The Fertile Unknown

Creativity Engages Both the Intuitive Mind and the Rational Mind

Michelle James ©2023

Letting Visions Take Root Before Exposing Them to the Elements

The new year is a popular time for people to think about what they want to create next. In the early stages of a new visions, it's a great idea to protect what's emerging (visions, ideas, plans) for the first few weeks especially. That means not sharing it with anyone, or being incredibly selective with who you share it with. Most people are well meaning, and would want to support you, but may not fully understand what you are attempting to do.

Some many not know how to hold that space for you without trying to fill it up with their concerns, ideas, advice, of fears during that delicate stage. They may not see the path laid out from where you are to where you want to be, and fear that it's unrealistic. They may ask premature questions, like, "How are you going to make that happen?" before that has unfolded within you. Sometimes they'lll try to give advice based on what worked for them, which may or many not be the way it works for you. Or, sometimes it can trigger their own fears, and they inadvertently express that in their concerns. Sometimes they may get into an evaluation state, and find the reasons they think it won't work.

There are so many ways well-meaning supportive friends and family members, and others, could contribute to an uprooting of what's emerging before you feel solid enough in it. So pick your confidantes and advisors carefully in the beginning, or hold off sharing until you feel more rooted in what's emerging. Once you are more rooted, and feel strong in your commitment  - with discernment and resilience - then sharing it can be extremely helpful. That's when other's input and ideas can expand and refine - and yes-and - what you are doing.

There's no one right way as to when to share it, what parts to share, and who to share it with, so use your best judgement. Trust your intuitive sense. Pay attention to your internal feedback. If talking with someone puts you into a defensive or  flight, fight, or freeze mode, they may not be the best person, or it may not be the best time. Not everyone closest to you may know how to be with what you are bringing in before it's more tangible. But if talking about it with someone helps you feel more inspired, passionate, alive, and excited about it, then go for it.

It is important in the early stages of a new emergence that isn't yet fully formed to protect it as you learn more about it, shape it, and cultivate it out into the world. Then, after it has roots it can withstand most anything. With all of that said, the good news is that if it is yours to do, no matter what anyone else says or does, you can of course still do it. And sometimes adversity actually helps strengthen your resolve. Most of the time, it's just easier after you feel stronger in it within yourself.

Michelle James ©2023

3 Ways to Move Forward in the New Year

The new year can offer a pause point at the intersection of what was, what is, and what's emerging. It's a great time to reflect on what's working  release what no longer serves, and start to generate - or at least be available for - something new. Life is like a play, and sometimes it feels disheveling to be in the in between space - the set change between scenes, when they are dismantling the old set, but the new one is not yet set up and we are in the dark. I call this emergence space because it is the fertile ripe space where the old no longer has hold, and the new one is about to emerge but it is still unclear.

In emergence space, we can align with what's calling to emerge by first acknowledging and accepting the things we can not change so they don't become a creative block. A creative block can show up in sneaky ways: recycling old stories or resentments, waiting for something or someone to be different, needing other's approval for validation, blaming others or outside forces, engaging irrelevant distractions, of focusing mainly on what's not working, among a host of other reasons to not follow what is most generative and alive. Then we are more free to move forward.

3 Ways to Move Forward with Choice in the New Year

1. Become aware of where to put your energy, and what to put it toward. That includes things like becoming conscious of the times you legitimately need others feedback and the times you don't; taking time to discover and follow the energy that really lights you up from within yourself; and releasing what no longer has energy for you. It is a waste of time to try to breathe life into a dead log. There is not enough space to create the new patterns, new visions and new stories if you are spinning old stories that were true at one time, but no longer are relevant or serve you. It is like preforming a scene over and over again instead of moving to the next scene in the play. What can you remove from the stage?

2. Start to create the vision of what forward looks like - what is in your new stage, set, and scene...in other words, What is most alive for you? What is the world you want to build? What calls to you? What do you want instead what was? Who are the characters you want to include? What does the setting look like? What scenes would feel good? You are worth the time and attention this takes. The more types of creativity you use to engage the process (writing, drawing, moving, acting it out, etc.), the more detailed and expansive the emerging vision becomes.

3. Stay in an ongoing dialogue with yourself as you go. As you do this, chances are you'll meet up with certain resistances: fears, energies, feelings, old (comfortable, familiar) habits and stories. These parts of ourselves tend to surface and get the loudest when we are about to break through into something new. Ask yourself questions like, "Do I have influence over this?" If yes, step into an inspired action - whatever you need to do. If no, ask yourself, "What am I being invited to let go of?" and go through what it takes to let it go. Just becoming aware of it may be enough. Or you may need to do a "release ritual" in the moment to let it go. Or, if deeply entrenched, you may need extra external support. This is nonlinear dance that includes stepping up and letting go at different times.

If we can't change something in that process, we can learn to accept it as a creative constraint, and choose to let go of it taking up our mental/emotional bandwidth. We then can use that bandwidth and energy to mobilize our internal and external resources toward what we actually would like to create. Creative empowerment is not about never feeling resistance (which is a natural part of the creative process) to be able to move forward, but acknowledging it, sending if off stage or making it a secondary characters with much less stage time, and moving forward anyway. It's giving your aliveness the lead role.

Claim the director role of your own life play in 2023 - and play with it. Let what is alive be the main character this coming year. Give the expansive emergence more stage time than you give the constraints, and let them slip into the background. We may not be able to choose everything that happens to us, but we can choose which part is given the lead role on your unique stage, no matter what's happening off stage.

The world needs what only you have to offer. Cheers to a peaceful, loving, and generative 2023! May you express more of your amazing uniqueness...and enjoy the journey.

Michelle James ©2023

Creative Renovation

Have some renovation going on right now at the house. The process of renovation can be lengthy, messy, and noisy. Things break down, are taken apart, and are replaced. Old foundations no longer function and serve, and it's hard to navigate around the area until the the new ones are put in place. To step in and look at it in the middle of the process, it looks like an uncontrollable mess. But to step back look at the whole process, it's livable because you know the new, better foundations will eventually be put in place.

