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Posts from the ‘Creativity’ Category

May 23

Create Today

“To be creative means to be in love with life. You can be creative only if you love life enough that you want to enhance its beauty, you want to bring a little more music to it, a little more poetry to it, a little more dance to it.”― Osho

“Basic Principles:

  1. Creativity is the natural order of life. Life is energy: pure creative energy.
  2. There is an underlying, in-dwelling creative force infusing all of life — including ourselves.
  3. When we open ourselves to our creativity, we open ourselves to the creator’s creativity within us and our lives.
  4. We are, ourselves, creations. And we, in turn, are meant to continue creativity by being creative ourselves.
  5. Creativity is God’s gift to us. Using our creativity is our gift back to God.
  6. The refusal to be creative is self-will and is counter to our true nature.
  7. When we open ourselves to exploring our creativity, we open ourselves to God: good orderly direction.
  8. As we open our creative channel to the creator, many gentle but powerful changes are to be expected.
  9. It is safe to open ourselves up to greater and greater creativity.
  10. Our creative dreams and yearnings come from a divine source. As we move toward our dreams, we move toward our divinity.”― Julia Cameron

We are all creative.
24 hours in day for each of us.
Our life made up of our decisions or indecisions, our choices, our imagination.
Open the door to possibilities.
Cross the threshold.
Move toward your divinity.
Anchor in awe, exploration, expression.
Create this day.

“I never made one of my discoveries through the process of rational thinking.”― Albert Einstein

Aug 3

A Cup of Water

“Creativity and imagination are not frosting on a cake: They are integral to our sustainability. They are survival mechanisms. They are of the essence of who we are. They constitute our deepest empowerment.”― Matthew Fox

Dehydrated and dry from cynicism, duality, assumption, judgment, comparison, counting, scarcity and sheer lack of imagination, we seek waterfalls, oceans, distant shores just out of reach in the land of “someday when…” to be complete.
When our circumstances change, when others change, surely not me, when my political party is in control, when I win, when the stars align…
A false narrative that steals this day. Fiction and flat.
Discover and drink from the oasis of the present moment sparked by gratitude, awareness and wonder.
Drink the cup of water in front of you and offer one to others.
There’s plenty and it’s more than enough.
A cup of encouragement, joy, beauty, laughter, discernment, optimism, abundance, clarity, love to rehydrate, satisfy, refresh and reshape the world.
If we don’t recognize the blessings already present, how will we identify anything new?
Radical amazement, cup overflowing.

“To see ourselves as we truly are—a wisp of love itself—is perhaps our deepest fear. But it is also our greatest grace. If we are to be the new human, we must begin by embracing love, which always seeks to incarnate itself. Love is enfleshed everywhere. Everywhere the Holy One is shouting and whispering, ‘Let me love you.’ And all that is asked of us is to receive. In reality, that is our life’s work. Nothing more, and certainly nothing less.” – Judy Cannato

Apr 12

Luminous

“Nature always wears the colors of the spirit.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there. When the soul lies down in that grass, the world is too full to talk about. Ideas, language, even the phrase “each other” doesn’t make any sense.” —Rumi

When I turned on my laptop to write my daily post, the camera lit up for facial recognition to bypass the log in. I leaned in and a message popped up: “Too close, move farther away.” When I leaned back a bit, it worked. If I was too far away, it would probably say, “Too far, move closer in.” I didn’t expect to get my post today from the Artificial Intelligence on my laptop, but here goes.

When we get too close in or too far away, stuck in a fixed mindset, ego and spiraling thoughts, go in the opposite direction. Scan and then zoom. Zoom and then scan. It’s a dance. Live with intention and attention rather than by accident.

“Your attitude is like a box of crayons that color your world. Constantly color your picture gray, and your picture will always be bleak. Try adding some bright colors to the picture by including humor, and your picture begins to lighten up.” – Allen Klein

Search for color and light, find color and light. Choose awareness and gratitude over speed and scarcity. Find awe in the ordinary. Surrender your need to be right, to know everything, allowing the mystery and unknowing to expand and deepen to your very soul.

