The And She Looked Up Podcast
Every other week The And She Looked Up Podcast sits down with inspiring Canadian women who create for a living. We talk about their creative journeys and their best business tips, as well as the creative and business mindset issues all creative entrepreneurs struggle with. This podcast is for Canadian artists, makers and creators who want to find a way to make a living doing what they love. Your host, Melissa Hartfiel, left a 20 year career in corporate retail and has been happily self-employed as a working creative since 2010. She's a graphic designer, illustrator, writer, community co-founder and has owned and operated a multi-six figure a year creative content business. She resides just outside of Vancouver, BC.
The And She Looked Up Podcast
EP176: The Power of Rituals in our Creative Practices
In this week's regular season episode, Melissa and Heather explore the transformative power of intentional rituals in our creative practices. Rituals are different from habits. And, there's real science behind them and how they affect our brains. They can help shape our creative mindset, help us achieve a state of flow, quite our inner critic and much more!
Do you have a particular ritual or rituals you perform in your creative practice? Share it with us on our Instagram account or our YouTube channel!
This is a great episode for creatives who...
⭐️ struggle with settling into creative work
⭐️ need help with focus in their creative practice
⭐️ find it challenging to quiet their inner voice and critic
This episode is brought to you by our Premium Subscriber Community on Patreon and Buzzsprout
For a summary of this episode and all the links mentioned please visit:
Episode169: Creating and Recreating Our Own Creative Process
You can find Melissa at finelimedesigns.com, finelimeillustrations.com or on Instagram @finelimedesigns.
You can find Heather at heatherlynnetravis.com or on Instagram @heathertravis.
You can connect with the podcast on:
- Instagram at @andshelookedup
- YouTube
- Tik Tok at @AndSheLookedUp
For a list of all available episodes, please visit:
And She Looked Up Creative Hour Podcast
Each week The And She Looked Up Podcast sits down with inspiring Canadian women who create for a living. We talk about their creative journeys and their best business tips, as well as the creative and business mindset issues all creative entrepreneurs struggle with. This podcast is for Canadian artists, makers and creators who want to find a way to make a living doing what they love.
Your host, Melissa Hartfiel (@finelimedesigns), left a 20 year career in corporate retail and has been happily self-employed as a working creative since 2010. She's a graphic designer, writer and illustrator as well as the co-founder of a multi-six figure a year business in the digital content space. She resides just outside of Vancouver, BC.
This week's episode of the and she Looked Up podcast is brought to you by our premium subscriber community on Patreon and Buzzsprout. Their ongoing financial support of the show ensures I can continue to bring the podcast to you. Want to help out? Head over to patreoncom. Forward slash, and she looked up. That's patreon p-a-t-r-e-o-n dot com. Forward slash, and she looked up. That's Patreon P-A-T-R-E-O-Ncom. Forward slash, and she looked up. There you can join the community for free or you can choose to be a premium supporter for $4.50 a month, and that's in Canadian dollars. Paid supporters get access to a monthly exclusive podcast episode only available to premium subscribers. You can also click the support the show link in the episode notes on your podcast player to support us via Buzzsprout, where you will also get access to each month's exclusive premium supporter episode. I can't tell you how much I appreciate all our monthly supporters. They are the engine that keeps the podcast running and they're a pretty cool bunch too. And now let's get on with the show.
Speaker 1:Welcome to the and she Looked Up podcast. Each week we sit down with inspiring Canadian women who create for a living. We talk about their creative journeys and their best business tips, as well as the creative and business mindset issues all creative entrepreneurs struggle with. I'm your host, Melissa Hartfield, and after leaving a 20-year career in corporate retail, I've been happily self-employed for 12 years. I'm a graphic designer, an illustrator and a multi-six-figure-a-year entrepreneur in the digital content space. This podcast is for the artists, the makers and the creatives who want to find a way to make a living doing what they love. Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of the and she Looked Out podcast. As always, I'm your host, Melissa, and as always, my lovely semi-regular co-host, Heather Travis, is here with me today. Hello, Heather.
Speaker 2:Hello Melissa.
Speaker 1:We are going to be talking about a really interesting topic today, I think, and it's creative rituals and the role they play in our creative process. So this is something that really interests me. I think I know it interests you as well, heather.
Speaker 1:And I thought it was a nice contrast from our season opener, where we talked about ripping apart our creative process and now we're going to be talking about the ritual side of the creative process. So last week it was all about changing everything up and this week it's about having something that is comforting and that centers you, that you do over and over again Almost the non-negotiables for me and over again Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:So it's kind of interesting Almost the non-negotiables for me, some of them.
Speaker 1:That's right, and it's interesting how the two of those can work together. So that's what we're going to be talking about today. Before we dive in, though, I do just want to remind you all if you are listening to the show on Apple Podcasts or on Spotify, I would love it if you would leave us a review or a star rating. It really helps the show get found and so more people can enjoy the show and connect up with other Canadian creatives, and it only takes you a couple of seconds. You can do it right in the app while you're listening, and if you are watching on YouTube, we would love it if you would give us a thumbs up. Just hit the thumbs up button and if you're really enjoying the show, please subscribe. And YouTube is a great place where you can leave a comment as well, and we will see it and we can respond to it, which is something I can't easily do through a podcast app.
Speaker 1:So, whichever way you listen, we're all artists and creatives and makers here. We know how important those likes and ratings and thumbs up are for algorithms, and it doesn't cost a penny. So if you're enjoying the show, would love it if you would do that for us. So yeah, let's get into it today. So yeah, let's get into it today. So we're going to be talking about creative rituals today, and I think the important thing to stress here is that rituals and habits are not quite the same thing. So a ritual, a habit, often tends to be something that we do over and over again because it's a habit.
