003: Join the Movement

Do you want to prioritize your mental and emotional health and live a beautiful, creative life? Worrying about what other people think or listening to that voice inside your head will only keep you from taking action and taking better care of yourself. On today’s episode, I am discussing why you should commit to creating with both your hands and mind and my three guidelines for mindful creativity. These guidelines have the power to help people who don’t even consider themselves as creative. It will teach you to be grateful for the process of creating and learn how to find beauty in it.

Are you ready to join the movement?

What’s in this episode:

Learning to prioritize your mental and emotional health and how to stop worrying about what other people think
Why you shouldn’t be embarrassed to admit that you’re human and how to be open about your imperfections and struggles
Discovering how creating can help your mental and emotional health and committing to creating with your hands and mind
The three guidelines for mindful creativity: why you should create for the process rather than for perfection, how to be present in the moment and how to be judgment-free about your creations
Becoming grateful for the creative process and finding beauty in it

Read the transcript of the episode below:

 I have a question that I want to ask you today and it is, are you ready? Are you ready to prioritize your mental and emotional health and live a beautiful creative life? You are listening to the committed to create podcast. Episode three. Join the movement.
Welcome to the committed to create podcasts. I'm Lisa funk and I am so excited to hang out with you here. As we talk about the power of creating with our hands and our minds, I like to keep it real, remind you that you are not alone and share specific ways that creativity and mindfulness can help us live even more meaningful and joyful lives.
I am. So glad that you're here.
Welcome back. My friend. I am so glad that you're here coming over to my house. Remember, that's what we're going to pretend that we're just hanging out, chatting about what really matters to us. And today I want to talk about joining the movement and you might be thinking, what movement are you talking about?
I'm talking about mindful creativity. It is something that has changed my life. Like I talked about in episode two, with my lettering and my life changing lettering. I want to talk about why is this so important? And the first thing that I want to talk about in this movement is to prioritize our mental and emotional health.
And part of the problem with being human is that if we're ever struggling with our emotions or struggling with a relationship or struggling with anxiety, or we're just in a funk or stuck with something that feels so embarrassing, Because we feel like we should have it figured out and we should be able to handle it.
So we don't want to talk about it. We don't want to share it. We don't want to be open about it because what will people think? And we have this voice in our head that tells us that we should, Oh, that word, that should word that we should be able to deal. And we should know better, and we should be able to do this and we should be able to handle it.
And that keeps us from not only being open about our struggles, but taking action and taking care of ourselves. Now, listen, I am not. In a million years, advocating that we all air our dirty laundry all the time or become super negative and just talk about negative negativity all the time. Okay. We can, however, talk about being human and take care of ourselves without becoming.
Debbie downers. Okay. I really believe in this and I know that it's a tough balance to strike, but it's so possible and think about the alternative. So if we decide that we don't want to be open about it, we might say it's because we don't want to be negative. So, what we do instead is we just Harbor all that negativity and keep it all to ourselves until we're completely drowning in our struggle all by ourselves, because we're embarrassed to admit that we're human beings.
It is so crazy. It's so crazy here we are all separated from each other, all individually thinking that why can't we handle this? We should be able to do better. What's wrong with us? We're all thinking that. Each on our own separated into these silos when we could be sharing and learning and growing together.
And that is the first part of this movement that I want to create and that I want you to join. And I want us to do this together because I am tired of pretending like. We should all have everything figured out already because we shouldn't, we're not supposed to, we're supposed to be figuring this out and it's so much more fulfilling and so much more meaningful when we can do it together and help each other on this road.
So going along with that first part of the movement, which is to prioritize our mental and emotional health is to not be ashamed. And it took me a while to be more open about my mental health. And I am not saying that you need to go and tell everyone that. You know, you're struggling and you may or may not be struggling with depression or anxiety in a serious way, but we can be open about our imperfections and our challenges in a way that's going to help us get help.
And that's going to help us learn and grow and improve our lives. Okay. So let me just be clear. I am not encouraging you to be really negative or tell people about your struggle that are not the right people to tell. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about even just for yourself. I don't want you to feel ashamed, even if you never tell anyone what's going on.
I don't want you to feel ashamed of being human anymore. Of struggling. You haven't chosen to feel this way. You just don't know what's causing it and you haven't had the tools to get help. And we are all in this together, and that is the first part of this movement is to drop the shame and drop feeling like there's something wrong with us and be ready to commit to getting.
The tools and the help and the, um, instruction that might take us to a place where we feel better. Okay. Deal. Okay. Deal. Number two. The second part of this movement is that I know creating makes a difference. Whether you're in a funk right now, or whether you're in the best mental and emotional shape of your life, creating enhances our health.
It's just makes everything, takes it to the next level. And I'm talking about creating with our hands and with our minds, this might look very artistic for you. It might look like lettering or watercolor or pottery or stained glass. You name it. Or it might be cooking or organizing or gardening or creating routines.
