Posts Tagged ‘creativity’

The Duke University Dance Program presents: Across the Threshold: Creativity, Being and Healing, an interdisciplinary conference exploring diverse paths, with the goal leading to personal, social, and environmental transformation. The Conference will be held at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina on February 28 – March 3, 2013

The 2013 International Conference brings together artists, scientists, spiritual activists, healers and academicians interested in a holistic approach to create more awareness contextualizing ourselves vis-à-vis the environment we live in and to generate an empowered response to the global environmental destruction we currently face.

The vision of the conference is stated as: “Acknowledging the complex interrelationship of mind, body, and spirit is a step towards empowered and enlightened healing of ourselves, our relationships, and our environment. We are physical, mental, social, emotional, and spiritual beings, and the interplay between all these parts of ourselves affects our quality of life moment-to-moment — our ability to synthesize ideas and knowledge; to develop our intuition; to imagine and create; to heal.”

Highlights of the Conference include acclaimed photographic artist and cultural/environmental activist Chris Jordan as the keynote speaker for the 2013 conference.  Chris is internationally-known for his work that “explores contemporary mass culture from a variety of photographic and conceptual perspectives, connecting the viewer viscerally to the enormity and power of humanity’s collective will. Edge-walking the lines between art and activism, beauty and horror, abstraction and representation, the near and the far, the visible and the invisible, his work asks us to consider our own multi-layered roles in becoming more conscious stewards of our complex and embattled world.”  Jordan’s works, which include solo and group exhibits, several books, and an upcoming documentary film, are exhibited and published worldwide.

A pre-conference workshop, Healing Through Creative Action: Authenticity is the Key, will be held on Thursday, February 28th taught by key presenter and community-based artist Lilly Yeh.  A successful painter and professor, Lily’s life was altered when she witnessed the tragic events of Tiananmen Square in 1989. Through the 1980s, Lily was gradually realizing that being an artist “is not just about making art…It is about delivering the vision one is given…and about doing the right thing without sparing oneself.”   Since the 80’s, Lily has devoted herself to transformation through art and community-building.  Through The Village of Arts and Humanities, a community-based art organization that Lily co-founded in 1989 in Philadelphia, Lily, neighborhood residents, and staff have transformed more than 120 abandoned lots into gardens and parks. They also have renovated abandoned homes, and created educational programs, art workshops, after-school programs, a youth theater, and joyful community celebrations. Today, the Village of Arts and Humanities serves thousands of low-income people every year.

Humanity is entering a new era. “In this new decade, we are moving into a new Age of Enlightenment. The Aquarian information from the gods can no longer be contained, the Divine Feminine is being released in all her glory and we will once again see a Renaissance period, where great art, architecture, philosophy, literature and science will develop and flourish. During this decade the greatest minds will stir, to share, to illuminate and to build and create works and ideas that will be marveled around the world.” — Kala Ambrose

It’s time to dream again, to open our minds to the creative source and allow our inner muse to stir to action.  Do you struggle with creativity, feeling as if you’ve run out of ideas or were you once told that you weren’t very creative?  Columnist Michael Michalko, author of Creative Thinkering: Putting your Imagination to Work, presents his view in a recent issue of Psychology Today.  He shares “Twelve Things You Were Not Taught in School about Creative Thinking.”  It’s difficult not to feel positively inspired after reading this article! Try it for yourself and see if you don’t feel the urge to stir up your creative juices and try something new!

Author Dr. Wayne Dyer once said, “We must not die with our music still inside of us.”  What I believe he meant by this was that each one of us has very unique and special gifts deep inside — natural skills and talents that we were given.  We know that many talents can be acquired and developed with elaborate training, but many others already exist, just waiting to be discovered and honed.  Whether it’s a flair for the arts and creativity, personal skills such as communication and leadership, or a knack for precision and accuracy, there is something special and unique about each of us.  Have you ever noticed how some children have a natural ability to balance and dance, or others who can sing in tune?  Years ago, I watched with amazement how a friend’s 4-year-old could handle an adult-sized basketball and kick a soccer ball with precision.

To this day, many of us have not yet discovered what unique things we can accomplish just by trying.  These gifts are buried too deeply and covered over by our hectic schedules and an inability to reach inside ourselves.  I met a grown woman one day who told me about a desire she had always felt to work with or care for animals.  She put in long hours in an office and constantly day-dreamed about starting an adoption agency for small pets.  I told her that her “calling” will remain a fantasy until she responds to it, and I encouraged her to find ways of exploring possibilities.  I met a man several years ago who had a gift for teaching scripture in his church and yet he worked in sales.  He eventually answered the “calling” by quitting his job and going to school to become a pastor, something he wished he had done many years earlier.

