Friday, May 31, 2013

Ginny Lennox explains Creativity coaching for your daily life

                                                                                                                                        
Ginny, a certified Kaizen-Muse Creativity Coach, believes that each and every day is filled with special moments to be enjoyed and treasured.  On her blog, Special Moments in Time ( http://www.ginnylennox.weebly.com ), Ginny encourages everyone to recognize and celebrate their own special moments each day.

I met Ginny years ago at Jamie Ridler Studios and got to know her better through our weekly creative meetings. I saw her bloom as artist through Paint Party Friday and I asked her to share one of her favourite paintings to illustrate week #22. This is the one she chose and why:

This is a pastel I painted of the beach which is my favorite place to be. I never felt that I could call myself an artist but when I painted this I felt that I could claim the title even though I was mostly self taught. -- Ginny

There is so much more I wanted to know about her creative work that I invited her to talk about it. 

Living a Creative Life – One Small Step at a Time

I was really excited when Paula asked if anyone wanted to join her as a guest blogger.  It is always fun to have an opportunity to meet other bloggers and tell them a little about my world. 

Seven years ago my world changed quite a bit when I retired from teaching.  At first I was lost but then I found a wonderful new creative community and I haven’t looked back since.  It all started when I took yoga classes which opened up a whole new world for me.  After yoga I ventured into writing and then painting.  Each step led me to what I am doing now which is working with all types of people as a certified Kaizen-Muse Creativity Coach.

The first thing people usually ask me is “What is a creativity coach?”  The answer is simple really.  I work with people of all ages to help them overcome anything that is standing in their way of making their dreams come true.  So many of us suffer from procrastination, from perfectionism, and from just plain old fear of not really knowing what we want to do next.  It’s normal to have those feelings.  What I love to do is to work with creative dreamers to help them discover how they can overcome those nasty old gremlins that we all seem to have from time to time.

 The next question I am asked is “How does the creativity in creative coaching come into play?”  When we are working together we might write something, draw something, or have a guided meditation.  We might take five or ten minutes to write a list or begin a blog post.  Doodling is always encouraged and thinking outside of the box is definitely something that helps.  But if this type of thing does not work for you, then a simple conversation between two friends can be very creative in its own right.  I’ve been fortunate to work with people on Facetime, through Skype, and of course in person.  It is exciting to meet and work with people from all over the world.

Many people believe that they are not creative.  I disagree.  I believe that we are all creative individuals.  We may show our creativity in different ways but we are all creative.  From the clothes we choose to wear, to the way we decorate our house, to the pictures we take, or the stories we write we are expressing our individual creativity.  I have learned that when we recognize and celebrate our unique creativity it makes our world just that much richer. 

One of the Kaizen-Muse strategies that helps just about everyone is the concept of taking small steps to get where you want to go.  It is easy to become so overwhelmed with a project or a transition in life that we don’t know what to do first.  But when you take the project and break it down into teeny tiny steps it makes even the most overwhelming task become not only manageable but enjoyable.  And that is the other thing that happens when we work together.  We laugh, we have fun, and we make things easy.  One of my clients said that it was like having your own personal cheerleader. 

I believe that in this world we all need support and we all need to be surrounded by supportive people.  Sometimes we are very lucky and we see and talk to supportive people every day.  Sometime we receive the support we need from our friends in the blogging world.  And sometimes the extra support you get from a coach makes your creative circle complete.  I have had a great deal of support from a wide variety of people throughout my life. I just want to do for others what those people have done for me. 

If you are thinking about starting a new project and don’t know where to begin, give yourself time to think and to plan.  Then start by taking one small step at a time.  If you get stuck, ask yourself, “What’s worked in the past?”  These are some of the very basic things that will help you get over the initial obstacles that may stand in your way.  I have many other Kaizen-Muse strategies that I write about on my blog "Special Moments In Time" ( www.ginnylennox.weebly.com ) each Wednesday.  Two of the topics I talk about which are near and dear to my heart are self-awareness and self-care.   When we know who we are and what we love to do, making decisions becomes easier.  Part of living a full rich life begins with self-care.     

I’d like to thank Paula once again for having me as a guest.  Because of her I have read The Artist’s Way with a wonderful group of women, have learned lots and lots about taking pictures and scrapbooking, and have a much neater kitchen.  She is a great friend to have and one of those wonderful people who gives lots and lots of support to others.  Thank you Paula for all that you do!

Something to remember:  When you share your gifts and talents with the world magic happens!
                                                                   Let the magic begin today!

You can find my dear friend, talented artist and Creativity Coach Ginny Lennox on line:
Website      Special Moments In Time                       http://www.ginnylennox.weebly.com

Email                                                                                ginny.lennox@comcast.net

It´s been a real pleasure to have you as my guest Ginny! Looking forward to following your art and your coaching posts.

9 comments:

Ginny said...

Paula, thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to explain what I do to people I may not have had the opportunity to meet. It was really fun getting to be a guest on your blog.

Lisabella Russo said...

The pastel is very pretty. I love the soft colors.

Anonymous said...

The pink in those waves reflecting the light is marvelous. Happy PPF

Faye said...

Paula, the shore scene is gorgeous. I love how the waves come crashing up onto the rocks. Beautiful.

Christine said...

beautiful painting!

Nikki@WonderfullyWomen said...

I do love getting my craft on, just don't have a lot of time for it unfortunately. :)

Dale Darley said...

I am inspired to find out more about being a creativity coach. I adore all kinds of creativity and must, must do more painting - I have the stuff all collecting dust.

Actually one of my friends has challenged me to paint something for her when I am away in July!!

www.dorissdaughter.com said...

Wonderful atmospheric painting:)HPPF

Christine said...

Inspiring post from Ginny, she is definitely an artist as well.

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