G’day and a hot and sunny welcome to the new subscribers to Jump! this month
The last month of the year, and I am writing this from hot and sunny down under Australia ;-)
I have to say it is a little surreal being in a hot climate at this time of the year. Certainly doesn’t feel like Christmas! It’s positively stinking hot, and there is no sense of frantic panic of Christmas shopping, or plans being plotted to escape the family politics at the Christmas lunch table, instead I am taking this time out to get creative…mmm, a creative and stress-free Christmas?
Okay so I am on the other side of the world, about to spend Christmas Day lounging on a peaceful white sandy beach, listening to the sounds of the lapping ocean waves and the faint calming sound of leaves rustling in the cooling breeze that gives sweet relief to the hot tropical sun shining from the clear blue skies…cool cocktails, fresh juicy fruit, divine seafood…
And get this, yes there’s more… giving my wetsuit a shake out of it’s dormant sleep of 3 years and seeing in the new year by going on a liveaboard to dive at Cod Hole, and the Great Barrier Reef! I’ll be feeding the HUGE potatoe cod fish and feeding sharks (yes you did read that right!), amazing coral, bommies and tropical fish galore! SOOOO excited!!
Nope I can’t see it, that is I can’t see the word stress as part of the vocabulary list this Christmas!
Are you green with envy? Lucky you say? Well, no not luck just good old fashioned planning and organisation, yep I keep saying this time and time again but things don’t just happen by itself – you make them happen, and folks that tends to mean putting some effort in there and that may mean a little planning and organisation. If you really want to do something a little effort and energy is more than worth it for the results ;-)
You too can also have a fun, stress-free Christmas and New Year, in this issue I offer you some tips in the feature article on getting creative in managing the extra demands for your time to help you create a fun and stress-free Christmas 2006 wherever you are!
Being back in Melbourne it’s great to catch up with some familiar faces and friends made over my various trips down under, including this month’s Creative Capture - Simon Fraser, a renowned freelance percussionist, and my Djembé drum teacher a few years ago when I first started learning to play the Djembé here down under.
Until next month, wishing you all a very very merry christmas full of love and laughter,
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Recommendations and offers
Tour: Rhythm Power Ghana 2007 - A Journey in Drum and Dance ~ Ekome Tours
 As some of you know I went on a cultural exchange tour learning about African culture through African drum and dance back in 2005 in the small village of Nungua, in West Africa, Ghana. A whole solid month of daily drumming and dancing – an exhilarating and mind-blowing experience physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually and therefore holistic in what I personally got from it – it was a trip of a lifetime and one I thoroughly recommend.
My day started at 8am with private tuition (extra tuition) of learning to play the balafon (African xylophone) or private African dance tuition from with one of Ghana’s most prolific dancers. Comical memories of Aku the dance teacher looking at me bewildered while asking “Why is your leg doing that?!” as in doing the wrong move at the wrong time in the wrong place!
Breakfast followed and into the bus to Drumming Camp (on the beach no less under fringed palm trees) for drum class which involved learning to play and sing (in tribal Ga language) traditional rhythms on the djembé and how to recognise and play in time (timing is everything!), what the rhythms meant in relation to the storytelling of the drumming and dancing. This bought us up to lunchtime - 2 hours break given that this is the hottest time of the day – far too hot to be drumming in this – but long enough for lunch, a swim, a browse in the market, or simple rest in the shade, and to let what we’ve been learning sink in.
Afternoon was spent more drumming, often finishing off learning the rest of the rhythms and practising and when the sun went down and it was a little cooler – learning the dance of the drumming rhythms we’d been learning!
Often in the evenings there were great performers by amazing local master drummers and the highlight of these performances on my trip, was probably being lucky enough to see the The African Showboys (as heard and seen on the incredible music documentary movie of “1 Giant Leap” – made by 2 guys travelling around with and recording and making this with their Apple Mac laptops!) come to perform live for us at the Lodge! A once in a lifetime experience!
