioritizing your life so the creative juices pour forth from a solid life-state of strength and compassionate wisdom. As a creativepreneur, caregiver, Buddhist, single 50+ woman, I have MY particular journey. The reason I’m launching YourCreativeChord is to SHARE what gives me creative and spiritual energy so that YOU can be empowered, too. We have the ability to use every difficulty we experience to encourage others. This is what the Buddhist concept of 'karma into mission' means to me. We have our unique set of challenges so that we can learn how to manifest our full potential. In the process, we become leaders by example, helping those around us stand up, too! My goal is to use my personal journey, skillsets, talent, experience, and awareness to create as much value for you as possible. SIGN-UP HERE FOR MY MAILING LIST to be the first to hear of new content, products and courses! I’m SO excited to see where we go, to learn from you as well, and to share how we grow in our creative, inspired wellness together. I’d love to hear from you. It means a lot to me that my content is helpful and empowers you. Please take a moment to let me know your thoughts below! Recommended articles: Your Troubles Are Your Progress Barometer & Catalyst For Your Full Potential How To Use Self-Care To Feel Happy 5 Ways To Use Music & Nature For Self-Care Defeat Fear & Doubt with Your Courage & Capability How To Deflect Negativity To Become Happier Believing In The Positive To Climb Again My Kilimanjaro You can also find me on Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, Linkedin and Facebook!  by Jenny Leigh Hodgins
The more I thought I knew about teaching music to elementary students, the less I felt I knew. After every summer, I'd have a panic attack. I felt I had completely lost all ability to teach anything. I felt like a total novice. I drew a complete mental blank about where to start preparing for students. I pushed myself to start things rolling with the most basic ideas to welcome students. I started with the intention to spark a love of music in them. I decided on the clear, simple goal to create a climate where they felt comfortable to be themselves. I crammed to find the time for lesson plans based on the required music standards. I morphed my resources of activities into actual structured lessons for the classroom. My job required me to focus on implementing national teaching standards. This aimed my lesson planning on engaging students to function and progress through each learning goal. My lessons were also geared to help students develop skills to use and comprehend specific music vocabulary. I discovered that the true teaching moments arose from something unexpected and unplanned. I had a few of those moments in various classes. When it happened, it was such a delight. What was that? It was the transformation of the music classroom. The atmosphere changed with inclusive connections between student to student, teacher to student and the lesson content. When the students laughed, their eyes lit up, and their brains became ultra-alert and attentive, I felt like a superhero character. I shed my identity as a panic-stricken wanna-be to emerge as a wise educator. I awakened. My students taught me what is essential in the classroom. Those magical moments when students felt my energetic passion for both the subject matter (music), and my sincere care for their educational progress. When it happened it was a period of sheer enjoyment, trust and camaraderie. Both teacher and students arrived together at the pinnacle of the most treasured part of our daily lives in the classroom; learning. And I unwittingly discovered my own forte (heh heh) as a music teacher in that process. My sense of humor and dedication to the almighty subject of music, when combined with my sincere prayer for my students to enjoy themselves, became a collective, awe-inspiring energy. It was a force that propelled my students with me toward the greatest aspiration of education; Happiness. I am transfixed by the simplicity of this lesson; that learning should be fun. That’s what being a kid is all about. In a reality that is deeper than what is visible to the eye, the true lesson is that my students taught me. Like, comment and share this blog with others! Thank you! SIGN-UP HERE to get your FREE download of YCC's Top 10 Things To Help You Reach Your Goals! Plus get more more strategies for creativity & inspiration! Recommended articles: Your Troubles Are Your Progress Barometer & Catalyst For Your Full Potential How To Use Self-Care To Feel Happy 5 Ways To Use Music & Nature For Self-Care Defeat Fear & Doubt with Your Courage & Capability How To Deflect Negativity To Become Happier Believing In The Positive To Climb Again My Kilimanjaro Check out my Self Care Resources page. |
CREATIVITYIn my CREATIVITY blogs, you’ll find tips for exploring creative flow, and inspiring content related to the inherent challenges and tremendous joy within the creative process. Archives
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