While we may not all be ‘Artists’, we are all ‘Creative’.

“Creativity is the natural order of life.

  Life is energy, pure creative energy”

(Julia Cameron)

Not so long ago I would have argued with that statement (that we are all creative). I would not have allowed myself to be described as Creative.  Somehow for me, the idea of being creative was caught up with the concepts of success, achievement, approval and popularity, all things usually measured in financial terms.  I’m not a painter, a writer, a musician, I’m not a potter, a designer or a singer, all descriptions of people I would describe as ‘Artists’.

I definitely enjoyed art classes at school, in fact I have some pretty distinct memories of some of the work I did in those classes but I wasn’t particularly ‘good’ at it, and by that I mean I didn’t get particularly good grades and so I allowed myself to believe that I wasn’t artistic or talented.  But that doesn’t mean that I didn’t and don’t still have creative ideas or desires, that I didn’t have the need to express myself creatively, I simply allowed myself to believe that my ideas or desires weren’t ‘good enough’ and  so in this way we allow them to become secret, hidden or supressed creative dreams.

“Creativity soars when we re-write the stories we tell ourselves”

(Lisa Sonora)

There are so many ways in which creativity shows up in our lives and so many ways in which our creativity is not acknowledged, understood or is undermined.

In recent years, my reading of some of the work by Brene Brown, Elizabeth Gilbert & Lisa Sonora has allowed me the opportunity to re-frame my thinking about creativity, how creativity shows up in my own life, how we can all embrace it, use it and enjoy it.  How we can use creativity to help us process some of our most challenging feelings & emotions.

While we may not be ‘artists’ we can still find ways of channelling our creative desires, dreams & impulses and while we may not all end up as best selling artists or novelists, the important thing is to find ways of embracing and enjoying our creativity in a way that brings joy, expression & healing into our lives.

This is how I now think about and embrace creativity in my life and how I’m hoping to find ways of sharing it with you.  Creativity is now a big part of my life that I can use for self expression, personal growth & development and for FUN !!! Or as Lisa Sonora would say ‘HAPPIFICATION’.  Along with my Yoga and Dance practice I now also think of Creativity as a practice and one of the main ways in which I practice creativity is through the process of Visual Journaling.

What is Visual Journaling and how does it work?

The Soul Speaks in Image (Carl Jung)

Well, in visual journaling, just about anything creative goes! Painting, writing, collage, sewing, gluing.  We don’t need any fancy art supplies, we can use what we have around us, our favourite colours, paint or pens, images we have torn out of magazines, copies of old photos etc. to express your ideas on the page. The important thing to remember is that we are NOT looking to create Art here, a Visual Journal is a private space in which we get our thoughts, ideas or dreams down on paper, so there is no-one to judge our work, except for ourselves and we are often our own worst critic ! Daring to Create makes us vulnerable to criticism & judgement (especially our own), so creating, being creative, can take COURAGE.

When we dare to be creative, we are bringing into existence, manifesting something which never before existed, something original and that means taking risks.

So, in order to create, to be creative, we need to be willing to take risks and in doing so, expose ourselves to vulnerability, criticism and judgement.  We are confronted with the challenge that…..

“Creativity takes courage”

(Henri Matisse)

In January 2019 I will be offering my first FREE Visual Journal Project

30 Daring Days of Creative Courage

This 30 Daring Days of Creative Courage project is designed to help you connect with and give expression to, your own creative voice. What we PRODUCE during this project is not so important as giving ourselves the time & space by which we can begin to PROCESS our feelings and emotions, our creative thoughts and ideas.

The idea is that you have FUN creating a journal full of your own thoughts & ideas, your favourite colours & images just for you !

Follow this link to find out more about this FREE Visual Journal Project

Or simply sign up here to take part:

[mailchimp_signup title=”30 Daring Days of Creative Courage” subtitle=”Sign up HERE to get your NEW YEAR off to the best start possible….Creatively !  Starting on 1st January 2019 you will receive a daily email from me for 30 Days with a quote and ‘prompt’ for your daily Journal entry and you’ll be all set to enjoy 30 days of Creative FUN” api_key=”f393abd7f43c80f3cf2e4a113″ api_id=”51f1e25248″]

During 2019 I will also be offering some ‘In Person’ Visual Journaling Workshops, so please SUBSCRIBE to my mailing list if you would like to receive more information about future workshops.