Launched in May as part of Mental Health Awareness Week, Tileyard Education's Mind Music Mastery podcast is hosted by Suzanna Storey (Tileyard Education’s Wellness Manager) and Lucy Macieira (Marketing Manager).
The weekly podcast is aimed at anyone who considers themselves a creative and opens a discussion around wellness and the creative journey.
Delving into creative unblocking, coping strategies, inspirational perspectives, the pair aim to give listeners the tools they need to explore the space outside of themselves, as well as the space inside.
We asked the team behind the Mind Music Mastery podcast to give us their top ten tips on looking after your mental health and allowing your creativity to flourish.
Embrace your emotional awareness as a positive.
Learn to see your emotions as friends not enemies. Emotions are there to highlight and signpost you to health rather than negative traits to be suppressed or ignored.
Consider your mindset.
We can sometimes catastrophise events, such as jumping to conclusions and considering the worst-case scenario. Take time to consider the best-case scenario, chances are wellness is somewhere in the middle.
'Try using gratitude to remember the joy and connect with your creative self. Releasing gratitude can help to alleviate fear and worry and get you focussed on staying present.'
The company you keep, you become.
Seek out encouraging environments and positive people, avoiding those who are relentlessly pessimistic or highly critical of your ideas; this can drain your energy and leave you feeling mental and emotional fatigue. However, the right environment will fuel and leave you energised and refreshed.
Single out one priority at a time.
This is especially important as stress can easily make you lose track of your priorities. Write out your top five priorities for the day on a post-it or in your notes and carry it with you. Keep referring to this to help keep focus.
Strive for excellence, not perfection.
Excellence is a constant growth and reflection cycle whereas perfection will often stop you from starting. Excellence won’t.
Keep a journal.
Writing or drawing our feelings down can be very cathartic. If you are unable to hone down on what you are feeling, try using a feelings/emotions wheel. Once you have been able to articulate what it is you are feeling, find a way to release any negative emotions. This could be by journaling, meditation or chatting with a friend.
'It’s okay to switch off for a while. Connecting with yourself is the most important task in helping your mental health.'
Engage in activities that release joy.
This could be reading, listening to music, dancing or exercise, drawing, painting, or watching an uplifting movie.
Stay present with gratitude.
It will help with staying creatively unblocked. Writing gratitude lists, having a gratitude circle or phoning a friend to share what you are grateful for is a really positive way of staying present.
When we or others put pressure on ourselves to create, this can sometimes rob us of the joy of creative expression and create blockages. Try using gratitude to remember the joy and connect with your creative self. Releasing gratitude can help to alleviate fear and worry and get you focussed on staying present.
Reduce the amount of time you spend on news and social media.
If it’s upsetting you then give yourself breathing space from it. It’s okay to switch off for a while. Connecting with yourself is the most important task in helping your mental health.
Rest is key to results.
Taking time for self-care and rest allows your mind and body to relax. This time to stop enables you to store up energy, consider it like a car being taken to the petrol station to refuel. The refuelling means that you aren’t running on empty and have the necessary energy for the long journey of creativity.
Listen to the Mind Music Mastery podcast.