The buzz of this for me was immense as not only had I heard and seen them play on my favourite all time documentary movie, I actually got to see them in the flesh and be their warm up act (in having performed what we learnt over the month in front of the entire village and the Chief, all in African costume made up for us!), plus these guys are not only phenomenal musicians, but great entertainers, and all round performers!
I also got the chance to pick up and play other African percussion instruments, and interact directly with villagers and locals who were most giving, always smiling, learning about the history, the culture and language, the tribal cultures, and visiting other parts of Ghana from sandy beaches to the bustling thriving centre of Accra and the quiet green lush region of Lake Volta, and making friends with other like-minded creative music and dance-loving souls from all over who were also on the tour.
All in all, it has stood out to be one of the best things I have ever experienced and inspired me beyond measure in more ways than one! Not to mention it improved my drumming immensely!
And no of course I don’t get any commission at all for this recommendation. It’s purely a personal one, you don’t have to take my word for it go check it out for yourself (especially the pictures in the gallery – a picture paints a thousand words) on http://www.ekometours.com.au/
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Featured Article
10 Tips for a creative stress-free Christmas!
With only days until Christmas, there can be a sense of rising stress as time runs out and pressure mounts to get work finished, and get prepared for the festive season – physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually including work deadlines, office parties, friends' parties, family visits, presents to buy and wrap, decorations to put up, goodies to bake, meals to plan and prepare. And on top of this, for some it’s also a time of the year loaded with emotional triggers of family situations and memories.
Here are 10 tips to get you through Christmas with a little less stress and a little more time and energy to enjoy what this time is meant to be about - sharing, giving, spending time with those you love and those who can benefit from your love.
- Keep It Simple And In Perspective
The key to decreasing stress, at any time not just Christmas, is to keep things simple. Keeping things simple starts with your attitude. Christmas is meant to be a time to rest and relax, to share, to give your time and energy with others.
Think about how you want to spend your time and energy this Christmas. Some may have 1 or 2 weeks off work, some maybe just a few days. In our time-short lifestyle think about what you could do and give that would really benefit you and others.
This may be challenging if you recognise that you are a people-pleaser and end up rushing around trying to fit everyone’s needs and wants for the Christmas week, neglect your own, spreading yourself and your energy thinly, resulting in stress and not really having an enjoyable and relaxing Christmas. Don’t get caught up in the misguided perception that everything has to be perfect and run smoothly. It won’t go perfectly – life isn’t like that and we shouldn’t expect it to be so at this time of the year either.
Accept that the Uncle John will get a little too merry, that the kids will cause mess in their excitement of ripping open their gifts, that there will be one dish that won’t come out Delia Smith perfect. Retune your focus to what’s truly important – time and energy spent sharing and giving in the spirit of love. Have that as an aim to creating a memorable Christmas. Keep things in perspective.
- Organise Your Time
It’s the same old thing I know but a smooth and successful Christmas will have organisation as one of its key ingredients. Organising your time is about organising yourself.
This is about prioritising. What’s the most important things that needs to be done? That will have maximum long-term benefit? Make a list of only the things that really matter and put it in order of priority – from the most important value at the top of the list to the least important
Than make a daily timetable and allocate specific hours to achieve this. Be realistic with your judgement of how much time things will take to do and start doing it!
- Christmas Shopping Online
This is about getting creative in your lateral thinking, by using the resources around you. What other alternative ways to get things done?
Technology though can be frustrating at times, is undoubtedly a useful tool, so use it as such. There are plenty of shops that give you the opportunity to order your goods online and they deliver to your door (for example supermarkets for the Christmas meals) or to any given address all gift-wrapped (for those you will not be able to spend time with and give their gifts personally, great for sending to those overseas e.g Amazon does Christmas gift wrapping and delivery). This saves you time and energy.
