creativity
The Spiritual Power of Routine
Recent retirees tend to speak of having mixed feelings about routine. On one hand, they enjoy being free from the externally-imposed schedule of their work lives— they may choose to sleep later, to travel during the week, to eat meals when they fancy them instead of hewing to a strict timetable of meetings and business hours. On the other hand, the lack of routine can be a source of stress. If a person hasn’t shaped his or her own days for decades, it can be a tricky adjustment to determine what exactly is the ideal routine for this new phase of life.
Finding a routine
I ask you to be open-minded: although it may take some trial and error, it is possible to find a routine that can begin to feel like a spiritual practice, opening you to guidance, energy and creativity. Creating routines for yourself that comfort you will quiet your mind, and it is this quiet mind that allows inspiration to spring forth.
My routine
My daily routine begins when I rise. Before getting out of bed, I reach to my nightstand, take hold of my notebook and pen, and write my three Morning Pages. Pages done, I turn to breakfast, and after breakfast I undertake the steps my pages have suggested. “Walk the dog, change the sheets, read my Ernest Holmes prayers, call my sister, write the foreword for Natalie’s book…” It is a rare day when the pages fail to dictate the next right thing. “Call Domenica,” my pages may suggest. Most of the time the pages yield “good, orderly direction,” which I use acronym for “G-O-D”— God. Afternoon exercise keeps me mentally and physically fit as daily I hike the dirt roads surrounding my house, keeping an alert eye for coyotes and snakes. Late afternoon is an ideal time for working on my current writing project. Once a week, I schedule an Artist Date.
How structure gives you freedom
With such minimal structure in place, we find ourselves feeling serene and secure. We are led in directions that serve our spirit. We are once more given routine, but this time it is a routine of our own choosing that responds our inner impulses, not an external taskmaster. Routine brings us into contact with our own capacity for discipline. We learn inspiration from the regular practice of Morning Pages. As we daily invoke the higher power to communicate through our pen, we are nourished with new ideas.
The spiritual value of routine
The spiritual value of routine is nowhere more evident than in a monastery. Monks rise at a set time, pray a set morning prayer, then enter a day where bells chime at regular intervals, cueing them to move from activity to activity. Setting time for work, time for prayer, and time for relaxation yields a rewarding, fulfilling and productive life. When we undertake Morning Pages, we undertake routine, but we also undertake a certain form of prayer. As we write, “Please guide me,” we are given a flow of inspiration.
Prayer, mindfulness, morning pages
We are indeed guided. As we write each morning about whatever is current for us— feelings of loss, confusion, excitement, wonder, regret— we are, in effect, praying on the page. And it is indeed as if a benevolent force beyond ourselves is listening, whether we choose to name this force or not. Morning Pages give us a path through the day, a place to set our own goals and deadlines. When I call my daughter, I find myself serving as a sounding board. Our exchange is mutually healing. Morning Pages are a jumping-off place for the rest of our lives.
Julia Cameron has been an active artist for over four decades. She is the author of more than forty books, including such bestselling works on the creative process as The Artist’s Way, Walking in This World and Finding Water. Also a novelist, playwright, songwriter and poet, she has multiple credits in theater, film and television. 2017 marked the 25th anniversary of The Artist’s Way, with over five million copies sold.
This post first appeared on juliacameronlive.com, and is reposted with permission from the author.
Join Julia at the Art of Living Retreat Center from November 9th-11th, 2018, for her retreat, The Artist’s Way: Blasting Through Blocks.
Interested in learning more about Ayurveda and the programs at the Art of Living Retreat Center? Check out our annual catalog here!
Writing Beyond the Block
Writing begins with enthusiasm. We launch into a long project with optimism. We have an idea, we trust our idea, we set about putting it to the page. All goes swimmingly for a time— until we hit The Wall. The Wall occurs, in most writing, about two-thirds of the way into our work. Put simply, The Wall is doubt. Our previously good idea suddenly seems suspect. We doubt its validity. Our writing skids to a halt.
