2022 Summit Gifts from Lori Sortino

My List of Creativity Prompts to Move Energy, Thoughts and Emotions

We are all in the process of discovering who we really are and what we came here to say or be or do.

I'm an introvert, and yet was confused into thinking I was an extrovert when I was young because I would express myself in every way I could find: acting, singing, performing, playing, dancing, lip-syncing in the living room mirror, or putting on (really bad) magic shows for the family.  Recently I think I'm more of an introvert because my alone time is where I feel re-charged.  Or maybe I'm just old now and don't have as much energy as I used to and everything I just said about intro vs. extroverted means nothing.  Bottom line, I find these activity prompts helpful whenever I need to process something.  I hope you find them helpful, too.

1. Draw - get a sketch pad if you don't already have one and keep it nearby.  Fill pages with ANYTHING.  Draw, write words, mind maps (look those up if you don't know what they are)!  Move the energy out of your body and onto the page. It doesn't matter what that page looks like.  It matters that you JUST DO IT.
2. Sing - in the shower, in the car, in the garage - wherever sounds good to you.  Put on your favorite songs and sing along.  Alone or with others.  Follow what feels right.  Move the energy through your vocal cords.  Feel how you feel when you're singing and let the emotions flow - whatever they may be.
3. Act - I do this when I'm home alone or driving a good distance in the car (and sometimes around close friends, family, or my husband - people who I know have accepted me for my quirkiness).  Talk out loud as a character or as that person you want to be but don't think you are, and talk to that person you're having issues with right now.  Tell them how it is and how you really feel and everything you can think of.  Ask them questions.  Rant.  Keep talking until you're talked out.  That's right.  Move those thoughts outa your head.  It's a great process.
4. Paint - Although this can go in many directions, the general idea is to put paint on an actual real blank canvas and then add more paint and more paint and more paint.  Experience the inner critic that wants it to look a certain way battling with the inexperienced painter in you who has no clue how to make it look that way with a paint brush and paint.  Push yourself to let go of that battle and just be entirely present with what the paint is doing.  Pick a color.  Pick a brush.  Mix some colors.  Apply paint to canvas.  Add more.  Subtract some.  Please ONLY YOURSELF.  And please yourself with the freedom of choosing the colors, the application tool(s) and the process of applying the paint on the canvas.  Be absolutely detached from the outcome of what it looks like.  Focus on how it feels to be IN THE MOMENT.  Notice how each color makes you feel and where you want each color to go and how much of it you want on there and what colors you don't want on the canvas (don't put them on or if you did, paint over them!)  It's your time to please your inner artist.  Let no voice from the outside tell you what to do or how you should do it or that there is a right way or a wrong way.  Do it YOUR WAY.
5. Dance - You know what music makes you say "oh I can't not move when this song is on!" so put that music on and move your body!  There are lots of dance venues you can go to, or you can dance while you clean house or cook or get ready in the morning.  I even tried dance walking.  It never became very popular, but it's a thing.  The next step is to vary your body movement by dancing to different tempos and types of music (or drumming).  Look up some information on African Tribal Dance or African Drumming.  The shamanic trances were used to move a lot of thought energy through.  Dance is very powerful.
6. Write - Free Write is a very common practice to process thoughts and emotions.  Blank paper and pen.  Write down whatever thoughts come.  Journaling is another good practice.  Any form of writing is fine as long as it allows you to process and move energy through!
7. Shoot - "The best kind of camera is the one in your hand" so take pictures of what makes you happy or what moves you.  Keep a collection of your images.  You can make categories if you're so inclined.  Review your images from time to time and let them speak to you about your journey.  Really take the images in and let what's special about them move you.  Say out loud to yourself what you like about the image(s).
8. Play - Games and Sports are the arts of imitating and practicing "life".  Games have rules.  Sports have rules.  They are very structured places to play out scenarios.  Believe it or not, games are NOT for the purpose of winning, but for the purpose of being in the art of practice within a set of constraints that test your skills.  Whether you choose tennis, golf, soccer, chess, poker, pickleball, cribbage, polo, Minecraft, or Mario Cart, think about the reason why we play!  We are moving the energy of skill-honing, building self confidence and creating connection.  On a next level, seek that which will flip your work to play.  What is it that would make whatever work you do more fun?  "How could I make this more fun?"  Or "How can I create a game to find a solution to this very serious challenge?"
9. Sculpt - Last but not least, sculpting is just as dynamic as the others.  There are so many mediums you can sculpt with!  Clay - Everyone's first go to.  Play-doh even.  Marble - maybe leave that to Michelangelo?  Try any of these:  plants (topiary or just box hedges), dirt/mud, landscaping your yard or a plot of land, food, origami (paper folding), wire/metal, toothpicks, driftwood at the beach, sand (think beyond the castle and moat), whittle a stick.  What other materials can you think of to sculpt?  Perhaps you can take a class in glass blowing or metal forging?  I remember my son at a young age sitting in the sand box and just moving the sand back and forth.  Even the process of moving whatever substance or material to reform or reshape it can be therapeutic or inspiring.  

Special Discount on Equine Fine Art Prints

$40 off each item you purchase between now and Nov 15, 2022

• Fine Art Prints
• Canvas Prints
• Metal Prints

Use the COUPON CODE:  "SUMMIT" in my Fine Art Gallery for $40 off each print you order.