Swap The Scroll

28/04/2022

Need a creative break to help recharge your mental batteries? Try drawing spirals! Done slowing and mindfully it’s incredibly calming. Use your breath to help you focus and slow down.

This video shows you how. Tag with your drawings ✍🏻 I’d love to see them :)

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27/04/2022

26/04/2022

Many people I meet have a fear of creativity. As there is a right or a wrong way of doing it. Or fear of getting it wrong or being ‘bad’. As Elizabeth Gilbert says, we need to address this fear.

Funnily enough there’s an exercise, also inspired by Elizabeth Gilbert on the Swap The Scroll website, to help address your fears. Not only around creativity but anything that’s holding you back.

I’ll pop a link in the bio.

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18/03/2022

A brilliant brainstorming method inspired by one of the greatest creative minds ever, Walt Disney.

As a visiting lecturer at University of Brighton, I’m always on the lookout for effective brainstorming methods. I tried this with my students and it worked brilliantly!

Grab lots of pens and paper and become a dreamer, realist and critic. More info and background on the website. Link in profile 🧠 ⬆️
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25/02/2022

“Fear is always triggered by creativity, because creativity asks you to enter into realms of uncertain outcome. This is nothing to be ashamed of. It is, however, something to be dealt with.”
— Elizabeth Gilbert, Author

It’s time my friends. To face your fear head-on. It’s been holding you back for long enough and now is the time to let it speak openly. Once you let your fear have its voice, you can make the choice to ignore it. Face your fear and do it anyway.

INSTRUCTIONS
This creative mindfulness exercise is simple. Sit quietly with a pen and paper and allow your fear to write for 5 to 10 minutes.

This is an exercise I read about from Elizabeth Gilbert, and it’s remarkably powerful in its simplicity.

REFLECTION
Was it difficult or did you find it easy to allow your fear to take over for a few minutes?
What emotions and sensations were around for you as you wrote?
Do you feel able to let go of your fear now you’ve verbalised it?
What did you learn about yourself from this creative thinking exercise?
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27/01/2022

Hello again 😄 How are your resolutions going?
Don't set them? No neither do I! Setting intentions are a much better idea.⠀
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To help set those intentions, I've been practising dry-January, from social media. To regroup, reflect and tune into what my body and mind truly need.

However reflecting like this, at the beginning of the month, after the craziness of Christmas, feels overwhelming. The dust needs to settle. But I’m making progress!
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I've had to say 'no' to a lot of things in order to 'yes' to other things. But it's made space to see what's REALLY important. Like practising and teaching Creative Mindfulness.

I realised I've never really explained what it is! ⠀
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So there's a fuller explanation on the blog which I'll of course pop a link to in the Swap The Scroll bio.⠀
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There's a Creative Mindfulness course on the way too. It had to be postponed due to life! But you can sign up via another link in the bio as well 😉⠀
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01/12/2021

Lille lørdag, or Little Saturday, is a Norwegian tradition where Wednesdays are treated as mini-weekends.

In this hybrid working world we find ourselves in, take a moment today to decompress or a have mini-treat. From setting up a Zoom quiz, to taking a bath with copious amounts of bubbles and candles, take some time today to treat yourselves.

How will you treat yourself today?

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30/11/2021

Incredibly grateful to my wonderful participants who decided to swap the scroll with me and throw buckets of enthusiasm at my 5 week creative mindfulness course. I learnt more from them than they did from me!

We delved into exploring our 5 senses of sight, touch, smell, sound and taste, using art and mindfulness techniques.

We discovered the unexpected, explored associations and memories and accepted our inner critics. Most of all, we learnt about ourselves in the process.
We learnt to pay more attention to what’s right in front of us and to take time for ourselves which is often lost during our busy days striving, working or lost in our screens.

I’m ‘grabbing the bull by its proverbial horns’ and I have a potential date for a new course starting on Monday 24th January 2022, for 6 weeks from 6pm to 7:30pm UK time.

More details to follow but if you’re interested leave a comment or email
[email protected]

Have an inspired day everybody !
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27/10/2021

“Habits are a dopamine-driven feedback loop. When dopamine rises, so does our motivation to act." ​James Clear⠀
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On Monday I'll be running a workshop "Managing Digital Distractions: For Creativity, Focus & Wellbeing" as part of the We’ll look at digital habits, the myth of multitasking and how to use mindfulness to counteract those unwanted distractions.⠀
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Tickets are on a donation basis and all proceeds will go to the charity whose programme aims to increase pupil wellbeing and outcomes in schools and to promote arts education.⠀
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I'll pop a link in the profile for the event which is online and starts at 1:30pm GMT so you can join from wherever you are :)⠀

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15/10/2021

Let’s Flip Flop! Today’s creative mindfulness exercise, is going to turn your limiting beliefs into positive thoughts that fill you or your team with the self-confidence to achieve your goals and ambitions.

I just attended a brilliant workshop with Clare Griffiths from about innovating as a solopreneur. She gave us so much value and advice about creativity and how to turn our ideas into action.

Clare's workshop reminded me how pleased I am I didn't give up on Swap The Scroll a few weeks ago when the dreaded imposter syndrome stepped in. Because when we are innovating or trying new things it's too easy to come up with why we can't do something and let the blocks get in our way.

Today's creative mindfulness exercise, aptly called the FLIP FLOP, is something I use regularly to challenge limiting beliefs and reverse mindsets to think about how we CAN achieve what sometimes feels like the impossible.

So here's my process in the images in this post. It's more of a FLOP and then a FLIP ;)

Let me know how you get on. You can apply this to your personal life, your business, or even as a team that are trying to innovate new products and services.

As always, I love your feedback.
And if you want to know more about the psychology of our limiting beliefs and this exercise, you can read more on the Swap The Scroll website

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01/10/2021

This is a simple exercise favoured by many art therapists as a way to basically let go and get over yourself! Brilliant for letting go of perfectionism and also a good one to try with kids around 8+ who may have started to develop an inner critic.
More exercise details on the accompanying post on Swap The Scroll https://swapthescroll.com/creative-exercises/drawing-with-your-non-dominant-hand

Please do let me know how you found this one. Usually it makes people giggle quite a bit especially if you try the portrait suggestion 🤪

29/09/2021

"Working on what you love is like salt, it makes everything taste a little better."
Chase Jarvis

This fab quote is from a recent Free guide, published on the Swap The Scroll website, for you to download called "How To Be More Creative & Feel Fulfilled"
https://buff.ly/3odFT4i