Moving past doubt
“Julia, I feel such doubt, it stops me in my tracks,” I have been told many times. I sympathize. Doubt is an excruciatingly painful feeling. It tempts us to take creative U-turns, abandoning our work.
“Julia, it was going so well, and then I found myself thinking, ‘what if I’m kidding myself?’” That is the voice of doubt. It whispers that we are without talent, and that our hopes of a career are mere grandiosity. It encourages us to mistrust our perceptions. The Wall towers high.
Learning to surrender
Typically, when we encounter the wall, we attempt to power our way past it and over it. “It’s a good idea,” we say to ourselves defensively. “I know it’s a good idea.” But our forced optimism doesn’t win the day. The Wall still towers, casting its ominous shadow on our work. But there is a better way to conquer The Wall, and that is to surrender. Instead of trying to convince ourselves of the brilliance of our idea, we need to say instead, “I am willing to finish this piece of work even if my idea is terrible.” In other words, “I am willing to write badly.”
Writing badly–on purpose
The moment we are willing to write badly, we begin to have freedom. The Wall no longer dominates our emotional landscape. Instead, like convicts striving to escape prison, we do well not by scrambling over the wall, but by digging our way to freedom under it. Most of us find this approach to the wall a novel idea. We are not really willing to write badly, and yet, when we give ourselves permission, we find that by being willing to write badly, we may write very well indeed.
Julia Cameron has been an active artist for over four decades. She is the author of more than forty books, including such bestselling works on the creative process as The Artist’s Way, Walking in This World and Finding Water. Also a novelist, playwright, songwriter and poet, she has multiple credits in theater, film and television. 2017 marked the 25th anniversary of The Artist’s Way, with over five million copies sold.
This post first appeared on juliacameronlive.com, and is reposted with permission from the author.
Join Julia at the Art of Living Retreat Center from November 9th-11th, 2018, for her retreat, The Artist’s Way: Blasting Through Blocks.
Interested in learning more about Ayurveda and the programs at the Art of Living Retreat Center? Check out our annual catalog here!
Exploring Wisdom: Bringing Joy into the Body
Dance has always been a part of my life. After years of rigorous training, I became a performer in New York City, Washington D.C., and later Boston. For the past 26 years, I’ve also been a choreographer making dances that ask questions about our fundamental relationship with ourselves, and with our beautiful blue planet.
Our deep connection with nature
Science has always played a role in my inquiry, and science is now catching up with the power of interconnectivity through works like The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben and The Nature Fix by Florence Williams. Both of these books have influenced my most recent work, Her Sylvan Ascent, and profoundly engage our understanding of our relationship with nature and the deeply connected structures that maintain balanced ecosystems.
The powerful wisdom of the body
How can we deepen our own connections? How can we find paths to our own inner wisdom to guide choices that are in balance with our own joyous spirit? As a dancer, I believe that the answer includes our full selves. I understand the powerful wisdom of the body and how it can teach us to be in alignment, and I share my upcoming retreat cohost Jon’s profound love of what the natural world can say in response — if we are willing to listen.
Communion with the natural world
My path has included work with Alberto Villoldo, whose mentorship has helped me develop a more comprehensive understanding of the way that intuition, meditation, and creativity can be enhanced through physical practice and communion with the natural world. Through this work, I am able to bring the tools of shamanic practice to the workshop, united with movement practices that will open our hearts and help each of us establish a relationship between our physical bodies and the energetic world.
Techniques of Joyful Meditation
It was synchronicity that brought Jon and I together many years ago, and I am thrilled to share this weekend with him — and with you. Jon’s marvelous tales from his extraordinary life illuminate a magical world, and I know it will be a special time for all of us. I hope you will join us at the Art of Living Retreat Center in October for Techniques of Joyful Meditation.
Dr. Jody Weber has had a beautiful, fulfilling thirty-year career as a choreographer, teacher, and dance historian working in academia, traveling with her professional company, and working with communities across the nation. She is also a trained shamanic practitioner through the Andean Lineage. As a graduate of Alberto Villoldo’s Light Body School, she is thrilled to offer ancient practices to help clients clear their energy fields, balance their physical bodies, and pursue their life’s work.