 

Maybe that's what we are in right now in the world - a giant renovation with the old breaking down and no longer serving, and the new not yet in place, so everything seems like such a uncontrollable mess in the meantime. Maybe better foundations are in the process of being co-created and built, but we're still too much in the mess to see it clearly. What if we zoom out to hold a larger story/picture/framework about what's happening?

 

That makes it a lot more livable for me than only seeing the messiness of the breakdown. In every creative emergence something falls away or breaks down, and there is a time of cloudy, discombobulated messiness before something new emerges. What if we are in that? Holding it that way makes it easier for me to stay connected to what's mine to do in the unknown messiness of this world right now.

 

How might you hold what is going on in the world that helps you better navigate and create it in a generative way (for yourself, others, and the whole), even without knowing what happens next?

 

Michelle James ©2022

Image credit: www.wunderlusthomes.com

 

Serve, Don’t Sacrifice

 

Michelle James ©2022

2 Questions ot Ponder on Your Soul's Creative Calling

There are no guarantees when we start engaging what we feel what feels most alive in us toward our calling. We can’t know for certain the if and how and when for anything. But as we get deeper into what is ours to do, for who we uniquely are, and stay true to our authentic selves and what brings us alive, those other things eventually start to emerge along the way.

 

We can’t wait until these things are lined up to begin. We can't wait to feel secure or certain. These things show up in the journey, and not always comfortably or predictably, but we can’t know this ahead of time. We are vulnerable when we begin this process. But once we do, and if we stay true to it, we get support our of nowhere that couldn't have been predicted or prescribed.

 

On this International World Creativity and Innovation Day, what if you treat yourself to some generative, creative exploring on these questions (and/or whatever else comes to you), in whatever ways resonate with you. There are always some (or many) people in the world who need what only you can create.

Michelle James ©2022

You are the Designer, Architect, and Gardener of your Own Path

There is an amazingly vibrant animating life force in nature. We don’t create it - it's already there. We can co-create and co-design with it to bring out unique colorful gardens. Similarly, we have an amazingly vibrant animating creative life force within us. It already exists and in not something only certain people have or that you learn form someone.

 

Just like gardener learns how to create a thriving alive creative garden, we can learn how to create alive unique work in the world. We are the gardeners of our signature work. And like all gardeners who design their garden, we can learn to seed, plant, nurture, tend to, shape, design, and cultivate our unique work int he world.

 

You are the designer, architect, and gardener of your own path. The only question in whether you accept that role, and do it consciously. If you do, beautiful blooms of your own design can bear juicy fruit into the world.

Michelle James ©2022

Moving From What Was into Creating What Can Be

Holding on to a situation, dynamic, belief system, way of thinking/being/interacting, etc. after it served its purpose is like trying to breath life into a dead log or digesting stale food - trying to freeze or cling to something that has past. It's a waste of time and life energy, and is often unhealthy.

Instead, tune into what and who feel vital and aspirational for you now, and what is calling/inspiring you into the future, and breathe and move your life energy into that.

Lighten your load from the past to move into what is calling you in the emerging future. When one door (situation, relational dynamic, idea, project, ideal, etc.) closes, other generative ones open when we are present to it to notice it, and not trying to open old doors that no longer exist.

CREATIVE PRACTICE: Look at all the doorways you are putting your energy into and ask why? What is the purpose? How does it feed you? What/who does it serve? Does this still have energy for you? Use discernment and release the ones that are connected to guilt, habit, nostalgia (or anything else not currently alive or meaningful).

Keep - or transform - the ones that still have energy. And create new ones to follow what is most alive for you now. Weed out what longer serves. Sometimes this may require professional healing or therapy. I am not trying to belittle this letting-go process - it can indeed be challenging (and may need more work to heal and release), so do it in whatever way that works for you. Get support if needed.

Nurture what still does have energy for you. Emerge and unfold anew. Follow your heart, life energy, truth, and calling... You have this one amazing unique life that is un-reproduceable in any way from anyone else...only you can live it. Create, don't imitate. You are way too magical to not engage your own awesome creativity - your own never-before-and-never-again creative expression!

Your inner Creative Self is always there for you when you take the time to engage it. The world needs what only you can create and cultivate. The longer I live, the more I realize - and am tending to - what a gift time is. Life is short - use the gift of your time here as purposefully and enjoyably as you can.

Michelle James ©2022

Connecting with your Inner Creative GPS in the New Year

NEW Workshop: Connecting with Your Creative Source

December 28, 2021 • 1:00-2:30 EST on Zoom
Register at http://www.creativeemergence.com/creativesource

 

Register Here Kick off a creative new start to your new year!   Hi all. I had a client ask me to do a workshop last weekend on Connecting with the Creative Source. It was such a joy, it inspired to offer a 90-minute version of it this month open to the public. I'll eventually turn this into a multi-session workshop but wanted to offer you a dive into it now as a way to start the new year off feeling more connected to this vibrant, generous, and unique part of yourself...and your full-on creative partner in your visions, goals, and whatever it is you feel called to create.   Over the past 20+ years I've centered my coaching around the Creative Source in our sessions as part of creating what's next - from ways of being and embodying to creating products, services, and workshops to whatever is calling to emerge. I would like to offer this part now to the public, and offering it a discounted introductory rate.    Once we have a trusting relationship with our creative source, we see options and choices we wouldn't have previously imagined; we see more openings when some doors close; we're more resilient in the face of adversity; we find inspiration and motivation more easily; and we can access creative flow states more often.   Working consciously with your inner creative source helps with: vision creating, problem solving, discerning, decision making, ideation, resolving seeming opposites, moving through resistances, expanding thinking and constructs, understanding others views...and feeling more alive, fertile, trusting, lightened up, and more empowered and confident in our own creativity, intuition, and sense of purpose. And, it's FUN!   Hope you can join us for this juicy dive into our creative selves on the 28th!    With love and hope, Michelle Register Here www.creativeemergence.com •  creativeemergencecoaching.com [email protected] • 434-995-5077

Trusting Your Intuitive Voice for Deeper Creativity

 

We've been educated and socialized to perceive/think/create/act from the mainly rational mind - what we currently see, have been told by others, or consciously know. Yes, and...the intuitive mind allows us feel into, see into, and experience that which includes AND goes beyond what we currently know and have evidence for. It's essential for next-level visioning, imagining, creating, and building.