Some of our inability to live our dream or to love what comes naturally to us stems from the discouragement we experienced as children.  Our parents meant well, but often their words and actions hurt our morale and self-image, and caused us to give up.  When I was in junior high school, I discovered a passion for reading the works of Edgar Allan Poe and emulating him in my stories and tales.  But it seemed that when I showed my work to my parents and teachers, they were quite critical and continued to point out all the things I was doing wrong in my writing.  Eventually I became so discouraged that I gave up the love of writing and felt I couldn’t live up to their expectations.  I know now they all meant well with their comments and criticism.  They wanted to help me be the best writer possible, or use a style that they felt would be most effective.  But it backfired and caused me to give up.  It wasn’t until about 10 years ago that I dusted off that internal “calling” to write and began creating work that led me to this column and other works.

Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train a child in the way that he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.”  My interpretation of this passage is that we must not train our children the way we think they should go, but instead the way the greater power that created them intended for them to go.  Be sure that you aren’t trying to live your dreams through your child.  I received the following e-mail from a parent; “I’ve seen my daughter draw beautifully but she doesn’t seem to care to do it much.  Artistic ability runs in our family.  How do I encourage our daughter to keep at it so she’ll go far?”  Perhaps the parents of this child were putting too much pressure on her to excel at art because they wanted her to be great.  The comment about the family’s artistic ability may indicate the motivation for the pressure.

I challenge you to see your child as a gift with hidden secrets and treasures within — that only she and the greater powers that created the magic of life itself know her ultimate capabilities.  You have the rewarding opportunity to help her unlock these gifts through your encouragement and coaching as a parent.

Here are three important things you can do to help her discover what she loves and what she could achieve.

Allow Your Children to Explore. Create opportunities for them in all forms of art, creativity, and play.  If you see that they have an affinity for something specific, it’s fine to encourage them but avoid pressure; otherwise, they may develop an aversion to the activity.  Always ask your children their preferences, and help them experience what is most meaningful to them.

Allow Them to Dream Boldly. Based on their dreams and desires, allow them to ask for things without criticism. It’s important to avoid squelching or discouraging your children’s requests based on their creative aspirations. Buy an empty notebook or a colorful essay book so they can log their dreams and desires. You don’t always have to fulfill their requests. Set an example by joining them and sharing some of your dreams with them.

Use More Encouragement and Less Praise. Praise is too judgmental and applies labels to a child.  Encouragement empowers youngsters to listen to their hearts and determine what they think about themselves or what they created.  Ask plenty of open-ended questions and allow them to describe to you their opinions and thoughts about something they did or created.

If you’ve noticed some wonderful artistic ability in your child, cherish it and nourish it.  It’s desirable to encourage them to excel in that area, but be ready to let go if they choose not to pursue the interest.  Don’t try to clone yourself in your child, and certainly don’t attempt to fulfill your thwarted desires through them.  Be your child’s coach and guide, and you’ll help them find their own unique place in this world.  Doing so will help them live a full and happy life, and to hear that song inside them waiting to be sung.

More about Bill Corbett…
Bill Corbett is the author of the book Love, Limits, & Lessons® and the founder and president of Cooperative Kids.  The book is designed as a quick reference guide for adults in handling challenging behavior and is now available in a Spanish translation edition.  Bill has a degree in psychology from University of Phoenix, sits on the resource advisory board of Attachment Parenting International, and is the former creator and host of the radio talk show Parent Talk in Nashville, TN.  He created the Love, Limits, & Lessons® parent education course on discipline that is taught by instructors nationwide, and writes a syndicated column offering behavior advice that can be found in many parent magazines in Tennessee, Texas, Pennsylvania, and New England.  Bill has three adult children, two grandchildren, and lives with his wife Elizabeth near Hartford, CT.  Visit his website www.CooperativeKids.com for further information and parenting advice.

You’re probably familiar with a bunch of techniques for getting through moments when you’re feeling creatively empty.  Some suggest forcing yourself to write (or sculpt, or whatever activity you’re doing)—if you just get something on paper, some say, inspiration will strike.  Other common examples include free writing, listening to certain kinds of music and mind mapping.

If these techniques work for you, more power to you.  But if you’re still finding the creative process agonizing, I invite you to try another approach.  The novel exercise I’ll give you for dealing with writer’s block is this:  just sit there.

In other words, next time you run out of ideas, try breathing deeply, relaxing your body, and simply allowing that creative emptiness to be, exactly as it is.  Hold your attention on that blank sensation until it dissolves.

