< PreviousCREATIVITYBy Catriona PollardIS MORE IMPORTANTTHAN BALANCEWe often talk about the struggles with balancing work and our personal life, but I don’t believe that balance exists. A few years ago the intense pressure of managing my own business and my many other commitments was beginning to take its toll. I was run down and close to burning out. I undertook some honest reflection on how I lived my life. I realised I was lacking creative energy. It wasn’t that I needed more balance, it was deeper than that. The type of creativity I was looking for wasn’t about perfection but more about exploration and play. WHYot only did I find my untamed creative spirit, I experienced these three things that helped to reframe and reenergise my life. A big part of what I needed was a way to slow down physically and mentally. So when I discovered sculptural basketry, I was hooked from the moment I picked up a vine to weave. Plus, it combined nature, imagination, and beauty in a way that was open to my interpretation and imagination. Creating traditional crafts has been quietly making a comeback. I believe that this is the result of the digital landscape that seems to have enveloped our lives, as well as a desire to escape from the busy schedule that absorbs most of our time. Creating art allows you to slow down, relax your mind, and get in touch with your inner wisdom. Similar to meditation, which some might find too hard, practices like weaving and painting force us to do one thing at a time, slowly. For me, creating art is about being still, feeling the earth beneath my feet and letting the beauty emerge. NI SLOWED DOWN 1Ruffle My Tutu Baby - Cartriona Pollard2It is well known that art allows you to combine right brain imagination with left brain logic, which then helps to increase the capacity for breakthrough ideas and insights. Doing art allows me to see and appreciate new perspectives. It unlocks a problem solving mechanism in my unconscious that has not only has it helped me to overcome challenges in my day-to-day life, but also challenges in my business. Every art work is unique and has a different perspective, which is what I love about basketry. If you were to give 10 people the same plant fibre and teach them the same technique, each person would produce 10 unique baskets. I FOUND NEW PERSPECTIVES You Are My Angel - Catriona Pollard3I LOOKED AT THINGS WITH FRESH EYES When out on a walk, you could walk past a fallen branch and not even notice that it’s there. But now when I see that fallen branch I see the beginnings of a new sculpture. It’s aboutseeing potential, which may not be readily apparent. Most of us have become so disconnected from nature to the point that we’re barely paying attention to the beauty that’s around us. Instead our eyes are glued to our mobile screens, checking our news feeds and missing out of moments that nature is gifting us. Next time you find yourself glued to your phone, consider are you missing a beautiful sunset, wildlife rustling in the grass, or a leaf drifting by in the breeze. Now I make the effort to be present in my surroundings to pay attention to nature’s beauty. I don’t always succeed, but it’s opened my eyes to new sense of beauty and joy. Sisters - Catriona PollardEMBRACE YOUR CREATIVITYBy Anna Parker-Naples 5 WAYS TOIt cost me a great deal, and made me miserable. You see, I had this belief, sitting somewhere in my subconscious mind, that I couldn’t be creative and be a ‘good’ mum. My particular preference for being creative was to perform. To be alive and engaged in the rehearsal room, to create workshops and plays from scratch, surrounded by other actors. I was working as a professional actress when I found out I was pregnant. It was all I had ever dreamed I could be, and after a few years of struggling post-drama school, I finally felt like I was making headway. For many years, I denied my impulse to be creative. WI did not believe I could make it all work together. Turning away from that part of my being, that instinctive part of me that wanted to explore, create and make art, was painful. I knew I wanted to be at home with my baby, and later my children, but something was not right. I was unhappy & unfulfilled. I’ve always loved a self-help book, and many of the books I found would encourage creativity for its own sake as a way to personal contentment. When I was at a miserable low, not being and expressing who I really am, I became even more unhappy after a difficult third pregnancy left me in a wheelchair, unsure if I would walk again. Something had to change.The books I read encouraged people to be kind to themselves, and embrace their creativity for the sake of being creative, rather than for the sake of being good or brilliant. This was revelatory for me. I’d always wanted to be the best and to be recognised for that in someway by the people around me. hen I found out I was pregnant, I made the decision tostop performing, there and then.there’s no point doing anything at all’, crossed my mind on many, many occasions. Back then, I did not know or understand the power of our thoughts. I could not have known that I would later teach people the importance of being mindful about what we say to ourselves and about ourselves. I could not have known that that my first explorations into creativity would start me on a journey towards helping other women make more time for themselves, inthe form of my self-development club Inspiring Mummy Club. I started small, allowing myself to explore being creative without the pressure of having success. I gave myself permission to be a bit rubbish, and to fail. I did not throw myself headlong into performing again, not initially. I started with simple things. Sketching a plant inthe garden. he thought, ‘If I can’t do it (be creative or perform) properly,TI started making time to sing songs from musicals that I used to enjoy, and picking up the flute that I had played as a child. It reminded me that I was more than I was allowing myself to be. It reminded me that I was a creative being, and that expressing myself made me content, fulfilled and happy. Slowly, slowly, my confidence built and I allowed myself to recover my dreams and ambitions, and to heal my heart from the loss of my creativity for so long. As I write this now, it makes me smile, because that journey, and that decision not to feel that way, or have those thoughts any longer, led to me becoming an award-winning Voice Actor, working from my home studio and picking up the kids from school every day. That journey took me to the red-carpets in Hollywood as a respected performer, because I allowed myself the time and space to be creative again, to be who I really am. aking decent photos of beautiful things (rather than just of my kids!). TIt’s not about success, it’s about being who you are, and about finding contentment in the small things. There’s a form of Mindfulness in creative pursuits, which allows you to breathe and connect with who you are, beyond the fuss and pressure of everyday life. Do what make you happy. Find a way to be creative. urge you to make room for creativity. IPick up a paintbrush and some paper, and allow yourself to put down whatever comes to mind. Be playful, and paint without pressure. This is not for anyone’s viewing, so it doesn’t need to be perfect. It just needs you to focus and engage with the paint on the page. FIVE WAYS TO RE-EMBRACE YOUR CREATIVE SIDE: Sit down with a notepad and pen, and begin to jot down rhymes or simple stories that come into your head. It doesn’t matter whether the stories are any good, all that matters is that you allow your naturalcreative thoughts a space on the page. Did you learn an instrument when you were younger? See if you can pick it up again. You’ll be amazed at how much of that old knowledge comes back to you. The joy of making music is a simple creative pleasure, whether you’re playing Mozart or Three Blind Mice. 321Next >