What if you took some space and time time to treat your intuition and creative imagination to some one-on-one attention? What if you indulge yourself in exploring with it?

 

It's always there, waiting to help you in your emergence. From every day decisions to clarity around your calling to creating in new ways, your intuition is a juicy part of of your Creative Self that is always on your side, working FOR you. We just have to learn how it shows up within us, and communicates to us, which is also unique to each of us. No one else knows exactly how your unique intuitive source voice talks, but if you take the time to listen, feel, and get to know it, you will find out.

 

PRACTICE INVITATION: Let yourself explore, experiment, and discover this amazing creative resource within you. Instead of using someone else’s technique (save them for another time), try seeing what emerges naturally in you. Let go of expectations of how it should show up, and see what really does show up. Pay attention while doing the practice as well in in other, unexpected moments. Like a flash of an insight or feeling or image seemingly put of nowhere.

Just intend it and be present to it…and see what you feel, notice, and what comes into your consciousness.

 

It's natural that other thoughts, voices, and fears may show up first in your consciousness...those are just the habitual thoughts, stories, and evaluations we all carry. Let them show up, but don't spend time engaging them for this exercise. Instead, stay open to the creative voice of your own intuitive source - impulses, feelings, words, images, shapes, colors, sounds, energies, insights, knowings, etc - however it show up for you. Be patient with yourself - this is not a one-time practice, but one that needs some practice.

Over time, you will learn its voice, and begin to trust it more than you trust anything else. Because it is always is for your aliveness and best interest. It's a great partner to trust. It is intimately connected to your unique creative flow, expression, emergence...and to what, why, and how you create.

Michelle James © 2021

Happy Giving-Thanks!

In the spirit of this week of Thanksgiving I would like to share three Giving-Thanks practices with you. I know this year has had challenges for most of us in some way or another. My hope it that no matter where you find yourself at this time doing these practices can help create a more aspirational and generative space within you. The first is for what already is. The second is for deepening into the meaning of it. The third is for what can be created.

 

Gratitude Practice 1: 100 Thanks

 

I learned this one over 15 years ago and still do it every year on Thanksgiving day. It's a great way to get into the appreciative space of what what feeds you positively in some way. It's very simple: just write down - preferably in one sitting - 100 things you are grateful for. Just list them off. It can be people, experiences, materials items, events, offerings, types of food, learnings, feelings, where you live, nature's gifts, podcasts, inspiring quotes, states of being, a grocery store, etc - anything that you are thankful for, no matter how large or small.

 

Doing it in one sitting helps us go underneath our everyday conscious thoughts and into finding the gifts "hidden in plain sight." At one point you may feel like you've exhausted your list and be tempted to stop, but if you commit to the full 100 chances are you'll connect with more gifts than you think about in your everyday living. It just requires presence. If you stick around to get to 100, you may find things - some even surprising - that you might not otherwise stop to think about as gifts.

 

Gratitude Practice 2: Grateful Because

 

Take 5-7 of the Gratitudes from the first list and list out the "why" for each one. It helps deepen into the feeling, the purpose, and your appreciation. it helps expand the Appreciative Field, which opens up more feelings of well-being and possibilities thinking - and extracting meaning from some things that were challenging. Finding meaning in something can be like finding the diamond in the rough. Here are a few prompts to play with. As always, make up your own versions.

 

• I am grateful for (a person) because_______

• I am grateful for (a positive experience) because it gave me_______

• I am grateful for (a challenging experience) because I learned_______

• I am grateful for (a thing) because_______

• I am grateful for (a situation) because it helped me_______

• I am grateful for (a book/podcast/class/talk/workshop) because I better understand_______

 

Gratitude Practice 3: Creative Future Gratitude

 

This one starts with doing something to get present and centered first. Whether that's breathing, dancing, meditating, or whatever it is for you, it works best if you find yourself undistracted and fully present. Once you are in a space where you won't be distracted, start imagining it is Thanksgiving week 2022, and you're writing down 3-5 things that happened in the past year (from today on) that that you are happily grateful for.

 

Rather than list them out from your head's habitual thinking (which is quicker and easier, but carries little creative "energetic weight" behind it), take time to immerse yourself in the full sensory, emotional, and energetic experience of each one of those - a luxurious indulging of your creative imagination, not a rushing through.

 

When you write it down, feel the feelings, see the sights, and feel the energy within yourself associated with each one. For example, when you're imagining it, does it feel alive, open, exciting, fun, or expansive within you? If yes to any of those, chances are it carries positive creative potential for you. If it feel heavy or contractive, leave that one off your list for this exercise for now.

 

Stay in the divergent (yes-and, non-evaluative) space even if uncomfortable. During this exercise, if other voices come in saying, "Yeah, but how will I make that happen?" "Yeah, but that's not realistic" or any other "Yes, but" message, let it go. The "game" is a Future Gratitude Imagining for what already happened by Thanksgiving 2022, so just stay with the focus of what happened in this vision - not the how. Play this game with the rule of not following any of the Yes-Butting voices. :-)

 

For example, it might be something like, "I'm grateful that my _______ (course, book, workshop, product, idea, presentation, business, brand, offering, etc) was so successful/alive/worthwhile in that it________" ...then define what that means to YOU (helped others x, brought people together, created x,  allowed me to x, allowed others to x , served the mission of x, made money, helped a cause, solved problems, generated conversations, cultivated creativity, etc).

 

Once you've done that, let it go. Don't worry in that moment about how to make it happen. Pretend it already has and all you are doing is writing out why you are grateful for it happening. When writing them, let yourself feel the real Gratitude energy you'd feel if it already happened. Then let it go. Your creative unconscious now has something to start working with.

 

Then come back to them at another time, and start imagining the how with what you currently know, and let the rest of the how emerge over time as you start engaging the process. If you start engaging with what you do know the next "how" emerges out of the process over time.

 

Happy Giving-Thanks!

