Ten Poems for Difficult Times
By Roger Housden
Poetry is a concise and elemental means of expressing the deepest of human emotions: joy, sorrow, grief, hope, love, and longing. It connects us as a people and a community; it speaks for us in a way few other forms of writing can do. At its best poetry calls forth our deep Being, bids us to live by its promptings. It dares us to break free from the safe strategies of the cautious mind, from our default attitudes and beliefs. It calls to us, like the wild geese, as Mary Oliver would say, from an open sky. It is a magical art, and always has been — a making of language spells designed to open our eyes, open our doors, and welcome us into a bigger world, one of possibilities we may never have dreamed of.
Creative Stream-of-Consciousness Drawings
By Chris Dunmire
Do you ever wonder if doodling helps us in our learning process or if it's just a mindless diversion? You may be surprised at the answer. According to recent studies on doodling, experts say that "Doodling can boost your mind's ability to notice and remember mundane information by nearly 30 percent, according to research from the University of Plymouth. The theory is that the act of drawing makes use of visuospacial processes in the brain that might otherwise be used for daydreaming, thereby preventing your mind from wandering."
Author Interviews
By Molly Childers
Writing Down the Bones was the first book that made me feel like a writer. I've been gleaning inspiration from her work since I was first introduced to Bones in high school. Her unquenchable curiosity, thirst for juicy details, and unsparing honesty kept me coming back for more with Wild Mind. Goldberg is, in fact, the first writer who truly seemed real to me — she wasn't just a face in a dusty old book, but an actual flesh-and-blood woman battling it out on the page. I could picture having coffee with her in a cafe and writing for hours.
The Nine Modern Day Muses
By Jill Badonsky, MEd
Albert is the Modern Day Muse of Innovation and Imagination. His powers range from encouraging us to break the rules to embodying a different persona in order to experience a more creative perspective. These tools can dull writing into irresistible prose, a relationship suffering from routine into one rich with novelty, or an unexciting business plan to one thriving in distinction. When I plan workshops, it is this Muse's creative concepts I call upon the most because they easily lend themselves to quick applications for creative success.
Creativity Coaching
By Chris Zydel
How many times have you told yourself, "I want to be more creative in my life"? The good news is that you are already creative. There's nothing you need to learn, nothing missing from your basic makeup nothing at all inadequate about you in the creative realm. In fact you are immensely more creative than you could even begin to imagine. You came fully equipped as a creative being, on the day you were born. Along with a beating heart and pumping lungs, came the ability to create.
Writing Inspiration & Encouragement
By Barbara Abercrobmie
Regular journal writing benefits emotional health and helps form a writing habit that will serve you well as you record life's little details. Most everyone has heard about the emotional and health benefits you get from keeping a journal; writing about feelings and traumatic events is good for you. But for a person who writes there are two other vital reasons to keep a journal.
Artful Project Prompts
By Violette
Boost your creativity with these fun tiny cards. You can make them for yourself or give them away as gifts. They are inspired by the Angel cards which you randomly pick each day to inspire you. The Creative Play cards are meant to prompt you to focus on something new each day whether it be to sculpt, dare, make art or paint. Watch your imagination soar when you draw a new card each day! Includes free printable Play Cards template to use in creating your own deck.
Visual Journaling Prompts
By Violette
Visual Journaling needn't be daunting or inaccessible to the novice visual journaler. Often the journal page has some incredible insights for you which lay hidden in the recesses of your subconscious mind only to be set free by allowing yourself the luxury of being in the flow. The way I like to approach it is in an intuitive manner or by the seat of my pants! This manner of journaling is exciting because you never know where you're going to end up. This step-by-step tutorial will show you how to get started and tune in to deeper creative process and intuitive listening.
Sidewalk Oracles
By Robert Moss
Part of the secret logic of our lives may be that our paths constantly interweave with those of numberless parallel selves, sometimes converging or even merging, sometimes diverging ever farther. The gifts and failings of these alternate selves — with all the baggage train of their separate lives — may influence us, when our paths converge, in ways that we generally fail to recognize.
Premiums and Printables
By Chris Dunmire
With fake fun printable 'Cashius monetarius' seed packet! As featured in Money: Everything You Never Knew About Your Favorite Thing to Find, Save, Spend, and Covet by Sandra and Harry Chonron, this unique origami money plant makes a delightful gift to create, but hard to give away! Learn how to make this truly memorable craft with my with easy-to-follow instructions in a fully-illustrated, step-by-step 23-page project book.
Art Perspectives
By Chris Dunmire
In my art appreciation class I was given the task to compare and contrast two pieces of famous art. Critera included viewing one piece in person at an art gallery and another online and report my subjective findings on the visual elements, principles of design, and differences of my experience viewing the art in each way. For my in-person piece, I went to Chicago's Art Institute to see Georges Seurat's iconic painting, A Sunday on La Grande Jatte. Next, I found Constantin Brancusi's cherished series and piece, Bird in Space online.
Inner Voices of Creativity
By Anne Marie Bennett
Patience can be one of the most difficult inner voices to hear in our lives. If you're struggling with this on your own creative journey right now, make a list of all of your creative projects that you have in process right now. Are there any projects specifically where your Voice of Patience can help you? Spend just two minutes each day this week in silent meditation. Simply breathe in and out for two minutes... nothing to do, nowhere to go. If thoughts come to distract you, notice them, but remember they are just thoughts and not who you are. Meditating like this can be a big help in strengthening your own inner voice of Patience.
Fostering Creativity
By Abby Connors
One of my favorite books is called The Art Spirit. It was written by the early twentieth-century American artist Robert Henri in 1923. “The Art Spirit” is a collection of Henri’s lectures and portions of his correspondence with his students, and it contains insightful, beautiful, and inspiring ideas about not only painting, but the arts in general. Henri lived at a time when art was firmly in the hands of art schools and academies which used very conservative and conventional approaches to artistic technique. In contrast, Henri believed in art as an expression of love for life.
Juicy Journal & Wild Words
By Molly J. Anderson-Childers
It is important to take our creative work into new, unexplored territory. In this feature, we will be creative pioneers, taking journaling a step beyond words. We will also discover new ways to combine your words with visual art to create an artist's sketchbook. I know, I know, you're a writer, not an artist. That's what you're saying to yourself. I'm here to tell you that you are dead wrong. Everyone I meet is an artist, even if they don't know it yet, or can't believe it. Take a deep breath, and try to suspend doubt and fear — then, dive in!
DaVinci's Genius Habits
By Linda Dessau
As artists we delight in “playful, imaginary combinations” — we're in the business of creating things that didn't exist before. It's human nature to seek connection, and that we all do it, “physically, we seek health and affection. Emotionally, we yearn for a sense of belonging, intimacy, and love. Intellectually, we look for patterns and relationships, seeking to understand systems. And spiritually, we pray for Oneness with the Divine
Guided Imagery
By Molly Childers & Chris Dunmire
The importance of play is tantamount to learning for children — but what role does play have in an adult life? Feeling stuck? Muses on strike? Doldrums got you down? This guided meditation will reconnect with your inner child when you're feeling stuck as you enter the Forest of the Lost.
Creativity & Inspiration
By Tom Evans
The functions of our left and right brains are pretty much entrenched in popular psychology. In many a Tom and Jerry cartoon you see a devil appearing on one shoulder and an angel on the other. You may not have noticed but it is common urban mythology for the devil to be on the left shoulder and the angel on the right shoulder. If you get a great idea, the devil might whisper things like, "Don't be silly, it will never work" and "Isn't this just like every other invention you've come up with?"
