Fire and creative rejuvenation "The element that we need to call on in both the rejuvenation and origination phases is fire. In rejuvenation, fire is about burnout. It's how we sometimes feel when a project is done, and it's what we sometimes need to do in order to regenerate and grow something new.

"In origination, fire is all about passion, action, danger, risk and confrontation. Think about running across hot coals. Haven't there been times you'd rather do that than face an empty canvas, stage, computer screen or page? "What are some ways that make you feel connected with your fiery self? What gets your heart rate up? For some it's exercise, for some it's drumming, for others it's sitting down to a spicy meal." > from article Going With the Ebb and Flow: The Creative Cycle, by Linda Dessau > image from book Dancing in the Flames, by Jungian analyst Marion Woodman

~ ~ ~

7 Easy Creative Rituals to Spark Your Imagination and Inspire Your Soul - By Nancy Marmolejo
Creativity is a mysterious force that visits us with great ideas, new ways of seeing the world and the courage to do things differently. Revitalizing your creative talents will help you in the most unexpectedly wonderful ways: a new business idea, a renewed commitment to self-care, an appreciation for the beauty that lies all around us. Finding a small bit of time each day to feed this force will not only reward you with increased creativity, but also an expanded sense of appreciation and gratitude for the creative process.

7 Tax Tips For Artists - by Linda Dessau, the Self-Care Coach
With tax season coming upon us, I decided to sit down with Amanda Mills of Loose Change, Inc. and capture some of the wisdom she's gained in over 20 years experience as a financial and business management consultant for artists.

7 Things Sapping Your Creativity Right Now - By Linda Dessau
As my publication deadline got closer and I could no longer wait until I “felt” like writing an article, I was forced to sit down and do it. In doing it, I thought about the last month, and I identified seven things that have gotten in the way of my creativity. Maybe you’ll see yourself in some of these.

10 Ways to Thrive as a Creative Artist - by Linda Dessau
1. Connect with your DREAM – Indulge yourself in a vision of the bigger picture and get out of the mire of self-doubt, details and challenges of today. What’s the purpose of it all? What are you working towards?...
2. Connect with your “INNER ARTIST” - That part of you that's naturally exuberant, joyful, free in its pure expression of creative thought; undamaged, unhindered, unencumbered. .....

About Creativity Coaching - by Eric Maisel, PhD
By creativity coaching I mean the activity of one person helping another person with every aspect of that person's creative life, including the psychological, emotional, existential, and practical problems that arise as a client tries to create.

Accessing Genius - by Sharon Good
For most of us, when we think of "genius," Einstein or Mozart comes to mind. Certainly not ourselves. We see genius as the domain of the elite -- the extremely smart or extremely talented. In "Power vs. Force: The Hidden Determinants of Human Behavior," David Hawkins says that genius resides within all of us, that the processes of creativity and genius are inherent in human consciousness.

Acting on your creativity by Douglas Eby
"When you begin to act on your creativity, what you find inside may be more valuable than what you produce for the external world." That quote from the book "Claiming Your Creative Self: True Stories from the Everyday Lives of Women" by Eileen M. Clegg is a reminder that creativity is an exploration of our psyche, our inner selves - that it isn't just about being identified as an "artist" producing a "work of art."

The Alchemy of Art - by Douglas Eby
Creative expression can transform painful reactions and situations, providing strength and understanding to change how we feel and interact with the world. Works of art made by others can remodel our inner realities. Some think art needs to have that kind of impact to be worthwhile. Franz Kafka wrote, “I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and stab us.. that affect us like a disaster... A book must be the axe for the frozen sea inside us.”

AND I'm an artist: Art as a hobby - by Linda Dessau
The word hobby evokes an image of something you love to do, something you ache for when you're sitting as your desk looking out at the window at a sunny day, something you never seem to have quite enough time for. So why is it that some people call art a hobby, and some people don't? And do the ones who are doing art as a hobby have more freedom, relaxation, and fun? While the rest of us "serious artists" only run into creative roadblocks once we step off the hobby train and put on the "artist" hat?

