Increase Your Creativity

Your Romantic Job

Susan — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 22:56:49 +0000

Your Romantic Job is a post from: Increase Your Creativity

When we were younger our romantic job was to draw people in, form a unit, protect it. Now that we are older our romantic job is to make room for those we love to be who they are where ever they may be.

This popped out of Navé the other day and a lot of people seemed to like it. Hope you do too.

Nurturing Creativity with Elizabeth Gilbert

Susan — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 17:51:45 +0000

Nurturing Creativity with Elizabeth Gilbert is a post from: Increase Your Creativity

This has to be one of my all time favorite TED talks. Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of Eat, Pray, Love talks about nurturing creativity and success. It’s well worth watching.

One of the things I found most interesting was that this best selling book was written after she took a year off. Hummmm…do you think there might be a connection? I think so. I am a firm believer in the power of down time. Taking time to rest and regroup allows our creative ideas to perk. I know for me it all comes out better when I have plenty of fritter and float time.

Enjoy!

Creative Writing Exercise #3 – You’re the detective

Susan — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:47:52 +0000

Creative Writing Exercise #3 – You’re the detective is a post from: Increase Your Creativity

Here’s another creative writing exercise from James Navé’s Writing…From the Imaginative Storm to the Creative Form.

Creative Writing Exercise – You’re the Detective

1. Like a detective at a crime scene, investigate your environment and list 25 things that strike you.

2. Use some or all the things on your list to build a piece of writing.

3. For example…

• The red door with the black cat sitting beside has a brass lock on it.

• Old brown steps lead to the dark basement where bicycles and kayaks hang from hooks.

• Cherry and oak logs burn in the wood stove.

• Ice overhangs on the gutters.

• A dozen small stuffed bears sit on an oak shelf.

Please share your experiences below.

Photo Credit: topfer

Perform Naked: You can do it with your clothes on.

Susan — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:46:48 +0000

Perform Naked: You can do it with your clothes on. is a post from: Increase Your Creativity

A great video from Navé on performance…how to perform even when it’s reading what you write.

A couple of days ago, I was standing on the subway platform at Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn. The electronic sign above the tracks announced the train’s arrival in two minutes.

Since, I’d been thinking that performing naked made the difference between an exciting public reading/presentation and a boring one, I decided to synchronize the recording of my thoughts with the arrival of the train.

~ Perform Naked: You can do it with your clothes on.

Enjoy!

Creative Writing Exercise #2 – Write what you don’t remember

Susan — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:46:29 +0000

Creative Writing Exercise #2 – Write what you don’t remember is a post from: Increase Your Creativity

Here’s another creative writing exercise for you…

1. Think of a place you know very well like the inside of your car, office, or home.

2. Spend a few minutes remembering all the details you possibly can.

3. Now take ten minutes and write about what you don’t remember. Begin with “I don’t remember…”

For example…
I don’t remember how many steps there are up to my third floor apartment on Union Street in Brooklyn. I don’t remember what I left on the desk beside the door. I don’t remember how many shirts I left in the laundry bag to be washed or what the name of the mystery book is I left on the bedside table. I don’t remember how many people came to the New Year’s eve Party.

Please share you experiences in the comments.

Photo Credit: engindeniz

Creative Writing Exercises – Pay Attention to the Details

Susan — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 21:17:20 +0000

Creative Writing Exercises – Pay Attention to the Details is a post from: Increase Your Creativity

We’ve got some creative writing exercises for you as we gear up to teach Writing…From the Imaginative Storm to the Creative Form.

So here you go with Creative Writing Exercise #1…

Pay Attention to the Details

1. Choose an object and examine it closely for fifteen minutes.

2. Take ten minutes and describe what you saw.

3. Describe it again. Take ten minutes.

4. Before you describe it a third time…

• Think about the most meaningful person in your life.

• Clearly imagine his or her face.

• Remember the best times you’ve spent together.

• Why do you love this person most.

Now, describe the scene a third time. While writing think about the person you’ve just imagined, but never mention them in the your description. Take ten minutes.

5. Compare the the three descriptions.

What was your experience with this exercise? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below.

Best,

P.S. Navé has been developing and teaching Writing…From the Imaginative Storm to the Creative Form for 20 years. The next class begins February 8 via telephone conference call. Check it out.

Photo Credit: jirard

Sorting through paper clips

Susan — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:52:41 +0000

Sorting through paper clips is a post from: Increase Your Creativity

“Creativity is not a talent. It is a way of operating.”
~John Cleese

Then John Cleese goes about telling you exactly how to operate creatively.