Speaker 2:It doesn't necessarily mean it's a good habit, and oftentimes I find habits are like without thinking yes, you just do it. That's the big difference.
Speaker 1:You just hit the button on the nose there. A ritual is much more about being intentional or setting an intention.
Speaker 1:And it's really interesting. There's a lot of research out there as to how rituals can actually work with your brain to, um, trigger a lot of things that are very important to us as working creatives. So, uh, that's what we're going to get into today, and let's why don't we kick it off heather and talk about some of the things that we both do as far as rituals, so like when it comes to. Okay, I have a few questions for you about this. To start on a project, do you have rituals and do you have different rituals for different aspects of your creative process, or even, not even just your creative process, but your small business owner process? Like, yeah, how does that work for you? Where do you kind of go when it comes to?
Speaker 2:rituals. One of my big ones is I I mean you could maybe call it a habit, because now to me, I've done it. It was ritualized so much for me that it's almost a non-negotiable habit. Actually, it is a non-negotiable habit is cleaning my studio before I start a new project, and so I tend to just completely blow my studio up, like it. Literally there is dirty paint water, there's used paint brushes that are not being cleaned properly, there's lids, there's stuff is everywhere. But everything in my studio has a place, because I am anal, retentive, and everything has a place in my home and my studio. But as I work it gets really messy and so I have to start from ground zero. I literally have to reset and start again, and in fact I have discovered that it cannot be the same day that I'm intending to start the project.
Speaker 2:I have to walk into the studio, ta-da, ready to begin. It's almost like the fairies have to have visited before you know. It's like prepping a room to paint. You have to move all the furniture out and paint and clean and tape and all the things. It's like walking in and it's just ready. I have clean water, I have all my brushes are clean and tape and all the things. It's like walking in and it's just ready. I have clean water, I have all my brushes are clean and hanging. Every paint is in rainbow order. Everything is there that I may need, including canvas. It like everything's there. If it's not, I can't start. I can't start fresh. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's something about the feeling of the room when you walk into it. It needs to have a certain energy in it before you can start, and I'm exactly the same when things get too cluttered or chaotic in here or if I'm starting something new, the room needs to have a feel to it when I walk in, because if it, is cluttered or chaotic.
Speaker 1:when I walk in I still get a feel, but it's not a good feel, it's a very negative feel Totally Unless I'm mid-project like coming back in and being like all right, where was I?
Speaker 2:That's different, yeah yeah.
Speaker 2:That's very, very different and I find funny enough. Sometimes now when I'm stuck mid-project, I'll sort of tidy things up a little bit, just to kind of not, it's not a reset, but for me it's just like all right, let's just clean off, like let's just dust things off a little bit, literally, physically, but for me it's like metaphorical, it happens in my brain dusting the things off. And then the other really interesting ritual and I was thinking about it in anticipation of this episode that I started during my exhibition process, simply because I was creating works inspired by so many living people, is that I ended up creating a lot of playlists to inspire the painting process that were specific to what I was sort of aiming to create. And so now I've started creating some secret playlists for myself that I don't have on my public Spotify.
Speaker 2:Do you know what I mean? Yeah, that are just it's just me in the studio and it's the oddest mix of music, or sometimes literally all one artist. But I deliberately curate things that will, because music is also sort of a non-negotiable for me in the studio. I listen to a lot of music, I try listening to podcasts, but then I end up just sort of standing staring at my canvas with wet paint and drool dripping from my face, like because I listen too much, whereas music I can listen to and just I can feel it and not and continue my process.
Speaker 1:So yeah, the creation of the playlist was a new one for me yeah, I think music plays a really big role for a lot of us when it comes to um creating. For sure and I've often thought this is actually one of the first things we discussed when we started this podcast me and lisa was creating monthly playlists to share with the audience to use in their studios, because of um, the impact it can have for many of us when we're working on something.
Speaker 1:And I'm very similar to I. I don't curate playlists, but I have specific playlists for specific types of tasks.
Speaker 2:Yes, um, that I do. I have that as well. Yes and yeah, uh, show pen for taxes as an example I, I, and some of them are on Spotify.
Speaker 1:I have one on YouTube that I uh watch. This is so funny. I I really struggled to work during the summer.
Speaker 1:Um, because, the weather's so nice and I just I'm like looking outside and like, oh, I want to be out there and uh, you know, and you got to do all these things to make money, right, and so often what I will do is I'll put there's a playlist on YouTube that is a cozy fall cafe with rain outside and it has a beautiful imagery, and I will just put my headphones on and listen to the sound of the rain and the music and the vibe of it all and try and put the idea of summer out of my head until I'm done my work. And it's very relaxing music too. But yeah, I think that's a really interesting one and I agree with you, I can listen to podcasts and watch Netflix or Crave or whatever, but only when I'm doing very, very specific tasks, correct, yeah.
Speaker 1:They're not, they don't get me into a flow, they're just something. I have on in the background when I'm doing usually it's design or illustration like when I'm actually drawing or actually designing and. I just want something in the background that I can absorb. But, I'm not necessarily in the inspiration phase.
Speaker 2:Correct, like when I'm repainting furniture or reupholstering things, or when I'm doing stuff like that. That's the perfect opportunity for actually active listening.
Speaker 1:Yes, because it's more methodical what you're doing. Totally yeah yeah, totally yeah yeah.
