Nobody likes being bored. And if you’re like me, you tend to either spend lots of money or follow completely wasteful pursuits like binge watching cat videos when you’re bored. I have good news. The Endless Beautiful Method can crank up your creativity and turn a bored afternoon or evening into an awesome afternoon or evening packed full of creativity!
Here’s What You Will Need
- Pencil, paper, or computer to write with (you can use another medium if you have that available)
- EB Soundscapes. You can choose one of our curated, HQ Sessions, or press play on the EB Engine for a randomized set of sounds.
- Speakers, a cellphone, or some other device to play the session
- Friends or family if you have them around (anybody can do this and it’s more fun if they do)
- A willingness to turn your boredom into an awesomely creative and productive time
How does this help me not be bored?
Right. I didn’t just give you a random list of tasks. We have a method to our madness. Specifically, we have the Endless Beautiful Method! The EB HQ Sessions are 15 minutes long, and they are comprised of a bunch of sounds that Carolyn and I have recorded. No recording is ever used twice in our sessions. Sessions generally have at least 7 sounds and can have up to 15 sounds. You know, so you don’t get bored! The EB Engine pulls from our library of 700+ sounds.
How does this help me be creative?
You listen to the session and write at the same time. The only rule here is that you don’t stop creating until the end of the session. You can write a story, a poem, journal, try to come up with memories, brainstorm ideas. You can do many things. Many first-time users of Endless Beautiful report it is surprisingly easy to get the creative juices flowing with our method!
Any tips for getting the most out of this?
Sure! I recommend that you don’t just try to identify what the sounds are when you listen to them. We purposely include a rich tapestry of different recordings, many of them featuring things going on in the background, to promote as much creativity as possible. What one person takes from a recording will be completely different with the next person.
Just start writing. We specifically use sound to give you a lot a mental space to process your own thoughts. Feel free to weave your way in and out of the recordings. This isn’t a gameshow or a contest. The Endless Beautiful Method is a tool for you to maximize your creativity in whatever form it comes.
Start with memories. You have a bazillion memories stored away in your head, and if you have lived on Earth for more than a minute, you will be able to draw from your memories when you hear the sounds.
How does this help me not become bored again?
Chances are, after you finish using your first Endless Beautiful Session, you will think to yourself, “Wow, that wasn’t too bad.” Don’t worry, we hear it all the time. You came up with some really interesting ideas.
You will get better. There will be less questions and clutter floating around in your mind the next time you use a session. You will be able to focus entirely on creating.
Here’s another important tip: Share what you came up with! If you did the workshop by yourself, call somebody up, or send somebody a message with what you came up with. It feels awesome! That’s another good thing about the session being 15 minutes long, you’re not asking someone to read your novel.
Ask Your Bored Friends to do Something Creative with You!
Like many things in life, Endless Beautiful is even better when you do it with friends and family. Heck, it’s really good to do with strangers too! Everyone listens to the session and writes or creates whatever they are working on at the same time. You then share what you came up with at the end. It is amazing to see all of the different ideas and creativity. Even though you just listened to the exact same thing.
Pick at least one day out of the week to do use an Endless Beautiful Session. Like I said before, you will get better with more practice. Our minds need exercise in order to be healthy. Taking at least 15 minutes out of your week to do a workshop will do WONDERS for your brain. You will feel accomplished. If you’re using the journaling angle, you might get some tough stuff out on the page. If you’re sharing what you came up with (which you really should), you will feel good getting something creative out there.
That’s a lot of benefits right? And I’m being conservative here. You will probably find a lot more personal benefits beyond not being bored and promoting creativity.
When you use a HQ Session, you can use it again. We purposely include a bunch of rich soundscapes in our High-Quality Sessions so they can be used over and over again.
More Boredom Bashing Creativity Exercises
Maybe your friends aren’t really into art or writing. You can put a little bit of a gamifying twist on the workshop to make it more appealing to them (and hilarious). This is going to require a way to keep the time. It’s usually better with multiple sessions on hand.
In this example, we’re going to split the EB Workshop into smaller sections. 5 minutes, 4 minutes, 3 minutes, 2 minutes, and 1 minute. That adds up to 15 minutes just like a regular session does. Tell the group that the goal is to make a continuous narrative or poem, and that you want to follow the lead of the person that went before them.
Everybody starts with their paper or writing device of choice and writes for 5 minutes.
Stop the recording of the EB Session.
Now pass your paper or whatever you are working on to the next person. Either hit play on the same session or pick a different session and hit play. This time for 4 minutes. Stop. Pass. 3 minutes. Stop. Pass. Then 2 minutes. Stop. Pass. And finally 1 minute.
Everybody gets what they started writing back.
Were you able to stay on track? The results can be funny! It can also yield some really interesting and valuable results that you wouldn’t have come across by just trying to do everything by yourself.
Don’t Be Bored! Don’t Be Afraid of Creativity!
Endless Beautiful Sessions work for ANYBODY. I’m serious. You wouldn’t believe how many times I have had people tell me that they are not creative and then produce some amazing piece of writing.
It’s only 15 minutes, it’s inexpensive, it’s incredibly rewarding – I can go on and on about the benefits. What are you waiting for? Check out our library of EB Sessions and get started!