I love, love, love this video. Yes it’s 36 minutes but so very worth watching.

Highlights…

• The importance of play for its own sake.

• Open vs closed modes and how to cultivate open mode as it’s essential for creativity.

• Curiosity for its own sake.

• Setting boundaries of time and space.

• Tolerating the discomfort of sitting with an unsolved problem.

• The value of indecision.

• Any drivel may lead to a breakthrough.

• The importance of humor.

John Cleese – a lecture on Creativity from janalleman on Vimeo.

Sound familiar? Yes, Navé and I talk about these things. Julia Cameron talks about these things. Every successful working artist will tell you these things.

…but no one says it like John Cleese.

My recommendation would be to watch this video at least once a week (daily would be even better) until you have internalized the message and are practicing it. It’s that good!

P.S. The “sorting through paper clips” reference is about 15 minutes in.

The New Economy: A Huge Opportunity for Creative Entrepreneurs

Susan — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 17:40:30 +0000

The New Economy: A Huge Opportunity for Creative Entrepreneurs is a post from: Increase Your Creativity

Two articles I read this morning got me to thinking about new trends that are emerging and the huge opportunity these new trends offer for creative entrepreneurs, artists, writers, filmmakers, and just about anyone doing any kind of creative work.

The articles I read…
In Fight Over Piracy Bills, New Economy Rises Against Old
Publishing Chicken: Who’s Gonna Blink First?

Let me know what you think.

On Self Publishing

What Road Will You Take?

Susan — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 19:26:44 +0000

What Road Will You Take? is a post from: Increase Your Creativity

Another Navé video in which he talks about individuality, choices and commitment.

Enjoy!

On Self Publishing

Susan — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 17:56:49 +0000

On Self Publishing is a post from: Increase Your Creativity

I was surprised by many of the names on this list. Well known authors who began by self publishing their work…including Julia Cameron (maybe you’ve heard of her?). And that’s not all…e.e. cummings, T.S. Eliot, James Joyce, Charles Darrow and Ben Franklin, to name a few of the self published authors on the list.

With the new technology available today self publishing is becoming the preferred way to publish. Even 10 years ago we still needed the gatekeepers to get books published. Now anyone can publish quickly and easily. Yes there’s a learning curve, but the pay off in creative control and increased income is well worth it.

So now to the hard part…you still need to write the book.

P.S. In addition to self publishing my own book on grief, I also help new authors navigate the process of publishing and marketing their own books.

Need some help? Contact me at susan (at) susanfuller (dot) com

The Writing Process – One Way to Write a Book

Susan — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 17:44:03 +0000

The Writing Process – One Way to Write a Book is a post from: Increase Your Creativity

I’ll admit I’m a bit of a creative process junkie. I’m fascinated by how people actually create stuff, and in this case we’re talking about the writing process.

In much of my work with artists, writers and creative entrepreneurs, the first job is to help people figure out what process is going to work best for them. It really helps to know that but it can be a hard one to nail down.

In this post Suzanne Johnson shares her writing process. It’s a good one…

• A 90 day goal from start to finish.

• Big ideas brainstorming.

• Create a detailed outline. I’m more of a mindmap person myself but both methods work. It’s like creating a skeleton upon which to build.

• A down and dirty draft. Yes!

• Then a first draft. She goes from first draft to final polish in one step. I wrote my grief book like that but that was nonfiction. Doing a single draft becomes much more doable when you have taken the time to create that outline or mindmap. That said, many projects require more than one draft.

• Draft out to beta readers.

• Final polish and yes it’s a very good idea to read it aloud.

Read Suzanne’s article, My Writing Process: Draft Zero to Done

And what is your writing process?

Memorize by Heart

Susan — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 21:05:30 +0000

Memorize by Heart is a post from: Increase Your Creativity

If you have trouble memorizing, Navé’s recently posted video will help a lot. He’ll show you a totally different way to memorize that is nothing like what you learned in school.

The Power of Community, Connection & Conversation

Susan — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 22:22:34 +0000

The Power of Community, Connection & Conversation is a post from: Increase Your Creativity

Last week sent out an email asking “Are you trying to create in isolation?”

When I introduced the topic on Facebook, they proved my point by helping me clarify what I was trying to communicate. I find the same process goes on in my conversations with Navé. There’s a drilling down to deeper meaning, the clarification of ideas, and the evolution of new ones, always emerging out of our conversations. It’s very stimulating and productive. It’s also a lot of fun.

For creative people that kind of stimulation is an essential ingredient in the creative process.