Speaker 2:Totally and, depending on so, even painting murals funny enough because of the large scale of it. I find like a podcast does go very well On occasion, music just to sort of perk me up. But I have found I'm a very active listener and I dance when like music is, I dance in my studio so like, and I honestly look like I'm probably having seizures because it's such odd movements, particularly when I'm painting. But when you're doing a mural and you need to be precise and then you're like dancing, like Elaine Exactly, it just anyway it doesn't do the mural justice. So I have to sort of control myself and sometimes, funny enough, mural painting I do the mural justice. So I have to sort of control myself. And sometimes, funny enough, mural painting I do in complete silence and that, yeah, and it's just me myself and my thoughts.
Speaker 1:Any others that?
Speaker 2:you do Not really Like. I don't. There's no, oh, I will. I mean, I guess maybe it's just my child-sized bladder and my anyway, but I always have a beverage, like oh, when I say a beverage, it sounds like I'm drinking alcohol. I always have, and in this case this is grape Kool-Aid, which I'm drinking because I'm a 10-year-old boy, but I love it looks watered down too, it is watered down.
Speaker 2:Your mom would be proud. It is down, it's the drip it is, it is, it's watered down. I'm trying to control myself, but yeah, so I always have to have a drink. The studio has to be clean. I usually have to also ensure that I have enough time.
Speaker 2:I really don't like being rushed and I know, and so part of that is planning. Like I have to look at it and be like, okay, I'm going to, I have four hours that I have tomorrow to do this, that's enough time. Or I only have an hour. Okay, then this is the studio day, cleaning. So like I kind of have to backtrack and plan things out, because I really can't walk into the studio and pick.
Speaker 2:I have to be ridiculously inspired to walk into the studio mid-mess and pick something new up, and then, interestingly, I've started a new ritual to shake things up. So does that, and it's funny enough because of our conversation around shaking things up, I've started experimenting with different memes and techniques and tools, and what I've started doing is actually, when I experiment on those things, I'm trying to leave my studio. So, like I did watercolors in the backyard, uh, yeah. So I'm trying to like ship up the venue in addition to the, but I'm trying to create a habit out of it or a ritual, or yeah, if that makes sense. I don't know whether that's habit, ritual or just fucking around creatively.
Speaker 1:I don't think it's a habit. Yet I think it's more experimentation, but I could see how it could become a ritual yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I just tried to sort of it's just adding new things and I might throw them back out. But I don't know I like to pick up things and put them in my basket and carry the basket around for a while and see if it works and then if sometimes, yeah, you just throw it it doesn't work or you don't like it or not. For now you know what I mean. Yes, I do, I get that completely, I think, for myself yeah, I think for myself.
Speaker 1:I've mentioned this on the show many times. Making a cup of tea is very ritualistic for me and it's something I always need before I start anything. I need a cup of tea before I start recording the podcast. I need a cup of tea before I open Photoshop or InDesign. I need a cup of tea before I sit down to draw, like it's very part of it is habit, because I do it without thinking at this point, but there is also something about the process for me that is very intentional and very methodic and very meditative and I've mentioned this before.
Speaker 1:that I love about making a cup of tea is you cannot rush it Like you can't make the kettle boil faster. You can't make the tea brew, faster it's just so you have to like settle yourself down, like just chill out and wait for the kettle to boil.
Speaker 1:It's not going to boil any faster. So very often when I am going through the process of making the tea, I have a tendency to kind of pace in my kitchen and that is where I kind of bring all my thoughts together about what it is I'm going to go work on and that is where it becomes the very where it becomes very intentional and puts me in the right frame of mind. I don't get the same feeling from getting a glass of water. I don't get the same feeling from popping the top on a can of Coke or anything like that. It is very much the process of making the cup of tea, and I even tried to have a teapot in my studio and I would just fill the teapot and bring it in and then pour myself the tea when it was ready, to kind of hurry the process along.
Speaker 2:No, it's not the same so no and funny enough anytime. I've ever tried to do that with tea. Interestingly, I end up with a fucking pot of tea that's cold sitting beside me because I forgot about it, because it's not part of the like process. Do you know what I mean?
Speaker 1:yes, I will still make myself a pot of tea and bring it into the studio, but it's not with the same intention um and I have a tea cozy for it. But it is nice, right? I just want to refill my teacup yes, I hear it it doesn't have the same effect, it's just right, andy it's like having a water jug and filling your water you know, know, it's not the same.
Speaker 1:The other thing that works well for me and I don't do this prior to I rarely do this prior to starting a project, but I will occasionally but this is more about when I am, when it's not going well, and that's when I will get up and I will go for a walk and there's something very you know, with no headphones just.
Speaker 1:and there's in behind where I live, there is a big sports complex but it is in the woods and it's surrounding it as a as a wooded trail. It's about one and a half kilometer trail and I can go into that trail and forget that there's a sports complex there, forget that there's houses around me and I can just be in the woods uh and can just kind of soak it in and let my head clear and just kind of try to be present.
Speaker 1:I have a couple of um, uh, headspace, uh things that I will occasionally listen to if things are really bad, that are designed to. They're like a guided forest walk that you can kind of do.
Speaker 1:I don't remember if that's what they call it, but they're very, very short, they're just a few minutes and sometimes like if I just can't get my breathing to calm down or if I just can't get my ass to quiet, putting my headphones in while I'm out in the woods and listening to this and it basically talks you through like how to appreciate the nature around you and how to breathe, and that will get me sort of calm Totally.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, because sometimes I need an external voice to quiet the voices in my head. Yes, yes, yes, yeah.
Speaker 1:Absolutely like to focus on yeah, I think a lot of us do, and I think, particularly if it's um, if it's around a deadline, you know where the anxiety starts to creep up and you're like things just aren't working and you need to just get out there and just calm all the adrenaline that's running in your system and the voices that are going in your head and trying to get them to just settle down. Yeah, settle down. Yes, playing with a puppy also helps. Just you know.
