When I am doing what I love, I seem to have all the energy needed to bring my creation into being. I often ask myself, ‘Do I love this concept strongly enough to do whatever is necessary to take it from the realm of ideas to the realm of reality? If I do not, I move on. Holding onto ideas that have no heart energy behind them often contributes to creating stress because the valve to creating is closed down.

However, I have brought many things into being which meant very little to me. When this happens, I experience stress and anxiety. The fear is often that more is expected of me than I can reasonably achieve. This may conjure feelings, real or imagined, that I am out of control and cannot regain the right track.

For many years, I energized from the place of fear. For example, I would procrastinate. Waiting for the last minute generated fear. I would use survival energy to break out of that fear and get whatever needed to be done completed. I became a professional stress producer. Other people who produce stress and mistake it for creative energy may be coming from fear of failure, denial and avoidance. Procrastinating made me feel edgy. I came to believe that I required stress to be on the so-called cutting edge.

Long term stress can severely affect a person’s health. The immune system is damaged, the nervous system is impaired and susceptibility to minor (and sometimes major) illnesses increases.

When under relentless and unmanageable stress, a person’s self-worth is impaired. Relationships suffer and positive planning becomes very difficult.

Of course, when under long-term stress at work, the ability to function at peak levels diminishes. How can we be expected to give 100% if our minds and bodies are slowly shutting down through endless misuse?

Take the 365 Hour Cure

I have learned that when I am creating from my heart I never feel stressed. Intense, motivated, filled with adrenaline, but not stressed. Why not give yourself a gift this summer? Eliminate stress by giving yourself a minimum of one hour a day to do what you love. One hour a day is 365 hours a year. Imagine what you could do with that time! Make sure that you take some time-outs – small, medium and large. A small time-out would be something like taking a walk with your camera without an attachment to an outcome, or going to a movie or museum in the middle of your work day. A medium time-out might be a week to work on that body of work you are creating. A huge time-out might be to spend a month or so in Italy. If you don’t believe me, take it from Leonardo Da Vinci.

Every now and then go away, have a little relaxation, for when you come
back to your work your judgment will be surer. Go some distance away
because then the work appears smaller and more of it can be taken in at
a glance and a lack of harmony and proportion is more readily seen.
Leonardo Da Vinci

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