Erica Wagner, Literary Editor of The Times of London, once said that “all art is a conversation” (interview with Charlie Rose). What I take that to mean is we rarely create in a vacuum. Regardless of our medium we are constantly responding to the culture in which we live. Art of all kinds, provides a reflection of and commentary on who we are and who we are capable of being.

Artists, writers and creative thinkers who are immersed in their creative communities, are also responding to the work of other artists, writers and creative thinkers. Each piece becomes part of an ever deepening conversation.

This is what I meant when I said that creatives need the the power of conversation, community and connection in order to achieve their creative potential.

The Facebook conversation took me to another level as well. In order create freely, we also need to maintain a deep connection to self. It is in the interplay between authentic self, other creatives and the culture at large, that our creative best emerges. I believe our work suffers when we live and work in an environment that isolates us from any part of that equation.

At the same time, planting ourselves in the cacophony of the world or allowing ourselves to be consumed by crazy makers, doesn’t necessarily foster our creative expression either.

Discrimination seems to be a key element here. The ability to recognize a resonant community where we feel free to express ourselves, respectfully exchange ideas even when they disagree and foster creative productivity.

Best,

Photo Credit: murielle

Are you a control freak?

Susan — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:59:01 +0000

Are you a control freak? is a post from: Increase Your Creativity

Are you a control freak?

I am. It’s part of my family culture and a darn hard one to shake.

Fear, fear and more fear permeated my childhood. Maybe that was a product of my mother’s naiveté. More likely it was my father’s deep sense of masculine responsibility for which he never felt quite adequate, combined with the impact of World War II (PTSD anyone?) creating such a deep climate of fear in our household.

In the course of my 60+ years on this planet, I have consciously developed the capacity to sit with the fear and the uncertainty it breeds (let’s hear it for psychotherapy and spiritual practice), but I keep forgetting I know how to do it, and darn it, that forgetting keeps getting in the way.

Periodically, I have the “I could’ve had a V8″ moment when I realize the control freak has subversively taken over, and I’ve missed an opportunity. The risk taking, curious, and flamboyant parts of myself have gone deep underground leaving me feeling brittle, predictable and bored.

Creative expression can only happen in an environment in which we’re comfortable exploring the unknown, drawing bits and pieces from disparate places and recombining them in new ways, exploring possibility and discovering new insights.

Without that capacity we become predictable clones of the expected rather than the vibrant creative expressions we were born to be.

P.S And you? How’s that control thing working for you? What bit of uncertainty would you be willing to sit with for a time just to see what might come through? Feel free to share below.

Photo Credit: Adapted from johnnyberg

Susan & Navé Interview Kelly Morgan

Susan — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 23:11:11 +0000

Susan & Navé Interview Kelly Morgan is a post from: Increase Your Creativity

Last week Navé and I had the pleasure of interviewing Kelly Morgan who has been teaching Artist’s Way workshops in LA for almost 20 years.

It was a great conversation which includes…
• How the rational mind gets in the way
• Using movement and nutrition to enhance your productivity
• Prayer and synchronicity
• How working in the advertising industry has served her creative work
• What makes the Artist’s Way work
• Creative self promotion

We got a lot into a very short 40 minutes.

Here is the interview in its entirety (except for a blip when we lost audio and video contact with Kelly)…

Thanks for listening.

P.S. Is there someone you’d like us to interview? Let us know below along with your thoughts about this interview.

On Synchronicity

Susan — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 19:32:40 +0000

On Synchronicity is a post from: Increase Your Creativity

Navé recently shared his thoughts on synchronicity…

It means, of course, that we are part of something much great than ourselves, an all pervasive 360 cosmic multi-dimensional synchronicity that’s at work all the time

The more you look for synchronicity, the more you notice it. “I am a part of all that I have met; / Yet all experience is an arch wherethrough / Gleams that untravelled world, whose margin fades / For ever and for ever when I move.” Tennyson says in his Ulysses.

Your awareness of synchronicity determines how much or how little you experience it.

Read more of My Take on Synchronicity!

Photo Credit: Claude Hugenot

The Paradox of Greatness

Susan — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 17:14:20 +0000

The Paradox of Greatness is a post from: Increase Your Creativity

Navé’s working definition of art is that it creating an artifact.

The dictionary says that an artifact is “an object made by a human being, typically an item of cultural or historical interest.”

In our conversations on the subject, Navé and I have come to the conclusion that art as artifact also carries with it the attributes of reflection, meaning and the power to transform.

