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Recharging Your Batteries

Welcome back to fulfilling your creative purpose with me and ray here a creative life, and we're going to be going into week number six, and we're gonna start by lesson twenty six, which is about recharging your batteries. So this nice color graphic that displays ah where we're at and, um, where we're at the end, he at all filled in all the colors. Um, don't you just love because I love my color wheel? Um, if you're following along in the discovery journal, you'll want to turn to page number forty, lesson twenty six and this is about recharging your batteries ofyou refueling your tank, you basically, if you're goingto ifyou're goingto run this marathon, which is creative enterprise, you're gonna have to have the energy to do it because you are the factory, you're the people who run the factory, you are you're everything. So all your pieces and parts need to be working and you need to shut down for maintenance. Um, so that's, where we're going to start with this overarching theme for th...

is week, which is starting where you are, where you at in terms of your health, your fitness, your sleep? Um, your diet, you know, I don't this isn't a, you know, it's, just an opportunity for you to take this brief time and do an honest assessment of where you're at because you may be leaking energy again you're going to need a lot of energy going to a lot of horsepower to maintain a creative enterprise I'll just check in with the studio audience uh, felix does what you do take some energy? Absolutely yes and, uh do you have a practice of replenishing it? I sure do I like to be out nature like to goto rivers streams swimming when it's warm out, I like to find swimming holes throughout this area, right? So actually reconnecting with nature has a positive effect and dr pratt dr george pratt um, talks about the scientific evidence of observing fractals fractals are patterns in nature and I can't explain it because I'm not a scientist I'm not gonna pretend to be one but there's loads of evidence that talk about the health, the benefit of health effects, psychological emotional fix that actually reconnecting with nature. So it sounds like that's the way that you recharge your batteries because what you do takes an enormous amount of emotional energy and creative energy, and after twelve years I've just realised that about two years ago that I need to be a nature more so you identified your pattern of recharging is to go and get to be with nature outside campaign gold panning whatever it is great looking for gold it's fun, right? It's fun trying strike it rich just having fun, right? Okay, so, everyone, you're never different answer depending on who you are like what I like to do is I do the exercises that dr george pratt I gave all of us freely. I do those exact three exercises every day and meditate for, uh, twenty minutes every day. And I run in the presidio that's what I do, you have to copy what I do. You have to copy would felix does what you do right now, though write it down, write down and commit to some kind of protocol that's going to work for you to recharge your batteries? You have to do this because again you're the factory and you've gotta have horsepower to run that factory, that factory has to shut down for maintenance. One of the areas where the artists who I mentor start to struggle is they have these ambitious, smart work smarter goals, which I have them identify, and they work their tail off trying to accomplish those goals. If they don't take a break and recharge their battery, they'll start to bail. They'll start to get discouraged, will start to think that their goal is to ambitious or they'll just have a hissy fit, it'll do somethingto undermine their success because they're exhausted and you need to recharge and so that's their way of putting the brakes on making progress. So remember, we did this exercise of being the boss of use when we really, really deliberate about taking breaks and recharging. So felix that's a great example of being in nature and just chilling out panning for gold. Um, and I'm gonna I'm gonna ask john on, I'll work this way. John, what do you do to refill your tank? Um, I exercise every day you guys every day and, um, how long do mind you asking less than twenty minutes really intense exercise? Okay, all right. And you're gonna say something, you're gonna meditate soon? I'm goingto start meditating after what jonathan field said, I'm gonna be doing that it another meditation experiment, which was something I'd done in the past that I found really valuable and then just making sure I eat really well and get sleep and spend time outside every single day, okay, if I don't do that to get a little nuts, so we talk a lot. So my guest, jonathan fields, talked about the value of meditation in his success of his business, not just his personal life, because it definitely has a has had an effect on his health and his personal life but is definitely an effect on his business. And if you've ever tuned into the good life project is a number of other folks who appeared on the good life project who were also whether they say it during the interview where I happen to know they also meditate so as I shared before, you know city instead of sitting down to meditate for twenty minutes is pretty daunting if you've never done it before I would not encourage that you start there if you remember back to the lesson with craig swan swanson is a co founder of creative live he gave an example of building habits and one of the things he talked about is when they train horses to jump they don't have them jump over something they have them step over a log and then step over log again and then they make the log a little bit higher a little bit of higher so my suggestion