Creativity and Spirituality: the Enduring Path

"What if you knew that the impulse to move in a way that creates beauty in the world will arise from deep within and guide you every time you simply pay attention and wait? How would this shape your stillness, your movement your willingness to follow the impulse to just let go and dance?" ~Oriah Mountain Dreamer

Most of us see ourselves as the accumulation of stories defined by our role in the outer world.
These stories can be ones of success and hold moments of joy, feelings of being alive, worthy, respected and loved. Paradoxically, even when the outer world stories are positive, what we mistakenly believer are the deeper truths invariably seep in. We think to ourselves things such as:
We put on a good face to overcompensate
We feel this to a greater or lesser extent, and there are ways that we “put on a good face” to over-compensate for our fears of being "found out." Inside, however, we fall victim again and again to the fraud and imposter syndrome that that convinces us we are terrible people, unworthy, shameful, stupid... whatever is your false version of self.

Most people never awaken to the fact that the self they secretly condemn is not the real Self. It is the small, ego self. Perhaps you are nodding as you read this, thinking, yes, yes, I know this about my ego. But there seems little I can do to affect change. 

You can’t force self-change.
You can’t even understand it. You can only have the experience and feel the embrace of True Self. 

1. Your True Self never condemns or hides. 
2. Your True Self is filled with compassion, joy and unconditional love. 
3. Your True Self doesn’t categorize what happens in life as good or bad. All is part of the adventure, part of your path and another opportunity for growth. 
4. Your True Self never hides. It is your ego self that can spend a lifetime hiding from True Self. 

The multifaceted journey of creativity is not limited to the arts.
Creativity is not an end in itself. Creativity is a path from which the journey of life is explored, the mystery embraced. The multifaceted journey of creativity is not limited to the arts. There is another level of creativity that beckons, awakening us to the deeper truth of who we are, or who we would be. This is the journey of soul, an ancient quest central to the great myths and integral to the creative process. Then creativity is synonymous with life itself and a powerful source for personal spiritual growth and healing.

Anorexic Creativity...

"One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious." ~ Carl Jung

Everyone has a shadow, much of which was created in childhood when our need for love and protection caused us to reject parts of us deemed shameful, unworthy or dangerous by family, teachers, religious leaders, friends and even our enemies. These disowned parts of us were exiled to the darkest depth of our unconscious, hidden from the world and often from ourselves.

This is a huge problem, for the shadow is a powerful part of us. We cannot will it away or think that it remains subdued just because we have forgotten its existence.

Change terrifies us. Fear grips us. I didn’t ask for this. Why am I always the victim of the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune?

When fear steps in...
Even when we are hungering for the change, fear steps in and makes the change seem impossible.

The truth is You, the True You, knows that there is nothing to fear. The True You came into life for the adventure of life and knows fear is part of the journey,
but doesn’t take it as fire breathing dragon appears to be.

The True You knows that illness, loss of a job or relationship, a betrayal, an illness and death are a clarion call to change! Yet fear is feels very real. It isn't. Fear is the fire breathing paper Dragon set off by the ego.

Change is the core of life. Terrified or not, change happens, all the time.



Art by Daniel B. Holeman  http://www.awakenvisions.com/

The Inner Journey demands the bravery of the Spiritual Warrior
The inner journey is not for the faint of heart and it demands the bravery of the spiritual warriors who, as the 14th century Persian mystic, Haifiz, said, “tame the beasts in their pasts so that the knights hoofs can no longer break the jeweled vision in the heart.”

Imagine if we saw our journey through life as
one that protected “the jeweled vision of the heart.”

The Erotic Embrace...

When seriousness is a drag...
I have to admit, I have a very, very serious side. All work, no fun... that sort of thing. And all too often, that side of me takes control of my life. It makes even my creative endeavors feel like chores. It makes my life a big drag.

I'm pretty tired of that part of me, and it's why I am exploring happiness. Exploring it with a new-found passion that has opened a unexpected entryways into enjoying life. I find I am feeling more creative and actually laughing more.

When the mind-rage takes over
The other day I was in a meeting with my husband and son about a business we have been developing for a very long time. I was interested, listening, participating, and all of a sudden my mind took me to "fear." It shouted, "This is the same old, same old!" "This business will never open!"  "This so-called business is going to put us in the poor house."

Listening to my mind-raging fear scenario, I felt my anger rising at an exponential rate.. It was all I could do not to say something to my husband and son, something which would have been bitter and destructive. I didn't want to do that. And then I remembered "happiness."

Me, My Mother and My Daughter, Natasha

I can't go, I told myself. I can't face this...
My mother died in early December. She was 91 years old, living in a nursing home and slipping rapidly into dementia. On a late Wednesday afternoon, she was taken to the hospital with an infection that had came on quite suddenly. The doctors felt that without intervention, which she had made clear she did not want, she would die. Still, when I got the call, my first inclination was, I can't go to the hospital. Not tonight. Long Island is too far away and I am exhausted. I was exhausted. It all brought up too much "stuff" around my mother and our very difficult relationship.

Changing my mind....
I told my sister, I would come in the morning. My sister accepted my decision, but I knew she needed me. I heard it in her voice. I called her back and said I was coming. My husband offered to drive me to the hospital, but I insisted it would be better for him to stay home with the dogs... so we didn't have to worry about them. And I knew this was a time for me, my sister and my mother...