• God in Hell: An Easter Narrative

    A short exploration of Easter Saturday, weaving a narrative and basking in the ifs of who and what takes place between Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

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  • Time for a Fresh Look! 🚀

    The site needs a bit of a refresh, so as they used to say it is under construction. As such things might not look right, work right, or even feel right. But only until everything is new and shiny. After that… who knows.

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  • Creating amongst the Chaos – Creative Field Notes

    This month has been productive despite global chaos, and I have noticed the importance of maintaining a positive and intentional creative practice.

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  • Mid to End Feb Creative Field Notes

    This week’s creative field notes include how I am keeping up with February Album Writing Month and coming up with a few other creative ideas.

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  • Imbolc: Creative New Starts

    January has been a difficult month for this creative minimalist. However, the festival of Imbolc is as good a time as any to make a creative new start. This week’s vlog explores recent creative highs and lows.

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  • My current journal set-up

    As we begin the new year of 2025, I’m excited to share my collection of journals with you in this week’s vlog. I have a new daily planner, as well as music and fiction journals, and various vocabulary notebooks.

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  • Creativity and my mental health

    Creativity and my mental health. Picture of Darren Hill with social link @darrenrhill and website www.thecreativeminimalist.com

    In my latest vlog, I discuss the link between creativity and mental health. You can watch the video above or on YouTube, and the text follows.

    I have made a discovery. I feel so much better when I don’t consume. That could be a multiplicity of things. From (over)eating to binge streaming, social media to an Amazon wish list, art supplies to musical instrument and audio plugins. Yes, all those can be a little obsessive for me, but it is also the same for reading, watching a film and even listening to music.

    Hold on Darren, Mr Creative Minimalist, aren’t you going a little far here? Well, let’s explore things a bit more. Let’s expand it and flip it. I feel so much better when I create, make or do and don’t consume!

    I find it too easy to become passive and just take. Endless scrolling… binge-watching… overeating… buying more than I can afford. Yes, of course, those are negative, and that makes sense. They are extremes that we all know are not great for us. Slip into one of those and our mental health will naturally take a tumble.

    On the other hand, there are things that we need to consume. We need food to live, we need other items that can only be bought to stay warm and safe… we need to consume oxygen to live. And we need the tools to create, make and do. And, and this is where it gets really tricky, our creativity and creative soul needs input; we need to consume to create. To write well we should read widely, likewise, we compose better the more we learn about music and sound and the techniques of other composers, and visual art, well we consume inspiration from others. And if you want to get all spiritual muse with it all, we consume from the well of inspiration and then create.

    So consume, don’t consume… I’m stuck in the middle… and of course somewhere in the middle is where I, and perhaps you, need to be.

    But back to my discovery, the realisation that there is a positive mental health benefit to replacing the consuming with the creating and doing. There have been many studies advocating the benefits of creativity and the link between creativity and our mental health and so I am just adding my voice to that body of evidence in my own teeny tiny way.

    It’s subjective, but I know, I can feel the positive effects in my being when I create. I suppose it is the model equivalent of doing a good honest day’s work. Just create something, a doodle, hum a tune, tap a foot. Be creative in incremental steps, it can have a positive effect. Nudge that dial from consuming to creating in whatever way you can.

    I am no medical practitioner, so if you are struggling with your mental health please seek professional advice, but if you want to feel a little better, try a little creative act today.

    Stay safe and I’ll see you soon.


    Thank you for reading this post. Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
    namaste
    d
    xox

    If you enjoyed this post please support my writing by making a donation of any amount.

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  • Lost in IKEA – Creative Field Notes

    Messy desk drawer

    I’ve not been happy with my creative space for a while. I don’t mean to sound whiny about that. I don’t have much room to work with and the space that I do have hasn’t been working. At the same time, I am very, very grateful for the space that I do have and I know that I have blamed the space when a lot of the time it is just me not working.

    Anyway, I decided to fix something I have control over. I would get myself a desk and some additional drawer space to ease the creative piles of stuff that often bring me down. So with a bank account that wasn’t looking forward to it, I hopped in the car and popped along to IKEA. A couple of hours later I returned home with a new desk, several drawers and desk tidy, type things with Swedish names.

    The rest of my Bank Holiday was spent moving things around and building the desk – no royal celebrations for me. And also, which is more unfortunate, I didn’t get much time to be creative and move my projects forward. However, I am here, reporting in and staying accountable.

