Sometimes deep questions come suddenly to me. This is one that came a year ago to me, and I will be revisiting.
“What is the source code of my inner resistance to greatness?”
I wanted to find an image to go with this.. and contained in it is:
“Remove the rule as there is currently no need for it.”
So. I invite you, as I will be doing shortly. Sit with this.. and write it out… “What is the source code of your inner resistance to greatness?” Then remove the rule, as there is currently no need for it.
Let me know if anything shifts for you.
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photo from an internet search a year ago, source unknown. I will gladly credit if someone knows.
“Even if you don’t call yourself an artist, you have the potential to be a dynamic creator who is always hatching new plans, coming up with fresh ideas, and shifting your approach to everything you do as you adjust to life’s ceaseless invitation to change.
It’s to this part of you — the restless, inventive spirit — that I address the following: Unleash yourself! Don’t be satisfied with the world the way it is; don’t sit back passively and blankly complain about the dead weight of the mediocre status quo.
Instead, call on your curiosity and charisma and expressiveness and lust for life as you tinker with and rebuild everything you see so that it’s in greater harmony with the laws of love and more hospitable to your soul’s code. ” ~ Rob Brezny ************************************** What do you envision when you think of creativity? An artist/writer/musician/performer of some kind? The act of making? Do you feel uncreative if you you don’t have output? Or if it isn’t “perfect”? If it doesn’t get recognition?
To me, scientists, mechanics, gardeners, teachers… anyone really, are just as creative as what is often thought of as such.
What if instead you shift your perspective to envision creativity as a state of being, rather than a state of doing? To being a continual process of making meaning in one’s life, rather than completion of a painting/novel/song/performance piece? To make for the joy of making, how it warps time and space and you get lost in it.
Being willing to seeing things differently.. to reordering routine.. having the courage to try something new… all of these can open up dimensions of reality and possibility that have remained hidden behind old perceptions.
For example, the next time you go for a walk, focus fully on the experience. The sounds around you, and of your feet, step by step. The textures, visual and felt. The smell of the air- the feel of it against your skin. How if the walk is strenuous enough, everything falls away other than the act of walking and your breath.
Do you feel other things arise? A solution? A song? A poem? A dance? Someone you’d like to visit?
All of this is creating and being creative.
We are, from birth to death, through all our experience, the embodiment of creativity.
Thank you for reading.
I love you. *************************************************** photo I took while hiking. And wondering if coyotes would play fetch with a tangerine.
I’ve never been much one for New Year’s resolutions. I’m more likely to set a theme for the year, and revisit it quarterly, when I do my personal rituals. Sometimes what you think is your theme for the entire year only serves you for a short while. There’s not need to stick it out for a whole year if it’s served its purpose.
Last year’s theme, if I formally set one, was certainly transformation. It started out in a pretty dark place, until by year’s end, I’m feeling so much more buoyant, light-filled and optimistic. Thanks for the lessons, 2019… so glad you are done!
I woke up this morning absolutely certain ACTION was the theme for 2020. I’ve already set in motion so many things based on my inner work of the past year, such as activating this blog and an accompanying Crafting the Spirit™ online community. Becoming debt-free in six months with a lot of hard work, when my plan forecast it taking a year and a half. Getting a ticket to a conference of like-minded people to expand my network… and so much more. And then I read this beautiful poem by Maya Luna, about it being OK to not have resolutions… to be the center of stillness instead:
“It’s okay not to have New Years resolutions It’s okay not to have big goals for your life It’s okay not to have plans you want to Manifest It’s okay not to chase your dreams That path is not for everyone Some walk the path of Unbecoming They are traveling the road Backwards Seeking the core What is basic and essential What has been there all along Though we may be headed the same direction Our spirals are mirror opposites Some walk the path of the visionary Creating abundance and Dancing inside a multiplicity of forms And Some walk the path of the serpent owl Becoming more and more naked Shedding layers of fantasy into the ash Night sky Sitting in the dark And seeing the way the wind moves They do not walk a line or poise their arrow to the target They sit at the bottom of the ocean And wait Letting the waves devour them They are following the pulse of listening To silence Like a tiger in the brush Waiting for existence to strike lightening Into the fire of the heart For this kind Nothing less will do Some are opening the palms of their hands And unraveling To become Less and less Until they are No-Thing To become the still point In the center of All You know who you are Keep going”
Not long after reading it, I was getting ready to go to the laundromat and realized.