It does seem that for art to be art it must impact the person making it, the individual viewing it as well as hold meaning for the larger culture.

1. Art is a reflection, a mirror if you will, of the culture from which it emerges. A reflection as seen and filtered by the artist and the viewer alike.

2. Art is infused with meaning for the artist creating it, for the individual viewing it, and for the culture as a whole.

3. Art has the power to transform the artist, the viewer and the larger community.

Although this definition undoubtedly describes great masterpieces, it does seem a heavy burden for any artist, writer or performer especially when they’re just starting out.

Surely we all aspire to be great at what we do whether we’re painters, writers, performers, scientists or entrepreneurs, but that aspiration to be great also creates profound blocks in people who might otherwise would be quite prolific.

In the Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron writes about the artist needing to focus on quantity, the actual act of showing up to create, while letting go of the idea of quality. Steven Pressfield doesn’t even talk about quality. He talks about showing up every single day without fail and writing.

Is it possible that the only way to create great art is to let go of the idea of being great? That greatness can only emerge from the act of showing up?

P.S. Questions worth contemplating…

How do we live with the paradox of needing to let go of greatness in order to create great art?

What does this do to our definition of art?

Is it really the final product that matters? Or is it the creative process?

When we only focus on the process what happens to the viewer?

If it’s really about showing up, how can you show up more powerfully on a day to day basis?

Please feel free to share below!

Photo Credit: Robert Linder

Turbocharge Your Creativity with Curiosity

Susan — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 16:51:34 +0000

Turbocharge Your Creativity with Curiosity is a post from: Increase Your Creativity

Questions are an essential ingredient of moving forward whether it’s in politics, science, business or art. Without interesting questions, we have nothing to explore and nothing to create.

Michael Crichton once said that he began every novel with a question.

In the video I posted yesterday from Charlie Rose’s series on the brain, the panel also addresses the issue of curiosity as a stimulus for creativity.

In How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci, Michael Gelb writes about the seven Da Vincian principles of which curiosity is the first.

Although he expressed an intention to organize and publish them [his journals] someday, he never got around to it. He was too busy searching for truth and beauty. For Da Vinci, the process of recording questions, observations and ideas was of great importance.

Though she doesn’t address it directly, Julia Cameron’s essays, tools and tasks also point us in the direction of curiosity.

The more I consider this, the more convinced I am that curiosity is an often ignored but vitally important aspect of creative process. We take classes to learn the skills of our craft but we’re rarely taught to ramp up our curiosity in service to our creativity. We’re usually taught to express an opinion, take a stand or claim a perspective. What would happen if we shifted our focus to the question?

As I contemplate this relationship between curiosity, imagination and creativity, I suspect that many creative blocks can be eliminated rather quickly by focusing on the questions rather than on the end product. So rather than mucking around in all that fear, maybe we could just focus on being more inquisitive.

Below is a conversation Navé and I had recently on this subject. It runs a little over 6 minutes. I think you may find it interesting for the content, and for a little behind the scenes on how we create together.

Let us know below what might happen to your current project if you brought more of your curiosity to it.

Talk soon,

Photo Credit: Celia Enders

What the brain tells us about creativity

Susan — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 15:42:29 +0000

What the brain tells us about creativity is a post from: Increase Your Creativity

In this absolutely must watch video on Creativity and the Brain, Charlie Rose hosts brain researcher Eric Kandel, neurologist Oliver Sacks, MOMA curator Ann Temkin, painter Chuck Close and sculptor Richard Serra.

You will hear a conversation about why we create, how we create, and the mystery of what drives us to create. In many ways it affirms what we as creatives to know intuitively while also challenging our understanding of what it means to create. Fascinating!

It even includes some interesting stories like the one Oliver Sacks offers about how Herman Melville came to write Moby Dick

I invite you to take a break and settle in for an hour of thought provoking conversation.

Listen to the entire conversation

P.S. We’d love to hear your comments after you listen to this conversation. Please share your thoughts below.

Maximizing Your Creativity By Defining Your Parameters

Susan — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 18:50:33 +0000

Maximizing Your Creativity By Defining Your Parameters is a post from: Increase Your Creativity

Navé is fond of saying that creativity is a species imperative.

I agree. As some of you may have heard me say, the first quality to emerge in my psychotherapy clients was almost always that of creativity. Not everyone came in as an artist but many left as one. For some the canvas they painted was their own personality. Others blossomed into the artists and artisans they had always longed to be. For some it was the art that mattered and for others it was the process of creating.