Interested in learning more about Ayurveda and the programs at the Art of Living Retreat Center? Check out our annual catalog here!
Creativity, Spirituality, and Morning Pages
The main message of my work is that creativity and spirituality are intertwined. They each support the growth of the other.
The basic tool of a creative recovery is something that I call morning pages. You’re probably familiar with them–they’re three pages of longhand morning writing that you do first thing upon awakening. They brush all of your mental dust to the center, where you can sweep it out through writing.
How to do morning pages
There’s really no wrong way to do morning pages. You write with a stream of consciousness, and your only goal is to fill those pages. What you’re really doing, in effect, is minimizing your censor, the one that tells you you’re not smart or good enough. I call my censor Nigel. With morning pages, you have the ability to just say, “Nigel, thank you for sharing your opinion. But I’m going to keep right on writing.” This ability to move past your censor is a portable skill that you can bring with you every time you move into creativity.
The creativity myth
I think people are afraid of being “too big for their britches”. We have a spirituality-creativity myth that is sort of punitive–it’s a nice day in paradise, Eve reaches for the apple, she hands it to Adam (who is a hopeless codependent). He takes a bite and the clouds spring open, and a mighty voice says, “You two won’t even get along anymore. You’ll bear your children in pain and suffering.” From this story, we learn that if we try to reach for something that seems a little beyond our reach, if we try to expand ourselves, we are in danger of being punished.
But what if we had a different creativity myth? What if, when Eve reached for the apple, the voice from the clouds said, “Far out! I made that apple red for a reason!”
If we had a creativity myth that said we would be rewarded and supported for reaching, it would be a lot different. So what we try to do with the Artist’s Way tools is to learn to be in touch with a benevolent higher force.
Courage in creativity
The fruits of creative endeavor are many: a sense of well being, a sense of guidance, and the act of creativity in itself is a wonderful healing balm. There is no magic wand we can wave to become suddenly fearlessly creative, but the tools I teach, over time, create courage.
Three creative tools
There are three simple tools that, when used in conjunction, create a powerful spiritual awakening: morning pages, an artist date, which is a once-weekly solo expedition to do something that enchants or interests you, and walking. Morning pages are sending, artist dates are receiving. It’s like you’re building a radio kit. When you walk, you integrate the insights from the other two tools.
People actually struggle with the idea of artist dates. We have no problem with work–we’re in America! We have a work ethic! But we have a problem with play. Don’t confuse spirituality with seriousness. The tools I teach are playful and joyful.
Opening yourself to wonder
When we do morning pages, we’re ventilating to the universe. We’re saying, “This is what I like, this is what I don’t like. This is what I want more of, this is what I want less of.” We learn to tap into our true feelings and become more authentic.
As you write, you are setting yourself up for wonder. I recommend picking up a pen and starting with morning pages, no matter where you are in your current growth.
Julia Cameron has been an active artist for over four decades. She is the author of more than forty books, including such bestselling works on the creative process as The Artist’s Way, Walking in This World and Finding Water. Also a novelist, playwright, songwriter and poet, she has multiple credits in theater, film and television. 2017 marked the 25th anniversary of The Artist’s Way, with over five million copies sold.
Join Julia at the Art of Living Retreat Center from November 9th-11th, 2018, for her retreat, The Artist’s Way: Blasting Through Blocks.
Interested in learning more about Ayurveda and the programs at the Art of Living Retreat Center? Check out our annual catalog here!
The Importance of Arts Education
It’s no secret that learning and experiencing the Arts benefits us in a profound way. Indeed, 93% of parents consider Arts Education to be a vital ingredient in the healthy development of their children. It’s easy to see why with this visual guide by WeTheParents.org.
So why then are the Arts being squeezed out of our education system?
The reason is that schools are under intense pressure to focus their dwindling resources on “academic” subjects. Sadly, this means that Arts Education is being positioned on the chopping block.
