Urban Curiosity

Creativity sometimes takes courage. It asks us to go beyond what it is and pursue something bigger. Andrea Schroeder, creator of the Creative Dream Incubator, talks about the creative process and exploring the change that opens up with it. Andrea says we can free ourselves and allow our creativity to truly come out when we accept that change is part of it. She shows how to create a business structure for our creative ideas and gives some common threads that are holding people back from pursuing those creative dreams and embracing their inner magic. Andrea highlights the importance of being real about what you want and what you’re afraid of, and then moving through it.

A lack of purpose and alignment between the work you’re doing and what your inner self is wanting can lead to anxiety, existential crisis, or even a full-on nervous breakdown. Andrew Hunt was promoting products that he didn’t care about or, in some cases, actively disagreed with. At the age of 24, he was clinically depressed, until he volunteered his marketing skills to projects in Gambia in West Africa. He is now the co-founder and managing director of Aduna, an African inspired health food brand and social business which creates demand for underutilized natural products from small-scale producers in Africa. Andrew believes passionately in the power of business to deliver sustainable development in rural Africa.

We as human beings all experience failure, and we all need to process those deeply uncomfortable feelings. In order to maintain physical and mental well-being, Hazel Gale goes to yoga class, coaching, does boxing, and takes time out regularly. Hazel is a master practitioner of cognitive hypnotherapy and neurolinguistic programming, as well as the author of Fight: Win Freedom from Self-Sabotage and a former full contact kickboxing and boxing athlete. In over a decade of competition, Hazel achieved multiple World, European and National titles in the sports of full-contact kickboxing and boxing. Her fight career, however, was not all glory and gold medals. Hazel talks about how the stress of competition, gaining weight, and relentless self-doubt drove her into an emotional and physical burnout, from which she only recovered after taking a psychological look at where she was going wrong.

You can create the business and life that you want and do it in a way that means building a viable and sustainable business while being creative or artistic. Jennifer Lee, author of Building Your Business the Right-Brain Way and the bestselling The Right-Brain Business Plan, says pursuing a creative passion doesn’t mean you have to be the stereotypical starving artist. You get to have it the way you want it and be confident in your skills as a creative. Jennifer spent a decade climbing the corporate ladder before pursuing her creative dreams. Through her popular programs, products, and writing, she empowers others to follow their passions. Learn how you can show up a little bit more, share a little bit more, and understand that being in business is very much like a creative process.

There is no energy drain when time is spent doing things that doesn’t limit your freedom. This is how entrepreneur, freelancer, author and coach Daniel Johnston got to live in seven countries and published twelve books. He believes that taking action is the best way to write the life design that we want. Daniel spends his time differently, thinking if the things that he does has a legacy potential that will allow him to just take a day off, or will it have him be consumed by a bad day. Learn more how his confidence and curiosity is positively affected by his forward momentum mind-set.

Living the city life can always be brilliant. The sounds, lights and life of the city can be both fantastic and overwhelming for urbanites. Luckily, writer and teacher Hannah Braime found a spot in Spain that’s just outside the main tourist centre of the city. In the mornings she can take quiet walks along the river. Or she can be adventurous and walk around a cathedral while no one else is there yet. The changing scenes invigorate her life and mind and she becomes curios, creative and driven. Hannah shares her days of embracing boredom, finding her moments of quiet. Learn more of her self-care tips so that you can revaluate what your needs are and make it into something tangible you can act on.

Going into a mental deep dive to help his patients means getting intensely occupied during work, because instead of managing or killing Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Anders Rønnau, PhD gears more on transforming ADHD. He needs to get into a deep level of connection so that he can transform their meltdowns or breakdowns into emotions they can control and understand. These connections take a certain toll, but thankfully Dr. Rønnau lives in Copenhagen where he can recharge during his lunchbreaks and do walks that disconnects him from the city and technology. He encourages everyone to try to decouple with this mindfulness walks where they see what is outside of themselves and observe everything else that goes about without taking snapshots and posting on social media. Learn more of his epiphanies and other ways to talk about ADHD.

The pace of the city will never stop and this is the perfect reason why there is a need to be still and witness the hidden treasure of nature. Watch how it unfolds and inspires those who look for it and find the blankets of green and stretches of blue. Self-coach, yoga teacher and mother two Suzy Reading shares how she uses the Vitality Wheel in the self-care revolution. Start nourishing yourself so that you can do the same for others around you.

Novel ideas and profound perspectives don’t need to get lost in the hustle and bustle of today’s London. Meditate through walking and start creating thinking spaces of your own. Discover why Interfaith minister Jackee Holder calls her early morning walks a magical experience that captures an energy field of creative intelligence. If we have time to reach for our mobile phones and computers in the morning, then we have time to absorb a world that is just waking up with many great possibilities.

From being greeted by trees in the morning to picking up trash in the neighborhood, there is always a story waiting to unfold. Find out how The Typewriter in the Hallway Experience sparked the birth of The Creativity Caravan with Maya Stein. Learn to look for the experiences that makes you excited and what you can do to make things exciting for someone else.