Showing posts with label mindfulness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mindfulness. Show all posts

Friday 25 March 2022

Are You Creatively Fulfilled?

 


In my latest video you join me in the studio as we reflect on what we need to be doing to bring more fulfillment into our lives.

What are your dreams? Have you listed them as unattainable or are you breaking them up to make them more doable chunks.
I have been listening to an audio book called 'Eat that Frog' by Brian Tracy and looking at areas of my life that need more focus. I am naturally a list maker but I don't always get everything done, or have a system for addressing it. So I have been working through the book - you can either check it out on YouTube, or Audible list it for free, you can check it out HERE - https://amzn.to/3iGCgQ4




You need to identify where you want your journey to take you, what are those creative dreams or goals do you have. Are the things that would make you feel fulfilled right in front of your face?
Hope you enjoy this reflection and it gets you thinking about your own journey

Blessings, have a great weekend.


Courses to Check out - click on the images





Friday 20 November 2020

Art and Wellness Café - Wealthy and Healthy

 


Join me in the Arts and Wellness Café  What is it about your creative practice are you taking for granted?  Are you undervaluing an area or over valuing it?  If you had to drop one of the things that you were doing because it no longer served you what would it be?  

Are you holding on to things because 'you have always done it that way'  I would love you to share what you feel one of your strengths are, it sometimes helps to remind ourselves of what we have with us all the time and celebrate those strengths.

Check out previous episodes

What's Love Got to do with it

Hopeful













Sunday 18 October 2020

Arts and Wellness Cafe - Personal Growth and Development

Come and join me in the Arts and Wellness Cafe, it is always great to have you accompany me as we ponder on the various aspects of Arts and Creativity.

In todays video I wanted you to think about ways in which you invest in your creativity and work on your growth.  It is important that you are constantly learning.  It might be a subject that you want to experiment in - there are so many free tutorials around that you can access, books that you can read.  You only have to decide what the subject will be.



I have been one of the teachers who shared a taster session on Life Book recently and my session was all about creative play.  I love working with different and new supplies and constantly look at ways in which I can do more with the supplies that I have.  If you didn't get to see my finished piece it is below.

Life Book Taster Session - Amanda Trought

The great thing about Life Book is the amount of lessons that you are getting, a wide selection of teachers and techniques, so you will be spoilt for choice at the range of techniques, you also get to continue to have access to the FREE taster sessions if you didn't get to complete them all.  It is also a useful idea to redo some of them using different supplies.  I would love to see what you do using different supplies with my session.

You can sign up for the Full 2021 Life Book Course HERE Remember to use the 20% discount code FEELHAPPY20 at the checkout.

The other thing that I am excited to share is some of the Eco-dyeing with Avocado seed.  Artist Dylan Sara shared how to create your own inks as part of his Life Book Taster Session.  I decided to experiment and see what effects I would get dyeing fabric, and here are a few of the designs that I did:

Avocado Eco Dyed

I created a paste and applied the avocado seed to fabric

Avocado Eco Dyed Fabric

I allowed it to dry in the sunshine and it acted like a resist.


I will be sharing the process I used in another video, you can see in the video above some of the results once the avocado has been washed off.  It was great fun to do and I shall be looking forward to adding them to my fabric stash and getting to use them.












Saturday 7 March 2020

Podcast Weekly Episodes 201 & 202

Welcome and a Happy Friday to you.

In this post I will be sharing two episodes of this weeks podcast.  The Arts and Wellness Wednesday and the Inspirational Shorts where I will be sharing a review.  I hope you are able to listen to them and get some useful takeaway pieces of information.

Arts and Wellness Wednesday 

I share events that are taking place in the UK and you may find useful to your creative practice - 







We have our Artists Studio Tours on 14th and 15th March - I am location 15 on the map and it would be great to see you &
Caribbean Fine Art Fair on the 11th March to 15th March
both not to be missed


Inspirational Shorts


For today's Inspirational Shorts I will be reviewing a Bees wax product that you can do a range of creative projects with, alongside candle wax and petroleum.  I have been using them for some small batik projects alongside semi-encaustic on pastels.  I will be sharing more with you.  I am using a simple oil burner with tealights, which makes the wax melt fairly quickly.

You can listen to the podcast episode below as well as watch the video and see the products.



