Full-Coolr LfeiStarter Kit Workbook · The Fun Part: Portable Joy Guidebook This is where you get to play! Print out the Full-Color Life Portable Joy Guidebook on page 13, color it

Full-Color LifeStarter KitWorkbook

by Melissa Dinwiddie .

© 2015 Melissa Dinwiddie • melissadinwiddie.com 2

IntroductionWelcome to the Creative Uprising! My mission is to empower you to live the full-color life you’ve always wanted.

Why? In order to realize my vision:

Living a Creative Life Vision StatementBecause I know that feeding your creative hungers is one of the fastest routes to happiness, joy and self-fulfillment—and it’s how you change the world!—I envision a world where:

• Creative expression is treated and accepted as a normal part of daily life, as essential as eating or brushing your teeth.

• Every human on the planet is encouraged to nurture and nourish their innate creativity, to take creative risks, and to honor and pursue their creative callings, from birth onwards, forever, regardless of age, gender, race, class, or anything else.

• All people feed their creative hungers, boldly do their art, and uninhibitedly share their work, even when it scares them, because they understand that doing so is an important, world-changing act, and the Universe needs them to create.

The first step toward living a full-color creative life is getting clear on what sparks joy for you. That’s what this workbook is designed to help you with.

The next step is to integrate your joy-sparkers into your life. After you fill out this workbook, print out, color, and assemble the Portable Joy Guidebook as a reminder to keep bringing your creative joys back to the center of your life.

Let’s get started! Grab a timer and a pen, and answer the questions on the following pages.

http://melissadinwiddie.com


inspiration to bust the starving artist mindset and help you thrive

For each of the following questions, set a timer for two minutes, and freewrite, keeping your hand moving. Don’t lift your pen until the timer goes off.

If I had a trust fund, and never had to work again, I’d...

Joy Clarifier

If I could do anything, I’d...

When I was ten years old, I loved to...



If I had 20 lifetimes to live, and I could be anything I wanted in each lifetime, I would be:

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Joy Mind MapSet a timer for three minutes and use the space below to mind-map or list out every-thing you can think of that brings you joy.

Now circle three or more that you want to integrate into your life regularly this year. You’ll add these to your Portable Joy Guidebook later.



Envisioning Your Ideal DayUse this worksheet to create the schedule for your ideal day, starting from when you wake up in the morning (or whenever you want to wake up!!) to when you got to bed.

This is your fantasy ideal day, remember, so it can be anything you want. No limits! We’re going to do this a couple of times, so for this fantasy schedule, don’t worry too much about logical reality (like having to drive to work, do laundry, make dinner, pick up the kids, etc.) If you feel like including any of those things, go ahead, but only if they’re really part of your fantasy.

Here’s one of my current Fantasy Ideal Day Schedules (as of this moment—I reserve the right to have as many Fantasy Ideal Day Schedules as I want, and you can too):

6:00am - Wake up, meditate, stretch, read7:00am - Write in journal7:30am - Play ukulele and write songs8:30am - Breakfast, feed kitty9:00am - Paint/make art/be in Creative Sandbox12:00pm - Lunch break!1:00pm - Email & social media, time in forums2:00pm - Teaching, consulting sessions with clients4:00pm - Read5:30pm - Walk by the Bay with MM7:00pm - Dinner!8:30pm - Enjoying the evening with MM OR singing gig or improv show11:00pm - Bedtime

This Fantasy Ideal Day Schedule is not at all realistic. For example, my time on email, social media & forums currently takes up WAY more time than shown here, I’m rarely actually awake by 6:00am, and definitely not if I go to bed at 11:00pm... Plus this schedule doesn’t account for any of the client work I currently have to do. But that’s okay—remember, this is a Fantasy Schedule.

Now it’s your turn:



My Fantasy Ideal Day Schedule(One of them... or write down more than one if you like!)



Next, think about your real daily schedule, what things you currently need to include in your schedule that you maybe didn’t include in your Fantasy Ideal Day Schedule.

