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Rest: An Offering

[Newsletter Series (#11)] I’ve been on a very fast track lately: generating newsletter and social content, finalizing my solo show, planning the next improv workshop, preparing for my Sweetwater reading and spinning around the hamster wheel that is networking for my new business. Phew! It’s been a lot. And it’s been amazing. But I am totally and completely exhausted. Depleted. And I’ll be honest - initially, that felt really awful. I mean, where did all the ideas go? Where’s the motivation and gusto to forge ahead into something new and different? When did I say my Creativity could take a (long overdue) vacation? Don’t I need her now more than ever, when I’m trying to get my work out

Listening...to Ourselves

[Newsletter Series (#10) I’ve been thinking about the improv principle, Listening, and it occurred to me yesterday how important it is to practice listening inwardly as well. Meaning paying attention to what our intuition is telling us - often like a whisper; more soft spoken and polite than our Inner Critic who’s motivated more by fear or self judgment. It’s not easy though. Just as practicing listening outside ourselves - to scene partners, friends, our children - can feel like a struggle, the same can be true about getting quiet enough to hear that gentle voice. I was at my kids’ school yesterday morning to drop off my first grader. The bell rang, and I spun on my heel to head home. I

Say Yes!

[Newsletter Series (#9)] These past two months, we’ve touched on the improv principle of “Yes, and…” in various forms and contexts, because so much of this idea is inextricably tied to all the others. Awareness > yes to the present moment Listening > yes to paying attention Interdependence > yes to partnership and collaboration Vulnerability > yes to letting down our guard and celebrating mistakes Engagement > yes to receiving from one another Non-Judgment > yes to shared views/ideas/perspectives Embrace Change > yes to unanticipated shifts Start Anywhere > yes to beginning And here we are, with our final “S” in our Aliveness Scaffolding. Now, I want to be very clear about what we mean wh

 

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