When we look to create our lives moment to moment and yes, even movement to movement we are challenging ourselves to grow in who we are. Looking back on the 18 months that this Blog has been active, I found that something on the inner level has been guiding my steps and growth so that I do not go faster than I am able.
I wish to write today on the Three Phases of this Simple Books online publishing.
The First Phase was like dipping my toe in the water.
This is for those who are not sure they will be successful in putting their voice into the world. We start with what might seem "quaint" to some, but in truth it is formed from the most basic building blocks. Words and Shapes.
That is writing and art, is it not?
We are so blessed to have language as part of our lives. I am so blessed to have been born into a creative family with our head of household - The Artist. Even before feminism, my mother was a practicing feminist. She had better skills with money than any of us and used her annuity to buy the first family home in Colorado. From there, she and my father built a container for all 4 children. That container allowed us to become independent in our efforts to connect with life.
Because everyone on the planet has issues, it is better to put those aside and come from the most common denominator. Do you have 2 eyes, 2 ears, 1 nose, 1 mouth? Then you are the same as me. Everything else after that is secondary and would be better left to sort out at another time.
The first 5 blog posts lay the foundation of Phase One. [Do You Love To Write?; Do You Love to Draw?; Can You Use A Computer?; Start Small And Grow and Uplifting Our World With Our Words]
In Phase Two we looked at never having to monetize who we are to be creative and purposeful. Our currency is our generosity. We have online publishers to do the heavy lifting so we can see our work in a beautifully laid out form.
Apple iBooks and others hold our revenue stream and release it to us in small increments, thus assuring that creativity comes first. All monetary transactions are secondary to the creation of a book.
And in Phase Two, you now have a way to ask personal questions of yourself: What is it the Big Idea, the Hope, and the Dream that your life will become in time? You have a platform in place to share with an audience.
There is a gentle way to live like this and create and this will instantly nourish your being, reduce anxiety around the creative process and build a new Self-Image. This new Self-Image will gain in confidence and allow you to reach out ever further from the safety of your words and art.
[Blog Posts for Phase Two: What Is The Real Cost To Reach Out With Our Gifts? Publishing Through Apple iBooks - The eBook Comes To Life; Our Currency Is Generosity; What’s The Big Idea? and Hygge - Finding Your Gentle Voice]
Phase Three will also have 5 blog posts. They are not planned too far in advance. This Phase focuses on the larger container of our Lives. What purpose or direction are you using to inform your choices. How are you able to continue to express yourself in the world?
Somehow over the course of 18 months I have changed the blog and the blog has changed me. I found an inner purpose to keep me going and getting up each day to create content. This feels like what George Harrison called “How to Unfold Your Love”. That is not the song title, but the theme he was exploring is how we got turned around and were not able to share the certainty of the Love we all hold inside. The song title is “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.”
It seems to me that it is this unfolding that will help guide the direction of our creative lives, nourish our being, and make connections in the world. I believe these connections create a “flow” from our lives to the lives of others. Perhaps the ripples created by the connections will go on and on. Perhaps they will be full of goodness.
To enter the creative flow, there are many paths to use. The one I like is the one of Interdependence. His Holiness The XIV Dalai Lama has informed my way of being for a long time and here are his simple words to enter the flow.
“The interdependence of all things is …the truth. By accepting this, we reduce grasping and so reduce attachment. At this point, anger will automatically reduce. This is, of course, part of the reduction of attachment to any particular outcome.”
It is that reduction of attachment to any particular outcome in which I am interested. Letting go of visualizing an outcome, I allow the energy of interdependence to flow into the nooks and crannies of my project. Then I will know which steps to take. The steps to let my work go into the world.
Simple but not so easy.
II have read a lot in my life. My father had the Heritage Library and we were encouraged to explore and read anything in the collection that we wished. I have looked at three authors that I can align with in certain aspects of my creative life. I list them below with a link to each one.
There are three women writers that I admire. I have studied with the first two and am exploring some of the methods of the third:
Are we writing first words as Natalie Goldberg teaches.
Are we serving the story as Leslie Marmon Silko teaches
Are we entering into a space of “Sense Writing” as Madelyn Kent teaches.
I wonder if these truths can free our creativity to flow without blockages?
If we are without blockages, do we enter into pure expression?
