by Katherine on February 3, 2010
I just enjoyed a fabulous week on a cruise ship. The cabin that I was in on the starboard side of the ship (that’s the right side, for all non-nautical people like me). Standing on the verandah, I spent a fair amount of time just watching the boat cut through the water, creating wave after wave as it took us closer to each destination.
It made me think of a session that I had with my coach several months ago where she compared the bow wave – the first wave that ripples out from the bow of the ship – to the reason behind the day to day choices I make.
For me my bow wave is creativity. It’s the constant that flows through my projects, my friendships, my financial situation, my resources, my outlook on life.
It’s the why behind my what.
Bow waves don’t happen when boats stay in the safety of the harbour. Waves rock the boat. They shake things up. They ripple out to the vast ocean, disturbing the surface of the water.
The same is true of creativity. Creativity demands more of us than playing it safe. It shakes things up. It takes us to different destinations and makes us view life from a different perspective. It requires course corrections. It makes our completed projects different from what anyone else in the universe would create, even if they started with the same idea.
Creativity isn’t just about producing something artistic. It’s about taking creative inspiration and flowing it through your business, your book, your article, your day, your conversations. It’s about enjoying life by playing with ideas. It’s about knowing that your thought is creative and choosing what you will do or won’t do.
Celebrate and ride the bow wave!
by Katherine on June 17, 2009
The process of receiving inspiration is fascinating and mysterious.
Sometimes creations arrive like they’re trains running behind schedule. They rush in with fanfare and fury, and if we don’t move quickly they’ll leave the station without us. In those moments I’m scrambling for paper and pencil to get the idea down before I lose it. I’ve written complete songs in less than an hour and it feels like I’m merely the transcriber.
At other times inspiration sneaks in like a shy friend and we hardly notice it at first. Even though we’re aware there’s something buzzing around in the brain, unless we give our attention to the quiet voice it might just as easily sneak out again. (Have you ever had an idea that you didn’t follow through on, and then hear about others who manifested the same idea? Me too.)
Inspiration can arrive like a dripping tap. A little piece here, another tiny piece there. I’ve had songs arrive in installments like this and take weeks to write. Drip, drip, drip.
Right now I have a song in search of a lyric. I’ve been playing the song with its harmony and its melody for weeks, expecting the lyric to arrive any day now. Nothing! I don’t even know what the subject of the song is.
Some arrive with attitude with a capital A. They demand entry into our consciousness and will not be ignored. They insist on waking us up in the middle of the night, and force us out of bed to write them down. Okay, okay, OKAY! Then they benevolently allow us to go back to sleep.
We never know which way the inspiration will come. We can only accept that they do. Our part is to be present, to listen and to play our part in the creation. We learn to love the mystery so we wouldn’t want it any other way.
by Katherine on April 16, 2009
One week ago the name Susan Boyle wouldn’t have meant anything to most people in the world. But that’s changed and how!
Her name is now synonymous with phenomenal.
If you haven’t heard about her or watched the video on You Tube, it is not to be missed.
Two days ago, 3 million people had watched Susan sing I Dreamed a Dream from Les Miserables. Today the video has been seen by 12 million. And I’m wondering how many of those 12 million have watched it multiple times like me? (And cried every time like me?)
Watching someone live their biggest dream is something that touches us all. We can all identify with Susan as she reminds us that we have dreams too.
Now I’m waiting to see just who steps forward and hires her as a musical theatre star. Line forms to the right!
by Katherine on April 14, 2009
I love metaphors. They make things easy to understand. So a pie is my metaphor for today’s post.
Coaches, authors, mastermind groups, and other leaders recommend that naming and balancing all the various aspects of your life can help you live a more joyful life. They list things like family, relationships, financial resources, business and career, and personal and spiritual development. And yes, it’s easy to see how all those things fit into the pie.
I’d like to invite you to add creativity as a separate category all on its own. In your life pie, does creativity have its own piece? Do you practise creativity on a regular basis?
Let’s go a little further with this idea. What if you substituted the word innovation for the word creativity? How about insights? New ideas? Wouldn’t daily insights make a huge difference to your business or personal life?