 

 

Michelle James © 2021

FREE Somatic Expeditions virual event with 25 Somatic Practitioners - Oct. 6-10

I'm delighted to have been invited to be one of the guests in this Somatic Experience Event online. During this FREE five-day virtual event, I will join host Ahni Bonner and 24 others to delve into exciting and innovative applications centered in body-based awareness. The work is inspiring, purposeful, and fun and I’m excited to be part of it. Th world is changing, and more people are valuing and (re)connecting with their body's innate intelligence. What does that mean, and how does that look? Join this event to discover many ways people are embodying the answers those questions.

 

Somatic Expeditions is a series of conversations and practices with 25 somatic-awareness practitioners of various types. Journey through the body into expanded awareness to connect with what’s alive and create new possibilities! Connect to your body/mind for clarity that is vital, energizing, and transformative. October 6th-10th.

 

Click this link register for FREE:

Somatic Expeditions

Creating from Uncertainty: 11 Reminders

The more uncertain the outside world,
or my own  world, the more I attempt to
lean into certain ways of being and
working to help get me through. I'll
share some here as reminders, in case
they can be helpful to anyone
having a hard time with ongoing

uncertainty. Not all things work
for all people or situations, so take
whatever is useful and leave the rest.

1. Remain directed, present to your larger purpose (your own Why), even if it has to be expressed differently than it has been in the past. A strong Why is like a tree trunk - the center - and the branches are the various forms of its expression. Some will bear fruit.
2. Create from what's in front you right now, adapting as you go (like in an improv), allowing that you don't have all of the picture. When in doubt, do what is just in front of you, one step at a time until more clarity or information emerges.
3. Say ‘yes’ to, and act on, what feels most alive and vital day by day - and say ‘no’ to what does not - as you can - claiming your own healthy boundaries.
4. Pay attention to emerging patterns in your field, as well as outside of it, and adapt what you do to new information and advances as they emerge.
5. Accept the changes - constraints - that may not be so welcome, and don't spend a lot of time begrudging them. Instead, do what you can to create from within those constraints. Much novel creativity has emerged form unwelcome constraints.
6. Engage supportive people on or offline. Being able to share your creative ideas with a trusted friend or colleague reduces stress and enhances creativity. Having trusted people with whom to bounce ideas around can keep you going at times of self doubt. Or work with therapists, healers, coaches, bodyworkers, fitness trainers - whatever you need for your mental and physical well-being. You don't have to go it alone.
7. Practice the art of Reframing. Reframing how you perceive something, and how you hold it conceptually and energetically in your mind and body, can make a huge difference in how you move through it. I.e., Instead of seeing a constraint as a block, you can see it is an invitation to discover something new - that can reduce judgement and open new possibilities. Instead of seeing a situation as an either/or, you can hold it as a both/and - that can open new ways of engaging it. Instead of thinking there's the one right way or solution, you can assume there are multiple paths that work - and that can change how you approach it.
8. Use the time to get clarity about what you can get clear on and influence, and focus on working and designing more from there. It helps you feel more empowered when you have a sense of what you can influence in your world, and act on it.
9. Let the process be messy. Creativity is messy. Exploring and experimenting can be messy - ask any artist or scientist. Allowing time in the messiness of divergent space, indulging in the exploration time, can be a juicy time of discovery if you let it. Give yourself time and space to play with things that might not work out exactly as hoped, and play some more until you start to see new patterns emerging.
10. Create mini-aspirational stories to live into. It's helpful when we have a motivational story to aspire to. They serve as beacons to keep us in the direction of our passions, structured and expressed. In times of immense rapid change that story is likely to need edits. We can create smaller mini-stories, editing them in real time as we go to get more insights and ideas. Create the next chapter of your vision as you go, instead of going for the whole book.
11. Get in your body. I do this every day for my own sanity. Try adding body-centered practices that ground and energize you to your daily practices. When we are more fully in our bodies, and more flexible, we're more present and resourceful. For an abundance of ideas on that, check out the free online Somatic Expeditions event stating later this week - chock-ful of somatic practices to help you stay centered, vibrant, and creative in this wild world.

 

In times like these, I think in terms of “entry points” – what I know now and what is next. And then let that "next" inform the following "next." Emergence works uncertainty: we can know the direction, but not all of the details. They shift and change over time. The unexpected happens. Evolving technologies and social systems, and our own internal drives, inform and expand our vision along the way. There are ways of doing and being that can support that process to make it more live-able and generative for us.

 

The 11 ideas are what came to mind today as I wrote this. What other mindsets, reframes, and practices would be helpful to you? Start mindmapping them, or writing them out in your journal - whatever works for you - and see what else emerges.

 

Creative energy is the most transformative energy there is – it has the power to change all situations - history has shown us that. It's not always easy, but it is always possible. Your infinitely creative, resourceful Self has got this!

Michelle James©2021

Image credit: Dave Bayliss

NEW Creative Body Workshop! September 9th

NEW Creative Body Workshop on 9/9! 10-12 EST on Zoom.
https://www.creativeemergence.com/creativebody/

Many of us are sitting in Zoom calls, or at our desks, for much of the day. It can be energy draining, and we can lose touch with our creative flow. I take frequent "pattern breaks" to get in my body in energizing and enjoyable ways to be able to stay "on" with the work I do. When I take the time to move differently, it opens up my more of my creative energy, focus, and resourcefulness. I do body-centered practices every day to keep me present, engaged, and co-creating with my clients. It's been a life-saver for me doing all my work online these days, and I would love to share some of the practices for you to do yourselves or with those you coach or facilitate.

 

Your body is an amazing creative resource. It has it own creative intelligence. Using your body in ways aligned with this natural intelligence increases adaptability, creativity, and resilience. When you move and embody in new ways, new perspectives and thinking emerge. Breaking patterns of movement and opening to new ones create space for novel ideas and insights.

 

This highly interactive workshop integrates different interrelated body-centered modalities that work together toward a cohesive whole. The convergence of somatic philosophy and techniques with other creative practices help you experience a deepened awareness of, and connection to, your body intelligence and unique creative expression. We explore and experience using our bodies to overcome blocks to creativity, create new visions and solve problems, feel more empowered, generate feelings of aliveness, hopefulness, and more ease of movement, and more.