In a bid to save the Arts, educators are attempting to show that learning arts enhance academic outcomes. While this is great (and, indeed, there is some evidence to show that they do), it is an approach that misses the point. The purpose of Arts Education isn’t simply to boost academic results. No. Being immersed in arts has a myriad of positive benefits that reach far beyond maths and English.
It’s essential to reframe the debate about arts in schools by arguing for the many “non-academic” benefits that the arts bestow upon children and young people.
Kids immersed in arts get to experience the world, and themselves, in a different way; one that cultivates cognitive abilities, nurtures positive character traits, and fosters critical thinking. It also has a huge positive impact on their happiness and wellbeing. Put simply, children who take part in Arts Education are more likely to grow into well-rounded, culturally open, thoughtful, and confident adults.
Scientific studies struggle to capture these subtle yet powerful effects. This lack of hard empirical evidence shouldn’t be a reason to drop the arts from schools. It does mean, though, that everybody who has experienced the positive and transformative impact of the arts needs to speak up and make their voice heard. This way, together, we can strengthen the case for arts in education.
Let’s be bold telling our stories. Let’s shout about the way arts have changed our lives for the better. It’s vital that we pass this gift on to the new generation of children. After all, we need art in the world as much as them.
Neve Spicer is a mom and blogger looking for simplicity, meaning, and humor in parenting. Together with her partner, Keane, she runs wetheparents.org. Neve and Keane are ex-teachers and project managers who get obssessed with researching and writing precisely. They love to get nerdy, testing and reviewing the gear that moms and dads (apparently) need.
Read more on the importance of arts education at wetheparents.org.
Interested in learning more about Ayurveda and the programs at the Art of Living Retreat Center? Check out our annual catalog here!
In House: Eric Maisel on Criticism & Creativity in Writing
Eric Maisel is a Creativity Coach and author who’s been working with writers for 30 years. This summer, he hosted the Deep Writing Workshop at the Art of Living Retreat Center, where writers of all experience levels relearned how to prioritize and develop their creativity in a supportive, quiet space.
A different kind of writing group
The Deep Writing Retreat is very simple in structure. Eric provides a series of lessons, as well as a safe space — there’s no critiquing or sharing of the writing that is created.
“A lot of people come for that reason alone,” Eric says. “They know they’re not going to have their writing shredded by somebody else on the spot. There’s also plenty of time to write, and not on writing exercises that go nowhere, but on their own projects. Many attendees have a project that they’re working on. This is an opportunity to get a lot of writing done in a safe environment, and also learn lessons that they can take back and continue to implement when they’re back home.”
About 15 years ago, Eric was invited to teach a writer’s workshop, and his group shared the space with another writer’s course. He noticed how much critiquing and unhappiness was happening in the other group; tears and feuds and everything he knew he didn’t want in a writing workshop. Observing that group, Eric saw how the idea of sharing and critiquing in the moment doesn’t really support one’s intention to have a good experience and get a lot of writing done.
According to Eric, many writers don’t understand the extent to which anxiety and existential despair gets in the way of writing, especially when they feel blocked. He crafted his workshops with this in mind, and has been leading groups with compassion, respect, and space for over 15 years.
What is deep writing?
Deep writing is simply getting quiet enough to write. “If we get quiet enough, we go deep from a physiological standpoint, and we get our whole brain back,” Eric says. Our minds are always on the go, and not just figuratively. Each thought takes up thousands of neurons, and when you’ve got a lot of your mind, it’s very difficult to find the brain space in which to be creative.
“One of the main things I help writers understand is why they want to get quiet. This is different from meditating, but not unrelated. This is quiet for the sake of generating ideas; it’s quiet with the purpose of allowing something to bubble up. When you get quiet, you have that experience of silence in which ideas are born, and that’s the depth of the workshop.”
Deepening your writing practice often has the effect of deepening your life as well. If you’re a writer, and you’re not making time for your writing, it’s easy to become disappointed in yourself and with life in general. Joining a workshop, especially one in which you can give your writing a depth of attention that’s almost impossible in the business of day to day life, helps you do the wonderful, existential work of living your life’s purpose.