to you is if you would like to start a meditation practice set your timer, sit your butt down and do it for one minute maybe two minutes if you're feeling ambitious, do that for one week then bump it up to three minutes do that for one week before you know it doing it for twenty minutes will be habit and it won't be so daunting so that's really it they're so there's physical exercise and there's tio recharge your batteries and then there's like a meditation to recharge your emotional state some the exercises that dr pratt they definitely recharge your energy the protocol that he gave which is if if you tuned into the cracking the code carting the code to joy he spells out the exercises and then it's again reiterated here so that's another way to do it now what I don't want to do is continue the survey here to see how other people recharge your batteries because you do it works for you. So, yoni, how do you recharge your batteries or what's? What's works for you um all the exercise I do are kind of meditative. I do tighty and she gone and yoga and swimming and voila days I liketo walk. So all of those things put me in touch with, like a meditative state and then fun things that I like to do that I think of more like hobbies are ikebana, which is a flower arranging japanese style and I love to draw. So I do, uh, regular sketching and I think it's just a way of practicing seeing but also getting in touch with that part of me that's relaxed so when you let's say, do pallotti's, aaron, these physical exercise or any of the exercises does it actually have an effect on your creative output? Yes, because it relaxes may and, um de stress is may so this is key? You're much more likely to have heightened creative output if you're relaxed and it doesn't matter what your creative expression is if you're relaxed, you're actually going to heighten your creative output includes felix. So felix, what felix does is fundamentally creative process and you have to be relaxed to get in touch, right? It doesn't work if you're uptight and just you literally shut down, I take every day yes, every day. So how often do you meditate you every day? For how long? Every day, five days a week when I'm working actually don't meditate on my days off uh, I used to start it used to be fifteen years ago was half hour now I've cut down to get to that zone, I call it the zone about eight minutes, eight minutes, okay, ten minutes just tow shift my thinking and my energy towards another thing, okay? And, you know, if you're if you're not doing something, you really in a regular cunt, you know, conscious of a regular practice, no that's now is your cheque. Now is the time to just commit just make a this make a small commitment don't don't, you know, like, you know, craig committed to running a five k going from the being a couch, but it's self admitted couch potato he had he had not exercised to losing fifty pounds within a relatively short amount of time and running five k's on a regular basis all right so don't let them intimidate you those his example just do one thing one small thing so jen what do you do to recharge your batteries hiking trails outside my house um and I I do meditate every day and I've realised actually I give myself almost if I can it's a luxury at least a half a day or a full day where I'm just on my own hiking I do some free writing whatever it iss like just to like being my flow I call it okay so like I'll say no to social things I won't answer the phone or so you give yourself some time alone okay it's a great thing to dio just give yourself some time alone that he is like you have to make an appointment with yourself to do these things you can't just hold the intention you actually have to schedule it what do you know what I've quoted? Craig but he said something like um time is the canvas of life right? The campus of which we create life so that means you actually have to delineate the time that you're going to take to recharge your batteries whether it's sleep, whether it's exercise e mean you have to commit to this I don't know we met scott dent's more we met jonathan fields we met craig swanson we met dr george pratt they all exercise they all meditate a lot of craig meditates actually I don't know that for certain but I'm sure that he does something to recharge hiss intellect because it's it's very sharp I know he writes so um this is part of the pattern of behavior that habit if you will john of successful entrepreneurs they have a habit of recharging their batteries because what they do requires and demands so much energy. So janu late tio chill out you keep good company with yourself and you make a habit of doing that once a week at least yeah I mean when I don't when I don't do it for a week or two like especially during the holidays I feel it and so then I have to schedule it just like you said and when I schedule and it could be anything could be just cooking a good meal going out for a walk but it's like whatever I can do that day to just be in good company of myself and really enjoy it to the next good about early the next day I feel completely different it's almost like it just imagine you know you had to take really good care of a child, right? You make sure the child you make sure the child goes to bed at the same time it has a routine and that the child is well nourished in the child is gets their exercise and the child is happy when the child is sad you don't ignore them you know you would sit down with them and find out what's going on so it's kind of that's one way another what lens to look at this from like what if you just had taken really good care of a child in a child's view um so cathy, can you tell us how do you recharge your batteries? Well, I'm going to start doing meditation I really I've done a very minimal amount of that