Tag: passion

creative practice, Creativity, inspiration, instinctive meditation, instinctive meditation, journaling, meditation, mindfulness, passion, Personal Development, Personal growth, writing

Creativity and Meditation: Finding Flow Between Our Inner and Outer Worlds

Adele Satori
Image shows books, beaded artwork, a painting and a metal singing bowl scattered on a table.

It can sometimes be more of a challenge for me to write on an assigned or chosen topic rather than answer the call the Universe is sending. So what do I do? While getting ready to write this article, I laid in my bed, meditating. Imagining my hands on the cover of my journal. Thinking of all I’ve learned in my training: “What do I love?” “In what quality of life do I want to be immersed?”

Then the neighbour’s illegal chickens started singing their egg laying song.  Some people deal with monkey mind; I’ve got chickens.  So creative!  And I started to laugh.

There are so many parallels between creativity and meditation. Setting up sacred time and place. Distractions. Blocks. Daydreaming. Attuning to our senses, instincts, and intuitions. Finding beauty in the mundane. Thoughts coming faster than the conscious mind can process them. 

And what do I do when I feel blocked, or stuck, or having a case of the I-don’t-wannas?  I simply start. Doodling in a notebook….. words or lines, it doesn’t matter. Get up and move. Go somewhere less urban and welcome the mountain vista into my heart.  I feel myself drop into a meditative state, or a spark of inspiration makes itself known, and I begin to create.

Creative practice and meditation are ways of being in the world where we can gain a deeper connection to Self. Creating and meditating both ask us to be open to what is desired or needed in the moment.

Creativity is bound to our instinct to make meaning. It’s about giving your imagination permission to see, feel, and explore, without judgement or expecting an outcome. A way to express one’s inner world in the outer world. It’s putting things together (this can be objects, concepts, routes, movement and more!) in ways unique to my being. How I am in the moment will be reflected. If there are constraints or requirements, that will challenge me to be innovative in my approach.

In creating for the enjoyment of the process and discovery, something wonderful might be revealed that hadn’t thought of before. Much like Instinctive Meditation®, we welcome all our parts, everything that shows up in a creation session.

Creative practice has been shown to improve memory, expand our ways of thinking and problem solving, and encourage flexibility in our approach to life, both personally and professionally. So can meditation!

Meditating is also a creative act. We can sit and chant a few words that hold meaning for us, walk in the woods and listen to trees, watch the waves and get into the rhythm of the ocean, read a passage of a book and pause to allow the words to wash over our soul.

Meditation is an instinct that gives the brainbody an opportunity to rest, restore, repair, and rehearse in our daily life. To come to a place of relaxed awareness. To become attuned to life’s rhythms. To open our curiosity.

When we allow the meditation or creative session to flow, ideas, feelings and sensations arise that might not have if we were determined to do things in a certain way- the same way- every time.

Through Instinctive Meditation®, I’ve come to appreciate more the rhythm of creativity. It’s increased my capacity to see the world around me, and to touch the deep levels within.

We are organic beings living in a linear world many societies have created.  Output, production, and tangible evidence that we’ve done something with our time has become more valued that enjoying creating for its own sake. Creativity and meditation are states of being, rather than states of doing. Let your mind show you the adventure of the moment.

creative practice, Creativity, inspiration, instinctive meditation, instinctive meditation, journaling, meditation, mindfulness, passion, perception, Personal Development, Personal growth, spirituality, writing

Dare the Wild Unknown

Adele Satori

I’ve been savouring this first stanza of Sutra 85, from “The Radiance Sutras” by Lorin Roche, PhD.

In trying something new, or even a fresh day, one can open one’s Self up to so much if an encounter, exploration, or a routine you’ve done a thousand time, is approached without layering expectations over the experience. I learn so much when I engage with something as if it is for the first time. Some of my best work has come when I haven’t been quite certain of what I am doing, and have the willingness to follow where events are leading me.

Here is the sutra in its entirety:
Toss aside your map of the world,
All your beliefs and constructs.
Dare the wild unknow.

Here in this terrifying freedom,
Naked before the universe,
Commune with the One
Who knows everything from the inside:
Invisible power pervading everywhere
Divine presence permeating everything.

