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When inspiration streaks (or how I became a composer)
If someone had told me even one year ago that I would be recording an album with my own songs I would have laughed. Sure, I´ve been playing piano for a long time – and improvising has been part of that for many years. But still – “composing” seemed very far away, not to mention the patience to practice… But isn´t that the beauty of being a scanner – you never know what waits around the corner! One day in late May 2017 I received a very unusual gift – and this changed everything: Like many times before, I sat down by the piano and started to play. Two hours later I had recorded 12 totally…
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How to get un-stuck
Feeling stuck? I’ve recently found that tweaking a well-known morning practice can help you get un-stuck in no time. The best part? You don’t even have to get out of bed! Winston Churchill is supposed to have said that the best way to make something difficult is to postpone it. Whether it was him or someone else, for me it stands as one of the truest things ever said. Still I make the same mistake over and over again – I decide that the best time to do something is TOMORROW. Now unfortunately, the next day I tend to come to the same conclusion, and for every day that passes…
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Is this why you’re not taking time for your creative projects?
Have you ever wondered why it’s so much easier to help other people with their problems than to fix your own things? You just can’t help lend a hand when someone close to you – or even a stranger – is in need. You spend hours and hours listening to other peoples problems and trying to help them out – but when it’s time to work on your own projects – whether it’s painting that painting, cleaning your desk or working on your website – you mysteriously lose both focus and confidence. You start questioning yourself, you start looking for something else you’d rather do. In theory, you know you…
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No time for your creative projects? Try this!
Being in the creative flow, painting, playing the guitar, crafting, or perhaps gardening, is really among the times you feel happiest. The problem is, you hardly ever find the time to do it these days. You sometimes look at those long forgotten art supplies collecting dust on a shelf (or did you put them away in the attic?) and sigh. If you only had more time, you could do more of those things that you so love. But adult life is too demanding, full of important chores. After working, commuting, taking care of kids, cooking, cleaning and all those other things that just need to be done, there’s no time left for YOU, and for…
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Why having fun could literally save your life
It’s funny, isn’t it, how hard it can be to cut out time for having fun. While looking at that overwhelming to-do list, spending time on a hobby, or even meeting up with a friend, can feel like a total waste of time. For sure you should be doing something more important, something more URGENT, right? In one of the lovely children’s books about the little boy Alfie Atkins (Swedish: Alfons Åberg) Alfie’s father keeps asking his son why he “always has to act so childish”. Alfie, in return, ask his father why he always has to act so “grown-uppish”. In this particular story, Alfie manages to persuade his father to forget about…
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Are you having problems prioritizing your creative projects? Try this!
So you have a secret. A love affair. Or maybe it’s not SUPER secret – your closest friends probably know about it, maybe even your partner. But it’s nothing you would brag about at work, or tell someone you meet for the first time. In fact it’s something you hardly admit to yourself. It is, after all, a bit embarrassing to say that you have a crush on Art. No, not Garfunkel, we’re talking about the REAL Art here – painting, or making music, or acting… you know what I mean. When you where younger, you sometimes believed you could make it work. But these days you don’t get together…
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How to get on with your idea after a confidence crash
Did you ever experience that you got super excited over an idea, that everything felt possible and you just couldn´t stop talking about it, but then, all of a sudden, you mysteriously lost faith and started to doubt it all instead? This emotional rollercoaster is all too familiar to me – I’ve lost track on how many times I’ve gone from being filled with energy, my head bubbling with ideas about what I wanted to do, being totally speedy, waking up in the middle of the night because I had so many ideas I just needed to write down etc. to, all of a sudden, a crash. No more talking, regretting every…