Just like the characteristics of any given medium impose parameters on the artist, our assumptions about art and the creative life provide limitations within which we work. Sometimes those parameters leave us constrained, unable to access the creative flow within us. Other times the lack of parameters leaves us adrift without focus, commitment or purpose.

When our emerging definitions provide healthy limits within which to operate we can delve deeply into our creativity, fulfilling more of our potential than when we define our boundaries too narrowly or have none at all.

Each of us will have a unique and nuanced definition of what it means to be creative and to live a creative life. If you’re like most creatives it is also an evolving and transformative inquiry that continues throughout our lives. Often that evolution happens quite naturally. Other times we may inadvertently lock ourselves into definitions we have since outgrown.

What matters is that you have a definition and a vision to inform and guide your creative pursuits while at the same time making room for your personal parameters to evolve.

Some questions worth considering are…

What is a creative life?

How do you define creative success?

Where do you derive your satisfaction in the creative process? Is it the end result? Or is it the process?

How much value do you derive from how others see what you create?

Do the parameters you’ve defined allow you to feel challenged creatively or are they smothering you?

I’d love to hear your thoughts so feel free to share your responses below.

Talk soon,

What matters most to you…your creative life or your art?

Susan — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 00:58:31 +0000

What matters most to you…your creative life or your art? is a post from: Increase Your Creativity

In a recent conversation, Navé and I began exploring the distinctions between living a creative life and creating art. Like most of our conversations it was an interesting one which just barely scratched the surface.

Thought you’d like to hear a snippet…

I’ll be posting more of this conversation later in the week. Stay tuned…

So what are your thoughts? Feel free to share below.

Declaring it a success

Susan — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 14:21:51 +0000

Declaring it a success is a post from: Increase Your Creativity

When working on any creative project, there comes a time when you just need to call it done. Not only is it done but you also need to declare it a success, and then keep on moving.

It’s really amazing how declaring your project a success can shift your energy making it much easier to move on especially when you might otherwise call your efforts a failure.

This is something that comes up a lot when we’re teaching Julia Cameron’s tools and techniques.

Here’s another tidbit from our original class…

Enjoy,

Susan and Navé

Can Reverse Brainstorming Increase Your Creativity?

Susan — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 21:53:51 +0000

Can Reverse Brainstorming Increase Your Creativity? is a post from: Increase Your Creativity

I love this article, a wonderful way to approach creative problem solving…

Reverse brainstorming helps you solve problems by combining brainstorming and reversal techniques. By combining these, you can extend your use of brainstorming to draw out even more creative ideas.

To use this technique, you start with one of two “reverse” questions:

Instead of asking, “How do I solve or prevent this problem?” ask, “How could I possibly cause the problem?”

Instead of asking “How do I achieve these results?” ask, “How could I possibly achieve the opposite effect?”

Read the entire article Reverse Brainstorming

Let us know what you think below.

Does Julia Practice What She Teaches?

Susan — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 19:15:31 +0000

Does Julia Practice What She Teaches? is a post from: Increase Your Creativity

The short answer is yes. Absolutely.

The first time Navé and I taught Julia Cameron’s book, Navé related this story about Julia following The Artist’s Way

Enjoy!

Susan and Navé

It’s not just about reading anymore

Susan — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 20:05:24 +0000

It’s not just about reading anymore is a post from: Increase Your Creativity

Have you ever gone on a digital diet?

In Week 4 of the The Artist Way, Julia Cameron assigns the dreaded reading deprivation exercise. For one week, you stop reading. No exceptions. No reading of any kind for an entire 7 days.

When Navé and I began our collaboration, we found we had both come to the same conclusion…reading is the least of it. Yes, for some reading remains a primary distraction but for many more it’s television, email, computer games etc. These days we can add Facebook and Twitter to the list of possible distractions.

If you’re serious about your creative work, I would encourage you to take a look at the ways you distract and numb yourself. In my experience everyone has a particular favorite and most of us know exactly what that is.

If you haven’t done this exercise, I would encourage you to give it a try.. Pick one thing you use to divert your attention, and eliminate it for one week. Then notice what happens.

Feel free to report back here.

Clouds – A writing prompt

Susan — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 23:30:00 +0000

Clouds – A writing prompt is a post from: Increase Your Creativity

How often have you sat on your porch and watched clouds turn into dogs, sheep, castles, trees, faces, and dragons? I suspect more than once. Who hasn’t?

Yesterday while I was sitting on Susan Fuller’s porch in Rhode Island, a large white cloud became a poodle, as second one, a buffalo, and a third one, an old bearded man.