There are countless ways to create, think of how you spend your time when you're doing something in your life and not consuming. And that is creating. So when we're creating with our hands and in our lives, there's all those different ways. I mean, one episode we'll have to just kind of cover. All the different ways that we can find to be creative.
I also talk about creating with our minds. And when I talk about that, I'm referring to our mindset and thought work in mindfulness, and I'm going to go so much more in depth in later episodes on these topics and some of the very best practices that I have found for my mental health and emotional health, as far as I'm concerned.
I know that creating with our hands and with our minds makes a huge difference. And I also know that creativity within our families can change the mental and emotional health of our homes. And so what I want to do is invite you to join this movement, the movement to number one. Dropping the shame and committing to taking care of ourselves and number two, committing to create with our hands and with our minds.
That is the mission of committed to create. That is my dream and my vision. And my passion is to encourage all of us to spend more time, more energy, more heart. Creating, if you aren't sure yet, if either of these types of creativity might be a blessing to you or your family, or might actually help if you're like, Oh, I'm not so sure.
I just want you to try it. I just want you to experiment. And you might be wondering, okay, so I'm ready to experiment. I'm ready to join this movement and try this out. And if you wondering how I'm going to tell you right now, we're going to try something it's small, it's doable and it's this five minutes a day.
This is a part of our movement. Okay. I know that when we hear things, we get ideas from people. Sometimes our initial reaction is that we don't necessarily feel like we have a lot of time. That's why we're starting with five minutes. It is totally doable. We all have five minutes. And I promise you, you're going to be surprised when you start with five minutes, it might turn into more, but you don't need to commit to more.
We're just committing to five minutes. This is my challenge to you. And this is the movement that I want you to join, commit to create intentionally and mindfully. For five minutes a day and you might be thinking, what exactly do you mean by that? What exactly is mindful creation or mindful creativity?
Well, I'm going to be talking away more about this in future episodes, but to start out here are some guidelines for you. Three guidelines for mindful creativity. Number one, create for the process. Not for perfection. Okay. The reason why I'm talking about this is because I happen to know you, and I know that it is kind of hard to create imperfect things.
We like things to look beautiful and wonderful. We like to do things well. We've spent a lot of time. Perfecting certain things. And so in retry a new skill, if it doesn't turn out the right way right away, it's very, it can be very difficult for us. So I know this can be a tricky one. It can be hard to let go of, but I want to tell you a little secret.
I believe there is a correlation between expecting our. Artistic skills or our creative skills to be perfect and expecting ourselves to be perfect. As I have dropped this expectation for perfect creation when I'm creating something. I've also been able to drop some of that insane expectation that I have had for myself to be perfect in so many areas of my life.
I know this is going to be hard for so many of us, but it is part of the mindful creation to release the expectation for perfection. Okay. And that brings us to the second part. Number two, the second guideline, which is to focus on being present during the creative process. So the way that I like to do this is to use my senses to.
Pay attention to how it feels to hold. Like if I were lettering, for example, you know, lettering, I know that's going to often be my example, but for lettering, I focus on the pen. I focus on the brush strokes. I focus on the pressure. I focus on how my shoulder feels, how much pressure I'm putting on my hand, all of those things.
And I do that out of necessity too, because. I need to make sure that I get the right pressure in order to get the, um, pen to work. Right. But no matter what you're doing, you can focus on being present during the process. And that is the definition of mindfulness is being present. In the moment and being aware of your senses, your body, your experience.
And so that is guideline number two, a huge part of mindful creation, which is going to enhance your experience so much more. And number three is don't judge the creation, and that is circling back to number one. But once you have finished. We're not going to sit there and critique it and think about how it could, should be better.
And, and it looks so terrible and it's not as good as so-and-so's and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. That is not going to help us. Okay. I know that it's tough. I know that our humanness wants to compare and wants it to be perfect, but let me just tell you a little secret. Doing that doesn't well, number one, it's not fun.
Okay. And is it fun sort of the point, like seriously, if we're just so hard on ourselves and we're so critical of what we've created and whether or not we think it's good enough or comparing it to other people and their creations, what is the point? Seriously though, if it causes us to feel inadequate and to feel terrible, then that is not mindful creation.
I think sometimes we can make it worse for ourselves when we're doing creating, and those kind of perfectionistic tendency ways, instead of enjoying the process for what it is, So I know that it's going to be a challenge to start to create in this mindful way, but I just want you to do your best to do this chest for five minutes.
And I'm talking, you can grab a cran and a piece of paper and draw circles. You can take your phone camera and go over to your kids and take pictures of their checks, the feet, or you can, or have some flowers outside. You can go to your bookshelves, take everything off of one shelf and kind of restyle it and put it back on the shelf.
You can do pick anything that you want to do. Five minutes. And at the very least grab a pencil and a piece of paper and draw some squiggly lines.
It does not need to be perfect. It does not need to be something you're going to frame. It doesn't have to be something that you're going to show anyone. I just want you to focus on those three things. Create for the process, not for perfection. Focus on being present during the creative process. And number three, don't judge the creation.