Speaker 1:Sometimes, just you know lying on the floor and just rubbing a dog's belly.
Speaker 2:Totally.
Speaker 1:Like lying on the floor with them staring up at the ceiling and just petting them. Oh yes, Really help as well. Would work with a cat, would work with a rabbit?
Speaker 2:I remember doing that with Eddie in the studio and lying down and being like I first off delightful snuggling with him and then in the studio and lying down and being like I, first off, delightful snuggling with him, and then I'd be like how did you get paint on you?
Speaker 2:how did you get paint on you? Every time I'm like you're, you're lying over here, I'm working over there, like I did not flick paint that far across the room. How did that happen anyway? The mysteries. And then same vice versa. How did I find dog hair in?
Speaker 1:every painting, yes, but yeah, there is something about just lying on the floor in your studio standing up at the ceiling for five minutes.
Speaker 2:Yes, I do. Funny enough now that we say it and I honestly I don't. I would never have thought of it as a ritual, but it actually is and it's so funny. I would say that 99% of any session that I start in my studio, including a cleaning session, starts with like a solo dance party. I turn on really loud music and I dance for at least one song, probably that same song on repeat three times. Uh, and like, as Taylor Swift says, shake it off and just like I just, and it's like I get all my wiggle jiggles out and then, and then I turn it to a different playlist, or the same playlist but a little less volume. That that's when I clean, or that's when I start working. But I would. I honestly didn't even think about it because it's just maybe part of crazy Heather, but I have a dance party.
Speaker 1:But yeah, it's kind of like getting the zoomies out before you work right. Like dogs are really good at that. They go out, they have their zoomie and then it's like huh.
Speaker 2:Yes, and that's honestly, that's exactly what it is. I finished, I it's like that's why it could be two, three songs, and then I literally am like, okay, ready to work, let's go. Yeah, plus, it just changes them, it changes my. It honestly changes my attitude. It always puts me in a good mood. Well, it gets everything flow.
Speaker 1:I mean, we're talking about flow here? Yes, Getting up and dancing, doing some jumping jacks, doing some stretches, it just gets everything moving flowing in your body and your brain needs that blood and oxygen flowing to it yes to actually get things done, uh, yeah.
Speaker 1:so, yeah, I think movement is an important, can be a really important part of of setting a ritual or um, yeah, yeah, and I think that's the important thing that we're trying to point out here is, like we sort of said at the beginning, is that there's habits that we do, there's things we do without thinking, and I do think rituals can get to a point where we don't think about them in terms of what's the way that I want to try and say this, terms of what's the way that I want to try and say this, because I don't want to say that we're not thinking about them, because I think one of the principles of a ritual is it is something that is very intentional, that you do for a purpose, and I don't want to make it sound like we're not thinking about it, but I think it gets to a point where we just know in our core that we need to do this thing to make all the other things happen, yeah, happen.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so it's habitual, in that it's something we know we do every time we start something new, but it's still intentional, in that we understand why we're doing it and we know that it has to be done, and it's what sets the tone for yes, I think that's.
Speaker 2:The thing is that it's it's tone setting and it's like the intention behind it is, but it's, it's part of the greater and it's yeah, I, I would agree with you, it's the intention behind it.
Speaker 1:It's the intention behind it yeah, the intention is a huge part of it, absolutely, and I think for those of you who are maybe listening, who think maybe this is all a bit woo-woo, well, first of all, if you got this, far.
Speaker 2:congratulations, you're being very open to this the woo-woo clubs meet Thursdays.
Speaker 1:But the reality is there's a lot of science behind this and in how, in terms of how this can make a big uh difference for us. Um, and and I am not a neurologist or a brain scientist in any any way, but um, there is a lot of of information out there there on how these kind of things can help our neural pathways and how key rituals can be into entering that all elusive, wonderful state of flow. Yes, that we need to get into as creatives to do the deep work or to do the bigger projects and we all know what flow feels like.
Speaker 1:But for a lot of us it can be very hard to get ourselves into that state of flow totally. That's where a lot of research, it seems to be, has shown that having these rituals can can help trigger that state Exactly that.
Speaker 2:That's exactly it, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I actually I pulled it up. I'm going to see if I can find it. I found this on Forbes, actually Forbescom, where they were talking to a brain scientist and he explained a little bit of how ritual can promote suppression in terms of tuning out our inner critic, who's always shouting at us, and dampening brain chatter, centering and focusing the mind and decreasing anxiety before executing complex tasks. And from what I read, it sounds like there's two parts of our brain that tend to be kind of yattering back and forth at us, and creating rituals can turn down one of those parts of the brain. It's almost like a volume on a radio, I guess.
Speaker 1:Turn it down and make it quiet. It's something to do with our cognitive control network, wow. So, anyway, a lot of big words and stuff.
Speaker 2:I don't know Fascinating though.
Speaker 1:Yeah, uh, yeah. So, and I think you know, if you are somebody who really struggles with, um, anxiety, I think you know, uh, I know anxieties is something that I have a hard time with from time to time, particularly when I'm feeling overwhelmed, but this all sounds like having these creative rituals is one of the keys to turning down that anxiety that we're hearing, or that we're dealing with and I don't know, Heather, do you struggle with anxiety? We've never really talked about this.
Speaker 2:I funny enough. I have until very recently, thank you, perimenopause. I have never anxiety like, if sure, obviously like nervous.
Speaker 1:I'm not, yeah, but that's different than anxiety, Exactly that's very different than anxiety.