For more information or to register, go to: https://www.creativeemergence.com/creativebody/

My New Etsy Art Shop is Live!

I uploaded some of my mandala art to Etsy! I will do an official launch in the fall, and still have more to frame and upload. I will eventually offer prints and paintings, but right now it has the original drawings on there.

www.etsy.com/shop/CreativeEmergenceArt

All of the mandalas on the site now are the originals. They are hand drawn with Prismacolor colored pencils and put onto round black wood frames. 10" wide, and 1/2" thick. They have both hooks and two-sided tape on back for easy hanging.

Cultivating Creative Energy Using Your Body

It is hard to generate creative flow when you
are in a contractive state. While contraction
is part of any creative birth process,
staying in that place too long becomes an energy block - it prevents the creative energy from flowing more freely. Divergence in creative process needs the open energy of expansion. When we are in expansion energy state, we think, act, perceive, respond, and create differently than when we are in a contractive (more closed) energy state.

So how do we get into a creative energy state when those around us may not be not there? There are infinite ways to engage our creativity, thankfully, but I’ll talk about a couple that involve the body. My next public online workshop is The Creative Body workshop, where we will explore many ways to engage the body creatively. We don’t need to wait for others to change our internal states - we can start anytime.

Creative Ways to Get the Creative Juices Flowing Using Your Body

Here are a couple of the many ways I play with moving energy based on my own ways of creating, and what I need that day. Try the ones that resonate for you. And definitely try modifying these in real time - as you are doing them - to get into Discovery to make your own. You may need tweaks to get them to resonate for you. We’re never limited to anyone else’s way of doing anything. :-)

Dancing the Creative Alive Energy in

Movement. Loosen up your body. Have fun in your body. Play with the non-habitual. When I start moving my body differently, my entire mood and energy shifts. I do this before every session I facilitate, and most days in some form. One way to do this is play upbeat songs you love and dance around the room as you breath our tension and old energy. I like to play songs that are silly and fun to uplift my mood, so I literally have a playlist list called “Goofy Playlist.” These are songs that help me not take myself or anything so seriously so they help me move to a different energy state. They are not necessarily songs I listen to on a daily basis - though sometimes I do that. I just know that that when I am having more fun in my body, I feel more alive, expansive, and it is easier for me to be present and creative.

Moving Non-habitually Break Patterns

I also like to move in non habitual ways - trying new moves every time I dance - to be in that “Improv” discovery state, which always feels move alive( not to mention scientists show that creating new moves creates new neural pathways in our brain). I literally do this every day. Whether I am dancing or just sitting at my desk, I play around with all kind of ways to move my body non-habitually (new for me), whih help me feel more alive, present, and awake (especially when on long Zoom days) The key is to play with it, judgement free - let it be off-the-wall and nonsensical to you. It’s abbot breaking patterns in your body movements to help break patterns in your thinking. Do what you can form where you are. If you have some physical limitations, just start small with whatever you can move. (I am not a medical practitioner so please don’t do anything against the advice of one).

Letting the Energy Move your Body - Following and Inhabiting the Energy

The mind is an amazing resource. Even if we don’t feel something at a given time, we can shift our state by putting attention on it and calling it in. Intention leads to attention. Energy follows attention. So if we intend to feel an energy, we can call it in an engage with it, we can actually start to feel it move through us. This one may takes a few times to get used to because, like with meditation, it takes time sometimes to feel the energy, and woks best when we are not distracted. Some people can access this immediately, others practice to get the energies flowing. But if you do practice it, you will be able to state-change by calling in an energy.

For example, if you intend to feel more aliveness energy, you can call it in, and start bringing your sense to it. Ask, “What does aliveness look like? (You can draw it in the abstract or just imagine it) What does it sound like? What does feel like? What does it move like? And start moving form it. As you do it, you may hear the inner voices of judgement (about yourself or about the activity itself), but keep going. Let them be there, but keep bringing your attention to the energy and the full-on experience of it as best you can. Sometimes it takes a few times before you feel anything - other times you feel it right away. The invitation is to try it…to play with it until you feel it and embody the state change.

Create a Judgment-free Zone

Remember to suspend all judgement as you play with these. Be kind to the part of you that forgot what is was like to move and play freely in your body. And to go beyond my descriptions into discovering your own “yes-ands” to this as you go. When we allow our bodies to explore without judging them, they can take us to creative places and more vibrancy. Feel free to email me and let me know what you discover.

–––––––
We’ll do a deeper dive into these and many other ways of engaging your body to bringing in more creativity, aliveness, presence, and flow in my next Creative Body Workshop on September 9.  There we'll do a deeper exploratory dive into Somatic Intelligence and it's connection creative thinking, being, and moving...and using your body as a creative resource.  If you are interested to learn more, click here or contact me directly.

Michelle James ©2021

Creating with What's Calling to Emerge

When we learn to hear our creative self,
we get in touch with what we are designed
to be and do. Embedded in each of us is a vision and blueprint for our unique work, expression, and fruition in the world. Creative Emergence is about cultivating our own unique creative "soul signature" - creating the conditions, and doing the work of bringing it into fruition in the world.

Unlike the acorn becoming the tree just by being, humans have some doing (action/creation/cultivation/exploration) - and un-doing (letting go of unhelpful programming, beliefs, habits, and fears that can get in the way) - to live into their vision. When you listen in to the aliveness of your creative self, you find that you are always being called into something ready to emerge...you own "what' s next."

Each creative emergence process is about both stepping up and letting go, active creation and passive reception, and learning to co-create with your own inner creative source to bring out the work you are designed to do - and only you can do in the unique way you do it.

Image credit: Acorn Dream, 2021, by artist Alex Grey

Synchro-tunity: A Creative Inflection Point

Synchro-tunity is where synchronicity (unpredictable events that are somehow seemingly connected) meets opportunity (new possibilities opening up.) This inflection point is a place from which we can create what’s next. When we pay attention to what’s emerging, and we’ve prepared ourselves for the current moment, then we can recognize and step into new possibilities that were previously unavailable for us.

