I recently met John Dillan and Vivian Nesbit through showing up at a spiritual center in Albuquerque and asking someone (who happened to be Vivian) for directions to the fellowship hall.   We began to talk and I found out that they are songwriters and authors and do a radio show called Art of the Song.  We had a lovely connection, and I gave them my CD and John gave me his book.

I was very excited to meet them as they are truly inspiring and helping people to express and share their creativity – whether through music or any other means.  John’s book is called The 20 – 20 Creativity Solution. I LOVE his book!  He does a beautiful job of sharing his experience and science around creativity.  He talks about creativity being the culmination of inspiration, analysis and action.  He also talks about what I have been teaching about creativity being the integration of mind, body and spirit.

I was reminded by his book that to be creative is to have the ability to tap into our intuition, express what is coming out, edit and refine it, and then share it in form.  That being creative is the ability to follow through with a process.

Many people have commented that I am so creative and though I don’t feel that I am any more creative than anyone else, I realize that it is the process that I have mastered.   I also hear from people who say they do parts of the process, but not all of them and are wondering why they aren’t being successful in bringing creative expression to the world.   Some of them don’t know how to do all the parts and some don’t want to do all the parts.  The first step is understanding what the parts are and then deciding if you want to do what is needed to bring your creativity to the world.

As John writes about the 3 parts of Creativity, he says:

Creativity is a three-phase process that occurs at the intersection of inspiration, action and analysis.  The phases can occur in any order or simultaneously.

1. Inspiration is the generation of new ideas, a right-brain process.
2. Action involves taking the idea and bringing it into physical form.
3. Analysis is the left-brain phase of editing, refining, and changing the original idea.

This has made me think about my creative process and looking at the parts.

1. Intention: Create time and space for connection.  Meditate and connect to Source and my heart, where my creative impulse lives – open to the mystery and receive the inspiration (this is first and part of every step).
2. Preparation:  Buy the materials, instruments, tools, go to the studio, or travel for source material and more inspiration.
3. Action: Write, record, photograph, paint, play…
4. Evaluate and analyze:  With discernment and self love, review, edit, repaint, retouch, enhance.  Ask what is being called for in the world and take the inspiration, song, painting, or program idea and put it in a form that can be shared.
5. Share.  I am adding this as an additional step because I know many artist, musicians, authors, teachers, (OK, just about everyone fits in here), who have gifts in their closet and haven’t truly shared them.  Whether they are inspirations that have never come to form, or piles of paintings or finished songs that have not been displayed or sung.  This is the final step in the process.  And then it begins again.   Once you share your gifts, you might find that it requires more creative time, more analysis, and then more action to be more helpful or refined.  But unless you share it, you will never know.

If you want to live a more creative life, I can help you.  I find I am coaching people in all areas and love to share how to master the process with you.  I have created a new call called Living a Creative Life.  You can learn more here: https://dianedandeneau.com/coaching/living-a-creative-life-teleclass/

This entry was posted on Monday, September 26th, 2011 at 11:16 pm and is filed under Articles, Awakened Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.