Habits

(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

(Part One of a Three Part Series)

Have you ever done this?

Had a crystal clear idea of where you are going and then bam, life gets in the way?

So that happened.

Last August, I sent you an email introducing a new direction that I was very happy about. In fact, it was called the Happiness of Creativity. My intention was to focus on the benefits of establishing a creative practice specifically using visual journaling as a tool for self-expression and self-discovery.

Then, life + traveling + holidays + new information all came together to change the trajectory of my life and work. I am still in love with visual journaling and I’ve used some of my quick collages here.

BUT what came next was too big to ignore.

Normally, when one year comes to an end and a new one begins, I take a look at where I am and where I’d like to be. And as always, the one area that I am rarely happy about is my weight.

For most of my life, I’ve struggled with a general pattern of over-eating and a constant battle to keep my weight within a normal range. I’ve been able to lose weight when I finally decide it’s time. But the moment I stop dieting, it comes back and then some.

Sound familiar?

Daily Quick Collage ~ Linda Hough 2017

Maybe it’s not weight you struggle with. Maybe you have a different bad habit or compulsive behavior that is totally interfering in your life. No matter how much willpower or discipline you manage to muster, you find yourself frustrated and stuck with this unwanted behavior.

And maybe, like me, you’ve reached a point in your life where you’re just plain tired of limiting or putting restrictions on yourself. Personally, I want to enjoy my life. In France, eating is elevated to an art form. I no longer want to deny myself any of the pleasure that revolves around our daily meals.

At the same time, I don’t feel all that good about carrying these extra pounds. Or continuing to do what obviously hasn’t worked.

So now what?

As someone immersed in the field of human potential, I am continually reading, studying and researching tons of ideas + concepts on how to live fully and richly as we become our best selves.

Looking at the big picture, we humans have come so far in so many ways. Yet we continue to experience way too much pain and suffering, buckling under the weight (excuse the pun) of our many problems.

Why does this seem to be getting increasingly worse instead of better? Why are more and more people turning to unhealthy habits and behaviors that end up causing them even more pain?

Daily Quick Collage ~ Linda Hough 2017

How can we retain our health and wellbeing in the midst of all the temptations and distractions?

While there are many outside considerations that I’ll leave for another time, my primary interest lies in what we can do personally to alleviate our own suffering.

What I’ve come to understand is that there is an effortless path to freedom that does not rely on willpower, disciple or positive motivation to release bad habits.

Amazingly, this path is completely aligned with and includes the creative principle that I’ve been working with in visual journaling.

Imagine an effortless way to free yourself from the bad habits and behaviors that are keeping you from doing what you want to do, from being who you want to be.

Imagine a way to naturally connect to your innate wisdom and health.

Imagine having a clear + stress free mind, going about your daily life with confidence + clarity.

This might sound impossible but you don’t have to imagine it, it already exists.

(Part One of a Three Part Series. Part Two: Could this all be just a simple misunderstanding?)

Daily Quick Collage ~ Linda Hough 2017