Creative sampling isn’t often seen as a powerful strategy, but at times it can be even more powerful than mastery. When you are hyper-focused on developing a core area of expertise it’s easy to tune out distractions or pieces of information that aren’t in alignment, but you might also miss important signs or insights about your chosen direction. On the other hand, if you are interested in learning more broad-based skills the discernment process is more complex. You play … [Read more...]
Walking Tall After Creative Disappointment
October 24, 2014 By Leave a Comment
Creative wins always a desire for celebration, happy dance or a fist pump - maybe even all three, but how do you honor creative disappointment? What steps do you use to process emotions around missing the mark of personal expectation, or to face the possibility that an idea is not as sparkly as you had hoped? Strange as it may feel, it’s OK to celebrate your losses in a way that feels fitting, too. Instead of jumping right into a process of over-analyzing and “shoulding” … [Read more...]
Creativity Kick-Start: Write Down Top 5 Wishes Each Week
September 22, 2014 By Leave a Comment
Wishes are a fun, free way to engage your creativity and brainstorming fairy dust. They bring out the child in you who believes anything is possible, and knows something magical can happen at any moment. And that child is a good creative ally to have around! Wishes are also an invitation to remove yourself from what you already know, and expand into how it feels to ponder the unknown without being fearful or specific about the “how”. All you need to do is show up and start … [Read more...]
Choosing Supportive Creative Connections
May 22, 2014 By Leave a Comment
The creative connections you build in life often start off as relationships that just come together without much thought. How they got to be part of your life is one thread of the story. Who continues to be in your life is a choice, a very important choice that impacts how you express yourself and inner gifts with ease. It’s not always easy to phase out certain people when you are attached to the role they play in your life story, especially as you grow and expand your creative … [Read more...]
Gratitude for All Your Creative Helpers, Even the Ones that Sting
April 3, 2014 By Leave a Comment
The act of creating is very personal, but how you choose to express the inner self is always influenced by external creative helpers. Some are loving and supportive, sharing encouragement and reflecting your light so you can view yourself in a more objective way. Other “helpers” are the nay-sayers or challengers, the people and personalities that get you to stand your ground or question the authenticity of your creative identity. You need both kinds of creative helpers to help you … [Read more...]
Honoring the Birth and Death Cycle of Creativity
March 19, 2014 By 4 Comments
The circle of creation and destruction is a daily ritual that starts with the sunrise and ends with the sunset. Each day, every single person on the planet has the opportunity to create, nurture and then lay something to rest. During this same 24-hour cycle also lies the opportunity to honor the creation and destruction cycle within yourself. This circle of renewal and release can sound a bit ominous, but it happens all the time without you putting much thought into … [Read more...]
Edging Past your Creative Safety Zone
January 30, 2014 By Leave a Comment
Each and every one of us has a creative “no no” zone, or in other words, clear boundaries that define where your creative safety zone begins and ends. Stepping on your tippy toes and stretching your arms up and out, beyond what you know as truth, is more than an exercise of being willing to dare. It’s a bold step forward into the black, dark void of creative possibility, but that’s where all the fun starts. Sounds ominous right? Well, darkness does get a bad rap sometimes. That’s why it can … [Read more...]
Are you Too Attached to a Specific Creative Picture?
January 23, 2014 By Leave a Comment
The way you see your creative self is guided, in part, by a combination of past experiences and future expectations. You know what works and what doesn’t, what was painful and what was best left as an “experiment”. This view influences your perspective on all sorts of things, including the specifications you use to rate creative projects, client interactions or new ideas as potential successes or failures. This approach is perfectly understandable -- until you go back to the first sentence of … [Read more...]
When Starting Over is the Only Option and How to Be at Peace with It
November 14, 2013 By Leave a Comment
There are times, despite your best efforts, that starting over is the only option. Your mind has covered every angle. Your heart breaks with each fresh review of the “facts”. There’s no sign of things changing for the better, and your creative inspiration is as dried up as a stale cracker. If things are looking (and feeling) charred and burned, succumb to sweet surrender. It's the first step to opening your heart for change. But once you do, can you let things flow to … [Read more...]
Creativity and the Inner Boss
September 5, 2013 By 1 Comment
Creativity and the inner boss. When paired together these concepts seem to be total opposites, pushing against each other’s efforts in a way that ends in a stand-off with no winner. Yet, this dynamic duo can definitely be a powerful pair, if they join forces for the greater good - you. The inner boss is not the ego (although it can certainly be bossy), but the way you manage yourself. Do you go full-steam into something, only to get bored towards the end and let things come to a thud? Do you … [Read more...]