Coaxing Creativity
Any of us who work in the creative arts know that we have to continually feed our well of creativity, we need time to rest and contemplate, we need to continually be expanding our inner and outer knowledge, we need to be encouraged to share and we need to share with each other. We do not live in a bubble of each individual creative doing their work by themselves, instead we are all part of a web of beings doing the same. In these times of greater isolation from each other we have perhaps felt lonely, unconnected, and cut off from our stimulating and exciting world. I know I was going through a time of feeling disconnected when an email hit my mailbox from Dr. Diana Rowan offering a online mini retreat. I had met Diana at an AHS conference and knew her to be a beautiful being, so I signed up. Diana called her retreat, “Infinite Inspiration.” With a title like that I had to continue! I needed a boaster shot of such. She took us through a mini version of her Bright Way system as featured in her book The Bright Way. I have the book in order now! She is also offering an online course starting soon that seems prime to be filled with community, support, and discovery! If you are feeling stuck, unsure, questioning your purpose, or uninspired, I feel her course would be great for you!
I participated in a similar course a few years ago called The Wonder Club. It was hosted by a magical being called Victoria Smith. She took us through a a year of self discovery using creative journaling. Not only was it fun, it also really opened me up to journaling, which I have continued to do ever since. I have several years of these wonderful creative journals now, first using her format and then slowing moving into my own way if doing things. Victoria Smith has been on hiatus for a while but her is her website https://www.themojolab.com/ I do hope she emerges with new offerings soon.
Of course in the harp world we have our own wonderful community of The Harp Column.
https://harpcolumn.com/ If you are one of my readers and does not know about Harp Column, I would be surprised. They offer us so much on their site, news, forums, music to purchase (you can purchase my own compositions from them) and The Harp Column Academy which offers an awesome variety of instruction. When I think back on how little interaction with other harpists I had as a student, the offerings of Harp Column Academy offers is a dream come true.
Another offering that is about to happen is Inktober. This is an offering on Instagram that challenges you to draw an ink drawing everyday for the month of October. They have already published the prompts for this year and I am looking forward to getting out paper and pen and participating. What you do is draw a picture inspired by the prompt and post the picture on Instagram with the hashtag #inktober
Coming up in November is National Novel Writing month. I have done this fun event and, no I did not write the novel, but I did write. If you want to challenge yourself to write the organization provides you with a format to do just that. They offer quite a bit of support and a place to track your effort. Explore your inner writer and give Nanowrimo a try. The month for the novel writing is in November.
Other than Inktober, there are another couple of offerings I am exploring to continue to stoke my inner flames and continue with my self care, which has been my latest area of focus.
First is one by Tess Whitehurst. I know about Tess through her books. Her book Magical Houskeeping is a go to book for me when I need to ground myself again in self care for myself and my home and garden. I also have enjoyed her book The Magical Fashionista, a book about using your own inner magic and reflecting it in the clothes you wear. She offers a lot on her website and now she has announced her 22 Day Mercury Retrograde Challenge. If you are a person who enjoys working with energy and astrological influences you may know that the time of Mercury retrograde occurs when the planet Mercury is seen as moving backwards from where we view it on Earth. This planetary movement is seen as being a time of well, complications. As I go for this sort of thing, mostly as a form of observing the world And connecting to it. I can already see the influence happening around me. I am going to follow Tess’s challenge when it starts on Monday as a way of reconnecting with my own inner magic and awareness.
One last item I am looking at is another new course on self care I just discovered by the Sisters Enchanted, whom I follow on Instagram. I have not delved into their offerings before but I love to explore a free offering like this as a way of seeing if the courses by this person is of any use to me or others I know. I am looking forward to their 21 Day Magical Self Care Practice.
This is a selection of inspirational, interactive, creative, and nurturing resources I have come to know and which have inspired and helped, and resonated with me. I know that it all is not everyone’s cup of tea but strongly encourage all
to find a way to participate in creative, nurturing, connection. I hope one day to be able to offer my own courses and books and all of these inspire me to continue on my creative journey.
As a passing note, none of the above have solicited me or sponsored me to be included in this post.
Have a lovely day!
Kimberly Houser Taylor