Letting your voice ring out
Most people have a voice, or wish they had a voice with which to express themselves. Most of blockage, according to Eric, is self-censorship. Speaking your truth is difficult, whether you’re a writer, an activist, a teacher, or even just initiating a difficult conversation. This is all the same process. The process by which we can let our voice ring out involves getting quiet, being courageous, preparing ourselves, and then actually speaking.
“A lot of the workshop is about eliminating excuses that people have. I think many find it to be a profound experience, a life-changing experience. I very often get mail from a person long after they’ve taken the workshop, telling me their book is finished or that it’s been published, and that it was the workshop that made the difference.”
Are your thoughts serving you?
Eric also tells us that we need to think the thoughts that will serve us. The biggest creative blocker is the way we talk to ourselves. If we say “I’m not talented”, or “there’s too much competition,” or even things like “I’m too tired to write, I’m too busy”, we won’t get our creative purpose off the ground, or our other purposes as well. The most important element is the cognitive work of making sure that you think thoughts that serve you.
Interested in learning more about Ayurveda and the programs at the Art of Living Retreat Center? Check out our annual catalog here!
Art of Living Journeys: Lillian’s Creative Spirit
Lillian Bijoux, an artist and singer-songwriter, describes her experience with the Art of Living Happiness Program as something that moves and and inspires her creative spirit.
Lillian remembers feeling free and open as a child, unrestricted by her mother’s admonishments to “be like everyone else.” However, with the death of her father, she buried her free and loving spirit, leaving her severely depressed as a single mom of four. Bijoux first opened her heart again with a dear friend’s support, which was a turning point that began her journey towards returning to her naturally passionate, spirited self. Here’s a bit of her account of her experiences with the SKY meditation offered by Art of Living and IAHV:
A Newfound Sense of Happiness
Oh, it’s given me so much happiness. It’s washed away all my sorrow and grief and pain. And even my doubts, over time; it’s taken time because I do it every day; it’s an incremental process.
I do my Kriya practice everyday. I do it when I feel anxious or angry or whatever. An unpleasant emotion and it washes it away. I am transformed into newness, aliveness and innocence, I guess you’d say, again. I am constantly in awe of the whole process and so thankful, full of gratitude that it’s happening. I feel like I am reaching my potential in life and that I’ll find my purpose in life through this practice.
A Clearer, More Creative Mind
The first week I was doing the Sudarshan Kriya, I had 13 new original songs that came spontaneously, the words and music at the same time. And I‘m a painter, and it’s like the spirit calls me to get up in the middle of the night, so I get up and paint. And the writing; you know, God sits on my shoulder when I’m writing.
An Accepting Attitude
I like to have new experiences now. I’m just open to whatever happens. And pain doesn’t bother me anymore. Physical pain or emotional pain doesn’t bother me like it used to. I am able to cast it aside, let it wash through me, and then it’s gone. And then I’m new again.
A Contagious Passion for the Practice
I want this for my family and for my dear friends. I’ve tried to convince them but now I’ve decided to be an example, like look at me, look what’s happened to me; how I am new; I’m different and I am thankful to be alive.
I am so in admiration of Sri Sri because he has dedicated his life to healing the world and the other people’s hearts. I think everyone is capable of doing this and radiating love out to others because if you love yourself then you can love others.
If you’re interested in learning the practical applications of breathing, meditation and yoga exercises, register for the Happiness Program, which runs every weekend at the Boone Art of Living Center.
Interested in learning more about Ayurveda and the programs at the Art of Living Retreat Center? Check out our annual catalog here!
Walking the Path: 10 Reasons Why Spirituality Matters
The word “spirituality” means different things for different people. For some, spirituality is associated with religion and is tied to concrete rites and rituals. For others, meaningful activities like swimming, making art, and walking through the woods brings on a spiritual experience. For the most part, though, the word spirituality has become as ambiguous and vague as the word “the,” and is often stigmatized by associations to “hippy-dippy” new-age philosophies, patchouli, dreadlocks, and yoga pants.