Here is the video








Tuesday 12 November 2019

New Post Podcast - Creating in Faith - Space Episode - 156






Welcome to Episode 156 of the Creating in Faith Episode on Realityarts podcast. Today's word is Space.

When I look at the valley, mountain, and forests and sea I know there is a God - you can look at the vastness of the universe or your home surroundings. While I don't have the mountains, or valleys near my home we can find the joy in other things that those environments can bring to us. What does the idea of space mean to you both mentally and physically? Check out the Podcast HERE and let me know what you think.

Creating In Faith Weekly Encouraging Recordings are to bless and inspire you to be the best of yourself. It can be really great to pull out your art journal/Journal and express what comes up for you either with images and colour, with words or with both.
_____________________
There are so many FREE ways in which you can support the podcast and the work that I do on some of the other channels and it is always a blessing when you connect -

  • listening each week and leave a comment,
  • Subscribe to any or all of my channels, visit the
  • YouTube channel (remember to hit the notification bell)
  • Let me know how the content impacted you and if you were inspired to make changes/additions to your work or life.
Check out some encouraging boards on Pinterest

I also have an Arts and Health NHS Network for information on activities and organisations working in the field. You are welcome to join, it is a FREE resource and if you have any activities or want to talk about your work you are welcome to send me the information and I will see that it gets uploaded. You can create your own profile on the network and connect with others who are passionate about the arts in health too.


Creative Encourager - If you want to talk about creativity and the direction your going and need an ear, sign up for a FREE 30 minute call http://bit.ly/Encoura

Stay blessed and be a blessing


Wednesday 9 October 2019

Art Saves - Book Review - Arts and Wellness Wednesdays



Welcome to the blog, hope it finds you in amazing health.  I had been away and will be sharing more about my trip over the coming week.  In today's post I will be sharing a book review.  The book in question is Art Saves Edited by Jenny Doh and if you click on the title it will take you Amazon.  It is a collection of stories and prompts by some inspiring artist and I hope you will be encouraged by it

You can listen to the podcast recording below.








If you are interested in other Arts and Wellness Wednesday 
 posts I have listed them below.







Stay blessed and be a blessing.

Saturday 10 August 2019

Inspirational Shorts - Encouraging words for your week - Diversity



Welcome to the blog.  On my podcast today, while slightly late I posted an episode of Inspirational Shorts with the title Diversity, and also included some encouragement to help you go about your coming week.  We all need some encouragement from time to time, reminders of how far we have come, how precious we are and not to give up on ourselves.  I hope this short recording serves as the encouragement that comes just at the right time for you.




The title Diversity is a word 'just in time' or 'for this particular time' and it is for you to think about what that word means to you, the things that you are doing, does it remind you to do something, change something.  Does the word speak to your personal life or business life or both.  Take the encouraging words below as a reminder, and every now and then over the course of the week give yourself a reminder as you listen to the recording.

You are precious, a gift, you touch the heart of many. So many miracles have come from you - through your smile your warmth, your heart. Keep believing, patience is the key that comes in many forms and you hold the key to unlock the many blessings that are waiting for you. Everything will come together for good at the right time

Do remember to check out some of the links on the blog, check out my YouTube channel for encouraging videos to assist you in your creative journey.

Stay blessed and be a blessing.


Friday 2 August 2019

Inspirational Shorts - Authenticity




Welcome to this week's Friday Podcast - Episode 113.


Authenticity 

The doors are opening, are you ready to walk through? The time is coming - you have put in the hard work, you stayed up late and got up early, you made the sacrifices and carried on making your mark despite the circumstances. The time has come for you to look back at where you came from, look at all your achievements, no matter how small, you have come a long way!  Be proud of what you have achieved, be proud of your authenticity.

*  *  *


I thought I would give you an insight for the weekends, and prepare you for Mondays.  These Friday podcasts will be typically under 3 minutes, and just a pit stop.

Each Friday I share with you an insight or revelation and I hope that It will bless you as it blesses me.  Today it is to encourage you to go out and do some exercise, in whatever way you want to do it. have a journal or art journal handy, so that you can either make notes or create something from what inspires you. 


