Spontaneous Creativity with Shelley Klammer

Shelley Klammer Interview
Read Shelley's inspiring responses to questions about her work and the melding of art, psychology, creativity, and spirituality in this exclusive Creative Careers in the Arts feature.

Shelley Klammer is a Registered Professional Counselor and an Expressive Art Facilitator. She offers an array of online expressive art courses that explore the melding of art, psychology and spirituality. You can learn more about her work and take a variety of courses at expressiveartworkshops.com.

"Life longs for us to live honestly and to awaken to our authentic creativity. Beneath the chatter of our minds is our true life and we are being guided towards what is true in every waking moment. Spontaneous creativity is a form of free association that helps us go deeper than our surface mind. Our various inner aspects of self love to 'speak' in color and symbol and metaphor.

I developed my spontaneous collage and expressive art classes to encourage people to touch into the truth of themselves through creativity. As we truthfully see in visual and written form what we believe, expect, and feel about ourselves, we can begin to create our lives from an awakened and conscious authenticity instead of our unconscious conditioning. Through spontaneous creativity, we can learn that in every moment, our inner life is guiding us towards our own unique truth."

Creativity, Spirituality, Psychology Articles by Shelley Klammer

The Creativity of Suffering
By Shelley Klammer
Life Calls Us to the Total Expression of All Feelings; The Light and Dark of Creative Inspiration; Young Spirituality Tries to Be all "Positive"; The Thoughts that Torture and the Feelings that Cleanse.

The Creativity of Death
By Shelley Klammer
Because we live in a world of evidence and facts, most people are very cautious about sharing stories of their personal relationship with the Divine that is ever trying to reveal itself in our daily lives.

Creation is Slow
By Shelley Klammer
Growth is Slow; The Challenge of Boredom; The Simplicity of Presence; Acute Attention Begins in the Body; When We Accept Ourselves We Will Grow.

The Creation of the False Self
By Shelley Klammer
On Our Two Selves, Our Problems are the Architecture of our Personality, The Maturity of the True Self, The Creation of the False Self, and We are Forever Children in our False Selves.

Larger Creative Life Patterns
By Shelley Klammer
If we choose to do our inner work it becomes possible to open up to the mythic higher self — replete with insights, intuitions and larger visions and plans for our life.

Honesty is Creative
By Shelley Klammer
On Love, Reclaiming Dignity, The Gift of Self-Honesty, Vulnerability is Courageous, and the pitfalls of self-protection from "The Untethered Soul" by Michael A. Singer.

Creativity and Dementia
By Shelley Klammer
Excerpted from my e-book "How to Start an Art Program for the Elderly."

Creative Life Force
By Shelley Klammer
A discussion on creative clearing, exploring intensity, ego (mind) creativity vs. the intuitive (body) creativity of the soul, tamping down the creative life force, and living life as a canvas.

Creatively Persist
By Shelley Klammer
We are all part of the grand interplay of light and dark. Anything that is left unaccepted inside will be experienced "out there" in the world.

Creative Self-Empowerment
By Shelley Klammer
To be truly creative and effective in our everyday lives we must cultivate our own empowerment.

Self-Acceptance with Expressive Art
By Shelley Klammer
The unconscious contents of our minds comprise everything that we do not accept about ourselves.

Expressing Vulnerability with Creativity
By Shelley Klammer
We all have a social mask we present to the world but if this is the only part we live in we can easily feel hollow inside, empty of depth and meaning.

Creative Essence
By Shelley Klammer
We need to find ways to let go of our regular ways of thinking so that we can participate in life creatively and spontaneously.

Creative Over-Indulgence
By Shelley Klammer
Reaching for the higher states of creativity can become compulsive if we are not careful to attend to all areas of our life with balance and aware attention.

The Art of Writing a Book
By Shelley Klammer
Reviewing Naomi Rose’s Starting Your Book: A Guide to Navigating the Blank Page by Attending to What’s Inside You.

The Art Habit
By Shelley Klammer
I am enamoured with creativity as a daily spiritual practice. I follow my curiosities to see where they will lead me.

Creativity as Play
By Shelley Klammer
Play is never a waste of time. It happens when we let ourselves go beyond the rules and expectations of everyday life.

Creativity and the Shadow
By Shelley Klammer
Working with people with acquired brain injuries has led me to question what is “bad” and what is acceptable.

The Creativity of the Moment
By Shelley Klammer
The light dances on the pool and suddenly I understand that it is not what I do and accomplish but my attention to the creativity of the moment that moves and transforms my life.

Intuitive Collage
By Shelley Klammer
We are all born creative and our souls ache to be truthful and original. Anyone can touch into their deeper feelings, insights and desires through spontaneous collage.