Apple Seeds, Wabi-Sabi, and Appearances - by Eric Maisel, PhD
Somewhere I read that the imperfections in Victorian windows are known as apple seeds. We are also familiar with the idea of wabi-sabi, the Zen aesthetic that honors that nothing lasts, that nothing is finished, and that nothing is perfect. Intellectually, as artists we are easy with the wisdom of apple seeds and wabi-sabi. Viscerally, however, we can hardly tolerate such shortfalls. They make us want to scream.

Are You Settling? - by Valerie Young
Settling is not the same as compromise. ... When you settle, you unwittingly or wittingly check your true needs, desires, feelings, and gifts at the door. By settling you're essentially telling yourself, "This is the best I can do." You don't even try to get your needs met, or realize your true desires, or express your feelings, or bring your gifts into the world because you either don't think a) it's possible or b) that you deserve to get what you want. The "pathological optimist" in me is here to tell you that far more is possible than you think and everyone -- including you -- deserves to go after what they want.

Art and power - by Robert Genn
Many artists have told me art gives them a purchase on the  universe and their reason for being. Like me, in childhood they  often found themselves unable to compete in more socially  acceptable ways. Art gave them a place to be.

"Attraction": What We Attract With Our Creative Choices - by Linda Dessau
We should consciously choose and be aware of what we're expressing. AND, as an experiment, we can choose to try and manifest what we want by describing THAT in our art, instead of focusing on expressing our feelings about what we don't.

Awakening the Senses - by Linda Dessau, the Self-Care Coach
The "Sensazione" chapter of the book, "How to think like Leonardo da Vinci", by Michael Gelb, is dedicated to re-awakening and sharpening each of the five senses: sight, sound, smell, taste and touch. As artists, we get to play in the land of the senses as often as we allow ourselves to. And our gift to the world is that we help others to engage their senses through what we create.

Barbara DeAngelis: 'Emotional Courage: The Courage to Live Passionately' - interview by Janet Attwood
Harold Whitman described why passion is so important to all of us when he said, “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and then go and do that, because what the world needs are people who have come alive.” Barbara DeAngelis is one of the most influential teachers of our time in the field of relationships and personal growth.

Befriending Your Creativity - By Jennifer Louden
Self-care and creativity are best friends -- one cannot exist without the other. Yet we don't often think about befriending, romancing, inveigling our creativity. For years, I've been actively researching and experimenting with ways to make creating effortless, joyful, and fun. Here are three ways I use to create... See what you think.

Being A Role Model - by Douglas Eby 
Role models can be examples of how to discover and realize your own unique talents, and inspiration to do more, to be more authentic. A number of prominent actors and other people admired as role models have commented about being responded to that way, and about their own choices.

Being bold by Douglas Eby
Actress Judy Davis has said, "To pursue acting... needed a fair degree of willfulness... I grew up in quite an oppressive Catholic society. In order to survive that, you either had to be willful or risk losing touch with yourself." To be realized, creative ideas often need this kind of boldness.

Being Creative All the Time - by Jennifer Louden
By playing with how we see the situations that we feel powerless in, by remembering we are always observing and shaping our observations, based on our history, our biology, our mood, our beliefs, and much more -- brings us to the ultimate creative place -- we get to choose.

Being Creative and Self-critical - by Douglas Eby
Healthy criticism can help refine our talents and creative projects in the pursuit of excellence. But when it is based on a excessive perfectionism or an unrealistic self concept, criticism can be destructive and self-limiting, eroding our creative assurance and vitality.

The Body: A Strong House for Your Creativity - By Linda Dessau
In the chapter, "Corporalita: The cultivation of grace, ambidexterity, fitness, and poise", of his book, "How to think like Leonardo da Vinci", Michael Gelb describes Da Vinci's practices and attitudes about wellness and physical fitness. He invites us to explore and apply many principles.

Body Image and Creative Expression - by Douglas Eby
It isn’t just about “looking good” or about eating disorders, body image relates to our identity, how we think about and accept ourselves. And our self concept directly or indirectly affects how much access we have to the open awareness and emotional energy we need for creating.