You can check me out on the following platforms,

Amanda Trought on Social Media (Realityarts):



Thursday 20 April 2017

Being More Mindful - You can make a change

mind·ful·ness

  • 1.the quality or state of being conscious or aware of something:"their mindfulness of the wider cinematic tradition"
  • 2.a mental state achieved by focusing one's awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one's feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique.

I see Me - Mixed media Art Journal Page - Amanda Trought

It is funny how the simple small things we do can get us taking action, and I had reached what felt like a slump - I knew what I wanted to do, but couldn't seem to move myself into taking action.  The feeling seem to linger and no matter what I tried nothing seem to work long term.

It only takes a slice of cake

After eating a slice of fruit cake one evening, I was met with the usual feelings of aching joints and lethargy which quickly followed by irritated skin.  I vowed not to eat anymore cake, I was done!  I thought of the pain I was feeling and I didn't want to feel it anymore, I wanted to finally take my decisions and life into my own hands.  My family looked at me with amusement as they had heard it all before, they said they would believe it when the see it, but this felt different.  I went further and told my son that if he were to see me eating cake he should rip it out of my hands, and then after thinking about how messy it would be I offered to pay him. My husband decided that he wanted to get in on what he saw as free money and they both rubbed their hands with glee mentally calculating how much they would make off me as I succumbed to the cake.  

I listened to their voices telling me that I couldn't do it and made a decision that I was going to do it, this time would be different!


Making the decision

They laughed and joked about it, but the way I was feeling I felt for sure that I would stick to it.  The more and more I thought about it I felt if I could give up cake then there were other habits that I wanted to address, it was more than just about the cake, and I was up for this challenge!  

After thinking about it for a while I realized that by paying them I was putting the responsibility of not eating cake onto them catching me.  Rather than punish myself for doing wrong I needed to celebrate looking after my body and getting on with the things I wanted to do.  I reasoned that if I really wanted to give up cake then I could, equally whatever other changes that I wanted to make I could put these in place as well.  It all had to do with a mindset change that I needed to just go for it!

Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage - Anais Nin


Flipping the switch

A switch flipped and I immediately felt different about how I wanted to treat myself.  If I could change my mind about eating things that were physically affecting me then what else could I do.  I decided that I needed to really look after 'me' rather than just talking about it, but I also had to support myself by gaining wisdom from others who had achieved their goals, and also create a little cheer leading team for myself. 

Wisdom is like the baobab tree; no one individual can embrace it ...

When you are not feeling yourself other things are impacted as well, my creativity suffered the ideas that I would normally work on in my studio couldn't find me as I was dulled by inactivity and I really didn't feel like getting on with the very things that made me feel good or needed to get done.  

As I thought of all these things I knew that change and taking care of myself meant that I needed to really see who I was, wanted to be, do, and all the rest of it.

I SEE ME - Mixed media art
So my mindful acts are a way of getting to know myself, what I want to do, spend time doing the things that nurture and encourage, and included the following:


  • Daily morning walks
  • Getting to bed by 11.30pm - or as close to
  • Daily reading 15 mins minimum
  • Improve Diet -Wheat and dairy free diet, lots of fruit and veg and whole foods, no processed foods
  • Daily Art & Journal writing
  • Listening to motivational and inspiring daily recordings
  • Daily family time
  • End of day review and scheduling work and goals 
All of these things on the list are to get me kick started to change, and to achieve the things that I have been saying I don't have time for, and get me back to the me that I wanted.  When I focus on these things I am reminding myself that I do matter, that showing up for myself reaffirms my own value.

Problems are only opportunities with thorns on them - Hugh Miller

Making a Commitment

When I am feeling tired I remind myself that I made a commitment and that seems to propel me into action, I get my walking gear and within minutes I am out the door.  I have been constantly reminding myself that each action is about showing up for me, and the time is much better spent.  Even reading and committing to doing some reading every day means all the books that I have promising to read I can make time for them now because they are part of my schedule.

Every day that passes I am being shown new insights and ideas and I am learning to value the time that I do have and make the most of the things that I want to do, and celebrating my achievements!  We are all given the same amount of time it depends how we use it, and the value that we place on on our lives.  There is no replay button or do over, so we need to be getting on with these things today!

Walking in your blessings.....

I would love to hear about any changes that you have decided to make in your day to day activities, 
What is it that you have always wanted to do but convinced yourself that you don't have time?
What ways are you going to nurture yourself today?

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