Spirituality seems to have become confused with religion, as it is common to now associate as “spiritual” or “not spiritual”. However, at its core, spirituality is a sense of connection to something bigger than ourselves, and is not an ideology to believe or not believe in. Spirituality is, in fact, what gives life a sense of meaning and purpose.
In House: JAC Patrissi on Storytelling for Change
Stories help us connect. They move people to action, get them invested, and create meaningful relationships between ideas and people. JAC Patrissi has dedicated her life to the art of storytelling, and has seen the power that stories have to affect change first-hand. This spring, she will bring her unique and heartfelt approach to storytelling to the Art of Living Retreat Center. Here, JAC touches on what she’ll be sharing this upcoming May.
No one tells the whole story. Whether we are in an interview for a job or making a toast at a wedding, we all edit; we adapt to the goal at hand, choosing which parts to focus on, which parts to leave out. If our whole life is a tree, the story we tell is a bonsai, carefully pruned and shaped. It is impossible, and not even respectful, to tell everything we know about a thing (though, goodness knows, some of us try).
Storytelling for Change is a creative workshop aimed at strengthening your ability to tell the story of the work you do in a way that is brief, natural, and compelling. An idea that is not shared is lost. Your unique insights, the lessons of your life and work, the things that inspire you, are meant to be shared in a way that speaks to others. You can learn to tell moving, funny and essential stories without reading from a script. You can give the toast that comes from the heart and you can move new supporters to join the social causes that give your life its direction.
In this workshop, we will explore how audience, character, conflict, and calls to action impact our message and shape the story we choose to tell. We will clarify our own understanding of the kind of change we seek through the work we do and the message we wish to impart. You will learn simple ways to use your voice and body to convey your message naturally.
During our three days, we’ll tell our stories to one another in small learning groups in a supportive, safe environment. We will employ a method to giving and receiving feedback that is supported by research on how we learn. Most importantly, you will feel seen and understood as you are coached by others who want you to do well. We will learn tell stories more easily to help people “get” us. Finally, you will leave with two stories ready to tell and the skills to tell many more. This retreat is open to all levels of expertise, all gender expressions, and is appropriate for people in all physical conditions. Please contact us using the form here if you have any special requirements.
Come tell us your story
Join JAC Patrissi for a three-day retreat, June 2–4, 2017, in an idyllic setting in the Blue Ridge Mountains for a relaxing, rewarding, all-inclusive learning experience. You’ll leave rejuvenated and prepared to share your story with the world. Learn more here!
Interested in learning more about programs at the Art of Living Retreat Center? Check out our annual catalog here.
In House: Heather Allen Hietala on Creativity – Part 2
Heather Allen Hietala has been creating, teaching, and playing for 25 years. This summer, she’ll join us at the Art of Living Retreat Center to host The Art of Letting Go: Awaken Your Creative Spirit, a workshop dedicated to reconnecting with and freeing your creativity. Read Part 1 here.
The Importance of Play
This course is about being present, and using our hands to be mindful. We are all multifaceted beings. We live busy and often fractured lives. Our creative inner worlds are vast and often ignored, or may seem inaccessible, even to ourselves. It can be a new experience to tap into our innate creative source. Exploring a new territory can be daunting. We are all born creative, but over time it can get buried. I create a nurturing space that supports each student as they play around and explore the clay, and through this playing, get in touch with their creativity. They clay allows for expressive freedom – there are no rules, just fun to be had as we play around with it.
Journaling as an Anchor
At the beginning of the course, we create a journal. This journal serves as a safe place to explore and record our experiences. I provide stimulating exercises to nurture and support our need for reasoning and logic. These activities provide an emotional anchor that allows my students to express themselves more fully in the clay and visual exercises.
Just as when we open any book, and it takes us right back to where we were in the story, my student’s journals serve as a personal reference and record of their own creative journey. Their journal allows them to take the experience of the week home with them, and continue to nurture and explore their creativity.
Join Heather at The Art of Letting Go: Awaken Your Creative Spirit from June 20 – June 25 at the Art of Living Retreat Center, or click here to learn more about our retreats.
Interested in learning more about the programs at the Art of Living Retreat Center? Check out our annual catalog here!
