Changemaker Groups » spirituality

The Vein of Gold: A Journey to Your Creative Heart

admin — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 20:02:00 +0000

The Vein of Gold: A Journey to Your Creative Heart (Companion to The Artist’s Way)

Julia Cameron

ISBN 0-87477-836-0

This journey to your creative heart begins with a chapter about setting out on your journey. The basic tools of morning pages, weekly artist date, cluster list, walking daily, walking an hour-long walk weekly, walking prayerfully, manifesting, and your creativity commitment.

The main chapters of the book take us to the kingdoms of: 1) story, 2) sight, 3) sound, 4) attitude, 5) relationship, 6) spirituality, and 7) possibility.

The last chapter deals with breaking camp. In this chapter, the artist’s tribal rules are given.

The tribal rules are:

Survival rule number 1 is acceptance. “I seem to want to be an artist.” Accept the fact that you’re an artist and stop second guessing yourself. Just do it.

Survival rule number 2: Don’t Judge It. Focus on process, not product.

Survival rule number 3: Defend your process. Sooner or later, you’re going to run into somebody who won’t want you to do it, or will want you to do it only a certain way. Consider the source. Are the making your art? Do what you need to do.

Survival rule number 4: Never Let Anybody Tell You What To Create. Create for you. Create something every day.

Survival rule number 5: Maintain Your Creative Health. Artists are athletes. Creativity is like distance running. Log ten slow miles for every one fast mile. Consistency—process—builds stamina, what horse people call “bottom”, what we may call the bottom line. This brings us to:

Survival rule number 6: Grieve Your Losses. In any creative life there are losses. Some of them are grievous. Only one thing makes them go away—more creativity.

Survival rule number 7: Create for Revenge. Be a spiritual midget. Skewer the bastards. Create right at them.

Survival rule number 8: Remember That the Part of Us That Creates is An Inner Youngster. Allow your creative child to have playmates and playthings.

Survival rule number 9: Find Your Believing Mirrors and Stick Close to Them. You deserve a cheering section.

Survival rule number 10: Ignore the Odds. We are all equally sourced in an abundant Universe. Our dreams come from the God within, and that God has the power to fulfill them. Trust yourself. Accept divine help from whatever human source offers it, remembering always that God is the Great Creator—and artists love other artists.

The Little Book of Letting Go

admin — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 19:45:03 +0000

The Little Book of Letting Go: A Revolutionary 30-Day Program to Cleanse Your Mind, Lift Your Spirit, and Replenish Your Soul

Hugh Prather

ISBN: 157324-503-8

Amazon link

Hugh Prather and his wife, Gayle, have been sharing their spirituality for almost 40 years. He is the resident minister at St. Francis in the Foothills United Methodist Church in Tucson, Arizona.

The contents include sections for letting go of: problems, fear of letting go, worry, our first reaction, motivation through crisis, money anxiety and travel worries, anticipated and unanticipated emotions, victim-perception, word magic, stories, neglect, fear of happiness, t-thoughts; I, me, and mine; outcomes, relationship battles you aren’t having, useless blocks to relationship, sticky thoughts, gloom, rigid responses and limited answers, “turning it over”, scattered thinking, blame and damage, body thoughts, t-thoughts, spiritual attainment, “higher” path, “spiritual” laws of success, our personal struggle.

From letting go: the basics:

“Within the human heart, we all feel the call to be simple, to be present, to be real. Yet throughout the day, the world urges us to be at war with ourselves and each other” “Be resentful about the past.” “Be anxious about the future.” “Be hungry for what you don’t see.”

“Be dissatisfied with what you do see.” “Be guilty.” “Be important.”

“Be bored.” “Be right.” Little else in nature exhibits this need to be more that it is. The simplicity of rain, the clarity of a star, the effortlessness of s bird, the single-mindedness of an ant—all are just what they are.”

From letting of problems:

“To “become like a little child” is merely to relinquish our need to judge all things, change all things, and be right on all occasions. This removes the blocks we put on our capacity to enjoy, or at least to be still and at peace.”