Bring Your Creativity Home: the art of micro-decorating - by Marney K. Makridakis
Perhaps nothing else influences our general mood and productivity more than our home environment. If you are looking to bring more creativity to your life, sprucing up your living space is an easy way to do it. There are lots of small, easy actions you can take right now to instantly amp up the creative juice in your home.

Coaching Creativity: 7 Lessons From Artists - by Suzanne Falter-Barns
I've discovered that the reason more people don't express themselves is not because they can't -- but because they don't realize how universal their fears are, and how necessary their work is in the world. In short, they suffer from a lack of information. It's the very same information all of us writers, artists, entrepreneurs, and other dreamers uncover as we return to our dreams...

The Company of Women - by Douglas Eby 
Many actresses and other gifted women have said they have found in the company of women on a film set a kind of safety and comfort that is releasing, that helps enhance their talents.

Courting Your Life - by Marney K. Makridakis
It’s usually not possible for us to drop everything else to focus on a love affair with our creative pursuits.  We engage in lives of dissection, where our real life is “here” and our creative love - the fun stuff - is “over there”.  How can we bridge the gap so that we spend more and more moments feeling the drive and energy that we feel when engaged with our passions?

Creating to be Authentic by Douglas Eby
"Creativity comes from a desire to express the true self." Gloria Steinem
Art has often been isolated and considered precious, something only official artists do. In her book "Revolution From Within" Gloria Steinem notes that "most art in the world does not have a capital 'A,' but is a way of turning everyday objects into personal expressions."

Creative addiction - by Robert Genn
Yesterday Carol Ubben of Mt. Morris, Illinois, wrote: "I've met many artist friends from around the world. Lately we have been discussing how addictions affect creativity...” ... When people make a conscious decision to eliminate an undesirable habit, things get adventurous and rebirth happens. Creative people come alive when they find novelty within themselves.

Creative Communities – Why A Life Of Creativity Needn't Be Lonely - By Dan Goodwin
Being someone who is highly creative and consistently brave enough to seek new ways of tapping into that creativity can sometimes feel like a lonely venture... Think of Einstein, Da Vinci, Newton, Edison, Shakespeare, Mozart... But none of them truly did it on their own. Each had their own teachers, mentors and heroes. Each had colleagues and peers, a close network of people around them to encourage them, stimulate them and share ideas with.

Creative Imagination - By Steven Gillman
Creative imagination is more than just active imagination. To be able to actively imagine things, to see and hear things in one's mind, is an important ability. It doesn't have to involve much creativity, though, does it? Daydreaming, for example, is a process of imagination. It can consist of an elaborate fantasy world, but one full of all the things that many people think about. Creative imagination, then, has to include the ability not just to imagine things, but to imagine original things.

Creative Juice : page 1 - A Dozen Key Lessons for Creative Dreamers - by Suzanne Falter-Barns
Lesson One: The Hallmarks of Genius ; Lesson Two: How Sex and Creativity Connect
Lesson Three: How (and Why) to Be Patient ; Lesson Four: How to Manage Rejection 
Lesson Five: A Great Way to Cut Expenses ; Lesson Six: Avoid Creative Anorexia 

Creative Juice : page 2 - A Dozen Key Lessons for Creative Dreamers - by Suzanne Falter-Barns
Lesson Seven: Sure-Fire Creativity Inducers - Drumming; Dance; Visual Art Performing; Meditation
Eight: Take Your Dream to Lunch; Nine: Just Ask ;  Ten: What Skiing Can Teach You about Your Dreams
Eleven: How to Make a Comeback ; Twelve: Protecting Your Dream at Dysfunctional Family Get-Togethers

Creative people more open to stimuli from environment - University of Toronto news release
Researchers showed that creative individuals are much more likely to have low levels of latent inhibition, remaining in contact with information constantly streaming in from the environment. “Low levels of latent inhibition and exceptional flexibility in thought might predispose to mental illness under some conditions and to creative accomplishment under others."