I had no pants to wear to to the laundromat, and was going to have to go out to my car to rummage through the bags in my trunk waiting to go to Goodwill “forever”, and hope there was a pair of pants.
While looking (yay pants!), I started to laugh. Having the bags of clothes in my trunk for months was the total opposite of action. Good ol’ procrastination!
I then decided, that instead of action, my theme for 2020 is BALANCE. That there are times for action, being decisive and doing the deep work, doing all the mundane administrative things to move yourself forward, and there are times where the biggest act of self love is to simply be. I think that’s why I like hiking and being out in Nature so much. All the chatter in my head settles down, and I enjoy being in the moment, with each breath. Not thinking of the next breath, or my posture, or what’s for dinner. Simply being. Where I am. At that moment.
If you were to create a theme for yourself this year, what would it be? What will be your still point? How will you cultivate balance?
Building on exercises from this past year: What is the minimum viable action you are willing to take to bring your theme to life?
If you were to create a mantra around your theme, what would it be?
Are there some “what ifs” around your them you’d like to explore?
What would an adventure based on your theme look/sound/feel/smell/taste like?
How will mindfulness come into play?
Is there a daily practice you can begin to ignite your theme?
If you run into obstacles, how would you spend your 15 minutes of block busting to see if the theme is still a good fit?
Wow! We have explored a lot in a few months!
I would love to hear anything you’d like to share in the comments below!
Greetings, all, and Happy Solstice! Some of us are celebrating Winter- a time to go within and nurture seeds to emerge in Spring. Some of us are celebrating Summer- long days, being outdoors, readying for the harvests of Fall.
There are festivals of light in many cultures around the world. Wednesday the 25th is the last New Moon of the year. Take a moment, light a candle,or a fire in a fireplace or under the stars, sit for awhile, and take in the light. With each breath, take in comfort, take in love. Imagine your most beautiful Self.
I did this the other night, and looked down the hallway into darkness. I imagined my future Self, and all that is asking to come forward. I walked down the hall and stood in the place of this part of me, and looked down the hall to where I’d been sitting, and acknowledged all the work, the successes, all I had seen as failure, which was really growth and learning. I gave myself words of encouragement and forgiveness.
For the first time saying and really meaning it, I said out loud, to my Self, “I love you, Adele.” I
t was a beautiful, tender, and most vulnerable moment.
And I walked back down the hall to the present, and played some music on my singing bowls, with my path seemingly more clear.
I invite you to try this exercise, or one of your own making.
Thank you for being a part of my journey. I love you.
There are times we want to start new habits, yet find it challenging to do so. Today I was introduced to the concept of “minimum viable action”- the smallest possible thing you can do to reach your goal.
I’ve already done this with some things, and advised others to do so. The act of just sitting in a creative space. Or committing to getting out one’s writing materials. The simple act of taking this first step, with consistency, will often lead to the next step, and so on.
One of my life guides recently suggested I start journaling again, as they feel I have a lot to get out.. both for myself and to share with the world. And I have been resistant these past few weeks. My private writing, discovered or sought out by others who snooped, became a betrayal and used against me.
But. I am in my own space now, and the likelihood of that happening is very small. Sitting with this resistance, I realize that the idea letting the thoughts flow from my brain to pen to paper is making me feel raw, and vulnerable, and making some of what is to be expressed… too real.
And I want to start a fresh journal, not in the one I last wrote in 13 years ago. and I need the right pen.. and.. and..
See?
But I got up, grabbed any pen, and any paper, and have begun.
One step at a time.
One stroke of the pen.
One breath.
At.
A.
Time.
And now, dear readers, I ask you this- what is your deepest desire? Does it seem overwhelming? Of course it does! Break it down, yo. What is the smallest thing you can do? Go outside? Simply sit in your creative space? Pick up your musical instrument and hold it?
What minimum viable action will you commit to today, and every day, until it is infused into your way of being?