    Creative Field Notes

    The new music collection has nine tracks pretty much confirmed and one empty slot, although I have several possibilities for that. I also found a missing part of one track by bringing it in from another. Cannibalising your own music is allowed… especially if the new arrangement works. Once all the tracks are pretty much agreed upon in my head, and on paper, it will be time to record and rerecord to give them a coherent sound – a This Temple Eden sound.

    This website still needs love and attention, as do several others that I own, run and use. And as a little tease, this is the current iteration of the new The Creative Minimalist logo.

    The Creative Minimalist logo

    I could make 101 excuses as to why I haven’t blogged yet, but the truth is I just haven’t motivated myself to get going. I will remedy that. I’ll soon be back in the swing of talking about creativity in all its breadth as seen through my little corner of the world.

    The creative and learning habits are going well. I have always believed in lifelong learning so giving a little structure to that part of things is good. However, creative habits have been more of a challenge. I have been able to take the time to do them, but it is the play element that is difficult. I’ll explain a little more in a future post to see if it is something that is ongoing once the habit becomes more ingrained.

    Now, I’d best get on with being creative.


    Thank you for reading this post. Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
    namaste
    d
    xox

    If you enjoyed this post please support my writing by making a donation of any amount.

    Sign up for my (ir)regular newsletter to keep up to date with my creative adventures, including special offers, and join me on Instagram | YouTube | Twitter | Pinterest

  • Creative Field Notes at Beltane

    Native Instruments Komplete Knontrol S61 keyboard, plant and window

    Fires have been lit for Beltane, a celebration to mark the beginning of summer. It feels like this past winter has been long. It wasn’t particularly cold but it did feel deep and dark. I usually like the winter. I like all the seasons, each has its own unique aspects and metaphors. This last winter carried a shadow. The summer can dispel that darkness.

    Creative field notes

    I’m working on a new collection of songs to release later this year. My deadline to finish all the recording and mixing is the end of June.

    This website is looking and feeling a little tired. So along with a wider branding project, there will be an update for “The Creative Minimalist dot com“.

    Related to that will be regular vlog updates and other media-related videos here and on my other social profiles. These will share my progress, offer tips and advice, and entertain you along the way.

    I have begun a range of creative and self-improvement habits that I’ll be talking about. These include music, writing and learning activities for each day.

    Accountability

    These creative field notes are a habit that needs to be kept up. It is time to shine a light on them as summer arrives. It finally feels like a creative fire has been lit and the coldness in my bones is being thawed.


    Thank you for reading this post. Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
    namaste
    d
    xox

    If you enjoyed this post please support my writing by making a donation of any amount.

    Sign up for my (ir)regular newsletter to keep up to date with my creative adventures, including special offers, and join me on Instagram | YouTube | Twitter | Pinterest

  • Creativity and perfectionism

    I take a look at how perfectionism so easily hinders creativity. I also share what I have been creating recently with my adventures through FAWM. Click above or below to watch...


    Thank you for reading this post. Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
    namaste
    d
    xox

    If you enjoyed this post please support my writing by making a donation of any amount.

    Sign up for my (ir)regular newsletter to keep up to date with my creative adventures, including special offers, and join me on Instagram | YouTube | Twitter | Pinterest

  • The importance of a January review

    It’s the end of January so time for a review of how things are going, or not going. How are you doing with your intentions and resolutions? I remind myself how important reviews are in the creative process. (Click above or watch below).


    Thank you for reading this post. Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
    namaste
    d
    xox

    If you enjoyed this post please support my writing by making a donation of any amount.

    Sign up for my (ir)regular newsletter to keep up to date with my creative adventures, including special offers, and join me on Instagram | YouTube | Twitter | Pinterest

  • How to take the first creative step in 2023

    A few thoughts on entering 2023 (main or lunar calendar) and taking the first creative step. Events of recent years have left creative people in a weird place, so a simple thought on how to get going in the new year. Here’s the latest vlog. View below or click the link to YouTube.


    Thank you for reading this post. Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
    namaste
    d
    xox

    If you enjoyed this post please support my writing by making a donation of any amount.

    Sign up for my (ir)regular newsletter to keep up to date with my creative adventures, including special offers, and join me on Instagram | YouTube | Twitter | Pinterest