Living in the Sparklezone - Lisa Mitchell's blog

Following your passions

Well, I seem to have let this blogging slide a bit over the last few weeks but am now back! To be honest, it's not been a bad thing. Actually I've been out doing loads of different exciting things thanks to doing the Artists Way - you can read details about this in a previous post. Anyway, what I've re-discovered and wanted to share is how amazing it is when you start to really enjoy your passions again.

I guess we all fall into it from time to time - work gets really busy, we have a hectic social life and tell ourselves that we don't have time to do the things we really want to do. I've always had a tendancy to let duty over-ride pleasure (blame my Catholic upbringing!) but starting your own business has its particular challenges in that regard particularly if you work from home. Always an extra email to answer or the possibility of work that you can't say no to. And, before you know it, work is about all you are doing and you're feeling a bit flat although you can't work out exactly what's wrong.

Well, over the last few weeks I've really challenged myself to turn around my perspective on what is important and allow a lot more fun and pleasure into my life. So, each day I start the day with something I really want to do and I have nice breaks in the day even if is just 10 minutes walking by the sea or phoning a friend. And, guess what, I'm still getting my work done and I'm really enjoying myself! In the last few weeks I've been on a day singing workshop which was fantastic, re-vamped my flat so it feels like a lovely place to live, started jogging again and booked a tandem paraglide amongst other things.  Ok, I haven't done the paraglide yet and am terrified but I guess you have to push your boundaries a bit every so often!

The other interesting thing about doing things that really give you pleasure is that it starts to shed some light on the rest of your life too. I've realised how passionate I am and always have been about travel and how being somewhere inspiring really helps you to challenge the status quo in your life. So, myself and a partner are now about to form Sparklezone Holidays. We intend to take people away to amazing locations where they can really think about their lives in a different way and create real shifts in their lives. Watch this space - first launch due for mid next year.

So, I've really become an advocate for doing what you love. It really is transformative even if the changes you make are small. So, if you are working too hard, not having enough fun or just can't remember the last time you had a real belly laugh about something ridiculous, take some time out and do something that pushes your boundaries. You may feel a little ridiculous at the time but I guarantee you'll also feel fantastic and it will put a spring in your step for the rest of the day.

The Thorny Issue of Creativity

Do you ever feel like somebody or something is trying to tell you something? That all of a sudden you get the same message from a number of different people or places. Often it’s not what you want to hear or it’s not in the format you are looking for so you try to ignore it or push it away thinking its not for you but it just keeps hitting you over the head until finally you have to take notice.

Well, creativity seems to be one of those topics for me. Now I have to say that I have never considered myself a creative person. At school I was one of the academic ones and therefore focused on subjects that were for the 'bright' pupils and would lead to a good education and university which I duly did and performed well in. I do vaguely remember writing short stories as a child but that's about it and I can't remember them ever being particularly memorable. Oh, and I won a pair of armbands once in a colouring competition!

But secretly I've always envied those people who I considered to be naturally creative. People who could take amazing photographs or produce paintings or write a novel. I've always been pretty much in awe of these people and considered that there are two camps - the creative and the not creative of which I obviously belonged firmly in the latter. And yet, it's been bugging me. And deep down I guess I wanted to discover whether there was some latent creativity buried deep deep inside me somewhere....

So, coming back to those messages. I have lost count of the number of people over the last few months you have mentioned a book called ‘The Artists Way’ by Julia Cameron. It’s all about reconnecting with your creativity and finding ways of releasing your ‘artist child’. Yes, sounds a bit flaky I know and I, for one, have to get over the Americanism of it to be able to take it in. I was also approached by a friend to help her on a creativity project in her business and another friend is married to someone who works for a creativity company. And so, I decided I could ignore it no longer and had to dip my toe in the water.

So two weeks ago I started a course on The Artists Way. The belief is that everyone is creative naturally and we just have to tap into that creative source and allow our creativity to flow. I have to admit to having no small amount of scepticism about this and also some fear that I might do this process of delving inside myself only to discover that there is nothing to discover!!

Well, even in two weeks I have been surprised. One exercise you do in the book is to write 'morning pages' each morning. Just writing 3 pages of stream of consciousness stuff and seeing what comes out. I recommend it as an exercise to everyone out there who has the same amount of crap and stories that go around their heads every day as I do; a condition I affectionately refer to as 'buzzy brain'. There is something about doing this exercise that just clears the rubbish out of your head and allows the good stuff to flow.