- Advanced Preparation
Do as much as you can in advance in the time that you have. Getting abit late at this stage but the principle works just the same. For example, don’t try to cram it all in one day thinking you will have time – you won’t and that will stress you out even more and that just won’t do! Even a few minutes of focused thinking and strategising will maximise the best effective use of your precious time!
Break up your to-do list in manageable chunks – buy and write your xmas cards in one work lunch hour and post the next lunch hour.
- Creative Cooking
Prepare what food you can in advance – there are many simple recipes for Christmas meals that allow for that – get creative by hunting them out by asking pros – like chefs, cookery magazines, your parent, friend, uncle (whoever one usually always seemed to roll out the Christmas lunch with ease) and implement, or create your own simple Christmas recipes – this is a perfect time as any for creative cooking especially if you are bored by the same Christmas meal.
- Laser-Focused Shopping
Instead of wandering round gift shopping clueless of what to buy, take 15 minutes to make a list of what you might want to buy for a person and then go to the appropriate shop/website directly and make your purchase. If you have no idea what to buy, check out if they have a wish list on Amazon and buy from that – that way you know that what you get is what they want. Or simply ask them!
- Creative Fun Chores Combo
Get creative and combine chores with fun. Delegate by get your children, partner, friends, family involved in helping with the preparations and wrapping and making it fun – kids love to get into the Christmas spirit and do the Christmas decorations; grandparents love to spend time with their grandkids which frees up your time to shop or food preparation.
Split the Christmas shopping list and chores with your partner – make it into a competitive challenge mission with prizes and forfeits between you – two heads are better than one, and you can make it fun!
- Christmas Fun And Frolics
Take the opportunity at Christmas to have a family outing or do something together that brings everyone together for fun and relaxation. For example a walk in the park having snowball fights or an active game (that’s also a fun way to keep the Christmas weight off); a board or card game that gets the whole family laughing; an afternoon of ice skating – something that will keep most people of all ages stimulated, work up an appetite for the next Christmas feast and brings everyone together in a fun way.
Brainstorm together and come up with something of your own creation – make up your own games – combine them and create new ones!
- Chill Out And Count Your Blessings
This is an opportunity to take time for rest and rejuvenation for everyone – it’s holiday time so take a holiday! Make sure that between the time of family visits and parties with friends that you have time out for you.
I call this QST – Quality Sam Time. Of course the middle initial will be replaced with your name...essentially this is chance to take a breather from everything and a little refection time on what the year (or Santa!) has bought you – it’s challenges and its joys.
Count your blessings and celebrate the love, the joy and the peace you’ve experienced so far this year - there’s gotta be one I assure you – doesn’t have to be anything major but something small personal to you and you only – a small but important insight about where you are on your path, a gadget or new tool that has helped your daily life immensely, or a new person in your life…in short chill out and celebrate!
- Take An Overseas Christmas Holiday!
Well what can I say, if you’re in a position to bow out the family Christmas one year, take the opportunity for some time out for oneself, or take the whole family on a Christmas trip – skiing is often an obvious popular choice and a great white Christmas setting for families and non-families alike. Or escape the cold and go somewhere warm and get that much needed boost of vitamin D!
Broaden your mind and experience what other cultures do for Christmas – maybe discover what’s Christmas like in Argentina? Mexico? Zanzibar? If not this year maybe plan for next year ;-)
Here's to a creative stress-free merry Christmas!
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Note this quote
“The consciousness of loving and being loved brings a warmth and richness to life that nothing else can bring.”
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Creative Capture
 SIMON FRASER -
African Percussionist, Teacher and Business owner
VoyeuRhythmic – Centre for West African Music and Culture
http://www.africandrumming.com.au/
Founder of VoyeuRhythmic – Center for West African Music and Culture - Simon Fraser has spent the past decade years studying, performing, recording and teaching throughout West Africa and Australia, with Master Drummers from Ga, Ewe, Dagomba, Diola and Malinke tribes and began performing at ceremonies and festivals with Drum and Dance Ensembles.