Creative self hypnosis - by Robert Genn
This week, while I was easeling along, some letters from readers had me wondering about the role that self-hypnosis might play in the creative act. Being curious, I adapted techniques used in recent experiments with students at the Architectural Foundation in London, England. Here's the plan...

Creativity - By Jennifer Louden
Did you know the critical part of your self is never going away? In fact, to want to kill the critic off is just playing into the Critic's game because it is wanting to kill off a part of yourself. It reinforces the idea that something is wrong with you that needs to be fixed-- "Once I get this critic handled, THEN I'll be able to create." Here is what works much, much better: accept the critic but always, always remember you - the adult, is in charge.

Creativity and Confidence: How To Supercharge Your Self-Confidence Using Your Natural Creativity - By Dan Goodwin
Having an indestructible sense of self-confidence and faith in our own abilities makes achieving the things we want in our life, and overcoming the obstacles that appear before us, become so much easier and less intimidating. So how can YOU use your inner creativity to improve your own confidence?

Creativity and Depression by Douglas Eby
That kind of numbness, that sense of endless hopelessness and erosion of spiritual vitality are some of the reasons depression can have such a devastating impact on creative inspiration and expression. Fortunately, depression can be effectively managed for most people. 
    > related article: Depression and Creativity

Creativity and Flow Psychology by Douglas Eby
The author of "Flow - the Psychology of Optimal Experience" and a number of related books, psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (pronounced me-high chick-sent-me-high) says we can facilitate the conditions for this quality of optimal functioning, and that it may be found in a wide range of careers and activities.

Creativity and maturity by Douglas Eby
Age and maturity can bring a new level of passion, ability and insight to creativity.

Creativity and Women - multiple columns / interviews  by Douglas Eby

Creativity And You - by Harry Hoover
The notion that geniuses such as Shakespeare, Picasso and Mozart were “gifted” is a myth, according to a recent study at Exeter University. Researchers examined outstanding performances in the arts, mathematics and sports, to find out if “the widespread belief that to reach high levels of ability a person must possess an innate potential called talent.” This particular study concludes that excellence is determined by five key elements...

Creativity linked to sexual success - by Reuters News
Psychologists at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne and the Open University found that professional artists and poets have about twice as many partners as other people. Their creativity seems to act like a sexual magnet. But Dr Daniel Nettle, a psychologist at Newcastle University's School of Biology, said it is a double-edge sword. "Poets and artists have more sexual partners but they also have high rates of depression," he told Reuters.

Curiousity, da Vinci Style - By Linda Dessau
Creativity asks of us a certain level of curiousity. Every new piece of art, music or writing is unknown when we sit down (or stand up) to create it. When we approach that blank canvas, empty stage or notebook paper in a state of curiousity, we're truly opening the door to the muse – to our "inner artist", our "higher power" and the creative flow of the universe.

Curse of the Creatives - by Laurie A. Sheppard
If you feel driven, yet overwhelmed by the many diverse life goals you’re having difficulty completing, you’ve likely caught the “curse of the creatives.” While a recent Times magazine article, The Multitasking Generation, said, “Decades of research (not to mention common sense) indicate that the quality of one's output and depth of thought deteriorate as one attends to ever more tasks.”

The Dark Side of Creativity - by Linda Dessau
A good friend always giggles when I tell her I'm feeling 'fertile.' I use it to describe a time of extraordinary creative flow - when the channeling just won't quit. And while I relish in those times of creative flow, sometimes I have to pay a price for them. I've noticed that an intense period of creative flow can sometimes lead me into a dark place. In the 'Connect with Your Fears' chapter of my book, 'Ten Ways to Thrive as a Creative Artist,' I discuss the connections between fear and creativity, and how freely expressing ourselves can leave us feeling vulnerable that our basic needs won't be met.

Discover Your Unique Talent - By Dr Jill Ammon-Wexler
These people all say the same thing about their remarkable talents: "It's so easy, it just seems normal." It seems to me that everyone has a natural talent. But many of us share a common mistake: It's so easy, we tend to undervalue it, assuming anyone could do what we do so well. Wrong! We each have totally unique natural talents – just as we have totally unique fingerprints.

