Do you struggle to keep up with your thoughts and running mental to-do list? Well, I do! Once I finally get a minute to relax from household and mommy duties, my mind races. I’d like to share my latest secret: there is a way to tame this fast-paced, high-stress level, full-speed-ahead way of thinking… tap into your right-brain and SLOW DOWN.
I have been trying to live my pre-mom life for over three years now. Lol. I usually have so much I want/need to accomplish in any given day and I rarely let myself have some stillness. I am needing some slow nourishment.
You can use short mindless and fun creativity sessions to create more calm in your daily life. After ten minutes of doodling, I find I am energized, rejuvenated and uplifted. Once you start balancing your thoughts this way on a regular basis, you’ll start to feel much more connected to YOU.
It’s so important to take small creative breaks. I never realized it before taking Renee Yemma’s Calm Mama e-course, a 6-week e-mail course filled with self-care tips and inspiration about reconnecting with yourself through creative activities like doodling and painting.
Let me remind you about left-brain and right-brain thoughts. Most of us live in a very left-brain dominated world, full of logical thoughts, critical close-mindedness, worries, and judgements. On the other hand, right-brain attributes are “creative, visual, intuitive, inventive, open-minded.” Scientists have found that the left hemisphere of the brain is responsible for any routine knowledge (like language we speak everyday) and the right-brain is responsible for NEW knowledge (like learning a new language). It shouldn’t surprise you, then, that the right brain is very dominant in children as they process new information daily. As we grow and get into our routines, we become left-brain dominant.
And the more we use and exercise our left-brains, the more unbalanced we get. The trouble is… as adults, we are constantly thinking about what we need to do next. When I’m playing with my daughter, I am rarely just playing with her. I’m usually thinking about next steps, making dinner, what I need to work on next, etc. So the Calm Mama course was perfect for me because it didn’t require me to do anything major. I spent 10 minutes with a piece of paper and some crayons and called it an accomplished task. I even did it with my daughter some days and we had fun with it.
I started remembering things I used to love doing like dancing to music around the house. I started reconnecting with fun art techniques. I started walking around with my iPhone camera on just to “capture inspiration and gratitude.” I have even started letting myself sit still and do nothing! Well, ok, I did that exactly twice but it’s a start!
I just loved playing with color for the sake of feeling the paintbrush glide across the paper or just noticing which colors I’m drawn to. I highly recommend playing this way, without any rules. Find activities that light you up from within. Maybe there’s something you used to do that you could tap into again?
Love the creativity and recommendtions. 😉
happy mom, happy home! great recommendations! thanks for sharing.
Awesome post, Naomi. I am all about the right brain breaks … thank you!
What a great post! I AM the same way, always wired and thinking about the next task ahead, rarely enjoying my present task or play and it’s just exhausting. This course you talk about sounds so promising, I will take a look. Your drawings look so calming I have to say! So happy that I have decided to Unravel with such a creative soul like you.
Patricia, I’m so glad you came to visit… I LOVE your blog and am now following via my Google Reader. 🙂
Just looking at your artwork makes me relax! I love to color and I’m going to start this today!! Thanks for the reminder that we all need to take a few minutes to just breath!
Wonderful! Let me know what you think. It’s been fun for me. 🙂
Funny that you should post coloring as a way to take a creative break … Reminds me of years ago when I met a guy I was dating for a coloring date! It was so fun … And I noticed something else … I couldn’t color and ta at the same time! lol
How funny! It must be using similar parts of your brain. 🙂
Thanks so much for the reminder. Just wanted you to know that you made a difference in my day 🙂 I spent the first 1/2 hour of my work time finishing a piece of artwork. Also, I really tried to stay in the present on my walk today. I realized just how much I’m living in the future.
I am so glad… making a difference in one person is all I could ask for or dream of!
What fun! Love you creativity and love the idea of just sitting and coloring and being creative. I will have to give it a try!!!
Yes, do! Just on a scratch sheet of paper while watching tv…
Calm Mama, huh? Sounds like I could use some “Calm Gaga!” I used to LOVE to color! I think maybe I need to do that again! Thanks for sharing this, Naomi!
I love doodling it’s very relaxing must look at the app Sally mentioned…
There are a couple of IPad apps which are great for this. The last one I bought was PAPER. Very cool.
Ooh thanks, Sally. I’ll have to try that!