I've been reading your posts and many reactions to this chapter are intense! Thank you for so honestly and vividly sharing the struggles, anger, breakthroughs and frustrations you're having. First and foremost, remember that this whole process is meant to be helpful. Martha doesn't have the one right road to joy. You have your own special designed-by-and-for-you road and if these exercises and explorations help you along the way - amazing. If not, tweak them, change them, create new ones or simply say no and know that you have gotten clear on what you are not willing to do, and that's great information. This is your journey.
How about we have a fresh take on creativity?
Brilliant, creative beauties, how can creativity serve you and your dreams?
If you're still struggling to connect to your desires, how can creativity help you uncover what they are? Is it time to make a vision board? Or maybe to do some writing? How about finishing the sentence "What I really want is..." 25 times - no censoring, just letting the pen fly. What about taking photos of moments that evoke your desire? Let creativity help you discover your desire. Getting to know your self and your heart is a beautiful process. Take your time.
And if you know what your desire or desires are, how can creativity bring you closer? What if you brainstormed 50 ideas for making that dream come true? What if you spent a day acting as if it were already true? What if you created a treasure map of the imagined route to your desires? What if you imagined yourself a journalist and asked everyone you talked to, "Hey, if you wanted to be a writer, what's the first thing you would do?"
I know we're working on Risk this week, but I absolutely invite you to try a new exercise, one you adore or that sounds intriguing, and post again for Creativity. We have room :) And if Risk offers the same struggles and reactions, feel free to simply answer the question:
What risk, big or small, will I take this week in support of my desires?
That's it. This is the joy of working through a book this way; we can step off the page and make it our own. I hope this is helpful. If anyone has any questions or wants to talk to me directly about their reactions, please drop me a line at jamie(at)openthedoor(dot)ca.
Friday, October 16, 2009
The Joy Diet: Creativity
Note: I am so sorry about the sound quality of this week's video. I'm not sure what the trouble is but I will be working to resolve it by next week. Thank you for your patience and for letting me know. You can read transcripts of the video here.
In this week's video I talk about Creativity and start to cast forward into our upcoming week of Risk. But here I also wanted to ask you a question about Desire. After spending the week reading your posts about this ingredient, I noticed that many of you knew your desire but didn't name it in your posts and I wondered why. Did it feel tender? Private? Scary to share? What would it be like to proclaim your desire, to say out loud, "I want...."? What's going on in there? I'd love to hear.
And as you step forward into the week of risk, know that all of the energy of this circle is supporting you, that around the world Joy Dieters are getting brave and making a move, creating momentum and opportunity for their desires to take shape on the road to joy!
Thursday, October 15, 2009
The Joy Diet: Creativity Transcripts
The Joy Diet: Creativity
Transcripts from our weekly video
Hey, everybody. Welcome to another week of The Next Chapter and our Joy Diet journey. I’m your host, Jamie Ridler. I’m really excited to be here with you today, and I’m wondering, how was your week with Creativity? What was it like for you to bring your creativity to your desire, to add that as an ingredient in this beautiful concoction of joy we’re creating? I know so many of you are wildly creative with your words, with your paint, with the way you are in the world. And I’m wondering what it was like to bring that creativity to your dreams and start imagining how… how… how could I…? How could I….? What was it like?
Martha gave some great suggestions about how to stretch your brain and how to start to think outside of your own limiting beliefs or the way that you tend to think about things. Because that’s what creativity is, right? It’s stretching beyond and creating something brand new.
And it’s funny because I was actually talking to a client this week about exactly that, that when we want something new, how we have to create new ways of doing things, create new behaviours, create new thoughts and new perspectives. Have you heard that saying – when you keep on doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep getting what you’ve always got.
And so we have this tendency to want something new but we want to take the approach that we’ve always taken to it because that’s where we feel comfortable, that’s what we’re used to. But that road didn’t lead where we wanted to go. We want to go over there, so now it’s a new road and a new perspective and a new approach and a new you and new possibilities. And that can hold a lot of stuff in it.
