linda

For two weeks, I’ve been putting off doing something that will seem easy peasy to some of you. But I’d love for you to follow along anyhow.

This story has its origin a couple of months back when I offered to connect an author with someone in France that might be interested in producing his play.

What do I know about producing plays…zippo.

BUT I immediately thought of someone who knows someone who knows someone else.

So I raised my hand and volunteered.

Although this path was instantly favorable, as can be the case with such endeavors, it eventually fell flat. I was left with a promise I had made and also by this time my own desire to see this project through.

Now I had to dig a little deeper. Three people came to mind but this would put me decidedly outside of my comfort zone. I only knew these people in passing AND I’d have to speak French.

Daily Quick Collage ~ Linda Hough 2016

If you’ve been reading my emails for a while, you know I’ve lived in France for almost 12 years. What I am most embarrassed and even ashamed to admit is that my French is still rather basic. Certainly not fluent. I spend most every day speaking, writing, and buried in books in English.

I am definitely not proud of this. Most days I don’t think much about it but in situations like this, it stops me cold.

Then there is the introversion factor. I’m so much more comfortable having deep conversations with people I know than to talk with someone I don’t.

Hence the two-week wait.

But yesterday I was inspired to go out and connect with these three people and make some progress.

The first stop was a shop on my street that is hardly ever open. But today, she was. And sitting in plain view.

I walked right by.

Here’s what I heard in my mind: Oh, she’s there! Keep walking. You can catch her on the way back. Or even another day. She won’t understand you. She probably can’t help you anyhow. She’s busy. Why are you even doing this anyway?

Halfway down the road, I stopped. The more I listened to my thoughts, the closer I came to abandoning the whole project. Seriously, what do I know about getting plays produced? I’d sound like an idiot in English, yet alone in French.

Daily Quick Collage ~ Linda Hough 2016

Then I got very quiet. I relaxed into the deepest part of myself. I began to feel all those competing thoughts drop away and clarity of mind arise.

WITHOUT FURTHER THINKING, I turned around and entered the shop.

After saying hello, I smiled and hesitantly began speaking in French. To break the ice, I asked her to excuse me after all these years to be speaking so poorly but that I hoped she would understand. She smiled back and we began a conversation.

I left with a list of things to do and an agreement of participation.

The terrifying stories I had made up in my mind were just that: stories.

Emphasis on made up.

When all that fear-induced thinking settled down, I was left with a calm resolve to find the way forward, to accomplish my desire.

We face enough battles in the outside world without having a battle raging within us as well. Next time you hear that critical, doubting, belittling voice telling you YOU aren’t good enough, DO NOT LISTEN.

As quickly as these thoughts appear, they can disappear. IF you don’t latch on to them.

Take time out. Take a deep breath. Relax. As these distracting thoughts dissipate, your own deep inner knowing will be revealed.

Daily Quick Collage ~ Linda Hough 2016

No matter who you are or what you’ve been through, at your core, you are creative, resourceful + whole. Take away all the random thoughts flying through your head and what you have left is an innate wisdom that is always present.

If you aren’t familiar with this part of yourself, or if you doubt this applies to you, please take a few minutes and look at any one of these videos. (free to watch, no opt-in required) Here, I share the practice of creating a daily quick collage, the same ones you’ve been seeing in these emails.

This process is as fun as it is revelatory in uncovering this magical space within where you hear your own wisdom and learn how to recognize your own deep inner knowing.

By the way, the other two people were equally magnanimous and I’m now back on the path of what I’ve learned is actually an Executive Producer. Who knows where this journey will take me but I’m having fun doing something new + different along side my regular work.

And I will be improving my French.

Daily Quick Collage ~ Linda Hough 2017

When the layers of conditioning + beliefs + bad habits fall away, what remains is the essence of YOU.

It can happen in a moment.

It can take years.

But when the veil lifts, there is nothing more delicious, more delightful or more serene than the feeling of love that permeates your entire being.

It’s the YOU you remember from a time long ago.

When you were innocent. When you were joy. When you were free.

This YOU is available any time.

Underneath all that holds you back. All that keeps you in fear. All the thoughts that weigh you down.

This YOU is available right now.

You have only to let the veil fall away to feel the deep down love of who you really are.

Daily Quick Collage ~ Linda Hough 2017

Is there an area of your life where you can’t seem to make any progress?

Something you’ve been trying to do in various forms for some time now but it’s just not happening?

You keep spinning around in the same cycle unable to find a way out?

Most of us have at least one area like this. Some of us have more than we’d like.

One of these areas for me, I talked about the last series of emails: maintaining my ‘normal’ weight range. None of the various diets or programs I did gave me lasting results. I kept trying new versions of the same thing.

One of my favorite Einstein quotes* goes something like this: We can’t solve our problems using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.

When I had a new understanding of how cravings work + why we have them, I had exactly the new kind of thinking that resulted in a new solution that has enabled me to get different results.

Results that are far more satisfying and long-lasting than giving in to any craving.

With virtually no effort at all.

What is getting in the way of your progress?

Without knowing your personal situation, I can only guess. But if you have anything that you excessively use to distract yourself from feeling bad, I can say that this is a very good place to look.