Breathe tenderly as
The lover of all beings.

creative practice, Creativity, inspiration, instinctive meditation, meditation, mindfulness, music, passion, sensation, sound therapy

Surrender

Adele Satori
Enter a wordless mantra and enter a state of relaxed awareness.

One of the ways I enjoy being in the world is by creating music and art. Both the music and art in this video are my original creations.

This composition of mine has a theme of surrender. Often seen as “giving up”, there’s an opportunity to seeing surrender as giving over to a new way of being.

Surrender to grace.
Surrender to inner peace.
Surrender to a state of relaxed awareness- maybe even to a few moments of sleep.
Surrender to love with an open heart.

I hope you enjoy this offering of mine. Best with headphones, and not while driving or doing a task that requires focus for safety.

Attachment, creative block, creative practice, Creativity, focus, inspiration, Uncategorized

Improvisational Creativity

Adele Satori
Things I’ve had “forever” are finally meeting their purpose

A week or so ago, while looking for something completely different, I came across some hand made paper and shibori indigo-dyed fabric samples I created about thirty years ago. Thirty years?!?!! How the heck did that happen?

I looked at the two stacks, noticed that the colours were similar, shuffled them together, and an art project was born. I would make a book of them. From there, I decided to stitch on them, creating several independent works linked together.

Beyond that I really had no plan, and have re-ordered which page goes where several times. Each time I sit down I pick up a page and allow my imagination to wander. Sometimes making my imaginary self very small and exploring. Are there hidden images waiting to be seen? Maybe technique marks to be honoured. I have picked up needle and thread with no plan and stitch-scribbled my way around, enjoying what is being birthed between my hands.

I feel if I had taken a different and more studied approach, the results would be quite different. It would have a different rhythm and flow to it. I like surprising myself during the creative process, exploring the “what if I tried this”, mostly delighting in the results, and always learning, regardless of the outcome.

This kind of creative practice is so important. It can shake us out of habits and expand our creative vocabulary. We can unknowingly become complacent in our choreography, writing, music, or however we express ourselves, and end up repeating themes and patterns without even realizing it. It’s a beautiful thing, for example, to witness two dancers who’ve never danced together before explore a piece of music together, create something new, and deepen their own knowledge of their craft.

One thing I like to do when I feel creatively stuck is to explore a medium I’ve never tried before. The materials or process may have some basic “rules”, but there’s something about not even knowing what the rules are, experimenting, and discovering what happens.

If you’re building a new brand, or making an existing brand more relevant, what would it look like if it was a person? What kind of personality would it have? These kinds of characteristics could be an interesting exploration and could even do something like uncover a target demographic that hadn’t been considered. What conveys a recognizable identity for a product category, and yet stands out from other similar things/businesses?

Liberally use the cut/paste/relocate features if you’re writing on your computer… I did it just now! Or write chunks of a story/article/poem/song on post-its or paper and rearrange them. Have a conversation with that character that seems to adding to your block. Do your choreography backwards. Play a musical scale as if it was the most soulful piece of music ever written. Pretend you’re from another planet and just opened up your box of art supplies.

The idea is to explore freely without attachment to outcome. You’re not making “a thing”. There are no mistakes to be made, because you are exploring, learning and being in flow with the process.

Even with this project I’m playing with now. I had the thought this morning that I could keep adding to it as long as it’s in my possession or I exist. I can keep stitching on it, or add or subtract pages. What feels done now could call to me later for something else. I can gift a page to someone if I feel so moved. If someone else ends up with it, I hope they feel free to do the same.

This approach can expand to other areas of life- those that we may or may not see as creative. Take a different route between locations. Go on a grocery store treasure hunt by picking up the first ingredient you see and building a meal by picking one thing from each aisle (I just thought of this while thinking up examples- I think I’ll try it!)

No matter how you explore, make some time to disconnect from all devices and let your mind wander a bit. Your to do list might come up, or you’ll suddenly hear everything and that’s OK. Let it flow by. Eventually you might find yourself in a state of relaxed awareness. And what do you know? You’ve meditated, and maybe even had a day dream or two. Or come up with some ideas/answers. Or had a much needed nap!

