Do you wish you could BE more creative but you're stuck and not even sure where to begin to get your creative sparks and juices flowing?Wish you were the "creative" type?

Or...maybe you already think your "creative" but you find yourself struggling with looking at your work with "perfection" and "comparison" and "judgmental" thoughts?

Yes?

Well, lemme tell ya a little secret that EASILY helps with every question I just asked up above.

If you wanna BE more creative, wanna start to see YOURSELF as CREATIVE, and you wanna look at what you creative with more loving thoughts and with more confidence to share it with the world, all you have to do is play with color like a toddler again.

Just like this...

Here's why...

When you first sit down to paint for fun, you may be in a little bit of a funk because the demands of the day are starting to exhaust you.

So when you start, it takes a few minutes to switch over to the present moment in this way because of the very dominating, structured life we live.

During those initial minutes of starting, your thoughts will try to tell you every reason in the book why you shouldn't sit down to paint for fun like a toddler. Because you're an adult and there's way more important things to do in life, right? The key is, don't listen...keep painting!!

Because you're starting to focus more on the colors and the movement of your hand with the brush that's right in front of you, it starts to become hard to stay focused on the "funk" of the day. It's those movements that easily pull you back into the present moment.

And when you're present, your mind calms, you feel more at ease, you connect back to WHO are and what you LOVE, the comparison, judgmental, perfectionism thoughts quiet down and before you know it your inner creative sparks are igniting and you're creating a masterpiece that ONLY you can CREATE...because your unique creative talents come ONLY through YOU and ONLY with ease (when you let it shine again!!).

And it's this creative moment below that did exactly just that for my daughter. (And does for me every time!)

Like I always say, when it's her doodle break time, I sit by her and let her guide me. She wasn't singing yet...and I could tell she was still in a little bit of "I'm tired...I'm bored" left-brain funk.

After the first 10 minutes, this was her first play-with-color masterpiece. BEAUTIFUL!!

This was mine. BEAUTIFUL!! And, yes, even though this wasn't my doodle break, just playing like this by her side calms me!!

Then, she asked to finger paint. It was during this time when things began to change. She started to smile more, sing more and laugh more. This is when I know the shift to the present moment has occurred. Her funk has begun to melt and she's starting to get into her happy place. Hello right brain!!

Now, you may look at this and think, "YUCK!!" But it's this activity that started to ignite her inner, creative sparks...just using her hands to play with color. SO easy!!

I began to finger paint as well. And I was smiling more, too!! :) :)

But, it was the finger painting that really made a HUGE shift in this moment. The next thing I know, she's asking for another paper and she's doodle painting something all on her own.

I look over and she's laughing because there's a "laughing witch" on her paper. (She's covering her mouth with hand while laughing...I love it when she does this!!).

Again, she painted this all on her own and she NAMED it all on her own, too!! She never once asked me paint something for her during this time or tell her what it was she painted.

"LAUGHING WITCH!!! LOL!!!!"

There's a BIG difference from when she first started to where she is at this point in her doodle painting fun. And if I had pictures of myself painting, my face would look the same in the both pictures, too!!

Can you see her face in the first pic, during her first painting? A little bit of seriousness going. Now look at her while painting that "laughing witch." Laughing away!!

This IS what playing with color does!! Not only does it start to make you HAPPY...but it starts to ignite your inner creative sparks as well.

She didn't start out saying once we sat down, "I'm gonna paint a laughing witch, Mommy!" Nope...we just sat down and just started to play with color on a white canvas.

We didn't set any intentions or goals or even talk about what we wanted to paint...we just put the color to the canvas so that we can easily get out of the funk of the day for a bit.

When I saw her paint that awesome "funny witch," I decided to do the same. That's what's SO awesome about doodle painting...if you're stuck and don't know what to paint, just paint what your kids paint (or draw)...because doing this WILL ignite your inner creative sparks, too!! You just have to start!

**Toddlers don't just start making their own unique muffins from scratch. They start with their parents guiding them through the steps...they help mix and pour and watch them bake. As they keep doing this, their inner creative sparks begin to ignite more and maybe, one day, they'll soon be making their own unique muffins from scratch...but those inner creative sparks need a little bit of a guide to help them ignite...same thing with painting!! But it's the painting that ignites the creativity...you'll find yourself pursuing creativity that you truly desire from within...be it cooking, singing, knitting, landscaping, coming up with an amazing project for your very, left-brain job, dancing...anything!! The painting just gets things rolling! Especially if been years since you've mindlessly played like a kid**

I had a lot of fun painting her. And when C saw her, she thought she was hilarious. I did, too! FYI...when you paint laughing witches...you're guaranteed to laugh!! :)

While I painted my own version of a "laughing witch," she painted another witch, all on her own. She called this one a "baby witch." Awwwww!!