in the past, but my brother in law actually leads meditation classes so no, I need to start doing that at least once we get the guided so that I could do my own better but okay something that I do at least on a weekly basis where I live in petaluma there's a aa and the sabbatical area there's several really great antique shops and maybe what some people get on a nature trail I actually get just I never spent any money just walk through these antique shops and I am so inspired by history and contraptions and design I spent a lot of time like a museum would do the same for me just to spend time in history and looking at things that I'm not familiar with and deconstructing them in my mind or trying to figure out how to bring that into modern day I just I'm completely inspired if I if I feel like I get to a block or I just need to get away from my own studio or my own things I'll go do that I walk spend hours just walking through these places so this is great because you just you just recognize you have fun doing it it's just fun so whatever it s so again if you're listening you just think just how do you have fun like I do this goofy game with a friend of mine where we go window shopping and we pretend we have to buy something out of the window but can't buy more than one things you have to beach pick our favorite thing and it's totally goofy game but we have we spend a lot of time doing this goofy game and it's you know doesn't break our budget because we never buy anything except in her mind and sheet when I first introduced her to this this's so much fine so you walk around the streets and san francisco and he's looking in these with beautiful windows of expo, overpriced boutiques many of them where we're never going to buy anything and sometimes we'll buy the ugliest thing like you need to put the ugliest thing in the window and it's just joyful fund so again like what are you doing and it's like if you're not you know if you're doing all this stuff well good for you you know that's fantastic but typically the artist who I'm work working with or mentoring they're really missing something they're not physically take completely really taking care of there selves like they would a small child or their diets not really all that great or you know there's some area for improvement so um it's so I can't emphasize this enough like this is this is the battery just like the analogy that dr pratt offered and cracking the code to joy we literally are a battery so hence the e k g and e e age e g we are um alive because electromagnetic impulses are coursing through our physical self so if you if we do this the scientific reality is we are like a battery then it makes sense that we recharge the battery you're all at least I am hyper aware of what my iphone battery is getting low I rushed to the cord a search for an outlet and you know I'm really diligent it's the same thing with your intent you're through with your being right if your battery is fueling the output your creative output it's got to be charged and you know when it's getting low you're in the danger zone so just take it again an honest inventory ofyour your health you're exceeding your diet your your state of your relationships um right relationships, your physical environment is your house a mess? There's a kind of dirty somewhere and you clean that up would make you feel better you'd throw out some old clothes that don't fit and don't make you feel good reminding me of the show queer eye for the straight guy remember when they they they wouldn't I love that show so in that show they would but they would add what was great about the show is that they would they would address all these different aspects of the guy's life, right? The guy who is the cook who's from ohio he had come in and, you know, help them prepare healthy meal the other guy clean up their interiors and then the guy who actually changed their wardrobe and so there's a sort of external things, but at the end of the show, the guy after the queer eye guys got ahold of the guy, the straight guy, he was completely transformed and these were just external exercises, but he was completely transformed. So that's sort of, um that is a great lens. So what I want to do is I'm gonna actually ask each one of you in the studio audience and everybody listening to commit toe one thing one thing that's gonna actually help increase your battery okay and you get to decide what your level of commitment is so I know you kathy so you're going to take a class on meditation because you've got a built in instructor in your family that's fantastic but I am going to encourage you to not overcome it and try the one minute to two minutes even before you enroll in that class I'm gonna encourage to do that because I think you could you got sixty seconds right in your day and I think I have enough knowledge of meditation yeah minimal enough that I could do a minute or two just actually the act of sitting and letting your thoughts course in your brain and ping pong around in your head that's meditation that the act of just deciding to do it for a certain amount of time that is meditation you were meditating I guess I always think meditation is getting all of those things out of your head so I'm so glad you said that all right? So who's experienced in meditation we got okay. All right, so in a survey you guys and I'll tell you my response so john, if you clear all your thoughts uh I've never done that even for a second yoni do all your thoughts clear during meditation? Um when I when I was taught buddhist meditation that was the goal was that cool or your mind and as the thoughts came in to take them in and we'll let them go but they did they ever stay out of your head because they're always coming in but you know to get to that nirvana you're supposed to be