Welcoming Writer’s Block

What I suspect you’ll find is that the emptiness will fade within a few minutes once you choose to let it be.  And when that blankness is gone, in its place you may discover some of the best ideas you’ve had all day, all week or even all month.  I think you’ll be surprised at the results.

The power of this approach lies in its willingness to treat writer’s block as a friend rather than an enemy.  Like meditation practice, this method has us let go of the judgments we usually make about our experience—”this tightness in my shoulder is bad,” “the vacation plans arising in my mind are good,” and so on.  When we drop our resistance to what we’re experiencing, our suffering falls away.

Creative blankness is like any other thought or sensation—as long as we don’t grasp onto it or resist it, it disappears quickly.  As Buddhist monk Martine Batchelor writes in Meditation for Life, “if you just let your thoughts come and go, and do not stick to them or magnify them, they will soon disappear of their own accord.”

Beyond “Fighting or Fleeing”

Of course, this isn’t the way we usually relate to writer’s block.  Most of us, I think, treat creative emptiness like any other experience we’d rather not have—we either fight it or flee from it.  That is, we either shame ourselves for being uncreative and try to force ourselves to come up with something, or we turn our attention to something else, hoping we’ll get inspired later.

At a deeper level, I think, this is because blankness can be a scary experience to confront—particularly in our culture, where we’re usually surrounded by noise and we spend little time in silence.  We’d rather do practically anything than stare down the abyss of an empty mind.

Unfortunately, as I’ll bet you know firsthand, the normal approach often falls short.  If we try forcing ourselves to produce, we usually just get frustrated, or we end up churning out mediocre work that we scrap in the end.  And we won’t create anything, of course, if we take our attention off our work.

We might think of writer’s block as a test of our faith in our intelligence and creativity.  If we resist the emptiness, like anything, it persists.  But if we trust that we have the resources to excel at whatever we’re doing, and that the emptiness is a chance for us to show our trust, the inspiration we want will arrive.  As psychologist Nancy Napier writes in Recreating Your Self, imagination operates best when we “think of the blankness as a creative void, a place where your unconscious takes its own time to give you whatever awareness it wants you to have.”

More about Chris Edgar….
Christopher R. Edgar is an author, speaker and personal coach who specializes in helping professionals transition to careers aligned with their callings, and find more satisfaction and productivity in what they do.  Chris’s new book, Inner Productivity: A Mindful Path to Efficiency and Enjoyment in Your Work, uses insights from mindfulness practice and psychology to help readers develop focus and motivation in their work.  You can find out more about the book and Chris’s work at www.innerproductivity.com

Spring Equinox is a three-day cycle of celebration, where we take the wisdom gained from the Fall Equinox (focus period of self-introspection and reflection) and turn this knowledge into creative action. The process of understanding the meaning of our past experiences allows what we’ve learned to regenerate into wisdom, which is reborn within us and enhances who we are. By doing this, we honor the people and experiences who impacted us on our path, and in honoring these things, we make them sacred and of great personal value.

We can not fully understand what we have not experienced. Thus, the journey of life is one of answering the questions, Who Am I and Why Am I Here.  Through the action of applied knowledge and experience, we develop the inner wisdom to answer such questions.

What is most important to reflect upon during this time is that in life, events happen, choices are made, and actions are generated. We cannot change that which has passed, but we can be renewed through the wisdom of these experiences. Life can present us with great tragedy and joy.  During these times, we can bloom with wisdom and insight, which lead us to find new directions, explore new lessons learned and regenerate into further growth.

On Spring Equinox, these carefully planted seeds from the Fall, can now bloom into new life for each us, and we can begin again.

It is with this knowledge, that we can change our future. This is created by refocusing our attention on what we truly want to manifest and then actively creating the right atmosphere and attitude to bring it to fruition. Spring reminds us of our ability to be reborn and this is one example of  the greatest gifts we were given here on earth, which is the energy in nature.

We can connect with nature to assist with our growth and development. Ancient schools taught how to observe the powerful events occuring in nature to connect with the energy here on earth (below) with the energy from the higher planes (above). This act brings forth the balance and growth of the As Above So Below teachings.  A series of rituals were created to assist students in connecting with each powerful and sacred festival of the year.  Some of these rituals have been adjusted for modern life, such as in ancient times, there were pools where students went to purify in the water each evening, rather than showering as we do today.  The Equinox consists of two parts, the outward celebration and the inner rebirth.

Presented here are activities you can do on each of three days of the Equinox, to release the energy within you as well as connect with the energy of the Equinox….