Eccentricity and Creativity by Douglas Eby
A number of artists acknowledge that being unconventional is something positive.

Ego and Creativity by Douglas Eby
One sense of this word "ego" is a distorted self-regard, what psychologist Carl Jung referred to as "inflated consciousness... hypnotized by itself." Many people recognize the need to modulate this kind of ego in order to facilitate the creative process. And there are other, more internal and subtle aspects..

Emotions and Thoughts in the Creative Process - By Linda Dessau
When I was working on the Creativity Interviews, some artists I interviewed spoke about walking away from their art when they're feeling emotional — taking a break or getting some distance. But others talked about using their art to process challenging emotional experiences; pouring their heart out into their work and using it as a cathartic and therapeutic experience.

Enhancing Personal Expression by Mary Rocamora  " embrace your drive to become, serve, create, achieve, and contribute."

Entitled to Be Exceptional by Douglas Eby
Although gifted men may also experience a self-defeating aversion to expressing feelings or aspects of themselves that might separate them from others, gifted women, according to a number of sources, are more acutely sensitive to fitting in with social expectations, and may engage in a denial of their capabilities, experience difficulty in embracing their talents.

Everything Is Connected - By Linda Dessau
Many artists I spoke to during the Creativity Interviews spoke about not feeling whole unless they were expressing themselves creatively. Creating is our way of connecting with the world, expressing our emotions and affections and finding the place where we belong. It's the way we make sense of the world and our own thoughts, and it's the way we seek and achieve spiritual expression.

Exploring Creativity, On and Off the Map - by Marney Makridakis
Maps have been inspiring me creatively, and this article includes ideas and tricks and tools for how maps can play a role in literally re-directing your creativity. Maps are great tools for writing, too.

‘Favourite’ Blocks and Barriers To Being Creative - by AnnA Rushton
Creativity can get blocked for a number of reasons. Sometimes we can’t get started on a project, sometimes we can’t finish it and in-between we can hit a wall. Your reasons will be particular to you, and can change depending on the project... Here are some of the ‘favourite’ blocks and barriers to being creative I have found so do identify your particular blocks and try the solutions!

Fear and creativity by Douglas Eby
Eric Maisel , PhD, wrote: "... only a small percentage of creative people work as often or as deeply as, by all rights, they might be expected to work. What stops them? Anxiety or some face of anxiety like doubt, worry, or fear. Anxiety is the great silencer of the creative person."

Fear & Creativity - by Linda Dessau
My fears are most powerful when they’re simmering just under the surface of my awareness.... This article shines a spotlight on fear; what is its job and where does it come from? What's the connection between fear and creativity?

Fear of Publishing and What to Do About It – By Gina J. Hiatt, Ph.D.
You're almost done with the whole article. You should feel relieved. Instead you feel like you've written a bunch of junk. It doesn't matter if it's a "revise and resubmit" article for a journal or a draft chapter to show to your dissertation advisor. There's something anxiety-provoking about letting go of your work and putting it out there for the wider world to see.

Feeling like an impostor by Douglas Eby
"Sometimes I wake up at night and go, What were they thinking? Don't they know I'm faking it?"

Filling Your Well: A Simple Tool for Success - By Cynthia Morris
As we make our way toward completion of our goals, whether it is writing a book, building a web site, or raising a healthy child, we may forget to pause along the way and refresh ourselves with acknowledgments. What difference does this kind of pause make in our success? More than you would imagine.

Finding Your Niche in Life  - by Suzanne Falter-Barns

Gifted Women: Identity and Expression by Douglas Eby
Gifted women have vital and unique contributions to make in so many fields, but may need to more fully acknowledge whatever stands in the way of that expression.

Giving Life to Carl Rogers Theory of Creativity - by Natalie Rogers, Ph.D.
We discovered that using movement, visual art, sound and journal writing in sequence with very little verbalization helped us tap into our unconscious and our archetypal persona, bringing insight to our personal issues... We created a safe, non-judgmental environment, giving people both stimulus and permission to take off their social masks to discover inner truths. The creative process is a life force energy. If offered in a safe, empathic, non-judgmental environment, it is a transformative process for constructive change.

