Profile

Katherine Scott is a creative change artist and songwriter, author and coach, who is living her mission to inspire people to liberate their creativity and express their essence in all areas of their lives.

Read the answers to some questions recently asked for a profile on the Cultural Creatives Blog.

1. Katherine, tell us a bit about yourself, your business, and/or your passions.
I call myself a creative change artist. My passions are writing and songwriting, learning, walking meditation in Pacific Spirit Park, interesting conversations with friends, feeling free to choose how I create each day, knowing I can make a difference in the world.

2. How did you get involved with writing an essay for Audacious Creativity?
Stephanie Gunning is on my mailing list. She emailed me one day and asked me if I was interested in contributing. Well, YES! Easy answer.

3. Share three interesting/crazy things about yourself.
I frequently wake and receive guidance at 4:44 am, I can manifest free books that are on my ‘must read’ list, and I volunteer at Ten Thousand Villages, a store that sells fair trade items.

4. What is the most courageous thing you’ve ever done? A 35-foot fire walk.

5. Name your top five books, movies, songs, musical groups, and/or websites. Are there any books or movies (genres) that you avoid?
My top five movies are Room with a View, the BBC production of Pride and Prejudice, Amelie, Shirley Valentine, and Field of Dreams.

6. Paul H. Ray coined the term Cultural Creative referring to people who tend to embrace change and feel a deep connection to the earth and environment and who want their work to have meaning and contribute to the upliftment of society. Do you feel you are a cultural creative? If so, why?
Yes, I do feel I’m a cultural creative. When I first heard the term a few years ago, some deep part of me said, “Aha, that’s what I am!” It felt like slipping into a comfortable pair of shoes.

7. What made you first want to become an artist, writer, a creator?
I actually started writing and songwriting later than most people. Prior to a personal awakening experience in 1999 I was usually behind the scenes supporting other people to be creative. Then I realized it was a form of hiding so I finally stepped forward myself.

8. Does spirituality play an important role in the creative process for you? If so, how?
I perceive no separation between the two. Creativity is spirit speaking directly through me and the essential me is more present in those moments than at any other time. The word spiritus actually means breath and it seems fitting that songwriting is a vital call of spirit for me because singing is supported by breath.
In my own experience there is a difference between religion and spirituality. I grew up in a religious home but our church never quite fit me. In the midst of my awakening experience in 1999 I realized I’d been living someone else’s experience of God. I was called to know my own personal spiritual experience and discovered in the moments of creation I am the closest I can be to pure spirit.

10. What three words best describe the feeling you get when your creativity is flowing? Timeless, connected, mystical.

13. Putting your vision into the world can be scary. Many of us wonder if we’re good enough. How do you respond to negative self-talk? What tools do you use to help work beyond your self-doubt?
I do meditation and visualization. I keep a journal with a form of writing called childspeak which a friend introduced me to. I sometimes do drawings with my non-dominant hand and then write about them.
I have several vision boards and a vision book which I review frequently. At the beginning of every year, I look back to the previous year to see what I’ve created, what I’ve changed my mind about, what is less or more important than it was the previous year, what I’m still not open to receiving.
Recently I’m learning to do spiritual mind treatment based on the teachings of Ernest Holmes. Michael Beckwith sums it up with these words. “There is only one. I’m it. Let it rip!” Love that.

15. Are there any archetypes (hero, warrior, goddess, messenger, trickster, fool, savior, wanderer, magician etc.) that you resonate with which you feel have helped guide you on your creative journey? Does someone or something sometimes act as your muse?
I resonate with the hero archetype because my own creative life has been a hero’s journey; the goddess because I’ve written a song about the return of the goddess energy; and the trickster who definitely lurks about and makes an appearance whenever I’m fearful of the speed of change in my life!
In answer to the question about a muse, I find it everywhere… a thought, a sentence in a book, an overheard comment….anything can trigger an inspiration. My job is to pay attention.

16. Are there any recurring motifs in your sleeping dreams, and if so, what do you think they symbolize? Is there a bigger message for you? Do your nighttime dreams ever spark your creativity?
I’ve kept a dream journal for years. Frequently my dreams will spark a new song, and dreams are also very much a part of a book I’m writing.
Before I go to sleep I’ll often ask for an answer in a dream to a question that’s puzzling me.
I’ll sometimes wake up with a new song in my head, (occasionally at a most inconvenient hour when I’d much rather still be sleeping!) and I’ll have to get up and get it down. When the inspirations are particularly insistent, I have to manifest them or lose them and that’s more important than a couple of hours of lost sleep.

17. In what ways do you promote your work?
I perform house concerts and I’m just starting to connect with new thought churches. I’m on Twitter and Facebook and have a blog on creativity and another coming soon called Voice of Destiny Music. I have several other websites for various things, voice tips, newsletters, etc. Don’t want to be bored!

19. What’s your favorite Internet tool either for promotion or enhancing your creativity?
My most recent creative discovery is Animoto. It’s so much fun! I’m making videos of some of my songs.

20. Cultural Creatives tend to want their work to impact society in a positive way. Is changing/improving society with your work part of your goal? If yes, please elaborate a bit on your vision.
Yes, that definitely is a huge part of my vision -in the area of music especially for two reasons. First I believe that the biggest gift I can give the world is to live my own best creative life because that makes me happy and therefore I’m creating a bridge for others to do the same. Secondly, the reason that music is so powerful is because it skips right through the internal filters that prevent us from becoming more self-aware, and goes right into the heart and the right brain. We become more open to insights about our own life experience through the song.

21. How do you decide which creative ideas to pursue?
I have a binder where I make a note of every idea I have. When it’s time to choose, I have a set of filtering questions I use to decide. It’s important to me that it’s a clear choice and not a reaction to certain circumstances so when I’m thinking about any idea, I want to have yes answers to all three questions.
1. Does it align with my mission?
2. Does it move me forward toward my vision?
3. Does it make my heart sing?