How to expres and discover yourself through mindfulness and creativity.

Last two weeks I've was talking about what is the self-expression and self-discovery and this week is all about how to express and discover yourself by using mindfulness and creativity.

I stopped using "mindful art" in my practice as I resonate more with "mindful creativity" - as sometimes we may do journaling or write a poem. Also I don't want to overwhelm people with the word art, as it might bring really negative memories from school and self-doubt won't let us explore or even try.

Mindfulness in creativity takes us to a place where we can explore without the need of being "good at it", sometimes by using techniques like drawing with closed eyes or observing watercolour paint dancing and blending together with other colours. You can express yourself with big or small strokes or fast movements, by using variety of colours or limit yourself and see what may come up.

The expression of your being actually is that playfulness and courage to try what your hands and heart are telling you.

The most difficult aspect in mindful creation is to make a way out of our brain and logical thinking into doing, in our body this is because the

Main purpose of our brain is to keep us safe, so everytime (even when you are not aware) it gets out any negativity stored in our past experiences to keep you alive. If you had any negative experience in arts, which is most likely, it's hard to tap into body creation rather than compare, expect and desire some kind of outcome.

That's the first thing we look at when trying mindful creation, that's why at the beginning of the session I like to do a little gentle intro meditation, which nicely get you back into your body and calm you enough for that courageous playfulness in creative activities.

Then I show you the activity but also invite and encourage to do it your own way. Many times people will ask - can i do it that way? Is it OK to try this or that? That's normal - that's okey, i will always reply "if you want to - it's your creation" . Our brain often look for someone to guide us because that's how we were raised, "always do what teacher say", or being punished for trying something new. So that's the most challenging, not the creation end result itself, and the moment where mindfulness and awareness steps in and give us this longing for just being and creating without a worry in the world.

So that's how you can express and discover yourself with creative mindfulness - just letting yourself be with yourself and not wanting to change a thing. It extremely helped me when I was burned out from my profession and always in my head in art, who's going to like it, if I am going to sell it, what would other think etc... Now I create everyday not caring about anything else than my own happiness and expression - discovering myself again and again each day.