“To be creative means to be in love with life.
You can be creative only if you love life enough that you want to
enhance its beauty, you want to bring a little more music to it, a
little more poetry to it, a little more dance to it.”
–Osho
It’s my pleasure to share a guest article with you today by best-selling author, creative success expert, and creativity coach, Gail McMeekin, MSW.
Her article, “Honoring Your Inspirations,” is excerpted from her first book, The 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women: A Portable Mentor, which has been my personal “portable creative mentor” for years.
I was very honored to have Gail contribute her fabulous MP3 Workshop, “Overcoming Creative Obstacles” to our Soul Retreat Gift Pack. (You can scroll down below to learn how to obtain your gift!)
I hope you enjoy Gail’s article as much as I have!
“Honoring Your Inspirations”
by Gail McMeekin
The journey to life purpose begins with a dance with your creative self. The answers are within you if you engage with your inspirations and dare to follow your fascinations. In order to access your creativity, you must validate and capture your inspirations. These inspirations are precious seedlings awaiting nurturance which will shine the light on the pathway to expressing your true self and partnering with your passions.
It all begins with attraction. Creative inspirations seduce us with the power of a magnet. They lure you, charm you, tempt you, and captivate your attention. Whether it’s an idea, a notion, a hunch, a whim, an impulse, a thought, an intuition, a sensation, or a feeling, an inspiration can be any stimulus that pulls you into your creative self. Like passion, creative attractions can be tantalizing. Uniquely yours, inspirations invite you into the world of creative possibility. How do you respond when an inspiration beckons? Do you accept the invitation or discount it? By honoring a personal impulse and following where it leads, creativity is born.
In my correspondence with cantadora, Jungian analyst, and author Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés, best known for her blockbuster book, Women Who Run with the Wolves, when I asked her to describe her creative awakening, she replied: “I was born awake in this one way. In my opinion, anyone born in a creatively awakened condition deserves both congratulations and condolences.” To the question, “Where do you get your ideas,” she responded: “I do not have ideas. Ideas have me.” Inviting your creative inspirations into your consciousness alters the course of your life. Being willing to be creatively awake is a choice and not always an easy one. If we choose to invest in our creative self, challenges lie in wait. If we follow our inspirations, we align ourselves with our life force and pursue a path that emanates from our very being.
Inspiration is not just the domain of the ingenious. As innovation consultant Pam Moore says, ” We all have the software to be creative; we’ve just forgotten how to use it.” By keeping our intuitive channels and our senses open to discovery, we can capture our unique inspirations. However, that’s easier said than done. In the madness of this frantic workaholic era, it is far too easy to rush by the roses and never see the world around you. Too many women are overwhelmed by the awesome responsibilities of home, work, and relationships, and have lost touch with their creative voice.
In order to relate to your environment and capture your innocent thoughts or visions, you need to listen, observe, and stay centered. This capacity to linger in the unknown and see what happens is the passage to your creative self.
In addition to receptivity and time, we must also grant ourselves the freedom to play creatively. Painter Michelle Cassou, founder of an original approach to creative painting described in her book, Life, Paint, and Passion, and co-founder of The Painting Experience Studio in San Francisco, urges aspiring creatives to “recover the capacity to invent that you had as a child.” In fact, as a young French woman, Michelle searched unsuccessfully for the right art school and was even advised to give up painting. Luckily, at the age of nineteen, she discovered The Free Expression School in Paris for children ages five to fourteen and wept with delight. Forsaking traditional art school, Michelle simply painted with the children for three and a half years, basking in their freedom and lack of judgment. As a result, she unlocked her own creative potential. Today, her collection of paintings is breathtaking and she continues to paint prolifically. When she moved to America, she opened The Painting Experience workshops where she offers the richness of uncensored expression to all participants. Had Michelle not listened to her attraction for painting and surmounted the obstacles in her path, including academics telling her to quit, she would have forsaken her true work and her inner self. Continue Reading…
Copyright Gail McMeekin. All Rights Reserved.
I’d love to hear your thoughts and comments on Gail’s article! Please scroll down and leave your comments below.
And, if you haven’t already done so, be sure to pick up your special package of inspirational goodness exclusively for our Daily Soul Retreat Newsletter Subscribers — a “Soul Retreat Gift Pack” filled with over $300 worth of Ecourses, Ebooks, Audio Workshops and Meditations, donated by our awesome SoulfulLiving.com authors. If you aren’t already subscribed, click here for all the details. If you are already subscribed, watch your Daily Soul Retreats for all the details.
Wishing you a purposeful and passionately creative day!!
Soulfully,
Valerie Rickel, Founder
SoulfulLiving.com