The Eve of the Equinox:

Reflect upon the seeds (thoughts and goals) you planted during the Fall Equinox and New Year. Consider the lessons and experiences of the past six months and decide what is hindering progress with your goals.

Ask yourself — What important seeds of truth need to be revealed this spring, in order for me to truly know myself and step into my power-ful being?

It’s time to awaken from your period of hibernation, inactivity and self-introspection and put these thoughts and plans into action!

To awaken your higher self and activate your growth cycle, begin the Equinox ritual by taking a shower. As the water flows over your body, imagine all negative energy being removed and washed away from you. As you dry off, visualize white light around your body and say out loud, All That Happens, Happens for Good – Divine Energy is working through me now!

Day One of the Equinox:

It’s time for Spring Cleaning. Clean your house and remove clutter. As you clean each room and the items in it, do so with reverence and appreciation for the abundance in your life. Cover your home in loving energy as you clean, picturing you and your loved ones in each room, feeling happy, content, joyful and relaxed. By this evening, you are ready to smudge each room with white sage to purify and cleanse each room. End the day with the shower and ritual from the equinox eve.

Day Two of the Equinox:

This day is what people refer to as “Equinox Day”, It is the day to Celebrate Rebirth, Renewal and Abundance. It is a time to toast to plans of action and growth, ie, “a garden in bloom”!  Celebrate with rituals including creating and sharing Equinox baskets with loved ones and friends.  The day culminates with dinner to celebrate renewal, rebirth and the magic of the seasons and life and all the wonder it brings, along with sharing  dreams being brought into fruition this year.  This is a powerful day to put plans into action.

In ancient times, this was celebrated with an outward and inward celebration:

Exoterically – people celebrated with  egg hunts, (a symbol of the earth and rebirth), by giving and decorating with bunnies, (a universal symbol of fertility for both body – act of creation with birth and mind – turning thoughts into fruition) and by giving baskets, (a symbol of abundance).  A special dinner with family and friends is also common to celebrate the return of Spring and renewal.

Esoterically -  people act on the seeds (goals) that they planted during the Fall Equinox. Now is the time and opportunity to step forward and create oneself anew with the tools of Gratitude, Abundance and Creativity.

Day Three of the Equinox:

May is around the corner, which brings the celebration of the Divine Feminine. This is the time to emerge from Introspection and Self Observation, into Spring Renewal and Focus on Action, Creation and Celebration. The Equinox is a time to focus on a balance of exoteric and esoteric, and introverted and extroverted events.

Suggestions to activate your creative side and bring new perspective and balance include:

Planting flowers in the garden, taking on a new creative project (preferably something new you have not done before), decorating your home; saying thank you to the Universe for the Abundance of OPPORTUNITY in your life, accepting new challenges in order to grow and step closer to your goals, embracing the future; and spending time with people in your life who will encourage you with your dreams and aspirations.

The Spring Equinox is a great time to jump start your goals. Now is the time of Action! It has never made sense with the Julian calendar, that one would create new year resolutions in the dead of winter on January 1st.  Your dreams were planted as seeds of thought in the Fall and now is time to tend to your garden and bring forth beautiful blooms of creativity.

Decide Now what actions you will take immediately and where you wish to be and proceed from there.

Wishing You Great  Love, Abundance and Creativity,
~Kala~

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More about Kala Ambrose….

Kala Ambrose is a noted author, intuitive, inspirational speaker and talk show host. Her thought-provoking interviews on The Explore Your Spirit with Kala Show www.ExploreYourSpirit.com are enticing listeners to tune in around the globe! Described by her guests and listeners as discerning, empowering and inspiring, she entertains listeners around the world as she speaks with World Renowned Authors, Artists, Teachers and Researchers delving into Metaphysical, Spiritual and Paranormal Topics as well as New Discoveries in the Scientific and Spiritual Arenas.

When not on the air with the show, Kala shares teachings from the ancient temples of Egypt. Her book, 9 Life Altering Lessons: Secrets of the Mystery Schools Unveiled delves into the mysteries of ancient Egypt and Greece and explains the Mystery Schools and their wisdom teachings.

Kala lectures on Esoteric Teachings, Ancient Myths, Developing Business Intuition, working with Auras, Chakras and Energy Fields, Dream Interpretations, and Wise Woman Wisdom (also known as the Divine Feminine). Kala’s Guided Meditations CD’s have just been released with Spirit of Hawaii, Egyptian Mystery Temple and Tibetan Mountain Journey. She is currently working on her next book. Kala is available for radio, television and print interviews, as well as a lecturer for conferences and events.