Some Fringe Benefits of Creativity and more...

"We have art in order not to die of the truth."  
~ Nietzsche

A friend of mine asked me why I make so much art. Or maybe he asked how I make so much art. The answer to both questions is the same. I make art so I don’t die of reality. (A rather dramatic answer, but if “all the world’s a stage,” I am on theme).  

This isn’t the first time in history we’ve have been hit by hard times, but it’s the first time horrific news, often reported unreliably, is in our face as much as it is. And in my lifetime, our country has never been so divided and hostile.

Art in all its forms is where we find refuge and retreat so we can regenerate. Whether we make it or get lost in it, it’s a way of finding order in chaos.

"Art is not escape,  but a way of finding order in chaos …
a way of confronting life." -Robert Hayden

 Like I said.

Art and writing remove life's harshness and replace it with resilience. 

When reality is fodder for art and writing, it doesn’t hurl me into despair as much, although my purse strap still frequently catches the doorknob and yanks me backward as if to say, “Not so fast little missy, your day is going a little too smoothly.”

I wouldn’t literally “die” if I didn’t make art but I’d be a lot less polite. Reality is a source of wondrous, delicious, funny things, other times it sucks.

To escape its severity, we binge on Netflix and French fries, play computer games, over-schedule, fall into the underworlds of social media’s dopamine high and incessantly wipe down the kitchen counter. Those escapes have their place, some offer benefits, but in excess they become hollow rewards.

Creative expression is not always easy. But when you continue painting despite the portrait you’re painting looking more like a turtle than a human, writing even when you think it’s been said better before, or understand that it takes longer than two weeks to play the guitar, you’ll find the skills that you used to persevere spill over into believing in yourself, being more tolerant, and saying “yes” to other things that expand your existence.

Creativity requires, patience, perseverance, resilience, resourcefulness, humor, courage, and an evolving relationship with ourselves in order to triumph over the usual ambiguities, doubts, and failed attempts. So does life. Mastering one assists in making the other easier.  Plus, what could be more fun than losing ourselves in creativity?

 What's one 30 second step you can take to find a little refuge in creativity and expand your existence on the pleasant side reality?

Life shrinks or expands in proportion to courage.
~Anais Nin

Like I said.

Best wishes,

Jill

Here's some ways to bring more creativity into your reality.

Creative Thought Cards

A deck of illustrated creative thoughts to
program your intentions in the creative direction.
A little bit of humor, art, and a tip from 
Kaizen-Muse Creativity Coaching.
Buy them here

 The Nine Modern Day Muse Facilitator Course
Tuesdays at 11 am pacific/ 2pm eastern June 11- August 27, 2024

Learn to facilitate creativity groups, guided by 10 profound creative principles in the guise of nine Muse and a Bodyguard. Experience the playfulness possible in taking creativity to a new level for an additional stream of joy and income. With Terry Way and Rozy Walker.

More here

 Kaizen-Muse Creativity Coaching Training:  

 June 13- October 3, 2024

 Watch for another Wild Abandon Art Class on Zoom through the Athenaeum: June 5-26 Link coming

Dear, Subconscious Mind.

I know you’re listening and believing everything I’m incessantly repeating, so in the interest of getting to my writing and art without the usual ruthless self-judgment, fear, and additional flotsam and jetsam I say over and over, listen closely.  

 It’s normal for us to engage in an inner conversation inspired by fear responses installed in our psyches centuries ago. They’re still useful to alert us to oncoming Mack trucks, scammers, and edges of cliffs but they can wreak havoc with our creative process. 

But depending on the thoughts we choose, creativity will either be met with resistance, pressure, and judgment or curiosity, enjoyment, and perseverance. We need reminders of the thoughts that work best.

Instead of trying to change the negative or high pressure self-messages (which doesn’t work anyway), I made a deck of cards with the thoughts that best result in creative action, illustrated with some of my wobbly watercolor art, and including a wise-crack or two because … just because. That way I can pick cards frequently, make creative thinking more of a habit, and get a laugh in the process.

Signed,
The human you were assigned to

You can use them too. They are Creativity Thought cards.

 

Teaching creativity coaching for twenty years and getting through my own procrastination, resistance, overwhelm, perfectionism, and  ruthless self-criticism, helped me understand what it is we can say to ourselves to neutralize or sneak around the negativity bias. It’s how I got done a myriad of creative projects in the midst of what sometimes felt like self-sabotage.

The cards are for anyone who:

• loves creativity

• wants to take their creativity to another level

• is an affirmation card collector and wants to add funny, creative ones

• needs a little tweaking around the thoughts they have about creativity

• likes to build houses out of cards (not the metaphor)

 

Included with a card deck purchase is a Zoom Creativity workshop on May 8 that elaborates on some of the cards, includes some funny storytelling about the creative process, and provides some easy creative prompts you can play with in real time, or just be privy to. Recording will be available.

