Creating in the middle of things is admittedly not easy and often difficult, fraught with all kinds of risks and fears and do-ability issues. If “Just do it NOW!” doesn’t push you to take action, then you may need to work on some strategies to help yourself get moving. In Coaching the Artist Within, creativity […]
According to creativity expert Eric Maisel’s Coaching the Artist Within, we must all learn to create in what he terms “the middle of things” — things being both external and internal constraints limiting what we believe we can accomplish. Facing External and Internal Barriers Certainly we must create while life goes on, whether we face […]
If you are a creative person and you are internally driven to passionately make meaning as Eric Maisel describes in his creativity book, Coaching the Artist Within, then you are a good candidate for developing what he calls “positive obsession” and “mitigated mania” in the course of doing your creative work. Positive Obsession, Negative Obsession […]
In Coaching the Artist Within, creativity expert Eric Maisel discusses the mental energy required to create. Unlike physical energy which is based on food/sleep inputs, mental energy depends on your interest, passion, desire, concern – the intensity you apply to creating. Your mental energy is depleted by mental activity, including creating – and not creating! […]
According to Eric Maisel, psychologist, creativity expert and author of Coaching the Artist Within, the antidote to self-sabotaging negative self-talk is training yourself to stop the wrong-thinking and start thinking right. In other words, he recommends replacing block-inducing anxious self-talk with affirmations. You may be familiar with affirmations from other creativity books such as Julia […]
Although he has devoted a lot of time and energy to studying, writing about and coaching creative people, Eric Maisel’s life work, in my estimation, is all about helping people learn the skill he terms “passionately making meaning” – or living according to their stated life purpose. He explains how to develop your own statement […]
If you have ever said I’m “too old” to chase my dream or too this or too that … I have two words for you: Susan Boyle. We have all kinds of rational and irrational reasons to justify why we can’t create today or this week or whatever. But sometimes, even though all that may […]
In The Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron points out that creativity is a full bodied, sensual experience to be celebrated. Heightening or intensifying the physical effects of your immediate environment to enrich the sensory experience will help honor, affirm and trigger your creativity. Your Creativity is Worthy of a Special Place Setting aside a specific room […]
Julia Cameron urges us to devise a personal creative haven, complete with an altar to our creativity, plus creativity rituals. This “safe zone” offers a tangible physical connection to our creativity and rituals keep us spiritually centered, grounded, palpably linked to our creativity. It is important to note that the full title for Julia Cameron’s […]
Apparently the powers that be have named April National Poetry Month. The nice helpful elves over at The New York Times put together a nifty cheat sheet to help us get our poetry on. The catch is, at least to my mind, that every one of these quick poetry tips and starters depends on you […]