Going With the Ebb and Flow: The Creative Cycle - By Linda Dessau
I've often noticed how water can inspire moments of creative problem solving and inspiration... This phenomenon got me thinking about the other three elements – fire, earth and air, and their role in the creative cycle. It's important to recognize which phase of the creative process you're in. Be there while you're there, enjoy it, play with it and revel in your creative gifts.

How My Many Hats Fuel My Creativity - By Linda Dessau, the Self-Care Coach
A multi-hatted life (having multiple business (ad)ventures) is not for everyone. For me, though, it was the only choice. Read about what I love most about wearing many hats, and how this life fuels my creativity.

How sick are you? - By Robert Genn
Every so often some researcher will publish fresh info on the mental or physical problems of creative folks. The general implication of some of this stuff is that you have to be just a wee bit sick in order to be creative... I, for one, am working to have this current connection declared null and void. It's always struck me that the artists who I admire are some of the healthiest folks I know--physically, and yep, mentally.

How to Become Creative with Inspiration from Movies - By Maria Grace, PhD
Creativity is the constructive use of imagination in which you give material form to creative ideas. Everything created is first imagined. Being creative does not simply mean having a lot of ideas, but also materializing creative ideas in the real world. This article will teach you how to become creative with inspiration from your favorite movies.

How to Encourage A Creative Trance by Suzanne Falter-Barns 
Have you ever gotten so absorbed in the delicious act of creating that you simply lose track of time? You look up, befuddled, and realize three hours have passed, or that the dog has been asking to go out forever. Welcome to your creative trance - the very best place for channeling the juice that will shape and guide your dreams most effectively. Here are some tips for helping that trance state show up a little more often.

How Well are You Maintaining Your "Creative Home"? - by Dan Goodwin
Taking care of ourselves, doing all we can to maintain our creative environments and abilities, is often the key to greater creativity... if you don’t take care of yourself creatively – and look after your Creative Home -  then slowly and steadily your creative energy will be wasted and you’ll be frustrated and struggling to produce the kind of work you want to.

Identity and Creating - By Douglas Eby
Engaging in a creative venture often brings up questions and uncertainties related to personal identity: Am I qualified? Do I have enough experience, strength, talent, skill? Will the work be good enough? Will I be good enough? Creative expression is based on both our inner selves and our abilities, so maybe it is inevitable we question both our self concept and talents.

If You Are Addicted... - By Sylvia White
Living with an artist isn't easy, particularly if you are the significant other. One of the first things most non-artists have a hard time understanding is the concept of addiction and how it is related to art making. Most artists I know go through classic symptoms of withdrawal when deprived of their work environment for too long. ... artists need to be able to create as much as they need food or oxygen.

Increase Your Creativity: Identify Its Number One Enemy - by Dan Goodwin
When we think how to improve or increase our creativity, often we tend to look at the things we COULD DO. But what if we think about this from a different perspective? Instead of looking at the things we could add to our lives to enable us to be the creative people we want to be, consider what we could take away, the things that stop us from being creative.

Innovation: Ideas Are Cheap - But Extremely Valuable - By Michael Angier
I believe the world is entering a time of unprecedented innovation. We’re experiencing some of the greatest prosperity we’ve ever known. Productivity is at an all-time high. And when basic needs are met, it’s easier to be creative. Innovation is not only for so-called “creative” minds. We’re all creative, and each of us has the ability to generate ideas to solve problems in our businesses and improve our relationships.

In Praise of Positive Obsessions - by Eric Maisel, PhD
Negative obsessions are a true negative for everyone, but most creators -- and all would-be creators -- simply aren’t obsessed enough.  For an artist, the absence of positive obsessions leads to long periods of blockage, repetitive work that bores the artist himself, and existential ailments of all sorts.

