Home again

Home again, thank the universe! I will spend today recovering from the trip, catching up with writing and home tasks, and reconnecting to normalcy.

Agenda Today:

1. Read "The Creativity Book"
2. Write a letter about What I Want and What I Will Do to Get it
3. Creative visualization

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1. Read "the Creativity Book":  

A few years ago I started but didn't finish this book by Eric Maisel (one of my favorite writers). The subtitle is "A Year's Worth of Inspiration and Guidance." Who doesn't want that?
I'm on part 8, Be Ambitious, and last week I read Week 29: Want Everything. He talks about the "desire to make our mark, to do great work, and to create like a god..." and asks that my focus this month be to dream big, let my ambitions out of the bag, and to want it even in the face of long odds. He says it's in our nature to want what we want: to use our brains, discover new things, live authentically, and create something.

He challenges me to be precise - to want everything true, beautiful, and good. And then plan how to get it. He suggests that I write a letter to myself.

2. Write a letter about What I Want and What I Will Do to Get it:

Dear self, Fall is a great time to reevaluate my creative goals. I want three basic things this fall:

I want to make things with my hands to give away - useful things, things that inspire and teach, gifts and craftivism.This will be my late week focus, Thursday and Friday, and I will plan and prepare on Thursday morning. 

 

I want to make artworks with a message - things that explore and support my Nature-Culture writing. This will be my weekend focus, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, with at least two hours in the studio, and I'll envision, explore, write, and set out supplies on Saturday morning.

 

And I want to make things with my grandsons - fun things, exploring basic skills, seasonal materials, and folk crafts. This will be my mid-week focus, Tuesday and Wednesday, and I will do all the prep on Monday, gathering all the supplies and making samples.

 

3. Creative Visualization:\

Every month, at the waxing gibbous moon (my last push for action), I call on the practice of visualization to help me to see the next steps towards bringing my goals to fruition.

Today I shine a light on all my art projects, and picture what it will look like and feel like when they are finished.

Creative visualization is a technique that uses my imagination to create change. (Because of my visual and auditory sensitivity, this is the best process for knowing what I'm feeling.) It has these steps:

• First, set an intention: Say, "Today I call on the Spirit of Love to bring me clarity and open my eyes to a vision of my art projects finished and delivered." 

• Center and relax each part of my body: With each breath, allow my awareness to deepen and become softer. No stress. No rush. I walk or float in an imaginary void. Open a connection to Spirit. Feel a soft warmth begin to grow and spread through me, until I am radiating quiet energy.

• Create a clear, detailed picture in my mind, as though the objective has been reached. Paint a vivid mental image of a straw doll or my alter and one in each of my grandsons hands; a butterfly tag kit, with Friends making and taking; a clean water collage / painting with my thoughts and fortunes attached; and put as much positive energy into the images as possible. 

• Lastly, affirm that this is what I want with a short positive phrase in the present tense: "Today I will take the next steps towards manifesting the the art I want to make"

• Give thanks and return: Saying thanks out loud is how I acknowledge the reality of the gift of my vision.

The thought-image is like a signal-flare that guides the physical thing or deed to manifest in my life (and it's a good way to keep my intentions in my mind). I will carry the vision of the completed goal with me, and focus on it often during the day, in a gentle manner.