- Ora is the founder and president of the Institute for Transformational Thinking. Certified life coach and mindfulness teacher. Specialises in transformational thinking, self discovery and mentoring new coaches as their careers develop. Work has been featured in Women's Health Magazine, Reader's Digest, Psychology Today and many more
- Implementing mindfulness is all areas of her life, just completed a third book, hosting mindfulness club, writing plethora of articles on mindfulness. Lived True: Ensconced in recently released book Mindfulness and Authenticity.
- How did I get interested in mindfulness? Mindfulness came naturally to me and I consider myself a mindful person. I functioned that way even as a child but didn't realise it was called mindfulness. I've been in the field for quite some time. Looked at, researched and taught many modalities of thought transformation and came across mindfulness and that is the practice of being present, which I thought was really invaluable. Became certified with the open mind Institute on mindfulness and I continue to write and teach about it.
- Is mindfulness training a helpful way for us to get back to something a little bit more core to us as humans? Absolutely and I recently saw a research out of Harvard that our mind wonders almost 50% of the time. What that tells us is that it's not that easy to stay present and I believe that the teaching of mindfulness, the skill set of mindfulness, is invaluable. Not just with the Millennials, as they are one of the largest demographic groups, but with all of the demographics that I address my work to. Because of the distractions and what is going on today – our devices that we are so used to and so dependent on– It really pulls us out of the moment. We allow for it whether we are conscious of that or not. This really spikes stress because we have greater expectations of ourselves (self-imposed and external of how and what we should be especially - for the younger generation, comparing themselves through social media). There is so much overstimulation that this is the most challenging time to stay in the present moment, that the moment is enough and that we are enough in it. This is a call to action and mindfulness is a brilliant antidote and then the practice of so that we become less reactive human beings and that we don't have to be the effect of what's happening.
- The latest book I'm writing links mindfulness and authenticity. Why a mindfulness guide around authenticity? Being present means that you are showing up in the moment as your most authentic self. Who we are in the moment is really who we are, not adhering to someone's expectation of us and not giving into the demands that are placed on us whether they are by other people. The authentic self is to be true to who we are in all moments of our life. In our relationships, in the workplace. Our life is precious and we mustn't compromise who we are in those moments.
- Finding your own authentic creative voice. For some people their creative juices flow and it's very easy for them to navigate. For others they rely on things to jumpstart their creativity. And if we think about the inner dialogue that we have, a very high percentage of our thoughts (approximately between 40-70,000 thoughts a day) for a creative person negative thoughts will not help. You want to keep your thoughts positive. Illumined thoughts. Thinking with a clear mind that really exposes itself to creativity, that is very helpful for the creative. We need to protect, support, nurture and curate our thoughts. A metaphor or analogy would be a museum or art gallery that has been curated to show the very best pieces of an artist. The same must be true of our mind. We must cultivate and curate our thoughts for creative output.
- You don't want thoughts that are doubting, fear-based, that are sabotaging your creative process.
- Transcendental meditation was more beneficial for creativity. Why is that? That type of mindfulness practice is without any dogma. You don't necessarily have to believe in anything. It is a practice that you can do on a daily basis. I am a former transcendental meditator. That was the first modality that I experienced and it was invaluable. TM helped my skills and discipline. You are given a Sanskrit mantra. You don't have to be religious or spiritual, it is more about getting the mind to focus on something. As we know the mind wanders almost 50% of the time so with TM specifically you were told to view your thoughts as clouds moving across the sky. They never stay in the same place, they are constantly moving. Our thoughts don't hold onto us, we hold onto our thoughts. We attach ourself to a thought, we give meaning to a thought. We can get very obsessive with a thought. So TM is a very valuable tool to use. Mindfulness meditation, which is not necessarily mantra-based, focuses on the breath which is something for the mind again to focus on. The different type of meditation depends on the individual and I really think it's an invaluable tool. You don't have to be spiritual, religious, you don't have to have an altar. All you have to do is show up to the meditation to allow a quieting of the mind so that you can feel less stressed and to feel other levels of consciousness.
- Artists have mentioned the "quietening of the mind before and are quite reticent of it as they like their crazy and the "monkey mind"- going with an idea and seeing where it goes. They are hesitant. What advice would you give? That is a belief and we want to be mindful of us that it's not that we want to thwart or stop the creative process. The "monkey mind" is the Buddhist term for restless mind so you want to be very careful that your monkey mind is not sabotaging you. That is isn't impeding creativity. You allow yourself to 'trip the light fantastic' and free fall and experience a type of euphoria. The creative process is very experiential and mindfulness does not in anyway impede or threaten it. If anything, it enhances it. You become so aware of where your mind is going. It isn't counterproductive to the creative process. The more aware we are, the more we allow more to come forward. We become a vehicle for creativity to reign supreme. Mindfulness supports it.
- Tell us about when you work on something creative and it didn't work out like you'd hoped. What was the lesson you took from that experience? Writing my first book, Says Who?, born out of my sister's mental illness, allowed me to go into some deep places within myself and it was sometimes painful as the creative process sometimes is. "Creativity can come out of the dark night of the soul." We meet ourselves there and it can be frightening. That was how that book progressed at the time but I would be more mindful today and navigated the waters that could have minimised some of the suffering. You don't have to feel like you're suffering and on the verge of a nervous breakdown to be going into the depths of creativity.
- Has there been a lightbulb moment on your creative journey? I believe that when we allow ourselves to be present and we align ourselves with the flow of life, be it the universe or cosmos or unity consciousness, when we give ourselves over to the exquisiteness of life that we are an open channel to let creativity run through us and it's a magnificent experience. There's ways to prepare for that, like meditation, to fire up the neurones. I encourage people to meditate, allow yourself to contemplate, take a mindful walk connecting to nature, align with the natural order of the universe.
- Each one of us is a beautiful, exquisite? unique spirit unlike anyone else's.
- Is there an online tool, app or resource that you use or recommend? Inside, Calm, Headspace. These are all great apps to bring us into the present moment. As far as creativity goes, as James Campbell says, "Follow your bliss." Nurture your creativity. Take that walk. Put on some of your favourite music. Read a passage in a book that inspires you. A piece of poetry to become more consciously aware.
- Recommend one record? I listen to so many things from Classical to World music to Gregorian Chants! There's great meditation music out there on Pandora, Sonos, iTunes. A menu of choices!
- "Wise Mind, Open Mind" book, "Beginners Mind" so many books! We are blessed to have an abundance of riches in these areas that can really feed our souls today. There's no excuse to not help ourselves with the traps of the mind. You are the master and creator of your internal dialogue which creates your reality.
- If you had to start from scratch how would you restart? I believe everyday is a new beginning. A new chapter. Be intention setting. Present moment awareness intention setting. There is no need to worry about the past that has been and gone or be anxious for the future that isn't here yet. Ask yourself your intention for the day to start again.
Reflection on this podcast:
I found this podcast really difficult to get into at first but wanted to stick with it in case there were any nuggets of information or wisdom that would be useful for my project, my practice or my own personal journey outside of university. Ora talks a lot and reframes her thoughts multiple times so note taking became arduous!
Things started to get interesting around learning more about the different types of meditation, which I'd never considered before, and why it's important to be authentic but on the whole, I want to keep this project about art therapy.
"Creativity can come out of the dark night of the soul" really resonated with me and this part of the podcast had me most interested.
I think I have some interesting quotes, I got used to Ora's personality and way of speaking and found the latter half very inspiring, especially setting intentions for ourselves, but on the whole this wasn't too helpful in my research.
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