Inspiring my career as a self-supporting artist  - by Suzanne Falter-Barns
"My dad, John Falter.. taught me how one can have a highly successful, profitable, and glorious career as a self-supporting artist.... Here are a few of the lessons he passed on.."

Lessons from a Passionate Artist - By Suzanne Falter-Barns
I am the daughter of an artist, John Falter, who long ago was heralded for a brief minute in American history. But more than that, he lived to create, and he did that with huge love and joy. So simply by example, he taught me how one can have a highly successful, profitable, and glorious career as a self-supporting artist.

Living the Creative Life - by Eric Maisel, PhD
People often ask me how they can become more creative. By this they mean many different things; even if they meant just one thing, there would still be many different kinds of answers. For one person, the answer might be "worry less." For another person, the answer might be "grow wilder." For a third, it might be "be braver." For a fourth, it might be "somehow find the time." But whatever else you might need to do, one thing that will help you grow more creative is consciously engaging in new explorations. If we do not explore, we do not get to go anywhere new, and if we do not go anywhere new, we can't be creative.

Manage Your Fears: Seven Steps to Freedom - By Cynthia Morris
In most situations where we are reaching for something new, fear is present. I learned from a wise teacher that we do not get rid of fear before we do something, but that we go into the situation with the fear... Here are seven steps that I use to help clients to manage their fears..

Maturity and Creativity - by Douglas Eby
Age and maturity can bring a new level of passion, ability and insight for creative expression. Although some areas that depend on physical performance, or accumulating and processing vast amounts of information, may become less easy or available, many creative endeavors flourish with increasingly varied life experience and the kind of vitality adult development can nurture.

Metaphor and Image in Counseling the Talented - by Jane Piirto, Ph.D.
As I wrote [my novel] I felt at peace and relieved. The integration of these two selves, my efficient career-woman self, and my mystical poetic self, took many years, and now I never speak or present myself without both of me showing. That is why I try to read a poem every time. This example from my own life as an artist illustrates the use of metaphor in healing, and in creation.

The Nature of Creative Development - by Jonathan S. Feinstein, Yale University
Individuals form their creative interests in and through their engagement with the world around them. In the course of their lives individuals have many experiences and encounter myriad elements, of diverse kinds. They have many social interactions and personal experiences.. learn about a great variety of phenomena.. study the creative works and contributions of many people, both in their field and their culture.

Nurture Creativity and Intuition - by W. Bradford Swift
Whether you consider yourself a highly creative person or not, it is possible for all of us to be more creative if we'll take the time to nurture that part of ourselves. These simple steps will give you direction in how to bring more of your creativity to the surface and to optimize your intuitive powers at the same time.

On Choosing - by Eric Maisel
A certain task confronts creative people all the time: making choices. The
choice might be whether to write this book or that book, whether to write a particular book one or way or another way, whether to aim for personal, idiosyncratic work or more commercial and market-driven work, and so on. It is not very well understood how anxious all this choosing makes you and how likely you are to flee from your work, your commitment, or your career because you don’t feel equal to making a given choice.

Our Greatest Untapped Resource - By Cynthia Morris
Creativity is not a feel-good, optional quality to cultivate, but our greatest untapped resource that is truly needed in this radically shifting time. I have seen how powerful creative acts can be for personal experience and growth. Now I believe we are called to express ourselves on a greater scale. The need for innovative solutions is more pressing than ever. With the state of the world as it is, we can no longer afford to hide our brilliance in fear or uncertainty.

Person-centered Expressive Arts Therapy - by Natalie Rogers, Ph.D., REAT
We are all capable of being profoundly, beautifully creative... The seeds of much of our creativity come from the unconscious and our feelings and intuition. The unconscious is our deep well. Most of us have put a lid over that well. The expressive arts — movement, art, writing, sounding, music, meditation, and imagery — lead us into the unconscious. This often allows us to express previously unknown facets of ourselves, thus bringing to light new information and awareness.