“There is a land beyond the ego’s striving to be “better than,” or its fears of being “less than.” That land is where we know ourselves to be both sovereign and connected—“ part of” as opposed to “better or less than.” When you come home to the truth of who you are in the marrow of your soul, you begin to break the ego-shell.”— Marrow: A Love Story by Elizabeth Lesser

Feb 10

It is What it is

“A thing of beauty is a joy forever: its loveliness increases; it will never pass into nothingness.” – John Keats

We are creatures who thrive on control and certainty. The past year has been filled with uncertainty and chaos. Lately, I hear a lot of people say “it is what it is,” a statement of acceptance, a prompt to let go of what’s not in our control. Some circumstances, other people, a pandemic, the past belong in this “bucket.” However, our attitude, thoughts, actions, reactions and perspective are not in this bucket. We have agency over these and should not “surrender” to mere acceptance and resignation.

As I look at the date today when I began writing, I realize that we are coming up on the one-year of the pandemic becoming part of the world’s everyday reality. I also realize that it’s in the backdrop for me, not the forefront. The distribution of the vaccine is in the forefront, promising hope and anticipation of getting to the other side of the pandemic and not returning to pre-pandemic times but to a new and even better tomorrow.

We are not there yet to be sure and many have lost loved ones the past year so we are amidst the grieving and trauma of what the pandemic has left in its wake. The dailyness of “pandemic” living has also taken it’s toll. Moving through grief and trauma, whether it be a pandemic or other life altering event, is the only way to the other side.

Daily rituals can expand “it is what it is” thinking to include anticipation of “what’s possible.” My strategies over the past year that have helped me move the pandemic to the backdrop rather than the forefront include training for a marathon, exercising, writing daily, going to the dog park with the girls and meditation/prayer using Insight Timer.

On Insight Timer this morning, I decided to listen to a Ted-Talk by Dr. James S. Gordon founder of The Center for Mind-Body Medicine on Fulfilling Trauma’s Hidden Promise. It is a compelling talk that offers strategies from a psychiatrist, which I am not so I highly recommend taking 20 minutes to listen. Optimism is a strategy and fuel for living that can break patterns that bind. Creativity and meditation are conduits to healing and joy.

“Trauma comes to all of us, and its consequences can be terrible. The good news is that all of us can use tools of self-awareness and self-care to heal our trauma and, indeed, to become healthier and more whole than we’ve ever been.”― James S. Gordon, The Transformation: Discovering Wholeness and Healing After Trauma

There is good news to be found in each day. Pursue it. Each of us are the authors of our own life, so choose the “pen” of hope, faith, anticipation and light to write a beautiful narrative and happy ending.

 

Feb 8

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The Creative Spirit

“When you seek the presence of your creative Spirit and are filled with passion about virtually everything you undertake, you’ll successfully remove the roadblocks from your life and enjoy the active presence of Spirit.” – Wayne Dyer

“No man has the right to dictate what other men should perceive, create or produce, but all should be encouraged to reveal themselves, their perceptions and emotions, and to build confidence in the creative spirit.” – Ansel Adams

My nephew Liam finished coloring the Peacock picture with bright brilliant colors. He proudly handed it to me to tell me he made it for me so I could hang it on the refrigerator. I happily accepted his work of art and witnessed the pure joy that comes from acknowledgement, praise and encouragement. He understands the deep joy of dancing with his creative spirit. All children do.

People say it again and again – “I’m not creative.” Every person is creative. It is rooted in the human spirit. First signs show up when we are children. Then the opinions, judgment, rules, criticism, comparison of others who had the same thing done to them demand that we “grow up,” be realistic and get to work, leaving dreams and spirit by the side of the road.

Enough. Time to get off that ride and reclaim your creative spirit through play, adventure, trying new things, art, music, literature, nature – fuel to drive, water to nourish, sunlight to grow. There’s power in creative expression, joy and wonder, in returning to the pure child within us that remains through our life, longing to come out to partake.

Optimism is the best way to reclaim that creative spirit. It forces us to look at all sides and still choose positivity and best-case scenario thinking over cynicism and “reality.” When we move out into the world through the lens of optimism, we invite others to come out and play in the sandbox of hope, light and exploration. It’s your turn. Would you come out to play?

“Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier.” – Colin Powell

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