Now create another schedule template, this time including stuff you really need to do. I call this my Ideal Day Template.

It’s a template, because it’s something I aim for, but don’t always hit. That’s okay. Just having a template to shoot for helps me stay on track.

Here’s my current Ideal Day Template:

6:00 or 6:30am - Wake up, write in journal7:00/8:00am - Meditate for 10 min., stretch while reading or watching videos8:30am - Light breakfast, feed kitty, work out for an hour9:45am - Neck stretches while boiling tea, checking Facebook on my iPhone10:00am - 15 to 30 min. of Creative Sandbox art or music time10:30am - Write or record podcastnoon-ish - Lunch break!12:30/1:00pm - Back to work! Teaching, consulting/coaching, website work 6:00pm - Make dinner with MM8:30pm - More time on work and other projects; email, etc.9:00pm - “Chill time” with sweetie10:00/10:30pm -Bbedtime (realistically, this is often more like 11:00pm...)

Three points:

1) Again, I rarely actually follow this template exactly, but just having it in my head really helps me spend my time more effectively.

2) This template (my IDT) changes frequently, as my needs and desires evolve. Let your own IDT be flexible. It might change weekly, or even daily for awhile.

3) You may find that you have to say “no” to some things that are currently on your actual schedule, in order to make room for what you really want!

Now your turn:



My (More Realistic) Ideal Day Template(One of them... or write down more than one if you like!)



Now that you’ve written down your Fantasy Ideal Day (perhaps more than one), what have you learned about what you really want? Did anything surprise you? Write down any insights here:

Feel free to make several Ideal Day Templates. Depending on your personal circumstances, you may need a different IDT for every day of the week!

Also remember to check in regularly to see if your IDT is really serving your needs right now. If it isn’t, make a new one!

Keep checking in with your Fantasy Ideal Day Schedule too, as this might change as you get more in touch with what you really want to create. The clearer you can be about what your fantasy day looks like, the clearer you can get about the steps you need to get there.

The other thing you’ll need to get clear on is something a lot of us have a lot of difficulty with: saying no!



The Fun Part: Portable Joy Guidebook This is where you get to play! Print out the Full-Color Life Portable Joy Guidebook on page 13, color it in any way you like, and watch this short video, demonstrating how to assemble it into a book.

What could you say “no” to (eliminate, delegate, or share responsibility) in order to make room for more of what sparks joy for you?

Saying NoWhat do you do if your days are so busy that even your Ideal Day Template feels impossible? The only way to make space and time for what matters most to you is to say “no” to things that don’t matter as much.

Use the space below to brainstorm what you might say “no” to, and check out the Portable Joy Guidebook for more info. (For a deeper dive into clearing space for the things that give you joy, check out my Erase the Chaos Toolkit.)


http://melissadinwiddie.com/starter-kit-download

http://erasethechaostoolkit.com


Conclusion: My Golden FormulaOne last thing before I sign off. If you find yourself looking at your real life, or your IDTs, and feeling badly—whether because creating the full-color life you long for feels impossible, or because your gremlins have convinced you your dreams are stupid, or for any other reason—be gentle with yourself.

The key here is not to judge, but to notice, and then whatever you notice, to treat yourself kindly.

Seriously, the longer I walk around on this planet, the more I find truth in this statement, which I have come to refer to as my Golden Formula:

Self-awareness + self-compassion = the key to everything good.

Live by these words, and believe me, life goes a lot better.

To dive more deeply into the Golden Formula, and the other elements of my philosophy on how to live a full-color life, check your inbox for my weekly(ish) dispatches, and check out my podcast, Live Creative Now! over on iTunes.

Meanwhile, join me over on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

And go get creating!


http://livecreativenow.com/itunes

http://facebook.com/LivingACreativeLife

http://twitter.com/a_creative_life

http://instagram.com/a_creative_life

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Documents

Full-Coolr LfeiStarter Kit Workbook · The Fun Part: Portable Joy Guidebook This is where you get to play! Print out the Full-Color Life Portable Joy Guidebook on page 13, color it