Practice Creativity - by Maria Grace, PhD
The truth is that we are all born with the ability to be creative, just as we are born with the ability to think, dream and imagine. But, while some of us continue to honor creativity throughout our lives and enjoy the benefits of a creative habit, many others betray our creativity as we seek joy in habits that are not only non-creative but, oftentimes, self-destructive...
...
The Psychology of Creativity: redeeming our inner demons - interview with Stephen A. Diamond, Ph.D.
"Creativity," Dr. Diamond states, " is one of humankind's healthiest inclinations, one of our greatest attributes. ... Our impulse to be creative can be understood to some degree as the subjective struggle to give form, structure and constructive expression to inner and outer chaos and conflict. It can also be one of the most dynamic methods of meeting and redeeming one's devils and demons."

Revealing Superman's secret - by Dan Goodwin
Many creative people, those who are recognised as having creative or artistic careers - actors, painters and authors for instance - wear their creativity openly like a big shiny badge proclaiming that yes they are someone for whom creativity is a central part in their life, and a major part of their identity. Then there are others, for whom creativity and expressing themselves creatively is equally important, but for whatever reason, don't talk about it openly. It's almost like their little secret, the part of themselves that they desperately guard from the world...

Self-Care for Creative Artists: 5 Ways to Start Today - by Linda Dessau
Self-care is the path to creative expression. By paying closer attention to your self-care, you can have easier access to your creativity, to your muse and to your inner strength and resilience. You'll also have more energy, more tolerance for others and yourself and more confidence in your work.

Signs of a Passionate Artist - By Suzanne Falter-Barns
Lots of people want to be successful artists or creative professionals … but what makes some soar and others just float along? This article probes just what makes an artist passionate and successful.

Spirituality and creativity by Douglas Eby

Taking risks by Douglas Eby

Teaching for Creativity: Two Dozen Tips - By Robert Sternberg and Wendy M. Williams
We often think that the creative people are the ones who have some rare and unattainable ability, but it is not so. Creative people are ones who make a decision: They decide to buy low and sell high in the world of ideas. In this article, we first describe this idea of creativity as a decision, which is formalized as an investment theory of creativity. Then we describe 24 tips you can use in your teaching in order to foster creativity in your students and in yourself.

Ten Ways to Nurture Your Creativity an issue of the Purposeful Ponderings Ezine

Themes in the Lives of Successful U.S. Adult Creative Writers - by Jane Piirto, Ph.D.
The subjects were 160 contemporary or twentieth-century U.S. creative writers. They had not yet retired and were not novices. They had reached a stage in their lives where their production and publication success had qualified them for a certain recognition and respect as writers. I found 16 themes in their lives... I discuss the base of personality and the creative process in writers also.

Those "Crazy" Business Ideas Often Turn Out to Be the Best - by Valerie Young
As the great actor Katherine Hepburn once said, "Life is to be lived. If you have to support yourself, you had bloody well better find some way that is going to be interesting." Some of the most interesting means of support begin as a crazy idea. The key is to keep coming up with them, then when you find one you love, recognize that the only sane response is to go for it.

Trying to Create From Distorted Perceptions? - by Linda Dessau
We've all met people who are "negative" – negative thinkers who consistently see the glass as half empty. In certain situations, particularly stressful ones, even the most positive person can fall victim to this distorted thinking. As a creative artist, this kind of thinking can keep us away from our art and can keep us from enjoying it even when we manage to keep at it.

We can all enhance creativity in our everyday lives - By Neil Schoenherr
“Another of our cultural myths about creativity is that of the lone genius. Ideas don't magically appear in a genius' head from nowhere. They always build on what came before. And collaboration is key. Look at what others in your field are doing. Brainstorm with people in different fields. Research and anecdotal evidence suggest that distant analogies lead to new ideas — like when a heart surgeon bounces things off an architect or a graphic designer.” Keith Sawyer, Ph.D.

Write Your Way To Creativity! - By Beverly Keaton Smith
There are many benefits that come from keeping a daily journal. It can serve as a lifelong record of the events in your life or help you improve your writing and your critical thinking skills. Daily writing can also be therapeutic while connecting you more strongly with your ability to be creative.

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