Speaker 2:And I only recently, like I had a panic attack, like six months ago, and it freaked me the fuck out Because I literally and it's I called, of course immediately called Brian, who was like Heather. He sounded like a, he reminded me of that anti-smoking tape that Endler listened to, but literally Brian was like Heather, you are a strong, capable woman, you will be fine. And I was like, okay, I was losing my mind. And so what I have learned is that I've learned some better self-regulation techniques. Learned is that I've learned some better self-regulation techniques and, interestingly, as we were talking, the dancing and that's why I didn't think of it ritualistically, but dancing for me is a very effective self-regulation tool because it does get the zoomies out big time, it helps me focus on my breathing and it also really gets me out of my head and makes me focus on my body.
Speaker 2:And by just dancing I then I'm a hundred percent, and in fact I'm almost, because I think a lot of the paintings that I do are kind of silly or come from a silly, sillier inspiration place, or at least whimsicalimsical, even if it's serious subject matter. I kind of need to like shake off, uh, the rest of the world and what they might think, and literally dance like no one's watching and be completely free. And I think that freedom is a self-regulation tool, but it's also like a. It's clearing the path to just do the thing and feel the flow and all of that. But I think part of that is self-regulation and to yeah, to wind myself both up and down simultaneously, I think.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, I mean, when you move, your body releases all kinds of endorphins and things like feel good endorphins, right yeah, oh yeah really, um, yeah, I. I remember back when I had my corporate job, uh, and it was becoming unbearable, like unbearable. I would come home and I would just put on my running clothes and I would go for a run and I would just run until either every drop of energy was drained from me or I felt like I was going to throw up Because it was the only way very graphic.
Speaker 1:Sorry, but it was the only way I could get the anxiety and the stress and all the negativity which I had never experienced anything like that before. It was the only way I could get out of my body was just to just run it out, just pure physically yeah push it out.
Speaker 1:Um, so I do. I. I do think movement is a huge part of dealing with anxiety. For myself, yeah, and I've always had. I think it's a hormonal thing, but there's always been points in the month where I will get this very edgy feeling like just edgy, like I can't pinpoint it, but I can't settle, I can't, I can't. And the only way to get rid of it is to do something. Like you said, just go downstairs and just dance for half an hour, and walking won't do it. It has to be something really physical to just kind of take the edge off.
Speaker 2:My regular pace is very brisk. Uh, and when I was trying to walk, I remember it was so funny because I had these earphones on and I could hear the guy and I, it's just just, my biggest patriarchal pet peeve is where you're walking to so fast, little lady like the like, shut the fuck up, I'm gonna drop, kick you. And that I was like all right, this is how we know that the walk is not helping me cool down, because I could really cross the street right now and karate chop you. This is not, hmm, okay, and in fact, what I ended up doing, because we live in such a rural area is I changed the song on my and I was in a wooded area and I had like a full on and I remember the song specifically. It was cake by the ocean and I literally was like in the middle of the woods. I'm like now I feel better, I feel like I'm going to assassinate some poor man.
Speaker 1:And speaking of playlists I had, that is one time where I did curate very specific playlists to run the demons out Right, yeah, yeah, yeah it was just like I just needed that really loud, totally full on music to just, you know, deal with all the anger and the anxiety and frustration and yeah.
Speaker 2:So it's like watching a particular movie because you know it's going to help you cry Like you just need to let it out a little bit.
Speaker 1:I think so. But what I found interesting in that article is they talk about how it can dampen having rituals can dampen that inner critic.
Speaker 2:And.
Speaker 1:I've seen this mentioned in a few different places and I think that's really interesting, because who here raise your hand? Who here raise your hand? Has never had your inner critic yelling at you oh big time, right, big time. We've all had it. We all deal with our inner critic, we all deal with fear of failure, perfectionism, all of that, and the more I read, the more it pointed to the fact that rituals can really really help us calm that voice or shut the voice up completely, and I thought that was really interesting. You know, in the little bit I read from Forbes, you know there's talk about how it actually quiets the part of your brain that is very chatty, and I've read other things about how rituals can make you feel safe, like they create a safe environment before you're about to create.
Speaker 1:But I just I really thought it was just so fascinating how the act of those rituals can actually quiet the chatter in our brain like it's fascinating to me?
Speaker 2:yes, honestly that and that makes to me. I'm like, as you're talking, that makes such, that makes such perfect sense and I one of the reasons why I clean my studio is to part of it is the studio appreciation. Like, regardless of the, I have a spectacular huge studio space, regardless of whether it's a corner in your room, whatever that space is. For me, clearing it and setting it up was part of adding, like justifying, that I am an artist with a capital A this isn't my, this isn't a side hustle.
Speaker 2:I mean, currently it kind of is, but still, I still-.
Speaker 1:You're still an artist with a capital A, and that's exactly it.
Speaker 2:And that's exactly it. And I tell people that my office job is my side hustle, that I am an artist with a capital A, and part of that is owning it. And I think owning it is shedding, is kicking the little chatter box in the mouth and saying no, no, good enough, I am insert. Whatever your title is with a capital, you know, writer, filmmaker, photographer, whatever you are create, whatever you are are, own that title.
Speaker 2:And I think part of the ritual is that is that it's like setting yourself up and almost interestingly, funny enough, I was um, I was on TikTok, so I'm sure it's true um, but it was an.