Other clouds darkened the West. The earth shook. It was 2 p.m.

I began to think about how much a cloud might weigh. After all, clouds are made of water and water is heavy.

Even so, when I look at clouds, like yesterday’s, my imagination tells me they’re weightless, like fog on the spine of a meadow at dawn.

Yet, there’s often a dramatic difference between your imaginative reality and your scientific reality. Both, of course, are true on different levels.

In your imagination, clouds are light and fluffy, indeed, even weightless. In the sky it’s a different matter, a fully mature thunderstorm cloud weights 2.3 billion pounds or 1.4 million tons.

You’ve got to admit, knowing a cloud can weigh 1.4 million tons rearranges the poetics of clouds hanging heavy in the West.

Go ahead, give it a shot. Write a poem using this opening line as your prompt:
“I fell in love under a 2.3 billion pound cloud.”

Photo Credit: Roger Kirby

And at the other end of the age spectrum…creativity in kids

Susan — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 14:03:55 +0000

And at the other end of the age spectrum…creativity in kids is a post from: Increase Your Creativity

This article looks at recent research about kids and creativity.

What I found interesting was that although the classroom is not actively nurturing creativity, kids being the resilient beings they are, are finding other ways of using their imaginations and developing their creativity.

Has modern society really extinguished the creative spark among our youth?

Experts say creativity is innate, so it can’t really be lost. But it needs to be nurtured…

The current focus on testing in schools, and the idea that there is only one right answer to a question, may be hampering development of creativity among kids…

But the situation is not hopeless, Beghetto said. In fact, there’s evidence to suggest that, worldwide, youngsters are very creative… And a recent study found that, at least in their playtime, kids are becoming more imaginative.

From Are Today’s Youth Less Creative & Imaginative?

I credit my creativity to having no TV until I was 5, and being an only child until I was 7. Although I don’t remember my creativity being discouraged in school, I don’t remember a lot of encouragement either. And you?

P.S. How was your creativity nurtured (or not) when you were a child? Any thoughts on how we can nurture creativity in kids during this era of teaching to the test? Would love to hear your thoughts below.

Creativity and the Aging Brain

Susan — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 13:15:30 +0000

Creativity and the Aging Brain is a post from: Increase Your Creativity

Well maybe it really is a good idea to postpone a creative career until after retirement…

This work, along with other studies on aging and cognition, suggest that the aging brain is characterized by a broadening focus of attention. Numerous studies suggest that highly creative individuals also employ a broadened rather than focused state of attention. This state of widened attention allows the individual to have disparate bits of information in mind at the same time. Combining remote bits of information is the hallmark of the creative idea.

Interesting article from Psychology Today, Creativity and the Aging Brain: Use the powers of the aging brain to enhance creativity.

The author also suggests that part of this increase in creativity has to do with a decrease in self-conscious awareness as we age…

…certain areas of the prefrontal cortex involved in self-conscious awareness and emotions are thinner in the aging brain. This may correlate with the diminished need to please and impress others, which is a notable characteristic of both aging individuals and creative luminaries. Both older individuals and creative types are more willing to speak their minds and disregard social expectations than are their younger, more conventional counterparts.

P.S. Do you feel like you’re getting more creative as you get older? Let us know below.

On Affirmations & Blurts

Susan — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 20:50:13 +0000

On Affirmations & Blurts is a post from: Increase Your Creativity

Thought you might like to get a taste of what we offer in The Way of the Artist Toolbox, based on the teachings of Julia Cameron.

Thanks so much,

Susan

The Way of the Artist Preview – Creative U-Turns

Susan — Wed, 25 May 2011 20:15:24 +0000

The Way of the Artist Preview – Creative U-Turns is a post from: Increase Your Creativity

Here’s the full recording of a class we recorded earlier this year.

Photo Credit: John Pilge

On Meeting Julia…

Susan — Thu, 19 May 2011 17:00:07 +0000

On Meeting Julia… is a post from: Increase Your Creativity

Since Navé just landed in Albuquerque this afternoon and will be spending some time with Julia Cameron, this seems like a good chance to share how he met her. It’s a great story of synchronicity don’t you think?

The first time I heard about Julia Cameron’s book, The Artist’s Way, I was in a café on the corner of McDougal and Bleeker, New York City. It was 3:45 p.m., October, 1993.

When my waitress, Denise, served my latté, I pointed to the book with the red cover opened on the bar and asked her what she was reading. “I’m an actress. I’m determined to make it in New York. Everyone I know is reading this book, The Artist’s Way. It really works. You should read it.”