 You can buy them here OR  they are included in the  June-October 2024 Kaizen-Muse Creativity Coaching Training

(Also included in the coaching training) is the latest edition of The Nine Modern Day Muses and a Bodyguard by yours truly and One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way by Robert Maurer

Buy them for the creative person in your vicinity… Mother’s Day and Graduation are coming up…

I wish for you the joy and semi-sanity I’ve found from creativity.

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• For Friction Reasons
• Melted Crayons and Fresh Water Pearls
• My Shamrock is Mint Flavored

I started the A Muse’s Daydream podcast during the pandemic for sanity reasons. I’m a rather stoic individual so I try to focus on what I can control and let go of the rest.  Writing funny, mindfulness stories, recording, and engineering the episodes was what I could do from my quarantined pillow-fort to keep me from eating entire pizzas.   I had no idea I’d be doing it for three and a half years.

As part of the continued celebration of 20 years teaching Kaizen-Muse Creativity Coaching, I just finished the Creative Thought card deck. I illustrated it, added some quirkiness, but most importantly provided some helpful tips from what I teach to keep our creativity going deeper. I made many cards, but I limited the deck to 50. (Card decks available for purchase soon, subscribe for updates).

Doing the Creative Thought cards freed me from a little prison called Resistance. After I took a break from the podcast, I was a little lost as to what was next perhaps from the trauma of the pandemic. I have three books wanting to be written but I wasn’t excited enough about them to foil the block.

One of the hallmarks of KMCC is low pressure and small steps, which ironically get people further than high pressure that comes from insisting on an amount of time, words, and/or desired productivity. Our creative processes work best and are most enjoyable when they are irresistible, intuitive, and intrinsic, not based on extrinsic motivation or high pressure goals that work for someone who’s been doing it for years.

 I keep hearing advice to work EVERY DAY, even if it’s just TWENTY MINUTES, and make sure you do a CERTAIN AMOUNT of work. That’s pressure, that creates resistance. If you miss a day, you have a feeling of failure. Twenty minutes is too long for the resistant. If you do fifteen five days a week, you’ve failed. Margaret Atwood admits that she tells people to work every day… but she doesn’t. Oppression works for a very small part of the population.

I break out of my resistance by asking myself to do 30 seconds of anything creative that energizes me before I resort to social media rabbit holes and dopamine addictions. THIRTY SECONDS…  I do it dailyish because I’m human.

But how did I get three books, 70 podcast episodes, fifteen years of articles, a play, six art shows, twenty retreats, and a coaching curriculum completed with 30 seconds at a time? After 30 seconds there is a momentum that is automatic, it’s irresistible, and run by intuition. The child inside me is engaged and can’t be stopped because its having fun not following an oppressive protocol. The “shoulds” are no longer necessary. I keep coming back. I want soul-inspired fun.

It's a better brand of dopamine.

Another Kaizen-Muse Creativity Coaching Training is scheduled June 13-October 11, 2024. Now taking applications. More here

Check out a little Wild Abandon Art here: Blind Memory art demo of a teapot

I’m sitting in a little outdoor café (not really, but let’s pretend), sipping a cappuccino and painting a swatch of blue that, with a little intentional wildness, becomes the Ligurian sea. It’s an abstract version of the sea because that’s the way my paint brush rolls.  Perfectly steamed milk foam hangs out on my lips, and I don’t care.

Once the sea is dry, I paint in a guy with an Italian flag waving on the end of the boat he's rowing and I say, “Voila,” even though I’m on the Italian Riviera and not the French one.  I’m under the influence of Wild Abandon so borders, rules, and cannoli don’t limit my autonomy.

As I let the rowboat guy dry, my fellow travelers and I free associate words, and then let them effortlessly form poems, funny prose, or something that surprises us because it borders on the profound.  Or maybe it seems that way because the sea air is dizzying us to the enchantment of heightened inspiration.

The  bright colors of the hillside homes, coordinate with matching laundry hanging window to window like flags of life being lived simply.

Adding creative explorations to a walking tour in Italy is like topping tiramisu with whipped cream served with an authentic cappuccino.   Writing, sketching, and painting heighten an experience which is often treated like fast food when it should be a long lingering delicious banquet of beauty. They slow us down and connect us to a memory as its being made.

The Italian Riviera is more deserving of attention than the click of smartphone camera most travelers give it, eager to impress friends on social media. Impress yourself by making a trip to a beautiful land like a story inside a painting, savored by the eyes, ears and of course, the taste buds of an artist and the mind of a writer. (even if you don’t yet think you are one).

Italian Riviera…Rapallo, Portofino, Cinque Terre, Camogli and Chiavari: High on creativity and the occasional gelato.   October 14-20, 2024 
Creating some memories in the best possible way.

 Wild Abandon Cappuccino,

Jill