Some days my head feels like it's going to pop. I love being busy, traveling and teaching. And I am ever so thankful for such an awesome, creative life.
But I have one fatal flaw - when I'm stressed, I like to eat sweets. And not just an innocent cookie - if only! Which has caused all sorts of problems that I fight against daily. I know I'm not alone in this. Oh how comforting a Cadbury egg can be when I am barreling through a crazy day!
I thought I would share a few mindfulness techniques that I've learned over the years to help me combat stress and avoid a binge when I'm stressing. I use my beads and creative process as stress-battling skills!
Mindfulness
Practicing mindfulness is just getting really zen and not thinking about anything other than what is in front on you.
- If a wayward stressful thought tries to make it's way in, acknowledge the thought and refocus on what is in front on you.
- Use all your senses and focus on one thing during your mindfulness practice.
- Mindfulness is the opposite of multi-tasking and if you are feeling stressed out from too much on your plate, give it try for 20-30 minutes at a time.
Engage the Senses
I may decide to calm down by sorting beads mindfully.
I'm going to look at the beads, touch the beads, notice the noise they make when they clink together. I look carefully at the beads, notice any patterns or imperfections that make a bead interesting. Notice the difference in colors or textures as I sort through them.
Sorting them, I let the world fall away as I focus on the tray or bowl in front of me. The goal isn't to get a lot done during this session, but to enjoy the process.
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Working Effectively
There are tasks you do as a jewelry-maker that are repetitive and could lend themselves toward mindfulness.
Maybe it's grabbing a bowl of Czech glass flowers and creating wrapped dangles with fancy ball headpins. Or it might be stringing seed beads onto wire, focus only on the task and let all other thoughts fall aside.
Do these simple tasks with no other distractions, focusing on working quickly and effectively.
One Task
The creative process can be a mindful practice, especially if you are doing it instead of a negative behavior like scarfing down a pan of Nutella brownies. (What?)
- Create a space without distractions: turn off the TV if it's in the background, put your phone out of reach and turn off the ringer.
- Pull out your materials for one project only, gather everything you need.
- Listen to calming music while you work.
- Don't be critical or judgemental of your process.
- If something isn't working, think of it objectively. "How can I improve the balance of this design?" or "What feels off?" instead of thoughts like "This sucks."
- Set a timer if you need to get back to reality after a certain time.
- While you are creating, really take notice of what you are touching, seeing, hearing.
Be there, don't let your mind wander to stressful thoughts. Again, if one creeps in, acknowledge the thought and let it go. (How? Just say, yep that's reality but right now I'm working on this necklace. Or yep, I'm so angry about that but right now it's just me and these beads.)
Level Up
The next mindfulness idea is to engross your mind in a very challenging project. Focus only on the task at hand working on mastering the new skill. This should be something that needs 100% of your attention.
Stress Buster
If it helps, have a piece of paper next to your work. If you have a thought nagging you, jot a note down about it and tell yourself you will get to it as soon as you are done with this time.
Treat your mindfulness time as sacred, schedule it in and give it a try. Let's those beads be a tool to bring some calm into your day!
So instead of grabbing a Snickers, go grab those beads and de-stress! Give one of these mindfulness exercises a try this week and let me know how it goes.
6 comments:
I'm gonna try it!!
Great tips!
Your jewellery is just awesome in the true sense of the word. Your colour schemes are so original and inspiring, and I love the way you mix colours to create your own original pallets.
But to marry all the above with your very wise philosophy, in a way that comes across as very calming and wise is something very special and has made me think, actually THINK about what, and why, and how I am trying to make things with polymer clay, which I haven't done before, and I feel that I will now be able to approach it in a totally different way. I intend to print out your words, and add them to your workshops notes. Which I can highly recommend. Thank you so much
I wish I would have read your wise words this afternoon before I scarfed down 3 Reese's peanut butter eggs! :) great article, Heather.
Thank you Lorelei and Kathy!
Lottie - you are such a sweet soul, thank you for finding inspiration here and enjoy digging into those beads and finding peace.
Judith - we are human, one may have found it's way into my belly yesterday too. But when I'm on the verge of turning into a volcano and having a melt down, taking a breath and being mindful does help.
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