I want you to join this movement starting with five minutes a day. Are you in, are you going to do it with me? I really want you to do it with me. And I'm going to keep referring back to this challenge, to this movement of mindful creation, because it really can change your life. I always talk about how I love having a creative outlet and how good it is for me, but you know, what would not be good is if I spent the whole time, I was creating, beating myself up because it wasn't good enough.
I have people that will come and comment on my Instagram and be like, Oh my stuff, doesn't look as good as yours. I just don't understand why I can't get it and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And they're missing the point. If they're going to beat themselves up and compare themselves to someone else, number one, they probably won't ever get to the place where they want to be.
And number two, you're missing the beauty and the therapeutic experience of just creating for the process. When I started lettering, it did not look anything like it looks now, but I didn't care. I was doing it for the process. I loved getting to focus and being present during the creation of it. I wasn't thinking about my car kids and how stressed I was or about something that I didn't get done or how I wasn't, you know, perfect that other things in my life, I wasn't stressed about relationships.
I wasn't focused on anything else. Except for how my hand needed to hold that pen in order to create the right kind of pressure. And that was so good for my brain to have a break from overthinking about all of those other things. And number three, don't judge the creation when you're done, just be grateful for the process, find beauty in it and the imperfections.
A computer can create a very uniform looking font every single time. That's not what we're going for. As far as lettering is concerned. I love knowing that a hand created those letters. It's handmade, it's imperfect, it's rustic and it's creative and whatever you're doing, whether it's lettering, whether it's photography, gardening, whatever it might be.
When you can learn to just be kind to yourself through the process and enjoy doing it, enjoy being present in the moment. I promise you that even five minutes a day can make a big difference. I also love inviting my kids. To do this. And I want to be an example to them that they can create without worrying about the outcome without worrying about if they're a watercolor looks exactly like their brothers or their teachers or their friends or the picture.
I want them to enjoy the process of doing it. Instead of focusing on comparison and judging that creation. So first I would love to invite you and challenge you to do the five minute challenge for yourself, and then also to invite your family, to come and create with you. And you know, what's so amazing is that if you go and sit down at the table and start drawing.
It's very likely that the other members of your family will join you. If you go out and start gardening and planting and getting your seeds going, I'm obviously not a gardener yet. Although I want to be one day, my husband will go out and garden and my kids just flock to him. They love seeing what we're doing and being a part of it.
And so if we can start creating, I know that it will trickle down and have an influence on those around us as well. So will you tell me if you're ready to join this movement? I want you to tell me, come DM me on Instagram or better yet post. On your Instagram and your feed or in your stories. And tell us about this challenge, share it with your friends, invite them to join the movement as well.
I really believe that this has the power to help so many people, so many who may or may not consider themselves creative may or may not think that it's worth their time to do something. That's maybe out of their comfort zone or something new or different or something that they used to do when they were a kid, but they don't consider doing it anymore.
I would love for you to share it with your friends, to share with me your messy, imperfect creations. And tag me at committed to create is my Instagram handle. I would love for you to share with me and. I'm just so glad that you're here. I'm so glad that we are doing this together. We're dropping the shame of being human.
We're dropping that belief that we should know better, that we should be able to handle this. And we're just going to do things that we know can help us. And I'm telling you, I know that being creative with your hands and your mind will make a difference for you. And I want you to start with five minutes.
I day, so let's do it. I'm so glad you're here. The best way that you can support the podcast is by leaving us a rating and review, how will also help other people who would be blessed by this to be able to find it. I hope that you are enjoying it. I would love for you to come and get your free guide five creative steps.
Less stress and more joy over at committedtocreate.com. And again, I would also love to connect with you on Instagram. I am at committed to create, I want to hear your thoughts about the podcast and I always really appreciate it when you share. I'm so glad you have joined the movement. Thank you so much for being here and I will see you next time.

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I hope that my podcast has left you feeling inspired and excited to live the life that you want. If you’ve enjoyed listening to this podcast, I’d love for you to subscribe so you can continue to hear more. Want to get to know me better? Connect with me on my website or on Instagram to keep up with everything that is going on with me and my business.

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Jennifer L. IN LOVE!! What a perfect idea! I am a plant mama too, like Lisa. I also manage a great deal of anxiety. I got into lettering a couple years ago as a creative outlet and discovered a multitude of treasures in the lettering community! This book that Lisa created with her daughter is just perfection! It's all the feels for me! Thank you both!!!
Cinthanie C. EXCELLENT BOOK! I really enjoy taking a minute each day to slow down and apply my hand to something that is not only emotionally supportive but relaxing and fun to do!! The mantras for everyday are very helpful for me. Thank you for your work and bringing such a high quality product into my life!

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003: Join the Movement

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