Speaker 2:It was a neuro neuroscientist and was talking about manifestation from the and so like vision boarding, and which is so interesting, because when you talk manifestation and vision boarding it's like woo-woo talk. And then neuroscientists, that's like not woo-woo talk, and she was basically saying that manifestation is in fact very real for your brain and it's not like you can just will things to happen, but if you see it enough and think about it enough, you will make it happen. You can't help but make it happen. And so I think part of the ritual it's the manifestation of where we want to head Like we're setting ourself up for our anticipated goal, whether we know what that is or not. Right, but you're setting yourself up to finish the new project write the great book, develop the film, have the idea, noodle a project, whatever. I think that ritual is part of that almost manifestation process where we're setting ourselves up to do the thing, to do the thing.
Speaker 1:It is amazing all the work that our brains do in the background Don't even realize they're doing. And I do think you're absolutely right Is that by doing some of these things, whether it's a ritual, whether it is movement, those two things could be one in the same yep, um, how, that's exactly what we're doing. We are setting our brain up to do all that background work, uh, without even realizing what's going on, and uh, yeah, I it's like winding the old school.
Speaker 2:I just saw, um, you follow the most delicious vlog, martin doulard. I just anyway. Martin doulard's vlog is just ridiculous, uh, but he just got an old record player that you wind up. You know, you remember the old, like really old ones, that you wind, wind, wind, wind, wind, wind, wind, and then it would play the, exactly play the music. That's what the ritual is. It's like winding so that you can then be like and just go and and the thing that needs to help you move is in motion.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, absolutely it's. It's interesting because, you know, as we, I just had a thought. This just came to me. I don't know if there's anything to this, but we look back at things that were created 100 years ago, 200 years ago, 400 years ago, 500 years ago, and the craftsmanship and the time and the energy that went into it to create these masterpieces and I'm not saying there's no masterpieces created today. That is not what I'm saying.
Speaker 1:But now, as humans progress, we're always looking for shortcuts to make the process smoother, to make it more efficient, to make it streamlined, to make things happen, happen quicker.
Speaker 2:And I think, maybe like these things, like the winding of the phonograph, the making of the tea like yep there's, there is something about, and, and it's the same with how making bread, like the ritual of it, you have to wait for it to rise and and just the, the physical act of kneading the bread.
Speaker 1:You know we can use a stand mixer to knead it for us, or a bread maker. But is it the same satisfaction, the same with washing dishes as opposed to putting them in the dishwasher? I use my dishwasher, but when I wash dishes by hand, things happen in my brain, the thinking. The thinking yes.
Speaker 2:Things happen in my brain, thinking yeah, thinking yes um, but I I just I wonder if, uh, sometimes we try to be too efficient, like if we almost need some of that, and and why.
Speaker 1:You know the the art of woodworking. Now we, now we can use laser cutters to yeah, to make those things, I'm totally wrong with that, but it's not the same. Uh hand to brain totally and yeah, it's the same like you know how many of us remember things better when we write them down as opposed to making a list on our phone? Yes, you know, I can make a list on my phone and I do it often, but it doesn't actually help me remember the thing, because I have to go back to the list to remember it.
Speaker 1:But if I want to remember the thing I have to write it down with a pen, because there's something about that hand to brain.
Speaker 2:Yeah, me too.
Speaker 1:And I think that's part of rituals. A lot of the rituals that many of us do before we start work are very hand-to-brain focused making a cup of tea. Another one that I know a lot of people do is lighting a candle. I'm not a candle person, so I don't do this one, excuse me. Yeah, lighting a candle, I know.
Speaker 2:A lot of people do that as a ritual. I have a girlfriend that does that.
Speaker 1:I know so many people who do this as a ritual in their studios. But again, lighting a candle is a very physical thing and there's a difference between lighting a candle with a lighter and lighting it with a match right Match. Same with a lot of people. Their little ritual is writing in their journal for just two or three minutes before they start something, just to kind of clear their head again. And they're writing in a physical journal, they're not typing in a document on their keyboard, so yeah, I know I'm with you.
Speaker 2:Slowing things down, I think, is a yeah. That's a big one for me in terms of even just letting things happen.
Speaker 1:So I'll go back to.
Speaker 2:Martin Doulard again yeah go ahead Honestly. No, I'm just going to say in terms of slowing things down. His YouTube channel is both meditative and inspiring all at the same time and uh, but also sort of historic old school tried, true, slow and like the whole process of what he's doing is a slow, deliberate, uh anyway, and the artistry and the creativity and the cinematography and all like it's just a feast for the eyes, it's a feast for the ears, it's all of the things. Just in terms of the creative process.
Speaker 1:Sometimes we slow down and yeah, I'm going to have to look him up. I'm not familiar with him at all.
Speaker 2:Oh, my God.
Speaker 1:I'll have to go check him out, but I get what you're saying and I'm not. I'm not saying that we should get rid of technology, or that technology is not important to our jobs. It is, and we should embrace it a hundred percent, but I do think that there's a place for that slowing down and for using our hands and for making our brain do the hard work and I mean washing dishes is not hard work for our brain, but it does Anything to do with water.
Speaker 2:I joke that I need a whiteboard in my shower, because the number of times I scream from the shower I'm like Brian, take a note, because I, just I, literally I'm like things come to me and the number of people who, at work, I get there, I'm like morning I thought of something and they're like, let me guess, in the shower. I'm like yes, yes.
Speaker 1:I can't even tell you how many times I've started something with a sentence like this morning, when I was in the shower, I had this idea Exactly which is so literally I walk in.
