Psychoactivate Healthy Habits of a Happy Writer or Artist of ANY Persuasion

PsychoActivate Healthy Habits of a Happy Writer (or Artist of ANY Persuasions)

1. Your Inner Body (IB) what it needs so it can support your inner writer (IW). Little You (LY) may long for caffeine, sugar, or alcohol, but IB really wants carrots, kale and organic apples. Gradually begin conscious choices and healthfully eating for the stamina, good health, and the sensory experience of it. (Notice your carrots when you eat them, their color and crunch. Smell that onion; look closely at its layers and textures.) Eat several small meals throughout the day; begin with including a salad or Power Green smoothie with every meal.

2. Being Physical awakens Being Cerebral- LY, (Little You)…sitting at your desk all hours of the day and night, frozen in the same pose for hours… this is not yoga, it’s Cement! “Sit 45! Move 5 Feel Alive”; stretch, exercise, work out, twist about, stand up and BREATHE three conscious breaths, saunter outside and “revive” looking at the horizon. When you nourish and move The Writer, IB (Inner Being) feeds the brain: so walk, run, bicycle, or swim, touch the earth with your feet. Note: Do this alone so you can pay attention to your body and notice your environment- this feeds the brain! 5 measly minutes.

3. Look for Laughs, not Gasps- You take big breaths when you laugh out loud. Laughing helps rid the body of toxins. So allow a little “lighten up.” Take a break from work and play with your puppy or your child or your sister’s child. Look at cartoons; tell a joke; share with friends. Find something funny in the world and let loose belly laughs. Create a conscious playground for Your Muse. You’ going to look at social or other media anyway; might as well use it to Fill the Well instead of getting all riled up shouting “what the hell!”

4. Reading enriches the Spirit and revitalizes the brain. STRETCH the mind by reading the best writers. Read on two levels: one as a reader and one as a writer. Study how other writers use language, how they construct a piece. Notice what you love about certain writers. Read aloud before you write, read something really good, that you did or didn’t write. Fill the air with the Perfume of the Soul!

5. Skin dive into another form of Art…immerse yourself in music, photography, dance, painting, sculpture, film, theater. Keep open books of art in your writing space, a basketful of postcard art to leaf through. If music distracts you while you write, listen at other times when you can absorb the music and it is not just a background sound. Visit a museum; walk in a sculpture garden. Browse about an Architectural Bookstore. Let other art evoke, enliven, enrich your own.

6. Any Spiritual Practice will take your art and your life to a whole new level. Make time every day (or several times a day) to consciously go to that place you name Sacred - through prayer, meditation, or simply being mindful and present in the present. Make time for whatever you do to that keeps you in touch with your spiritual self, even it it turns out to be simply gazing into the green, green, green of a potted plant!

7. NOTICE - Notice the quality of light, the heft of air, color of sky, faces, clouds, flowers, garbage, graffiti - all of it. Slow down and ALLOW attention. Stop during your walks and examine a leaf. Read the writing in shop windows. Observe people getting on a bus, the bus driver, the stink of the bus exhaust. NOTICE.

8. Compassion is Alchemy! You will reap a Soul with Veins of Gold- Do something good or kind for someone or the planet. Speak to someone you don’t know, smile, help a friend (or a stranger), plant a flower, reuse a paper bag, walk instead of driving. Be generous with whatever you have to give; a smile and a kind word moves mountains.

9. Connect with another writer – ARRANGE to meet a writing friend for coffee, write a letter to a writer whose work you admire, make a phone call to a writer friend. Attend a poetry reading, a book signing; take part in a workshop. Write with someone. Go on-line to a writers' chat room, e-mail a poem to a friend, walk down the street handing out little poems to passer’s by.

10. Write Today- Sometime, someplace, every day, honor your IW, Inner Writer with investments of time, gradually or all at once you will begin to see!