It's about setting intention, preparing ourselves, paying attention to signals from a variety of places and sources,and taking ripe (timely) actions on those. #applieddiscovery

The World Needs Your Creative, Unique, Signature Work

Extracting the Creative Gifts from the Challenges of 2020

This morning's full moon...
closing down the chapter of our lives that was 2020. While 2020 was unquestionably challenging (for some devastating), challenges almost always come with seeds of opportunities. We can use this "pattern breaking" time to look back and release whatever no longer serves, and cultivate what is or can be useful. We can extract the gifts out of last year, as a creative alchemical practice - turning the led into creative gold. Below are 12 of the gifts I'm taking from 2020 (a year where I had many losses as well).

12 gifts I'm taking from 2020:

 

1. I learned how to use Zoom features (break out rooms, the white board, using visuals and videos, etc.) which allows me to facilitate client workshops online. I would not have learned the Zoom features had all my on-site workshops not been cancelled.

2. I reconnected with old friends and colleagues because we were all home and available, and formed some new and renewed partnerships, ideation sessions, and learning labs.

 

3. I learned new and varied types of body-centered practices online that I would not have taken the time to do had I been going to my health club.

 

4. I created a couple small practice groups and masterminds to explore and try out new concepts and practices.

 

5. I went to more backyard social-distancing gatherings/dinners/rituals/bonfires with local friends instead of public events.

 

6. I started updating my website, which had been long overdue (coming soon).

 

7. I took a lot of time to reflect on who I am now, what I still want to offer that I have been offering, what to let go of, and what new offerings and practices are calling to emerge. What I offer and how is changing - in my coaching and my facilitation. I had the time to take stock on where I am now, and what is next.

8. I started working on some projects and products that I will be unfolding in 2021.

 

9. I re-visited painting, and started creating Emergent Mandala drawings, which has been transformative for me at many levels...and also will be leading to new offerings.

 

10. I found some thought-provoking, inspiring (some more analytical, other more aspirational) podcasts which I love - a kindred, diverse tribe of like-minded aspirational people who I don't personally know - that I wouldn't have taken the time to do had life been as-usual.

 

11. I learned a lot, questioned my assumptions - in my own life, in society, and in the world - about what I value, and had countless thought-provoking, generative, sometimes challenging/often enlightening conversations that continue to help me grow and evolve. It was a year of deep reflection, questioning, and discovery around certain issues and ideas I had not previously reflected upon in the same ways. My frameworks expanded.

 

12. I feel I was able to serve my clients at deeper and more expanded levels due to what they were/are facing and experiencing with their own 2020 challenges..and helping them stay creative, resilient, and adaptive during these times.

 

I'm not trying to paint a pollyanna picture. There was much I missed terribly (like in-person facilitation, which is a big part of my soul-food) for which there is no substitute. And many people suffered much larger losses. My heart goes out to you if that was you. This is just to say that once we are forced into a contracted space, not of our own choosing, we still all have the capacity to extract some meaning and creativity from it - some creative nuggets. This has been true for every society in every era - many of which had more limitations and darker times that we have just had.

 

Instead of looking at only what was lost in our work, we can acknowledge it, and mourn the losses...and...look at some of the gifts, even if still only in seed-potential form, as hints of what we can create in the new year. Our creative source (the creative wellspring inside of us) is unlimited...and will give us ways to create new doors when old ones close if we embrace the mindset and heart-set to engage with it...and give ourselves the time to do so. There are always choices within every contraction.

What are some of the nuggets, learnings, or seeds of potential you are taking into the new year?

Michelle James ©2020

Using the Moment for Creative Insights

When we stay present In the moment, time
expands.  When we fill the moment by talking only about what we already know, or about what others have said, we bury the dynamic, creative aliveness of the moment with history. We have been socialized to fill the moment with history (what we've learned, what others have said said, what are accepted assumptions) - going out of time - instead of staying in time, where creativity emerges and flourishes.

The more we cultivate presence, the more we deepen our relationship with the moment, the more it provides - insights, ideas, creativity, solutions, aha's, guidance, peace of mind, an expanded framework, etc. I've learned this over the years through improv theater, meditation, being in nature, expressive arts, contemplation, etc. that when I engage in these practices, I live more connected to the moment and feel more access to creativity, meaning and motivation. When I get caught up in the daily grind without consciously giving myself the space to pause and engage presence, I lose that connection and feel the loss. Luckily, the moment is forgiving, and always here.

It's about clearing out the mental clutter so we can be present to what wants to emerge from our creative unconscious. Our creative unconscious always has more information and possibilities than anything we consciously know. The moment offers us more options, choices, and possibilities when we become fully open and present to it. It contains next-level possibilities that we don't always see from our habitual thinking lens. It's what allows something to seemingly emerge out of nothing. Presencing to the moment is a bridge to our creative unconscious that contains next-level answers, visions, and directions.

CREATIVE PRESENCE PRACTICE: Take a pause to breathe out anything that is on your mind (plans, worries, fears, to-do's, concerns - knowing you can come back to them after the practice) and breathe in the current moment. Really feel the moment expand as you breathe it in. Then bring your intention - whatever it is you want to envision, create, or solve (project, workshop, product, idea-generation, solution, situation, etc.), and be with it, expanding the feeling of the moment...and being present to what emerges. Like with any meditation or creative practice, it may take a few times before you get the clarity, but it will deliver if you stay present to it. Have paper on hand to write out or draw what emerges into your consciousness, so you don't lose the insight.

 

Michelle James ©2020

Valuing Intuition in the Creative Process

“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift
and the rational mind is a faithful servant.
We have created a society that honors
the servant and has forgotten the gift.”

― Albert Einstein

We've been generally educated and socialized to see reality/create/act from only the rational mind - from only what we currently see or consciuosly know (and it times of challenge, when people contract, that becomes louder). But the intuitive mind allows us feel into/see into/have knowings into that which goes beyond what we currently know, have evidence for, or can be proven - in our own lives and in society.