I know Martha talks about some of the struggle and the challenges and sometimes it doesn’t work out because you’re trying something new. For me, I try to hold that really lightly and playfully, like this is an experiment. And it’s also one of the reasons why I insist on trying to make each step itself fun, so that even if it didn’t work out, at least I had a good time exploring it, you know? At least it was fun to try that colour, even though, yeah, no, that didn’t work. And that is, again, that is a part of the adventure.
So, I’m wondering what it was like for you. And also, if you did get stuck, I know she gives you all these steps of things you can do to try to expand, and then she says, you know, if you still got stuck or you still want to go farther, one of the things you can do is draw on your friends and loved ones and colleagues.
And so, I invite you to do that with this group. If you want even more brainstorming ideas or more suggestions of “How could I do this?” include that in your post this week. “How can I start a successful Etsy shop? What do you think?” “How can I travel to France?” “How can I get my novel published?” Put it out there and let all of us share our creativity and see if we can come up with some wild and woolly and playful and helpful suggestions. What do you think?
And you know, this is all leading—I keep seeing how this is leading up to something, right? Next week, we’re going to be reading about Risk and so we’ll start to get into action on some of the things that have come up in our creative process.
For now, share what Creativity was like for you. Share what it was like to actually start to use those delicious creative skills on the realization of your desire. And if you’d like it, ask for some input on how, how can I do this, because we want you to get there. I want you to get there. I love the idea that we’re all working towards the fulfillment of our desires. That’s really exciting and beautiful, and I’m so glad we’re doing it together.
So, I hope Creativity was a great week. I hope you’re ready for Risk. I know that you’re courageous. And I know that Risk will be amazing.
Transcripts from our weekly video
Hey, everybody. Welcome to another week of The Next Chapter and our Joy Diet journey. I’m your host, Jamie Ridler. I’m really excited to be here with you today, and I’m wondering, how was your week with Creativity? What was it like for you to bring your creativity to your desire, to add that as an ingredient in this beautiful concoction of joy we’re creating? I know so many of you are wildly creative with your words, with your paint, with the way you are in the world. And I’m wondering what it was like to bring that creativity to your dreams and start imagining how… how… how could I…? How could I….? What was it like?
Martha gave some great suggestions about how to stretch your brain and how to start to think outside of your own limiting beliefs or the way that you tend to think about things. Because that’s what creativity is, right? It’s stretching beyond and creating something brand new.
And it’s funny because I was actually talking to a client this week about exactly that, that when we want something new, how we have to create new ways of doing things, create new behaviours, create new thoughts and new perspectives. Have you heard that saying – when you keep on doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep getting what you’ve always got.
And so we have this tendency to want something new but we want to take the approach that we’ve always taken to it because that’s where we feel comfortable, that’s what we’re used to. But that road didn’t lead where we wanted to go. We want to go over there, so now it’s a new road and a new perspective and a new approach and a new you and new possibilities. And that can hold a lot of stuff in it.
I know Martha talks about some of the struggle and the challenges and sometimes it doesn’t work out because you’re trying something new. For me, I try to hold that really lightly and playfully, like this is an experiment. And it’s also one of the reasons why I insist on trying to make each step itself fun, so that even if it didn’t work out, at least I had a good time exploring it, you know? At least it was fun to try that colour, even though, yeah, no, that didn’t work. And that is, again, that is a part of the adventure.
So, I’m wondering what it was like for you. And also, if you did get stuck, I know she gives you all these steps of things you can do to try to expand, and then she says, you know, if you still got stuck or you still want to go farther, one of the things you can do is draw on your friends and loved ones and colleagues.
And so, I invite you to do that with this group. If you want even more brainstorming ideas or more suggestions of “How could I do this?” include that in your post this week. “How can I start a successful Etsy shop? What do you think?” “How can I travel to France?” “How can I get my novel published?” Put it out there and let all of us share our creativity and see if we can come up with some wild and woolly and playful and helpful suggestions. What do you think?
And you know, this is all leading—I keep seeing how this is leading up to something, right? Next week, we’re going to be reading about Risk and so we’ll start to get into action on some of the things that have come up in our creative process.