“There are only three things you need to let go: judging, controlling, and being right. Release these three and you will have the whole mind and twinkly heart of a child.”

Prather defines t-thoughts as a core belief that we developed at some point in our lives, usually doing our formative lives, that now stands in the way of our experiencing unity and peace. When something happens during the day to trigger a t-thought, it automatically clicks on, like a tape or a computer program. If we are not aware of its activity, the set of emotions it produces controls our decisions and outlook. (page 95)

From letting go of t-thoughts:

“There is no way to perfect egos. Nor is there any reason to. Why would you want to perfect an imaginary playmate? Would that get rid of it? Certainly not. Likewise, there is no need to make a project of your ego and attempt to perfect an imaginary identity. Just seeing it clearly will show you that you don’t want it; don’t need it; and don’t have to fear it.”

Journal to the Self

admin — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 19:39:55 +0000

Journal to the Self: Twenty-two Paths to Personal Growth

Kathleen Adams

ISBN 0-446-39038-0

Amazon link

Journal therapy has been popularized by Dr. Ira Progoff since 1966 with his Intensive Journal Workshop. Kathleen Adams has written a great addition for those interested in journal therapy. As she states: “The goal of humanistic journal therapy is a healthy relationship with self, and this book is intended to facilitate this development….In its very essence, journal therapy is a bridge into first our own humanity, and then our own spirituality. The road stretches before us, and our ultimate task is the journey.”

The Journal Toolbox from pages 71-189 has a large selection of ideas for journal writing. These ideas include:

1) Springboards: begins with a topic statement or question. Samples are quotations, questions, random ideas, and sentence-completions. Keep a list of springboards in your journal for those days you have not topic.

2) Character Sketch: a written description of anyone which can be used to work out conflict in your relationships. It helps us to see ourselves as others see us. She suggests thinking of character sketches as the “calling cards” of your sub personalities.

3) Clustering-is also called mind mapping or webbing. To begin, write a key word or phrase in the middle of the page and draw a circle around it. Then begin to free-associate. Circle each word and connect it with a line to the one before it. Continue until you have exhausted your immediate possibilities. When working on a large project, Adams suggests putting butcher or mural paper on the wall. I use a dry-eraser board.

4) Captured Moments: are these tiny moments of intimacy, yearning, beauty, despair, exhilaration. They are best written from the senses.

5) Dialogue: is an exchange between you and someone or something else, where you play both parts. Adams gives several suggestions of how to develop the dialogue. It can be with anyone in your life-past, present, or future; living or dead or not yet born. She writes that we create our own reality and that is also true that we draw into our lives the players who will help us act out whatever life script were starring in this season.

6) Lists: she suggests journal lists of 100 such as things I need or want to do, fears, things I like about myself, and things I’m stressed out about. She also includes 100 things to write a list of 100 about.

7) Stream of Consciousness: has as its purpose examining the subconscious and unconscious minds. One of the values of stream of consciousness is its ability to bring you to state of inner serenity and balance. Throughout the book, Adams uses guided imagery or meditation to help journal writers get into a writing frame of mind.

Steppingstones: “are those events that come to our minds when we spontaneously reflect on the course that our life has taken from its beginning to the present moment” according to Progoff. Adams recommends limiting your selection of Steppingstones to about 12 to 15.

9) Time Capsules: are entries that are periodic logs written on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, even yearly basis. Adams suggests that these brief entries will often tend to focus on the content of your life as opposed to the feelings generated by the content. You may select a daily time capsule, a monthly time capsule, an annual time capsule, or travel time capsules.

Finally, Adams gives topics du jour which is a journal technique that allows you to start moving mountains, one boulder at a time. Topics du jour allows you to keep an ongoing chronicle of your life at monthly intervals. She suggests creating 31 topics-one for each day of the month. You may also choose to do 16 topics with a specific topic such as biweekly business checkups.