 

The intuitive mind allows us to leave the confines of "space-time" and go into the world of our yet-untapped possibilities - our emerging-future selves - and bring the knowledge it carries back into the present. It allows us to access more and varied ways of knowing and imagining - from much more deeply in our creative unconscious - and it bypasses the conscious editor, who carries a lot of limited stories and assumptions about who we are, who others are, why we are here, what's ours to do, etc.

The intuitive "right brain" information we get is direct and immediate, and sometimes abstract (colors, feelings, shapes, a-has, awareness', knowings, glimpses, words, energies, sounds, surprising connections, etc) - and it's the job of that rational mind to unpack it - to mine its riches - for next-level information...and often transformation. The rational mind is supposed to carry out the insights of the intuitive mind, not block it, keep it down, discredit it, and treat is as "woo-woo" like is done on most of our current systems.

So if you get an idea or intuitive feeling out of "space-time" (something that does not fit into your current knowledge or information system, or may not make complete sense to your current self), don't be quick to discard it just because it's unfamiliar, incomplete, or disjointed. Honor it, and bring the rational mind on board to explore and engage it, and see what it has to tell you.

Creative Emergence is all about that future what's next showing itself into the present...where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts and can not be predicted by what the rational mind knows alone, since there is no existing evidence yet for what the emerging future carries - outside of the hints from the intuitive mind. And connect them with the rational mind. That's the "Both-And" sweet spot of next-level creative thinking and being...and the sweet spot of cultivating our sacred calling in the world. For that, intuition is the sacred gift indeed. When we value it, we can experience the creatively unique ways it wants to engage with us.

Michelle James ©2020

Interview with Thrivable World about Creative Practice and Emergence

I am delighted to have been interviewed by Michelle Holliday of Thrivable World - and author of The Age of Thrivabilty - about creative practice and emergence. It's the first of 4 conversations with various practitioners in her series on Creative Practice. Interview here:

https://thrivableworld.mn.co/posts/interview-with-michelle-james-the-center-for-creative-emergence 

We are so much more than human thinkers; we’re human be-ers, create-ers, and engage-ers.

Giving Your Creative Gifts to the World in the Face of Fear, Doubt, or Envy

"If you give your gifts, people will be envious. The ones who are envious are the ones who are not giving their own gifts." ~ Micheal Meade

This theme just came up in a coaching session with a client last Friday (who has a family member having a hard time with her emergence) and is one of the things that can happen when you cultivate your creative source and start to bring your unique soul's gifts into the world, so it is worth mentioning here. The truth is some people in your life may be envious of your creative process unfolding as you begin to create and produce what's yours to do. That's only because they not in touch with, or fully expressing, their own unique gifts and path. Or, they may be used to relating to you in one way, and now are unsure how to connect with the more "vibrant" energized you. It's really not personal, even though it can feel that way.

When someone is not using their own gifts, they may criticize, belittle, or otherwise negate yours to try to bring you down, even pull away from you, or just feel bad around you without knowing why. At some point in every emergence process, someone you know will be uncomfortable when you follow your aliveness, and how they act depends on who they are and how their own inner feeling of disconnection or fear is related to why they're not cultivating and using their own gifts.

This may bring up feelings in you of sadness, anger, guilt or some way of contracting to try to make them feel better - some people even block their own creative process. The best thing you can do for that person - and  yourself - is to bring forth your gifts anyway, no matter what, because most people you know won't feel bad or envious...they'll be inspired! Seeing you create and produce something new in the world often inspires them to bring out their own gifts. So don't focus on the the nay-sayers (which creates contraction energy), but instead focus on those you serve or desire to serve (which generates expansion energy) - those who will benefit - by you bringing out your creatively unique gifts into the world.

And if you ever find yourself feeling envious of anyone else, take some time to delve into why. Listen underneath the uncomfortable feelings for the real longing of your inner creative voice. The cure for that discomfort is to find and cultivate what is uniquely yours to give and offer in your unique way. In that, there can never be a comparison, and therefore no reason to feel envious. Your creative source contains what's unique to you. It needs you to not focus on the other person, and just focus inward into yourself. You can turn any feelings of envy, doubt, or fear into a creative invitation to focus on your own aliveness.

It's never too late to bring your magic into the world. People need that more than ever. And people you don't even know yet will come out of the woodwork and will be grateful for what you have to offer. There is no short cut, but you are worth the time, space, and attention for the journey of your creative self and creative soul.

Michelle James ©2020

Life as Improv: Opportunity for Creative Discovery as We Go

Creativity for Staying Grounded in Uncertainty and the Unknown

In times of huge unknowns, with much we have no control over, one of the things that lightens the intensity is creatively focusing on the things we CAN control...like getting out in nature, creative arts and crafts, drawing, painting, moving our bodies to music we like, watching funny videos or comedy specials, meditating, journaling, cooking, playing games, online improv, designing business offerings, or anything we like doing that we're able to do that lightens us up. That will be different for everyone, but we do have agency and at least some things we can choose into and control in the midst of uncertainty.

While that may not change what's happening outside of us in the world, it can help shift our energy and internal state to feel more solid, grounded and centered within it, especially in periods of long-time unknowns. Instead of just waiting for the unknown to pass, we can use it to focusing on what we CAN control and create that is alive for us helps to better be with the things we can't control, or being with long time unknowns. We can change our energy and our way of being with it.

 

Michelle James ©2020

Creative Emergence: Clear, Cultivate, Create

"Clarity is the elimination of mental clutter.   

Agility is the elimination of physical clutter.

Tranquility is the elimination of spiritual clutter."
~ James Clear.

Yes! And...Emergence is when someone new and unexpected is born in its place. Once the clutter is gone, the emergence has space to bloom in ways we can't imagine from our cluttered, contracted consciousness. As you eliminate unnecessary clutter, if you also actively (and creatively) cultivate that which is calling to emerge, it helps further clear out what no longer serves. Both and at the same time. We often know how to clear out clutter, but the fear of the unknown keeps it in place, so if we start engaging our emergence process as we clear out, the letting go feel safer and easier...and the creative magic that is in you, underneath the clutter, can shine forth...and you can shape, form, and create what's next. Clear AND Cultivate to consciously Create what's next. 