With that, she picked it up and handed it to me. At the time I was touring the country as a poet and spoken word artist. I read the introduction and smugly decided I was already a “real artist.” I certainty didn’t need more creativity, especially from a “self-help” book.

I thanked Denise; paid my bill and walked down to Washington Square Park where the old timers play chess and the poets hang out. I crossed the park headed to Broadway.

A year later, in Asheville, North Carolina, I met a woman names Alexandra Webber, who, unlike Denise, told me point blank, “You’re a fence walker. I can tell by the way you talk you need to read The Artist’s Way; it’s time you got unblocked.”

I told her I’d already read the introduction. She just smiled and said, “Do yourself a favor. Promise me you’ll buy the book tomorrow and read all twelve chapters.” The next day, I bought The Artist’s Way and started reading Chapter One, Recovering a Sense of Safety.

By the end of the week, I was wondering, “who is Julia Cameron?” By the sixth week, my blocks (the ones I thought I didn’t have) were breaking apart. By the tenth week, I decided it was time for pilgrimage.

A week later, I was in Boulder Colorado. The evening I met Julia Cameron, it was snowing hard outside Border’s Bookstore, Little did I know, she would change my life forever.

Talk soon,

Susan and Navé

Longing, Obstacles & The Path to Yes

Susan — Tue, 17 May 2011 10:00:32 +0000

Longing, Obstacles & The Path to Yes is a post from: Increase Your Creativity

Have you ever longed for a clear path to your creative life?

The Artist’s Way is an extraordinary response to that longing. Throughout the entire program, Julia Cameron weaves together obstacles and openings that serve as trail markers on the path to living an authentically creative life.

Photo Credit Robert Linder

Here’s some of what last week’s group wove together…

Longing

Resistance

Mystical Union

Authority

Inner Critic

Authentic

Truth

Non-completion

Sense of Oneness

Authorship of Your Own Story

Path to Yes

Stuck in a Negative Groove

On Purpose

Working with Something Greater than Yourself

The S** that leads to the baby

We invite you to do your own weaving of these ideas via your morning pages or a collage to see how these ideas may be calling forth your own creative expression.

You can listen to how we wove it together here…

And of course, we hope you’ll feel called to join us for The Way of the Artist from Start to Finish. the full 13 week program which begins on January 10, 2012.

Best,

Susan and Navé

Are you the victim of a punitive work ethic?

Susan — Mon, 16 May 2011 00:14:46 +0000

Are you the victim of a punitive work ethic? is a post from: Increase Your Creativity

Several hundred of you have downloaded our preview teleclass from last week, Opening to Possibility. I hope you’re enjoying it. It’s a great taste of what you can expect if you join us for the next Artist’s Way program.

There were quite a few great moments in last week’s class, and some are great fodder for your Morning Pages.

Here’s one in which Navé talks about the punitive work ethic we as artists and creatives can get caught up in.

Some questions to ponder…

• Do you get caught in this punitive work ethic trap? With your creative work? In doing The Artist’s Way?

• How does this limit you?

• What would it take for you to play rather than perfect?

• What action might you take today to turn this punitive work ethic on it’s head?

If you have any insights you’d like share, you can do so in the comments.

Enjoy!

Susan

The Artist’s Way – Opening to Possibility

Susan — Thu, 12 May 2011 03:19:30 +0000

The Artist’s Way – Opening to Possibility is a post from: Increase Your Creativity

We had a great group last night for our preview call, “The Artist’s Way – Opening to Possibility.” I’d like to thank everyone who participated.

For those of you who weren’t on the call, you missed a good one so we’re sharing it all in its entirety. We hope you’ll find it inspiring.

For those of you who are planning to join us this summer, this will also give you a good taste of what to expect as we delve deeply into The Artist’s Way.

So here you go…

Enjoy!

Susan & Navé

A Writing Prompt

Susan — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 18:30:34 +0000

A Writing Prompt is a post from: Increase Your Creativity

Here’s an interesting writing prompt…

Think of a person or an experience you remember well. Now, write for ten minutes – about what you don’t remember. For example:

“I don’t remember the time of day I walked from the small French village up the long hill to the Tibetan Buddhist Center. I don’t remember if there were two cats or one sleeping on the steps. I don’t remember how many people were milling around in the courtyard. I don’t remember if the monk was short or tall, but I do remember he waved to me and said in English, “Anything is possible here!”

Hope you enjoy this exercise. If you come up with something interesting, we’d enjoy reading it, so send it on.