Speaker 2:I'm like hello, male colleague, we don't need to call HR for this, let's talk about my shower this morning. Yes, I know. And even rituals. Funny enough, I've been doing rituals for work and like ritual comes in handy, I think, simply to steady yourself and to set yourself up. And like I'm even ritualistic about to-do lists and like when you were talking about writing grocery lists, like I'm very ritualistic about writing a to-do list for the day and a list of activities. And if I have to accomplish a great number of things in my studio in the course of a day, so like I'm XYZ canvases, do so. If it's not just like go create, make magic, uh, I will make a list and I the checking off for me is incredibly gratifying and reminds me that I'm making progress, particularly in things that are, uh, like for the exhibition. There were lists galore because I needed the ritual of writing, knowing, doing and seeing complete was a very big deal for me to notice the needle going forward.
Speaker 1:Yes, you just made me think of something actually. So I use a paper journal, paper, planner and I use Asana.
Speaker 1:I use a paper journal paper planner and I use Asana, and Asana is for my, is for the tasks. It tracks the tasks, it tracks a project. It is where I put things that I can't forget, you know. Yeah, so it's very much. It's just, it's the task list. But at the start of every day I sit down with my planner and I will transfer some of the more important tasks for the day into my planner and I will go through the process of thinking about them. And there is doing that in my planner with a pen and my hand and just taking a moment with my cup of tea to sit there and think about my day.
Speaker 1:That is not something I I do in the same way when I'm just checking the tasks off in a sauna yeah, the the act of sitting down with the planner open and writing, and, as I write, each task I think about, like how I approach it and it becomes a very uh, it's very intentional. Actually, I I don't necessarily think of it that way, but now that we're talking about it, uh, and I have never been able to shake having a, an actual physical paper planner I guess, I will have one until the day I die correct.
Speaker 2:Honestly, I wish I wish I had all of my old ones, because they're and because, because I do, I have. I have lovely handwriting, uh, and I am very intentional about the way even the page looks and how I write notes out and my handwriting, like I will, literally I'll be like that's a pretty page, uh, but I have a. It's not a photographic memory by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm a very visual person.
Speaker 1:Do you remember where on the side of the page it was and what color it was highlighted with yes?
Speaker 2:A hundred percent.
Speaker 1:That is. I've been like that since a little kid.
Speaker 2:That's how I studied, and, like my cue cards to do study notes were like color coded. I am, that's how, the way my brain works, and so I can literally pull up. I don't remember what was on my to-do list. I remember the picture of my to-do list and then I can tell you what was on my to-do list.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, that's exactly how I am. I may not be able to remember the words, but I can tell you where on the page it was, which side of the page. It was what color I highlighted it with yes, and it's very, which helps me to find things quickly.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah me to find things quickly. And yes, yeah, yeah, very similar to if I meet you at an event. I can tell you what you were wearing, what room we were in, probably what you had in your hand.
Speaker 1:I couldn't tell you what your name is, though, because that just escapes me, but the other things I know, yeah, so I, I, yeah, I think it's all, uh, I think that's all far more important than maybe we give it credit for, particularly if, like I honestly have never considered myself a woo-woo person, but in the last 10, 10 to 12 years, probably since I became self-employed, uh, I have just realized how much of these things that I wrote off as being silly or, yeah, you know, whatever are now like. Now I'm starting to understand how they actually work and they're not silly and they're not woo woo. There there is something that is actually happening yes, scientifically happening in our brains, totally yes, like, yes, like old wives, tales have their.
Speaker 2:they have their origin, like the things that we've done for years and generations, because we just did.
Speaker 1:I know we talk about cliches and things. There's a reason. Something becomes a cliche, it's correct.
Speaker 2:Exactly.
Speaker 1:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So, yes, so, in terms of, I guess, to kind of get us to a closing point here, in terms of we've talked, to kind of get us to a closing point here, in terms of we've talked about a few of the things that we like to do, I will just give you a few others that were mentioned when I was doing a little research and, oddly, you and I, between us, have covered most of the ones that came up over and over.
Speaker 2:Look at us, look at us.
Speaker 1:But a couple that didn't get mentioned. One was doing things like morning pages or journaling, which we did briefly talk about here. But morning pages if you are familiar with Julia Cameron and the Artist's Way, morning pages is a huge part of that. I have done morning pages in some form or other for probably close to two decades now. That sounds very weird to say, but yes, very, very helpful. But also, just sitting down and just doing it doesn't have to be morning pages, it could be five minutes in a journal before you start something. And another one that was mentioned is actually doing meditation or breathing exercises before you start, and we didn't mention this. I do meditate, but I tend to do it after I finish. Oh, interesting as a way to kind of center myself and close the day on my work day. But yeah, it could absolutely be a very effective tool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, interesting I find my work is the meditation certain parts of my work are very much and I get myself into the right flow, it becomes oh yeah, but totally, meditation and breathing in particular can really help you calm your body down and calm it down is in your head, so I can see how that would be a really great one.
Speaker 1:And the last one that I'll mention is using affirmations or visualization techniques to get you into the right headspace or to help you with your confidence, or just and we don't talk about this in the art world more, but elite athletes do this all the time before they go out. They do this, particularly the visualization.
Speaker 1:Visualization yeah, the entire thing from going out in the crowd doing whatever it is that they perform, and then all the way through to winning and receiving their medal. So that's not one I have tried myself, but I think that could be worth giving a go.
Speaker 2:Visually. I used to do it for competitive figure skating. It's incredibly powerful and visualizing the finished product and from start to finish and I do it quite often when I have speaking gigs I visualize literally walking on stage what that looks like, greeting everybody, and I visualize desired reaction from the audience. I visualize closing, finishing, walking off stage and even saying things like I walk off stage with a steady and confident pace. I think those things through because you, if you don't visualize that, you're like, oh my God, I'm going to get on stage, my pants are going to fall down. That's what's good.