The other main focus is having an 'artists date' every week where you take 2 hours and do something fun on your own and just for you to release your 'artist's child'. Ok, you have to get over the corny American language. What I realised is that I do very little just for the simple fact that it is fun. Yes, I exercise and I love it but it has a purpose of keeping fit. I meditate and enjoy it but that's to calm my brain. Ask yourself, when was the last time you did something just because you felt like it and for the hell of it? My current list includes cartwheels on the beach (highly recommended even if people think you are mad!), paddling in the sea, singing at the top of my voice and painting a picture that looks like a 5 year old did it. I'm vaguely embarrassed about my current efforts and am definitely not going to show them to anyone but it is also strangely liberating to allow yourself to behave like a child and have some serious fun!

So this leads me in a rambling way to my main question. Are we all naturally creative as Julia Cameron would lead us to believe? Or, are we all creative but some more creative than others? I guess I'm starting to move out of the sceptical camp and actually this blog is part of expressing my creativity because I love to write and share my thoughts with you all.

Part of the issue has to be in the word. What does 'creativity' mean anyway? I don't know about you, but as soon as someone says we are all going to be creative I automatically shut down a bit and feel under pressure. Not the best way to release those creative juices... So maybe we are all creative but in our own way. And I do believe that as children creativity is often not encouraged to grow and develop. When you see a child paint or draw they aren't worried about whether it's any good or not. They are just drawing from their imagination and their hearts. Its only when we impose the adult view of reality - trees must be green, flowers can't live in the sky - that their imagination starts to shut down.

So, I'd love to hear your views on creativity. Are we all creative? What is unexpressed in you right now that you could tap into if you gave yourself the chance? And I challenge you to do one fun, frivolous thing everyday for the next week and see what the impact is on your life. One rule – it can’t have any useful outcome! Enjoy.

Welcome to the Sparklezone blog!

My first ever post on this site - I feel like a writer faced with a blank sheet before they put pen to paper!

So welcome and what's is Sparklezone? Well, I guess I should introduce myself and tell you what this Sparklezone thing is all about. My name is Lisa Mitchell and I am a coach who set up Sparklezone as an entity a year and a half ago. Even now, when I write or say the name it makes me smile and it seems to have that effect on other people too so I hope just the thought of it has made your day a little lighter.

The essence of Sparklezone has always been to connect people to what is really important inside them, to what makes them 'sparkle'. We all know people who we are instinctively drawn to for some reason; people who have charisma or presence, who seem so comfortable in their own skin. Well, for me, that sparkle is possible for each and every one of us when we connect to what is really important to us, to who we really are at our core.

I set up Sparklezone to help people to reconnect to themselves and to live their lives from this place. I meet a lot of people who feel disconnected or dis-satisfied with their lives in some way that they can't quite put their finger on, who have a general sense that there is more to life. It seems to be a malaise of our society, that there is less organised religion, less structure around us and more choice and more affluence than ever before and yet many of us are more cut off and dis-satisfied than ever. We spend money on houses, cars, material possessions in the hope that they will fulfil us but somehow they never do, so we keep moving on to the next thing and the next... Well, the truth is not a new one but one that bears repeating; the answer to your happiness lies inside you and is more accessible than you think. Once you are able to tap into and reconnect to who you really are, being truely fufilled is in your grasp. Believe me, I speak from many years of experience of ignoring a vague sense that my life wasn't what I wanted it to be. Luckily I found a coach and that helped me to see that I could love my life without having to be penniless in the process!

I am a coach primarily but have a strong belief that a combination of physical and emotional work brings the most satisfying, long lasting and life changing results. I believe that physical health and well being is essential to provide a platform for emotional change. I also believe that there are a huge number of ways out there that we can start to feel better about ourselves and that could be through coaching, massage, yoga or simply a fantastic facial - whatever does it for you!

This is the direction I see Sparklezone moving to in the next year and I'd love to hear from you if you are a therapist living in Brighton or London who would be interested in linking with Sparklezone in the future. Or if you know of fantastic therapists you could put me in touch with. I'd love to meet massage therapists, homeopaths, yoga teachers, meditation teachers, nutritionists, wardrobe and image consultants, beauty therapists - and many more I haven't even thought of yet! So if you are passionate about creating change in people's lives and seeing them sparkle, get in touch.

And my intention is that this blog acts as a way to share my thoughts and experience on what helps to create change in people's lives. I hope you find it useful and inspiring and would love to have your comments and input.