ableto take him in and accept them and then released them but it hasn't happened for you yet right no I mean meditate all the time but you know it's not um not something I worry about no okay jen do the entire seated meditation did you were you devoid of all thought no I'm just spilling all this about meditation right now I've never experienced never once okay felix when your medic you meditate on a regular basis head for years have you ever during the whole session been free of all thought no so is it just the difference and types of meditation because the one that I learned was you know, the gold ball and expanding out beyond your head which kind of pushes all your thoughts out? I mean that's lame it's just it's a big fat lie and I'm here to tell you that you are unless you're unless you're flatline, you're going to ann and I've done advanced neuro feedback which is medically aided meditation all right and I am in a state of relaxation that's so intense that it actually can't move after the neuro feedback session but even during and my brain waves are being monitored by an e e g sensor and you can see my brain with my neural activity on a monitor that's what neuro feedback is neuro feedback is basically medically aided medic station even though I get into incredible states of relaxation and um you know hi alfa waves I'm still having thoughts and and actually the feedback with the feedback does is it pink? It actually you get the feedback you received is audible so when the e e g sensors detect that your mind is, um when you're thinking or concentrating, you get an audible feedback like the sound of ah belle, which then gently moves your mind back to a place where you're not thinking and concentrating so hard if that makes sense so it's not it's not possible just not really embraced it so much exactly why I'm so glad you brought this up because this is what happens people meditate and they think that there's a was difficult for me to not think about so money you're going to think the point is to observe your thoughts remember jonathan fields talking about this it's really just an opportunity to I'll put it in my words, it's an opportunity for you to get in touch with the story that you're telling yourself with the noise that is in the background that is mostly subconscious if you sit quietly that starts to bubble up to the top and you realize the story that's actually running the show and you realize what you're actually being distracted by so it's not a d being devoid of thought it's actually gaining an awareness of the thought, and then you could make a conscious and deliberate choice if you want to believe that thought or act upon that five or you could just allow it to carry you off that's really, I'm not a buddhist? I'm not a meditation teacher, I'm sure haven't explained this perfectly as a meditation teacher would or a buddhist would tell you my experience so that's my experience there's people, you can read a ton about meditation, but don't expect not to have a thought done. I was going to say to kathy into anyone watching I let, uh, mindfulness experiment on monthly experiments project um, in two thousand twelve, it was one of the biggest experience you've ever done, and if you go on there, you can read articles from people like my readers wrote in to me and said like, this is my experience and a friend, everyone is different, but there's a lot of really I found it really helpful to understand that everyone's really different say that, well, this is how I practiced, so this is how I did it, and then a really good book is, um, mindfulness in plain english, um it's a really fantastic resource explain that because we've been talking about it so much and I I guess I just really needed it. Better defined so easy, it's hard. Yep, right. It's important to, um, be aware of your breath, which is a yoga print? Absolutely. And she gone. And when dr george was talking about the position of your tongue, that also helps because that's a, um acupuncture acupressure points an acupressure plane that's why? He has so much. Those things are hard because you haven't done them, but as you practice them, they'll be coming here. Yeah, yeah, just hard it's not it's really it's so people make it hard. There's that there's a phrase I don't know where this phrase comes from, but it's called complicating to profit and frankly, I think a lot of meditation teacher's complicate to profit. You do not need an extensive training if you could just not it's it's about the applying the discipline and the commitment to sitting and meditating. That's really like that's that that's like ninety nine percent of it is that just committing to doing it. Like committing to brushing your teeth, you're completely committed to brushing teeth. Well, I am anyway, right, because you keep using that analogy so that's, the harder part committing to it. That's. Why I say I don't want you over commit to think you have to sit for twenty days, kathy, because I think you're you're going to set yourself up for failure, but if you commit to a minute or two, I know you can do that, and I know you could raise the bar very slowly, very incrementally. And this and I'm telling this so, anyway, there's a there's, a lot of entrepreneurs, a lot of successful people, you will learn that they practice meditation and so that's the point of this lesson. This is lesson twenty six. So if you're following along in the discovery journal it's on page forty but we've given you that we've given you the information here on the broadcast, so we're gonna be sliding into our next lesson. We had just finished up less than twenty six recharging your batteries that's different for everyone, and we're gonna go to lesson twenty seven, which is, we do not succeed alone. That's, lesson twenty seven. Look what you see there.