Besides the array of commonly known addictions such as alcohol + drugs, you can also include busyness+ overworking as well a obsessive mental habits like worry, fear + my all time favorite, procrastination.

You only want to feel better…but none of these, done in excess, contribute to your overall health and wellbeing.

Unless you get to a new place of understanding, you’ll keep getting stuck in the same cycle of trying to make a change and then relapsing, of not getting where you want to go and being eternally frustrated, if not worse.

Daily Quick Collage ~ Linda Hough 2017

If you missed my 3-part series on An Effortless Path to Freedom, you can find them here.
Part One: Has This Ever Happened to You?
Part Two: Could This All Be Just a Big Misunderstanding?
Part Three: An Effortless Path to Freedom

If you’d like a new understanding of what’s stopping you, I’d love to talk with you. Contact me here and I’ll get right back to you.

*There are several versions of this quote all attributed to Einstein.

(Part Three of a Three Part Series. To read Part One, click here. To read Part Two, click here.)

When I’m at my desk, sitting in front of my journal, scissors and glue and paint close by, I am content. I know that I am about to participate in a process for which we were naturally designed. In fact, we are doing it all the time but here, I am aware, I am conscious, I am creating.

In the very best of times, I am able to put aside my personal thinking and let my innate wisdom guide me. My hands move without thinking. Ideas come from nowhere. And something new appears before me.

This is the magic of life. This is the power of creative thought. This is how we were designed to work.

This is not about becoming an artist but about showing you an effortless path to freedom.

Stay with me here because this is all going to make a whole lot of sense very soon.

When asked how he created such magnificent sculptures, Michelangelo explained that he just took away all the stone that was not the sculpture. What remained was the figure inside that had been waiting to be revealed.

Visual Journal Page ~ Linda Hough 2015

The same is true for us. Underneath all of our rules, beliefs + conditioning there exists an essence that is untouched by our habits, thoughts, + behaviors. Our inner design contains within it an innate intelligence, an infinite creative power that is always there, always available and ready to be accessed.

When we allow our thoughts to move and flow as they were designed to do, we experience our essential nature. There is nothing we need to change or fix. Innate well-being, love and happiness already exist within us.

The one and only real problem we have in life is that we cut ourselves off from this essence, our true self.

Imagine that your thoughts are like clouds floating in the sky. They are designed to pass through, sometimes slowly, sometimes quite quickly, but passing through is natural to clouds. When there is a storm, the clouds can stick around for days, making the weather gloomy and heavy.

You are designed this same way, to let your thoughts flow through your mind. Critical thinking has its place. It is invaluable when it comes to math, science, language etc. But when you get caught up in a repetitive thought pattern that creates bad feelings, you end up in a thought storm.

You feel horribly stuck.

You’ve cut yourself off from your own wisdom.

Daily Quick Collage ~ Linda Hough 2016

This does not feel good. To seek relief, to feel better, you decide to engage in a quick fix. When you repeat this action enough times, your brain recognizes this as your activity-of-choice and creates an auto-play. So now, every time you begin to feel bad, your brain releases an urge, a craving for you to do whatever you’ve been doing to feel good. Now you have a habit.

You believe that your habit is the problem. But actually it is the solution. Your habit is the signal that you are stuck in a low state of mind, that your thinking is off or caught up in a thought storm. When the craving is triggered, even though it may not feel like it, you are at choice.

Will you obey the craving? How will you decide?

In every moment, you are always doing the best you can, given your current level of thinking and your desire to feel good. You are not broken and don’t need to be fixed.

All you need is the understanding that you are caught up in a cycle of thought that is not serving you. A craving has been issued for an action to be taken. Obeying the craving provides relief.

Daily Quick Collage ~ Linda Hough 2016

Can you feel the tension there? You don’t want do your habit but you do.

Instead of seeing that your brain is issuing a command to act in an unhealthy manner, can you see that it is actually sending you a signal that your thinking is off?

Now you are at choice. You can continue to follow the old path and give in to the craving. OR you can see the craving as a signal and….do nothing.

Yes, this is the effortless part.

What you are really looking for when you do your habit is that feeling of home, to reconnect with your essence, your true self. That space where clarity and well-being reside. But you don’t know how to get there.

The path home does not lie in any habit. It does not  lie in controlling your thinking, changing your thinking or reframing your situation.

The path home lies in a state of no thinking.

Daily Quick Collage ~ Linda Hough 2017

You enter into the same empty state of mind I described when I am visual journaling. But instead of practicing something, you are doing nothing. Your thoughts are relaxed, passing through like the clouds in the sky. You are not making any effort. You have simply understood the way your mind was designed to work and are not interfering with the process.

When your mind is quiet, your inner intelligence takes over. Well-being is your natural state.

In the beginning, you will feel the craving demand that you take your habitual action. Depending on your particular habit, the craving may seem intolerable. At best, it will be uncomfortable. Let it have its time…while you are doing nothing.

I won’t lie. There have been times when the craving won out. If this happens to you, don’t get caught up in that thinking; thoughts of guilt, shame or beating yourself up. Remember that you are doing the best you can in the moment, just wanting to feel good.