And then after that, she painted a landscape of the moon and another witch. BEAUTIFUL!!!

Amazing, amazing stuff!

What happened here with her doesn't surprise me one bit. It's all part of the mindless-creativity play process.

When I watch my daughter start to "play" with color in this way, I'm ALWAYS reminded of WHY I'm here, sharing the power of creativity.

From just taking a brush of color to paper, for a little less than 10 minutes, easily pulls you into the present moment and it starts to ignite inner creative sparks that you didn't even know existed within you.

The more she "mindlessly-plays" the more her inner creative sparks shine. She sings. She laughs and she paints things that now have a label to them.

She begins to paint things that look more like "things" rather than just scribbles and lines.

It really is that easy!!

And when I watch her come alive like this, I'm always...ALWAYS...reminded that when I have my own doodle break, like this, one where it's just me, a quiet house, no distractions and no one needing me to help them with something...my inner creative sparks IGNITE as well.

Check out this blog post I wrote on just that here.

It had been awhile since I had gotten my doodle painting on, so my first flower, in my opinion, was AWFUL looking. If I didn't know the power behind creativity, I would have thrown in the towel and never looked back after painting that one.

But, because I was aware of my "I hate this painting" thoughts, that I needed to doodle paint even more. My mind needed the calm so my inner creativity could start to shine again.

The more I painted, the more my flowers IGNITED!!!

You can see everything I'm talking about in that blog post. Powerful...POWERFUL...stuff!!

So if you wanna ignite your inner creative sparks again...because they're there!! You just have to say hello to them again...and believe me, they're ready for you to play with them again..we are ALL creative!! So please don't think you aren't...you are!! Promise!!

And if you already stay connected to your inner creativity, and you find yourself judging your work and looking at it with way too many "perfection" eyes over and over and again...

Then start getting your creative, toddler play on like this because before you know it you'll start seeing your inner creative self blossom and those"perfect" thoughts will calm and your inner, creative confidence will shine!!

My daughter had NOT ONE judgmental thought about her work...and this, my friends, is why I keep this fun, creative play alive!! And plan to for as long as I can with her and myself!!

Because when it's time to go back to structured living, her (and mine! and yours!) "this sucks...I can't do this...I'm not creative...you do it for me...it's ugly...it doesn't look like yours" thoughts won't be SO loud and they won't stop her (or me!! or you!!) from truly expressing exactly WHO she is.

And not to mention, she'll be more motivated and have more energy and ideas when it comes to living a more structured way. This happens to me all the time!! Check out my blog post on how doodling helped me organize my 2014 blogging content calendar here. It's amazing what comes flowing out after a good doodle sesh!! :):)

She'll keep shining brightly and confidently!!! (And you will, too!!)

Because, trust me, there was a time I never wanted to show my "creative" work to others...and now, since I get my mindless, creative-calm on, I have no problems sharing and expressing exactly WHO I am...creative and not-creative and all.

Wanna get your toddler play on???

Here's what you do...

Get some paper, paint (any paint...your kids paint works GREAT!), paint brushes (your kids brushes work GREAT!) and something to place on your table. I use a drop cloth from Lowe's.

Not sure what to paint?

Think of a doodle you always draw when you're waiting on hold on the phone. Or, doodles you drew in your notebook while in History class in high school. Or, look at what your kids paint and paint what they did.

Remember!!

This isn't for an Art class....you won't be graded...there's no rules...ONLY FUN!!

This IS only about calming your mind so you can BE the happy and present mama you're meant to BE!! One who uses creativity to get her calm on and at the same time, slows down, so she can ignite her inner passions, joys and savors everything she absolutely LOVES in her life!!

Because a HAPPY mama is a FUN mama and when mama is HAPPY and FUN, our kids and family are too!!

Oh yeah...and if you want HAPPY kids, this will do it, too!! ;)

Until next time... Life IS creatively, awesome...SAVOR it up!