If how we’re creative was as high a priority as say, how we make money, wouldn’t that change our world perspective? Think about it.
The lines separating the pieces of pie are much more delineated than the lines separating the various parts of our life. Things tend to blend together and the same is true of creativity….there’s no doubt you are bringing your own ability to create into all the parts of your life.
But if you did make it a separate category, what do you think would happen to all those other categories?
Certainly food (or pie) for thought!
by Katherine on February 19, 2009
Do you think your success and joy in life depends upon how creative you are and how willing you are to act boldly on your creative ideas?
Many people do, and in Audacious Creativity: 30 Ways to Liberate Your Soulful Creative Energy—and How It Can Transform Your Life, compiled and edited by my friend Stephanie Gunning, you will meet 30 notable professionals who share their creative stories on how to make better decisions, design a vision for a fulfilling future, overcome the fear of self-expression, access your inner genius, get into the flow of universal energy, manifest wealth, raise good kids, enjoy optimal health, and lead an energized lifestyle.
My personal contribution, “The Creative Voice—A Bridge Between the Tangible and the Intangible,” appears on p. 29 in the book.
The search to understand what it means to be a human being in a complex world is constant. The phrase “audacious creativity” comes from the recognition that it takes a good deal of heart and guts to live as a bold and unfettered creator. It is audacious to dream out loud or speak your truth. It is audacious to be original, colorful, and sincere.
It’s easy to find yourself having the same conversations, handling the same types of projects, facing the usual challenges and coming up with the accustomed solutions in everyday life. But predictability is the death of creativity. It dulls our perception and problem-solving ability. The only problem is that we often have no conception of how to begin to stimulate our senses or liberate ourselves from a predictable routine.
Audacious Creativity will inspire you to be a “working creator”—to learn to study your character and develop specific processes for being the person that is uniquely you. You don’t get fooled as easily as you once would have by your mind’s puzzles. Your spiritual and humanitarian toolkit expands. You get more resourceful, and, in time, you understand how to move yourself through states of being. You realize how to support yourself to handle change and how to be successful at simply being you.
The transformative creative journeys of these 30 highly creative people from many different fields will provide the inspiration for you to take your own journey. Learn techniques, rituals, visualizations, and proven courses of action that can help you to prepare your body, mind, spirit, and home for audacious creation.
Isn’t it time that you allowed your own bright light to shine in the world—audaciously?
You have the right to be bold!
(Thanks to Stephanie Gunning for providing much of the content of this article.)
by Katherine on January 30, 2009
When inspiration calls, it may not always be at the most convenient time.
This morning at 6:15 (when I’m usually still pleasantly flying in never never land!) I was wide awake and sitting at my digital piano, earphones plugged in, working on a song. Although it might have been nice to sleep until my usual time (7 or 7:30) I knew I had to get up and work on the song because that was when the song was coming to me.
Was I dreaming the words and music before I woke up? I don’t really remember. I only knew I was compelled by something stronger than my need for more sleep.
Lots of stories exist about people going to sleep wanting a solution to the problem and waking up with the answer. It makes sense that it would happen. When our conscious mind (you know, the one with the ‘to do’ list) is asleep then our creative, dreaming, all-knowing mind is free to wander in a non-linear fashion and connect to our source of divine inspiration.
Authors could have thought of an idea for a new book; managers a business solution; teachers a new course; architects a plan for a building. The possibilities are endless.
This morning by 8 am I had a complete new song; words and music. If I hadn’t gotten up, two things might have happened. One, the words and melodies would have been in my head all day, bugging me, saying, “stop what you’re doing, pay attention, WRITE ME DOWN.”
Or two, I would have lost the new song.
Definitely worth a little less sleep.
What creative ideas would you lose sleep over?
by Katherine on December 12, 2008
This week on my mastermind call we were all marveling at the fact that once again we are all in the same place.
Here is what we all recognize: instead of creating something new using an old familiar process, we want to create a new process, something completely unique that we’ve not done before.
What’s the difference?
It’s the buzz, the energy, the juiciness in the act of creating. It’s the longing for our imaginations to take wing.
What’s juicy for you?