Speaker 1:And the thing is, I bet when you were doing that, you weren't thinking of it as a ritual, you were just thinking of as preparation, like this is how I prepare to go up on stage. But honestly, that's what a ritual is it's preparation, it's preparation. But honestly, that's what a ritual is. It's preparation, yes, it's preparation. It's to do the thing that we need to do.
Speaker 1:Whatever that may be and in our case, for a lot of us, ideas of things you could try but I hope we've also kind of made you think about it in a different way in terms of the science of it, and I do encourage you, if you're curious about this, to go out and read some of the articles that are out there. There's lots of stuff online that tells you a little bit more about the actual physiological things that are going on in your brain when you do these things, because there is science behind it.
Speaker 1:There is physiological changes that happen and that make it easier for us to actually do the work that we need to do.
Speaker 2:It's like setting us up for success, Like it's. Well, it's preparedness, right it is.
Speaker 1:That's what preparation is Exactly. It's setting yourself up for success and making things easier for you, but also just bringing a little bit of calm to your day.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and joy too, right, like calm and joy, like what do you? And that I think what do you need to have? What do you need brought to the project? And I feel like everybody's and I think that's what's unique about rituals is it's unique to the person and what they themselves need to bring. What do you need to bring to the space? Do you need to bring calm, or do you need to bring to the space? Do you need to bring calm, or do you need to bring high energy, or do you need to bring, like what do you? And we all know what we need to bring. And that's where the that's where I think that's what's most surprising for me about this episode, and what we're talking about is that I know I had rituals, but I didn't really think of them as rituals and then, and so this has forced me, I think, to think about them and why I do it and actually understand it a little bit better.
Speaker 2:And now, now I feel like, funny enough, when I do some of those things, it will be, in fact, more deliberately done.
Speaker 1:Probably. Because I know it's like there's even greater clarity and understanding as to the rationale why, which, yeah, and I think one of the important things with these is you don't just have to do them at the start of something Like if you hit a roadblock in your day or you things just aren't going right or you feel like you need a restart or something like that. You can stop and take a moment and do? I mean?
Speaker 1:this is where tea comes in for me. I often, when I get stuck, that's when I'll get up and I'll go make a cup of tea, because I know it's going to force me to, like, just settle down and it's quicker than going for a walk, but it has a similar impact. And then there's times where I need to actually go out of the house and do that. So you just made me think in what you were saying, I remember reading Twyla Tharp's book, and Twyla Tharp is a world-renowned choreographer, very famous, and she talks about, I think the book's called the Creative Habit.
Speaker 2:Great book.
Speaker 1:I highly recommend it if you haven't read it. But one of the things she talks about is at the start of every new project she takes a banker's box and she starts filling it with anything that she thinks will help her with the project. So sometimes it's research, sometimes it's videotapes, sometimes it's things she needs to watch and she just that becomes the base for her project whenever she's working on, and that is kind of her ritual to start a project, so it can also be a very practical thing.
Speaker 1:It doesn't have to be making tea or meditating or something. It can be something very practical that just helps your brain again feel prepared. Yeah, so that's really interesting. Um, shall we leave it there? Shall we wrap it up now?
Speaker 2:I think yeah that was really interesting. Honestly, that got my brain ticking as it always does.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's, uh, yeah I, I knew this would be one of those episodes where I would really think and I don't often research our episodes, but this one because I felt like I didn't know enough about what I was talking about. I mean, I know I do these things, but I don't really understand what's going on?
Speaker 2:Yeah, why?
Speaker 1:Physiologically so it was interesting for me to kind of start reading a little bit and be like huh, okay, Like there's a reason behind this.
Speaker 2:Yes, method to the madness.
Speaker 1:Method to the madness. So, on that note, if you have specific creative rituals that you do, please feel free to share them in the. You can share them in the comments on the YouTube video, or you can drop them in the post for this on for this episode on Instagram or Facebook. We'd love to hear them, cause I think it's a really cool thing to talk about and, who knows, maybe what you do might just be the thing that helps somebody else find what they need to get them, to get them going.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, I think we'll leave it there for this week and, on that note, as I mentioned at the beginning of the episode, if you enjoyed this episode, please, if you're watching on YouTube, hit the thumbs up button or leave us a comment. Both of those are really helpful. If you're listening on your podcast app, we'd love a review or a star rating. That, again, would be very helpful to getting the show found and it tells us that you love us it validates us, which is always nice to hear.
Speaker 2:Everybody likes that.
Speaker 1:I actually did a pop-up market on the weekend and one of the vendors came up to me and told me that she loved the show and she had been watching it on YouTube. I had no idea that she watched and I was like thank you for telling me. You never know. You never know right Exactly, but it is so nice when you hear from somebody that what you're doing is making an impact on what they do.
Speaker 1:So. All right, everyone on that note. That is it for this week. We will be back in two weeks with another brand new episode and, of course, Prep for the Holidays is continuing on through. The Prep for the Holidays season and, excuse me, Heather will be back with us next month for another new episode. We don't know what it'll be about, but it will be interesting. All right, everyone.
Speaker 2:That's part of our ritual.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for listening and we will talk to you all soon. Thank you so much for joining us for the Anshi Looked Up Creative Hour. If you're looking for links or resources mentioned in this episode, you can find detailed show notes on our website at andshelookedupcom. While you're there, be sure to sign up for our newsletter for more business tips, profiles of inspiring Canadian creative women and so much more. If you enjoyed this episode, please be sure to subscribe to the show via your podcast app of choice so you never miss an episode. We always love to hear from you, so we'd love it if you'd leave us a review through iTunes or Apple Podcasts. Drop us a note via our website at andshelookedupcom or come say hi on Instagram at andshelookedup. Thanks for listening and we'll see you next week.