Annual trips to the region have opened his heart to the subtleties and intensities of its’ music. His experiences with The Senegalese Ballet, Percussion de Guinea, Mali Ballet, and Ghana’s Kusun Ensemble and Wala have seen him collaborate with some of West Africa’s finest musicians.
Simon is a renowned freelance percussionist and his diverse tastes have seen him work and record with Archi Roach and Ruby Hunter, Hip Hop artist Nfa from "1200 Techniques", "The Avalanches" and Drum and Dance favourites "Zazu" with buddy Simon Lewis.
At the start of 2000, Simon returned to West Africa to continue his studies of traditional music, studying in Ghana and Burkina Faso, touring and performed in Mali and Guinea as he drove his small Opell - modified with extra rear suspension - across 5 countries, bribing his way across the region with broken French, pleading poverty as a musician. They didn't buy it!
Currently Simon, in addition to performing, teaching and running his music business, alongside his business partner Tuza, runs a cultural exchange African Drumming and Dance tours to Ghana with Ekome Tours.
What inspired your decision to
play the Djembé drum and set up VoyeuRhythmic ?
My percussive inspiration first came from my ex DJ Mum's penchant for tapping rhythms on the steering wheel of her yellow Mazda 323. From there a plastic drum kit appeared and at the age of 2, Mum and I had a tambourine and drum ensemble firing.
At 15 I decided to upgrade the kit and began lessons. A journey through Rock, Jazz and Funk studies followed. Many rudiments and dodgy pub and club gigs later, I found myself interested in hand percussion and started a residency at Redhead Nightclub playing a darabuka.
It was a natural progression from Drum Kit to start using my hands. In 1998 my interest in hand percussion and a desire for something different, took me on a four-month study tour to Ghana, West Africa where I met members of touring groups Kusun Ensemble and Wala.
I was pretty blown away by the role music plays in… Read more
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Sharing Soul Sentiments
It’s been a slightly different experience of course being back down under for the 3rd time round. The first time was as travelling backpacker on a global tour, the 2nd when I came here to do my coach training, and got the chance to get to know locals and experience what it might be like to live here, and now the 3rd not a traveller, tourist nor student but neither a local either…not sure yet what you would call this status?
It’s been great walking down familiar and favourite streets, catching up with familiar faces, seeing the new changes around in the past few years. But it’s also feeling different because I am working during the working week, catching up with my life admin chores like going to the dentist, and catching up with a few familiar faces and discovering new hidden gems of Melbourne at the weekends. So it feels like one foot in one world and one in the other, the advantage is you get to experience things from 2 perspectives, which in itself is unique position for a different perspective.
The challenge is not schlepping out during the day to explore when the sun is shining but to keep my focus on the work I bought with me to get done. Always so hard to do when the sun is shining wherever you are! The key as always is discipline – remembering what I want to achieve in my time here, away from the big smoke, away from the demands on my time in London to focus on some key coaching work, preparing for next year.
The biggest difference though is time spent with different people with a different cultural attitude, especially around this time of Christmas. But otherwise, I guess it’s no different internally to being at home, externally the weather is absolutely glorious of course, different friends and there is a sense of calmness and peace as opposed to the frantic commercial Christmas frenzy back in London.
My real holiday starts a few days before Christmas when I fly to Queensland for 2 weeks where temperatures are more a hot sunny 30+ degrees for a peaceful rest on the sandy beach of Mission Beach, and the highlight of my trip – diving Cod Hole!
I guess what it really feels like is a wonderful home away from home, I couldn’t ask for better ;-) .
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About Sam Leongtave
Sam Leongtave is Creativity Coach for life and business as well as a fully qualified Graphic Designer. She coaches creatives, professionals and entrepreneurs to be empowered to be their best self, to live a life that more fully expresses their choices, who they truly are, personally and professionally. She is the publisher of the Jump! and founder of Noodlecrayon Coaching™ |