My invitations to you this week:
If you write, what would your words look like in movement? Dance them out!
If movement is your jam, what does each movement sound like? Sing and sigh as you move and see where it goes.
f you create in two dimensions, focus on texture. Go for a walk, pick up five things, and create something. Or take a sketch, cut it up into random shapes and create something different. Better yet, buddy up, each cut up a sketch and then trade!
If you normally don’t think of yourself as creative, write down the first ten words that come into your head, even if they are: I can’t think of anything to write; this is stupid. Rearrange them into different sentences, maybe even a poem.

Let me know how it goes; I’m excited to hear what you discover!



focus, goal setting, passion, Personal Development, Personal growth, Uncategorized

Content, Connection, Goals, and Plans

Adele Satori
Things are not always what they appear to be on the surface
Photo by my friend Andrea.

The other day I was listening to a talk by Bradley T. Morris, a lifestyle and business design coach. He was describing one of his “AHA” moments. While sitting in Nature enjoying a sunset, he discovered he was already formulating a social media post rather than being absorbed in the moment. That realization was his inspiration to approach business in a completely different way. What a perfect example of how social media and online presence has taken over the lives of so many. Going through our days with an eye to creating content and capturing likes, follows, and share instead of fully embodying our experience.

Social media’s been mixed for me. I’ve definitely had moments when I take a picture or have a passionate flow of words come to me and think “Oh man! This will make a great post!” It’s also connected me to people I’ve come to call true friends, collaborators, teachers and mentors from all over the world I wouldn’t have had a chance to interact with otherwise. It’s provided an audience for my images, words, and music I might not have had. It’s inspired me to refine my photographic eye and hone other creative skills.

Being content-focused to me is living on the surface. It can take up a lot of energy, without a lot of reward for either the creator or consumer. Creating content with the goal of connection, though, has the potential to be inspirational and even interactive.

It’s important too, I feel to make sure the mission and message are aligned. That a subversive mission of gaining a following doesn’t dilute the offering.

In my own experience lately, I found I was expending a lot of effort in creating content in a way I thought would bring me passive income and potentially a large following. It. Was. All. So. Hard. I realized one day I had distracted myself from my original goal, which was (and still is) to find a way to share with others my joy of creative practice, and how it can contribute to making meaning.

To the point where even though a particular plan felt so uncomfortable, wrong, not “me”, I was pursuing it anyway. I had veered off the path of wanting to truly connect with others and holding space for them to make their own discoveries to healing, stillness, and celebration of this thing we call life.

Full.

Stop.

So, Adele, you may be thinking… what does all this have to do with goals and plans?

For one, the concepts of content, connection, goals, and plans have been tumbling around all together in my mind these past few weeks.

Let’s consider, for a moment, to look at both content and goals as intent. They can both be broad and vague. Examples could be: This topic is trending and I’m going to rehash it/share a meme. I want to increase clicks with this catchy headline. We will create a brand that will create excitement in a certain demographic. I want to write a best seller novel/song. I want to be a baseball player. I want to change my weight/fitness level. Goals are an expression of a desire. Sometimes they are realistic, and sometimes they are really more dreams than anything.

Plans are the action steps: I’m going to go a new provocative route with this trending topic, and these are the steps I’m taking. The headline is not just a teaser, but the content makes you want more. This month we will launch new packaging that’s more appealing to a demographic. I am scheduling time each day to devote to a pursuit, either for enjoyment or mastery. I am sitting down today to make my meal plan for how I want to eat. They connect (see? this is how my brain works!) the dream to reality. The route to achievement. A sense of meaning is being created. Good stuff!

I chose the image for this post because for me it’s both content and connection. It’s made from a butter box I was going to recycle. I turned it inside out, and created something different. From the outside, it’s not what it appears to be. It can hold anything. Rocks, slips of paper with words of encouragement. Or as it turned out, a pair of sock I knitted and gave to a friend because I started knitting them while staying with her when I had nowhere else to stay.

My invitation to you this week is to look at what you are putting out to the world. Are your message and mission in alignment? Are you creating value, or simply a scroll pause?