[In this series, Creative Blog Profiles, joshpcreative.com takes a peek at what other creative bloggers are producing and profiles them here. They don’t necessarily know it’s happening (although we do the pingback/trackback where we can), so we’re prepared to remove an entry if they get mad. Hopefully they won’t. We just want to find creative stuff to tell you about.]
Rolling through blogs this morning, I parked my eyes at a post about a simple way to help children feel better about themselves. The stop? “Piper Flint – Jolie and Piper’s Writing.” The simple post is only about 70 words, and it has a great idea for a way to inspire kids (and adults!). It’s a colorful block with the words, “I am…” When you are feeling down, you’re supposed to write a word on it that completes the sentence and inspires you and brings a feeling of love. So, if you write “happy,” it would then say, “I am…happy.” Check out the post here.
Aside from the great UX of the post (short, sweet, and self-explanatory), it provides a valuable reminder as we cruise through our creative passions. When we get down on our writing, art, or whatever, and believe that it’s not good enough, the tendency may be to scrap it all and give up. But what if we were able to open a page and write a few words? What if we set up a blank canvas and made just one colorful brush stroke? Would that get the motor running? Would it inspire us to remember why we do what we do? One word. One stroke. One reminder….
You see, Piper Flint’s love block project isn’t just about changing our thoughts from sadness or depression to love. It’s also about changing the emotions with which we surround ourselves. So, if you’re having a thought that you’re not good enough as a(n) [enter creative pursuit here], you are also creating emotions around that thought to color your world. If you can remind yourself that you are [enter positive word here], it might make you think better. If you think better you might feel better. If you feel better you might take positive actions. And from there? Well, anything’s possible.
So, take Piper Flint’s advice. Make an “I am…” block, page, note, or whatever. Put it where you can see it. Better yet, put it near a project you’re struggling to finish. If you think you aren’t good enough, put down a positive word and then get to work on being the best, most creative version of youself you can possibly imagine.
And if nothing else, you have a cool block with some great words on it.