Welcome to five-minute magic from Mindful Creative Podcast. A short bonus episode, sharing tips and insights from the book's pages of the same title. 
 
Every week I'll share one or two ideas that can give you an actionable takeaway for your creative process or work/business, or just the food for thought for the weekend ahead. 

These bonus episodes share content from the audio book, and you can find the link to the full version in the show notes.

Mindful Creative: How to understand and deal with the highs and lows of creative life, career and business

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[00:00:00] Welcome to five minute magic from the mindful creative podcast. A short bonus episode, share and tips and insights from the pages of the book of the same title. Every week I'll be sharing one or two ideas that can give you an actionable takeaway for your creative process, your work, your business. Or just food for thought for the weekend ahead. These episodes share content from the audio book, and you can find the link to the full version in the show notes below. 

Radim Malinic: We are opening chapter number six from the book Mindful Creative and the chapter is called, wait for it, Mindful. The opening line sets the scene. It reads, adopting a mindful approach means working to inhabit each present moment and using all of our Inbuilt senses to process exactly what's happening.

This chapter is a breakpoint in the book where we turn the tide on being mind full, meaning overloaded, burnt out, stressed, or lacking control of our day to day work [00:01:00] and life situation. And it's to become more aware of what we do and why we go wrong. So in the next seven episodes, I will share previews from this chapter, including three breathing exercises, information on alternative techniques and tools for understanding stress and wrong signals.

So let's get stuck in. Chapter 6. Mindful. Adopting a mindful approach means working to inhabit each present moment and using all of our inbuilt senses to process exactly what's happening. It helps you to see the world anew, putting first person narratives aside and instead inviting a more richly detailed perspective. When we actively work to become more present, We engage our minds and discover more creative ways of navigating the world.

In turn, our stress levels drop and our anxieties become more manageable. Creative [00:02:00] blocks become less frequent, and when they do arrive, they're less scary. By helping us see things more clearly as they are, mindfulness aids the way we retain memories and shows us the little things that have helped us to get to where we are.

Those insights then help us sharpen our vision of the future. www. mooji. org A future we feel more positive about. When we end up in the same mess for the 14th time, we can long for things to be different. But the change can ultimately only come from us. We have to start making changes from within. It's important to note, however, that if there are bigger, much longer term issues at play, then the techniques suggested here won't resolve them.

Trying to manage years of emotional shutdown, negative habits and or non existent self care With one round of a breathing exercise is like putting a sticking plaster on a broken bone. The methods here are tools for [00:03:00] countering stress and overwhelm in the present moment, giving us the space we need to regroup.

If used regularly, they can contribute to building resilience and good mental and physical habits. In your everyday life, there are small steps that can beget giant steps, but if there's a deeper constant that underpins recurring stress or burnout, then these methods have to exist alongside therapy to be fully effective awareness.

This section is designed to help you find peace and clarity through the non-judgmental observation. Of what's happening in your inner and outer worlds. The ability to tune into your own breath and connect it to your body is the first step in enabling you to find meaningful experiences in any number of situations throughout your day.

It's also a tool that can rescue us from immediate panic and help us move forwards. Such [00:04:00] awareness is obviously more enjoyable and therefore easier to do when things are going well. And when we're happy, calm and creative, it feels like the sun is shining, and it's so much simpler in those instances to lean back in your chair and say, I'm feeling good.

This is how life should be all the time. Ironically, it can become much more difficult to do when the stress kicks in IE when it's most beneficial, when bad things happen. The familiar thought patterns, physical sensations and reactions can grab you. And before you know where you are, you've temporarily lost the ability to read the present moment.

In those instances, the only constructive way back, however much your old natural reactions want you not to, is to tune in and become aware of what's happening in your mind and your body. You can't always control what's happening around you. But you always have the power to control how you react to it.

The effect of tuning in [00:05:00] is to step out of your thoughts and feelings and understand them for what they really are. We are great at creating our own versions of reality, which are often very different from how others might be seeing the same situation. Being caught up in a hurricane of anxious, stressful, or even angry thoughts is one thing.

Acknowledging that you are feeling anxious, stressed, or angry, and noticing how these thoughts are making your body feel, is another. Even if you're hyperventilating, realizing that you're hyperventilating is one step removed from thinking that you're dying. And it's that step, however small, that we can take to begin working our way back to our baseline.

Understanding negative patterns. The kinds of negative patterns that lead to moments of intense stress, anxiety, overwhelm, or even total burnout, aren't some kind of one off pop up in your mind. They're an established chain that has [00:06:00] cemented its presence in your mind over time, and which can chip away at your resilience.

When we can learn to recognize and chart these patterns, including the mental and physical reactions that they generate, then we can begin working to notice them when they crop up. If we stick at it, then we can counter them more quickly and get back into a more positive inner groove. Think of it like weeding your garden path or your driveway.

Pulling weeds up as soon as they sprout won't stop weeds from ever growing again, but it will stop them from taking over. The power of what you already possess. You already own everything you need to begin practicing mindful awareness. Your breath and your mind. Your breath is the tool with which you can begin to rebuild your baseline of mindful presence.

No matter how far out of the present moment you've ended up, and no matter how often you find yourself astray, let's look at some [00:07:00] essential ways to build and reinforce your mindful baseline. If any of them feel a little tricky to grasp or follow unguided, then meditation apps are available for extra support.

However, they aren't a necessity. You can start in the simplest way imaginable, by either sitting or lying down and doing gentle breathing exercises, such as those at the end of this audiobook.

When you tune into your breath, you begin to become aware of the present moment and what's going on, in and around you.