As you continue to choose relaxing over reacting, your habitual thoughts will lose their power over you. As your thoughts begin to flow more easily and your wisdom shines through more often, you will have access to new and higher levels of thinking that will create higher levels of feeling.

Life begins to open up. Because you are now directed from your inner wisdom instead of any outside influences, you feel freer than you ever thought possible.

This has been my own experience and it can be yours as well.

If you feel a resonance with what I’m saying, if you feel a deep inner YES and would like to dive deeper into this understanding with regard to your personal situation, I’d love to talk with you. Simply contact me here and I’ll get right back to you.

Visual Journaling Page ~ Linda Hough 2015

(Part Two of a Three Part Series. To read Part One: Has This Ever Happened To You? click here)

Have you ever thought about the gap between where you are now and where you want to be? How about the gap between what you want to do and what you actually do?

Especially in the US, there is a very strong emphasis on wherever you are now NOT being ok. No matter where it is that you are, there is always some place better to be or something more to have.

You aren’t thin enough, rich enough, good enough.

Or you’re too old, too quiet, too sensitive, too worthless.

Add to this the seemingly never-ending challenges you may face on a daily basis and the mounting pressure of life can easily become too much to bear. You begin to seek relief wherever you can.

In the quest to feel better, you are encouraged by a great variety of products, services or activities guaranteed to take your pain away. Even if only for a short time. You are willing to pay whatever price is asked.

Anything to relieve the emotional discomfort you are feeling.

Visual Journaling Page ~ Linda Hough 2015

To be sure, this topic is massive and there is much to say about the origins of our emotional pain.

But the simple answer is this: we really only want to feel better.

So we reach out for what is fast, easily available and satisfies our urge to numb. Shopping, eating, drinking, drugs and smoking are just some of these preferred activities. Striving to be perfect, attempting to control and worry are some of the mental strategies we adopt hoping to get ahead of our pain.

When enacted on a continual basis, these activities develop into a habitual response to our discomfort. Thus begins the creation of bad habits, compulsive behaviors and general unhealthiness that then causes even more pain and suffering.

What seems like an easy answer to feeling good turns into a never-ending cycle that can feel impossible to stop.

BUT what if this whole scenario is based on a huge misunderstanding? What if we’ve gotten this all wrong, how life really works?

I know…take a deep breath in.

Years ago, when I was a young woman deciding what to do with the rest of my life, it was clear to me that the road less traveled was so much more worthwhile than choosing the world of advertising. Even back then, I saw the power of influence and how detrimental advertising could be. I chose to experience my art + design skills in a less commercial way.

Many years of making art + developing a creative practice with visual journaling led me to discover a profound secret: when I took the principles of the creative process and applied them to my life, a sort of magic happened. I felt utterly and completely at peace. Life seemed so much easier.

Visual Journaling Page ~ Linda Hough 2015

This was more of a hit and miss occurrence. I was still experiencing the overeating I described in Part One as well as a crippling resistance to my work.

Recently though, I’ve come across a new understanding of the way our minds work which confirms the experiences I had with my own creative process.

It turns out that we DO have life all wrong.

We have a big misunderstanding about where our feelings come from. We believe that outside events, what happens to us and around us, largely determine the way we feel.

How many times have you said, “That makes me so angry!” or heard “She made me so mad!”

This isn’t the way life works at all. No one or no event can ‘make’ you feel any thing.

I know….take another breath in.

What is true is that the way you experience life comes from your own thoughts, and only your own thoughts 100% of the time. NOT from what is happening outside of you. The only thing we ever feel is our moment-to-moment thinking.

A habit then is what you see as the best option to NOT feel your thinking in the moment. Although it certainly might not look like it, your habit is actually a sign of your innate wellbeing, the best solution you saw in the moment to the problem of feeling bad.

This probably sounds a little convoluted but when you begin to understand this, there is no longer a need to artificially soothe your discomfort. Bad habits drop away. Compulsive behaviors loosen their hold. You live with an ease and grace that may seem impossible from where you are standing right now.

From my own experience I know this to be true.

Some of the most impactful changes I’ve experienced this year:

I’ve stopped dieting. Instead, I’m naturally attracted to eating what is healthy while occasionally enjoying the gifts of French cuisine. And I am losing weight.

I’ve gotten off the yo-yo rollercoaster of feeling bad about myself for weight or for any of the numerous other things I thought were ‘wrong’ with me. Instead, I feel at peace with myself and who I am.

I’ve even ended my procrastination and struggles with resistance. Instead, I trust myself and my timing. I enjoy what I am doing and more often than not, I’m pleasantly surprised at all that I am accomplishing.

I’m not talking about positive psychology here, nor about controlling your thoughts or choosing a different perspective from which to see. This is definitely not about going back into your past to find the origins of a belief or your habit.

I’ll get to how this relates to the creative principle in Part Three. You don’t have to be an artist or creative to benefit from this new paradigm. All you have to be is open to the true understanding of how life really works and then you too can make the best of it.

(Part Two of a Three Part Series. Read Part Three: An Effortless Path to Freedom here)

Daily Quick Collage ~ Linda Hough 2017