Growing up, my teachers encouraged me to draw as an act of exploration. To let my eyes trace a line, not looking down at my drawing, but instead looking at what I was attempting to represent. I’d let my drawing unfold outside my frame of vision.

This is the first in a series of posts about The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity, a book and a self-study program developed by Julia Cameron in the 1990s.

As this year kicks off, I’m experimenting with methods to weave new habits and creative behaviours into my daily routine. I'm inspired by the calm energy of kaizen, an approach that requires making small, continuous changes over time.

Walking the streets of the surf town of Fuerteventura filled me with a sense of wabi-sabi, the Japanese concept of transience and imperfection. In the pale architecture, the wind-beaten murals, the plants filled with blooms and broken branches, the stoney black beaches, there was a sense of nature’s perfect imperfection.

As I change and grow, moving into work that feels more meaningful and true to my life’s purpose, my relationship to the idea of work also transforms.

The past eight months have been an exhilarating time for me, and I feel more connected than ever to my life’s dual purpose of sharing my creativity and helping others to tap into their own potential.

The Artist’s Way introduced me to a concept called the morning pages. I get up in the morning and write three pages of stream of consciousness longhand in a notebook. Then get up the next morning and do it again.

Japan lives up to its hype and is well worth a long visit. I travelled solo for 24 days in October and November 2017, and I enjoyed every moment.

After spending my life surrounded by highly creative people, I’ve realised creativity is a mindset, not just a process of exploring and making. Could it be possible that creative people’s brains really do work differently?

When I lived in Florence, my apartment was in the Oltrarno neighbourhood, south of the Arno River. Although a day trip to Florence can easily keep you in the city’s busy tourist centre in the north, it’s worth the walk across one of the cities historic bridges. I’d recommend at least a half-day to explore the area, although you could easily fill a day at a relaxed pace.