For now, share what Creativity was like for you. Share what it was like to actually start to use those delicious creative skills on the realization of your desire. And if you’d like it, ask for some input on how, how can I do this, because we want you to get there. I want you to get there. I love the idea that we’re all working towards the fulfillment of our desires. That’s really exciting and beautiful, and I’m so glad we’re doing it together.
So, I hope Creativity was a great week. I hope you’re ready for Risk. I know that you’re courageous. And I know that Risk will be amazing.
Friday, October 9, 2009
The Joy Diet: Desire
As we come off a week of Desire and get ready for Creativity, we've likely also spent this past week reading each other's Truths. Visiting your blogs, I was blown away. What depth and courage and sensitivity you have shared. What heart and what wisdom, what vulnerability and bravery is here. A very special group has gathered for this joy journey. Here's to each of you and to you all. Here's to this precious, unique, glorious joy tribe! May we continue to share our hearts and spirits every step of the way and beyond.
Friday, October 2, 2009
The Joy Diet: Truth
Welcome to Week 3 of our journey! It always takes a little while to settle in, so please, don't sweat it if you're still finding your way or just joining in now. You are always welcome and you'll get your bearings more and more. This week we're sharing our posts on the topic of Truth and getting ready for a week of Desire. How delish is that!
If you were carrying around a little joy-meter, what would you be noticing about the joy in your life? What are you discovering about the relationship of Joy to Nothing and to Truth? Sharing our insights and discoveries brings us all closer to joy!
Friday, September 25, 2009
The Joy Diet: Nothing
I hope that Nothing was a joyful addition to your diet this week, though clearly it comes with its own set of challenges! It will be so interesting to read what everyone's experience has been with this first ingredient of The Joy Diet - and also to see your Vision Cards!
Let's see if I can answer the questions that have come up about posting. Over this past week we have read and started practicing Nothing. Today is when we share our thoughts on that topic. Absolutely you can post tomorrow or Sunday or even later in the week. One thing to note is that you tend to receive more visitors the closer you post to Friday.
Now you can start reading and exploring the exercises for Truth. (Of course, you can start reading earlier if you like, particularly if you want to be able to start the exercises right away.) Next Friday, we'll share our thoughts on that subject. We do have a schedule that will hopefully help here.
As for multiple posts, with so many people participating, it's probably best to share one post a week. That's not a hard and fast rule or anything. It's just being aware of people's time.
If there's anything else you want more clarity on, please ask your question in the comments, and I will answer it there this week.
I also wanted to share some great resources and suggestions that came up this week:
- Kathryn - Collage Diva had the brilliant idea of creating/decorating a recipe box for our Vision Cards. At the end, you'll have a recipe box full of the ingredients for joy! Thank you, Kathryn.
- Lauren pointed out that Martha Beck provides an awesome Joy Diet Journal that you can download here. I've also put this resource on the sidebar. Thank you, Lauren!
Jamie
Friday, September 18, 2009
Welcome to the Journey
Here we are at the beginning of our journey into The Joy Diet
. It's going to be delicious! Today let's introduce ourselves and welcome one another. Let's share our hopes for the next 10 weeks and get ready to dive in.And then, starting today, let's dedicate the week to the first ingredient: Nothing. Martha invites us into a daily practice for Nothing. So take some time to read this short chapter and allow yourself to experience a week filled with spaces. Next week we can share what that experience was like.
In the video, I've also recommended a couple of practices that I hope you'll find fun and supportive over the time we share together. They are totally optional but there for you to play along with if you'd like. If you have trouble viewing the video, let me know and I'll email you the additional prompts.
Now for a wee bit of admin (it is the beginning after all, hehe):
- Schedule: If you're finding the scheduling a bit confusing, here's an outline to help.
- Direct Links: When adding your link to Mr. Linky (the form below) please remember to add a direct link to your week's Joy Diet post. Do not just link to your blog because then readers will have to search for your post instead of landing on it directly. For example, I would add something like www.jamieridlerstudios.ca/thejoydiet-day1 not simply www.jamieridler.ca.
Here's to the joy journey!
Jamie
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