Best,

Navé

Intimacy: Into Me See

Susan — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 18:00:26 +0000

Intimacy: Into Me See is a post from: Increase Your Creativity

Today we have an exercise from Navé’s writing workshops, but you certainly don’t need to be a writer to use it…

Like most writers, one of my most important goals is to achieve an intimate connection with whoever is reading my work.

Yet often for me – and maybe for you too – my “official writer” takes over. My work veers so far away from my imaginative storm that it reads like a tax return: wooden, self-conscious (fear of audit perhaps), and distant.

On the surface, letting your “official writer” run the show might seem like a safe, smart strategy. But what if you want more? What if you want your writing to be intimate, juicy, and emotional? Maybe you have an unruly tale whispering in the basement. Or memories dangling on branches after the wind blows through.

I remember a few years back, when I was taking acting classes in New York City at Black NeXXus Studios Inc. My teacher, Susan Batson, would say, “If you want your work to be intimate, you’ve got to let your audience see what’s inside. You have to use your body as your instrument and open up. Intimacy means: Into Me See.”

(For the record, I’m a poet, not an actor. I was there to discover new ways to go deeper in my creative work.)

Susan focused on one thing: “USE YOUR BODY!” This strategy is just as true for writers as for actors.

Here’s an exercise that will help you learn to use your body to generate dynamic writing. It will also help you engage emotionally, intellectually, spiritually, and physically. It’s spontaneous. (I’ve learned that my most creative moments come when I stop worrying about what people think.)

Do it in private. It’s kind of like singing in the shower.

Pick a song you know, for example, “Summertime.” “Summertime and the living is easy, fish are jumping and the cotton is high. Your daddy’s rich and your mama’s good looking, so hush pretty baby and don’t you cry.” Sit down in a straight chair and sing the song. It’ll probably sound fine. Or maybe not. Who cares. Nobody’s listening.

Now sing it again. This time, stand up and sit down, stand up and sit down, stand up and sit down WHILE YOU’RE SINGING. Notice how using your body focuses you on the process rather than the result. You smile. You chuckle. You laugh. You’re relaxed. You’re free. You might even sing on key. Most of all, you’re open.

Now pick a topic that you’re working on right now. Remain standing and write for ten minutes. Notice how your writing flows when your body is warmed up, relaxed, and engaged? We’re all so used to holding our bodies a certain way, maybe hunched over, closed in, protecting our tender innards, that we forget that our bodies are our instruments. Opening up makes your writing more intimate and invites other in.

Keep creating!

Susan

Photo credit: Kristina Rogova

Of Gargoyles and Veils

Susan — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 05:43:13 +0000

Of Gargoyles and Veils is a post from: Increase Your Creativity

As we talked about in last week’s recording, our creativity depends on our capacity to be vulnerable by recovering our sense of safety.

Safety is all about setting good boundaries. Saying “NO” to the crazymakers and poisonous playmates so we can say “YES” to all that matters in our lives including our creativity.

This is a huge challenge for many people. First you need to assess and evaluate threats appropriately and then you need to take appropriate action. It’s not something most of us manage to do gracefully the first time out. It takes practice.

Being a visual person, I find images extremely helpful. So I’d like to share some images I find helpful in establishing appropriate boundaries and staying safe.

1. The Sacred Temple

The inner sanctum is the most sacred part of the temple. Only the priests and priestesses are allowed to enter. This represents the most vulnerable part of yourself. It is the place from which you create.

In order to prevent the profanity of the world from entering, ancient temples have fierce guardians or gargoyles protecting the entrances to these inner spaces.

Energizing our own gargoyles is imperative if we’re going to protect the place from which our creative inspiration is born.

2. The Veil of Safety*

Though we all need to stay anchored to that inner space, we can’t stay hidden away all the time. We still need to function and create in the outer world, and the outer world isn’t always safe.

That’s where the veil of safety comes in. It’s a way protecting our vulnerable center, as we go about our business in the world.

What’s wonderful about the veil of safety, is it’s permeable and adjustable allowing you to move through the world protected but with the capacity to loosen or tighten the veil as needed.

You can explore these images in your morning pages. You can paint them or draw them. Or use them in your daily meditation. Just use them as a starting point and make them your own through your own imagination.

Best,
Susan

*Thanks to Mark Silver at Heart of Business for sharing this one.

Photo Credits
Jorc Navarro
kgreggain
Afonso Lima

A Sense of Safety and The Artist’s Way

Susan — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 17:41:46 +0000

A Sense of Safety and The Artist’s Way is a post from: Increase Your Creativity

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