Monday, July 22, 2013

Guest post by Marcela De Vivo


Best Music To Help You Get Creative



If you are a creative person, you’ve probably experienced a time when your imagination becomes limited or blocked. It doesn’t matter if you’re on a tight deadline to turn in a paper or trying to write the next great American novel on your own. It can happen as quickly as switching off a light.


Different people have different ways to get the creative juices flowing again. You might opt for a run in hopes that ideas will pop in your head at any moment. Or maybe clearing your mind through meditation will allow inspiration to strike. However, the one tried and true way of bringing back your creativity: listening to music.

Music Can Make You More Productive

Although it varies from person to person, listening to music while working can make you more prolific. The University of Illinois did a study that concluded that listening to music could increase productivity by around 6%; however, similar studies also showed that people working on the computer were more productive when there was no music. That’s why it’s important to take your own state of mind into account. If you have a short attention span or are easily distracted, listening to music to enhance creativity might not be the right path for you.

Music Can Boost Your Imagination

Even the most creative person sometimes needs a little help being more imaginative. Music can give you more energy, which can allow your brain to work more effectively. Working out your brain can be just like working out your body. With stimulus, it works faster, therefore, it also performs better. Certain music can even give you more confidence to face whatever creativity block that’s worrying you.





Classical Music

The one tried-and-true music genre for creativity boosting is classical music. Putting on a recording of Bach’s concerto or Beethoven’s piano sonatas might be able to relax your mind just enough to tap into your creativity.

Classical music usually does not contain any lyrics whatsoever, allowing you to focus on your work and nothing more. There are plenty of free resources where you can listen to classical music and other genres for free, including Pandora, Musopen and Arena.

Ambient Music
The trick to utilizing music to your creative advantage is to have your brain engaged on a subconscious level, without becoming too engaged. If your brain becomes too focused on the music, you will likely get distracted easily.

The safe sounds of ambient music can make you feel more relaxed without being completely pulled away from the task at hand. Ambient music is usually considered to be great background music, with its use of acoustic and atmospheric sounds.

Variety

Playing the same sort of music over and over can get boring for your brain and can ultimately stifle your creativity. Your mind needs a change of pace, just like when you exercise your body. You can start out by listening to something slow and calm, like ambient music, then to a fast-paced song, like dubstep. Switching your music up every once in awhile will allow your brain to have the workout it needs to get the creative juices flowing.

Familiarity

Listening to familiar music can help you work faster and more creatively. You want to be able to hum along while you work, but without needing to stop to belt the lyrics or actively listen. When you listen to new music, your mind tries to get familiar with it, which can stop the creative process. Familiar music is a comfort that will allow you to be as creative as possible.

Overall, it’s up to you to test out what sort of music or sounds will help you become more creative and productive. Every person is different, with varied tastes and temperaments. Once you find your perfect working music, you’ll be ready to get back to your creative self.



Marcela De Vivo is a freelance writer, mother of three and business owner whose writing covers the music, health and marketing industries. As a writer, she must always have a clear and creative mind, so she listens to a variety of music to keep her creative juices flowing. Follow her on Twitter and Pinterest today!

Friday, July 12, 2013

My Summer To Do List





  1. farmers markets
  2. try a paint your own pottery place
  3. miniature golf  for fun
  4. yoga class on mondays
  5. daily check in on wisteria and sunshine
  6. embroider my pillowcase
  7. write in the coffeeshop on fridays
  8. read novels
  9. sunday morning nature walk
  10. eat a lot of fruit
  11. do a lot of art journaling  and
  12. in august take a pottery course


Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Art Journaling: Here and Now

Yesterday I ran across the sentence Here and Now in three different books, so I had to do some journaling about it. I can tell that it is something so important in my life right, well always really, but especially  now, and its the topic of a fascinating book that my therapist recommended me to read called Belonging Here by Judith Blackstone. It's a book that is helping me a lot right now, and I would recommend it to anyone wanting to feel more grounded and secure in who they are...




Friday, July 5, 2013

My little shop

I'm selling a few handpainted things on a website that was started by someone local to my area. It is similar to Etsy. So I've been busy painting some new things for My Shop.  This is something I've been wanting to do for a long time. I'm always painting things but in the past it's been hard to share it with the world and let it go so now it feels different and I'm inspired to paint and share it with others. These are a few of the items I have  for sell in The Painted Flower.











Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Sketching

A recent page in my sketchbook of an ink and colored pencil drawing of  my writing desk and a few african violets. I like drawing the things around me, it makes me appreciate it all even more.


Monday, July 1, 2013

Art Journaling

More of my 
large paint and doodle art journal and I'm really loving this kind of journaling right now. It just feels relaxing and I try not to think of the outcome but just have fun with the process, which is a difficult thing for me. 
I always want things to look a certain way, but with this I just have fun, which is really what I need most right now, so I've been playing in this journal a lot. :)