A Series of

Activities
CREATE SPACE FOR YOUR CREATIVE SPACE MAKE YOUR SELF SPACE CREATE YOUR OWN SPACE

SoundMap
Our daily lives are so full of noise and distraction example 1
we can find it hard to concentrate, or to simply
enjoy the world around us.
Too often the outside world is drowned out by
the chatter inside our heads.
Still your mind and change your focus - this
listening exercise asks you to absorb and record
the richness & detail of the sounds around you.
By being attentive to one stimulus - your sense
of hearing - for at least 5 minutes, you are
building your concentration. Added to this,
by visualising the sounds as a map, you are
making connections between the auditory and
visual centres of your brain. This may not only
stimulate new ideas and associations for you,
but also engages your thoughts fully so that You will need:
your inner ‘chatter’ is stilled.
Pencil and paper and a book
example 2 or sheet of card to lean on.

The exercise:
You can try the exercise anywhere - outside, on
a street, in a park or garden, in your home, at

www.startmc.org.uk | www.salford.ac.uk
work.
Take a minimum of 5 minutes for this exercise.
Stand and listen to all the sounds around you.
Get a sense of where they are in relation to you.

To make your map:

Mark yourself in the centre of the page.
On your paper, plot (draw) the sounds around
you by using words, drawings, or symbols to
represent what you can hear. Try to place the
sounds on your map in relationship to yourself
- a sound to your right will be drawn
or described to the right of you on the
map, and so on.
For ideas, look at the examples.
example 3
 A Series of

Activities
CREATE SPACE FOR YOUR CREATIVE SPACE MAKE YOUR SELF SPACE CREATE YOUR OWN SPACE

Food for thought

You are what you eat, or so they say... Did you know that a diet lacking in fruits, vegetables and
essential (polyunsaturated) fats such as Omega 3 can actually contribute to depression, panic, anxiety
and other mental health difficulties? Or that not drinking enough water impairs your concentration?
The brain and body needs a whole range of vitamins and nutrients to work well and stay healthy.
Do you get “five a day” ?
Try photographing everything you eat and drink during one day - you may be surprised. Look back
at your photographs in a month’s time and see if your diet has changed at all.

16th August 2006

07.00 Glass of orange

08.50 Grapes (x3)
09.05 Coffee
10.25 Coffee, and a jam
tart
Some useful websites:

www.startmc.org.uk | www.salford.ac.uk
11.37 Banana www.eatwell.gov.uk
11.43 Coffee www.5aday.nhs.uk
12.30 Coffee www.mentalhealth.org/feedingminds
12.55 Broccoli & baked (click on the Nutrition Table to find
out which foods help you manage
beans
your mental health)
13.30 Tea
15.50 Coffee, cookies (x2)
18.30 Pasta, roasted veg
and tomato sauce
Glass of water
Coffee
21.30 Chocolate Bar

EAT 22 - by Ellie Harrison

Ellie is a Nottingham-based artist, who
recorded everything she ate for one year.
See: www.ellieharrison.com/eat22.html
 A Series of

Activities
CREATE SPACE FOR YOUR CREATIVE SPACE MAKE YOUR SELF SPACE CREATE YOUR OWN SPACE

Food for thought -2

Be honest - what is your diet really like ? Are you eating well, or fueling up on junk food?
Use the chart below to record what you eat, and how wholesome you think it is on our ‘body-
friendly’ scale.

Is your food body-friendly?

www.startmc.org.uk | www.salford.ac.uk
 A Series of

Activities
CREATE SPACE FOR YOUR CREATIVE SPACE MAKE YOUR SELF SPACE CREATE YOUR OWN SPACE

Doodling exercise
Doodling is an outlet for the frustrated artist in all of us.
As children we express ourselves through drawing without
inhibition, but as adults we develop an ‘inner censor’ that
prevents us from simply enjoying mark-making.
But have you noticed how often you catch yourself doodling,
when on the phone or in a meeting, and how relaxing it is?
When we are mildly absorbed in any moderate thinking activity,
and we have a pen in hand, the ‘inner censor’ may be switched
off and this allows us to enjoy expressive drawing once more.
Doodling also keeps us productively busy when we are bored,
inactive or unoccupied – evolution has hard-wired us to be busy
with our hands, so that’s what we do.
Try this structured doodling exercise, and if you enjoy it, you
might try finding your own pictures to doodle on.

ples
exam

www.startmc.org.uk | www.salford.ac.uk

You will need:

Pen, pencil or biro

Fill in the drawing by

choosing patterns and
textures from the examples
above, or make up your
own.
 A Series of

Activities
CREATE SPACE FOR YOUR CREATIVE SPACE MAKE YOUR SELF SPACE CREATE YOUR OWN SPACE

Creative writing
sheen
Exploring the small moments in be rr y deli gh ts m e with its ruby red
A Straw
daily life with flying ribbon
s
its bonn of green
Finding ways to better explore and d spkled seeds
appreciate even the smallest experiences
its lump form an
its perfume
in daily life can help to build a greater but the swen of
connection with our surroundings. Using taste
and luscious juicy
words creatively to record what we feel
or notice can help improve our powers are at lingers... mer’s long,
of observation, self-expression and ability ...to rall the sum
to connect thoughts laterally in our dreaming days,
minds. This is excellent exercise for the childhood teas and
brain, and a good outlet for our more
rry romanc
creative ideas. champagne strawbe

here’s an example
You will need:
A piece of fruit or salad Choose a piece of fruit or a salad vegetable.
vegetable - something you like Look at it closely, handle it, smell it.

Paper and pencil to write With closed eyes, bite into the fruit/vegetable
down your thoughts - feel the texture and the first taste sensation
as it hits your taste buds. Eat the whole fruit/
vegetable slowly, experiencing its texture,

www.startmc.org.uk | www.salford.ac.uk
taste and aroma.
...or what about this one?
Now jot down words
and associations that
A bowl of strawberr
i occur to you, and weave
them them into a poem - no
lovely, no calori in need to rhyme.
tart
A bite – oh no, too
?
Where’s the swen
sugar
They need a bit of y calori
uch sugar, not man
That’s okay, not m cream
he r bite – oh n o, a bit boring without
Mmm – anot
, a small dollop
Just a bit of cream rely
too many calori su
That’s alright, not
Mmm, lovely
to lose any weight
But…I never seem
eat fruit
Even though I only