Michelle James @2020

How to Think Creatively

Someone sent me this interview Massage
magazine did with me in 2016 on How to
Think Creatively. I hadn't posted it before
since it used only be available to
subscribers of their magazine, but is now public.

The full article is here: https://bit.ly/3o1yX7w

Main Ideas:

“We’re all born creative—it’s at the very core of who we are,” said Michelle James, CEO of the The Center for Creative Emergence. “We have been socialized and educated out of our natural creativity, so we tend to forget that.”

James, who serves as a creativity coach and catalyst for her clients, believes it is crucial for people to reconnect with their innate creative source, in order to live with greater balance and joy.

“The more access we have to our creativity, the more connections we make, the more opportunities we have,” she said. “At every level, working with creativity leads to a happier, more productive, thriving life.”

You Are Creative

According to creativity coach Marianne Mullen, one of the main blocks to living the creative life is a belief that only people with certain skills or special talents can be creative. Usually, this belief stems from a narrow definition of what it means to be creative.

“When you hear people say, ‘I’m not creative,’ they have been conditioned to limit their idea of creativity to something in the visual arts, such as painting or sculpting,” Mullen said. “Creativity and its expression are deeply personal—you need to define it for yourself.”

Beyond Polarities

Getting to know your existing mental landscape should help determine new directions for your thoughts, as you begin to cultivate creative thinking. Consider this process an inner exploration, where there is no right or wrong, only curiosity, observation and discovery.

“Part of not thinking creatively is the need for certainty, the need for certain outcomes,” James said. “To think habitually is to not explore, to not take any risks.

“To think creatively means you try on new ways of thinking and you modify as you go,” she continued. “It means you’re an explorer.”

Watch for Patterns

Remember to maintain that mindset of discovery, and avoid any pull you might feel to label unfamiliar thoughts as incorrect or unacceptable, simply because they’re new and different. The tendency to judge what we think as either right or wrong can cease creative thinking all too quickly.

“One of the blocks to creativity is what I call binary thinking—right and wrong, good and bad, pass and fail, black and white,” James said. “Most creative thinkers are comfortable thinking in shades of gray, which allows more to exist within them, even those thoughts that may seem contradictory.”

James calls this “paradoxical thinking” and she considers it central to the process of creative thought. Being able to hold the tension of two opposites—instead of dismissing one because it appears to conflict with the other—can allow for a third, more encompassing option.

“On one level, you might be holding two pieces of information that seem opposed to each other; for example, you need to make a living and you want to be creative,” James said. “Instead of thinking I have to choose X or Y, money or creative expression, acknowledge that it’s important to you to have both, and then assume that it’s possible.

“Creative thinking assumes there’s a third option that will allow both X and Y to exist—you just don’t know about it yet,” she continued. “Instead of choosing one or the other, look at how you might integrate the two, and allow yourself to explore that.”

As you go through the discovery process, nurturing new and creative thoughts, Mullen warns to watch out for your own inner resistance, which may stem from old thought patterns you’re looking to release.

“This would include feelings based on comparisons with others, judgments and that little voice telling you negative messages,” she said. “In order to break out from negative thinking patterns that do not support your creativity, you need to be conscious of what you say to yourself.”

On guard against any unnecessary resistance and equipped with a growing awareness of your own thoughts, you can begin to build and flex your creative muscles on a regular basis.

Dedicate Time

It may seem like one of those paradoxes, but developing a more creative mental landscape actually calls for a certain amount of structure and discipline, especially at the start. If you are committed to opening your mind to more creative ways of thinking, then consider setting aside time for creative practice.

“When you’re first beginning to cultivate your creativity, it needs time and space,” James said. “Schedule it in, and do it in a way that works for you—think of it as your creative practice time.”

For example, you might decide to devote 10 minutes each day to a different form of creative expression, from writing in a journal or drawing a picture to telling a story out loud or moving while you think.

“Make this a time when you explore creative ideas, feelings and beliefs,” Mullen said. “The point is, you are mindfully choosing to give your creativity time and space to play, explore, develop, grow and unfold.”

Question Assumptions

One powerful activity you can bring to this creative practice time is consciously questioning your own assumptions. Using various methods of creative expression, such as dance, writing, acting or painting, explore the beliefs that define your life.

“Assumptions run the gamut, from what success means and what my relationship is supposed to look like to what’s expected of me in the world and what it means to be happy,” James said. “Often, you find that something you accepted as a given actually came from someone else, whether it was parents, teachers or society—you discover it was learned, and once you discover that, you’re more free to shift your perspective.

“You can choose to keep the beliefs that resonate with you, and let go of the ones that are no longer working,” she added. “Then, you can bring in new beliefs that are more alive for you.”

Break Patterns

Another assignment to try during the time you set aside for creative expression is called pattern breaking. By doing tasks in ways you’ve never done them before, you may find that more creative thoughts begin to emerge.

“One way to do this is very simple: Write on unlined paper and use colors, because the right brain thinks in colors and images,” James said. “You’re even breaking patterns with the paper you’re writing on—with all my clients, we’re always writing on unlined paper.”

This creative act of pattern breaking can take place in so many ways. Turn on music you might not normally listen to and allow your body to move and dance freely, breaking your well-worn patterns of movement. Grab a sheet of paper and draw out, rather than dwell on, an issue that’s been bothering you.

“When you engage the brain in different ways, you have a chance at different insights,” James said. “When you begin to break patterns, you create new neural pathways and increase the connections in your brain.

“New connections allow more ideas, more aha moments, to emerge,” she added. “Again, when you begin to break patterns and think differently and non-habitually, remember to get comfortable with shades of gray, and let go of right or wrong.”

The goal of your creative practice time should be to try on as many different forms of creative expression as possible, using each method of expression to explore your own thoughts, assumptions, beliefs and patterns, as well as any pressing issue. If you stick to it, you should discover which kinds of creativity work best for you, or how you define creativity.

“Eventually, you’ll begin to find what feels really alive for you,” James said. “Don’t be limited by anyone else’s definition of creativity—what’s really alive for one person might not be for another.”

Article by Brandi Schlossberg, full-time journalist and part-time writer for MASSAGE Magazine

The Pregnant Creative Moment

Michelle James©2020