Join me as I share our transformative journey in our first creative retreat in St ives. surf lessons, early morning tranquility, and the joy of being in the here and now as catalysts of creativity. How reconnecting with our inner voice and creating space for rest can nurture our creative spirit. I also highlight the significance of inspiring communities in fostering creativity.
Welcome to today's podcast. I'm recording from the side of the outdoor pool in St Tyves. So we are mid-retreat on our first creative retreat, with Kareen Borscht and Leslie Lindtot and myself, and I'm sitting here in the early morning at 6.30. I'm not sure what sounds we've got going on. We've got some birds, some cows, I think, and the odd motorbike going past for some reason, but it's just beautifully quiet and still in this early morning. It's a wonderful gift to be able to stay somewhere with an outdoor pool.
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This is day three and we have been surfing. Yesterday it wasn't on schedule, it wasn't even in my arena of imagination that I'd be able to take everybody surfing, but on the second day I suddenly had the thought it's sunny and warm, the waves were looking so gentle and small and everyone on the retreat are basically ocean lovers. So I know how incredibly powerful surfing can be and that is more than just a sport. So I've been surfing, or no, I've been trying to surf for many, many years. At the beginning, in my days in Swansea, where I first started, where there was very few women in surfing and I didn't ever have the opportunity to learn properly, so I ended up not getting very far, very slowly but still just enjoying being in the water and taking it for what it was. I think if I'd had the opportunity back then to have the lessons and the encouragement, it would have made all the difference. And so I said, hands up, does anybody fancy a surf lesson? You didn't have to stand up, you can just have some fun in the waves. And the point is fun Play. Its enjoyment is letting go, it's being in the moment, it's being present. It's all interlinked with creativity. If you can do this in your life in different forms, your creativity will open up, and everybody did experience what I thought they would this very, very powerful feeling of well, I've done it.
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When I arrived, I wrote something down about the idea of retreat what's a retreat? What's a workshop? What's the difference? So I'm gonna tell you my, my train of thought In 2018. I created quite landscapes, and it was a desire to bring retreat and photography together, to take people to experience quite places that I know and love. But this concept was to undergo a lot of evolving, adapting and conflict along the next few years and the line between what my vision was and what demand there was in the world of traditional photography workshops, which are the most commonly known experiences was blurred. Now, this led me to adapt and begin to call them workshops and almost to bend back towards what everybody knew, and with that, the expectation of being led to locations at the right time to capture these crafts that everybody wanted came along. And there's nothing wrong with that at all. There's a time and place for everything.
Speaker 1:
But, as with everything in my life, I realised that my instant initial intuition was right. My gut, my intuition said create from the heart. So to hear our inner voice and to connect to our true passion and to discover what we love, we need to be able to hear that voice inside of us, the whisper, the instinct, the one that they're telling us what we really find interesting, how we really want to express ourselves. Is it through painting, writing, photography, cooking, engineering, gardening? They're all valid ways of creativity.
Speaker 1:
So tell me, what is it that you, julie, love? Seems like a simple question, but our loves have had years of being buried under a mound of society's expectations, the voices of critics, teachers, friends, parents, peers. What it is that makes us seem successful, the desire to be liked and to fit in. We've spent years unlearning our own intuition. Now I have learned to be alone, quiet, and how to marry that with a community that inspires me, surrounding myself with people who understand and inspire me, is of equal importance to the space, rest and quiet in my development as a creative, and this is what I want to bring to my retreats. This is why the word retreat has always felt right to me when I bring offerings of gatherings to people to learn, as a Delve Moore, a line closer, it's not separate. As I understand how I find inspiration, I understand how to help others find theirs along the way. The word retreat to become still, to pause, time, to be inspired becomes the most important path to becoming a more rounded photographer, artist, writer, creative. This is how we move forward to contentment in our creativity and ourselves. What could you achieve if you made the space to hear your own inner voice?
Speaker 1:
I'm off into the outdoor pool now, surrounded by the sound of birds and quiet, and this is where I will have my best ideas by the poolside. And one more question for you is where do you have your best ideas? This is the question that will unlock your creativity. Thank you for joining me again today. I will be creating and announcing more retreats for you, so please do sign up to my newsletter that's on my website, which is quietlandscapescouk, and keep following this podcast, because I will also release them on this podcast now. So if you follow the show, that's a go to show on Apple Podcasts as little three dots at the top, drop down and click follow show. You'll get automatic downloads so you won't miss an episode. And, as ever, keep connecting with me on Instagram, which is my group, soraya, take care for now.