Creativity is not just painting or writing—it's stepping outside the way you normally think to achieve greater happiness and personal fulfillment. With mindful, heart-based practices, 99 Keys to a Creative Life helps you make the most of your creative opportunities, transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary. Nurture and strengthen your imaginative expression, as well as your link to what inspires you, by applying the 33 keys found in each of the three sections: awareness, intuition, and connection to spirit. These keys provide practical methods for daily inspiration and action, making every day more creative and successful. Presenting innovative ways to raise your focus and express yourself, author Melissa Harris shows you how to unlock the gate to a more creative life.
From one artist to another, a helpful guide and a meditation on the nature of the ego and its toxic effects on the creative process Life Without Envy by Camille DeAngelis is a game-changer for artists of all stripes: a practical guide for navigating the feelings of jealousy, frustration, and inadequacy we all experience to create a happy life regardless of how your career is (or isn’t) going. In these pages you'll find strategies for escaping the negative feedback loop you get stuck in whenever you compare yourself to your fellow artists. You'll begin to resolve your hunger for recognition, shifting your mindset from “proving yourself” to making a contribution and becoming part of a supportive creative community. Best of all, you'll come to understand that your worth—as an artist and a human being—has nothing to do with how your work is received in the wider world. Life Without Envy offers a blueprint for real and lasting contentment no matter what setback you’re weathering in your creative life.
Quincy Jones, one of the world’s most influential musicians, producers, and mentors, shares his profound reflections on creativity, life, and the pursuit of excellence in this moving and practical book. Drawing from his illustrious career and collaborations with legendary artists, Jones offers practical advice and heartfelt lessons on transforming grief into power, setting meaningful goals, and embracing daily affirmations. Through personal anecdotes and professional experiences, he reveals the secrets behind his creative process and the importance of honesty, hard work, and nurturing relationships. This self-development guide is a testament to the belief that creativity is a calling that transcends age and experience. Whether you’re an aspiring artist or a seasoned professional, 12 Notes will inspire you to unlock your creative potential and live a life driven by passion and purpose.
Chances are, whether you're a seasoned author or an aspiring scribe, you've grappled with your share of rejection, setbacks, and heartbreak. However, literary agents say the number one key to writing success is perseverance in the face of disappointment. Daily Writing Resilience provides advice, inspiration, and techniques to help you turn roadblocks into steppingstones. You'll find tips and support through exercises such as meditation, breath work, yoga, stress management, gratitude, de-cluttering, sleep, exercise, mindful eating, and more. These 365 meditations will help you navigate the ups-and-downs of your writing practice, creating positive habits that will guide you toward the success and fulfillment that you've been seeking. Praise: "This must-have collection of inspirational nuggets will nudge you free of writer's block. Even if you're not blocked, a morning commune with some of writing's great minds will put you in the right creative space."—Sara Gruen, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Water for Elephants "Every person with that little voice in their head—the one that tells them to write everyday—must own this book. Every page is full of hope and reality, just what we all need to keep us going."—Steve Berry, New York Times and # 1 Internationally bestselling author of The Patriot Threat "For every type of writer—new, old, fresh, tired, impassioned, cynical, hopeful . . . this gem is flat out inspiring."—M.J. Rose, New York Times bestselling author of The Secret Language of Stones "Bryan Robinson's Daily Writing Resilience is not only wise but also marvelously practical. The daily mantras he offers, taken from the experiences of those who've kept to the path, will provide much needed encouragement along the way. Take this book to heart, and then take it with you wherever you go."—William Kent Krueger, New York Times bestselling author of the multi-award winning Ordinary Grace and the Cork O'Connor series "You don't have to be a writer to treasure Daily Writing Resilience, a unique and uplifting meditation book. It's chock-full of insights so profound you'll be tempted to gobble it up in one bite!"—Cassandra King, author of The Sunday Wife and Moonrise "I urge both fledgling and experienced writers to get their hands on Daily Writing Resilience and keep it nearby for handy reference. Bryan Robinson knows his way around the head and heart of the working writer, and this book is a wonderful companion and a balm to the writer's soul."—John Lescroart, New York Times bestselling author "At last! A real tool for real writers, a reference book that should be on every writer's desk next to their Thesaurus and Strunk & White Elements of Style. A practical guide that can be used as a daily devotional or motivational tool to hold your hand, to guide you, to encourage you, and to pull you back from the ledge."—Karen White, New York Times bestselling author of Flight Patterns A 2018 Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award Finalist A 2018 Top Shelf Magazine Indie Book Award Finalist
In this eloquent and passionate volume, Bob Ostertag explores the common ground and points of friction among music, creativity, politics, culture, and technology. In terrain ranging from the guerrilla underground in El Salvador's civil war to the drag queen underground in San Francisco and New York, these essays combine journalism and autobiography to explore fundamental questions of what art is and what role it can occupy in a violent and fragmented world, a world in which daily events compromise the universality toward which art strives. Drawing on his intimate engagement with political conflict in Latin America and the Balkans, Ostertag identifies an art of "insurgent politics" that struggles to expand the parameters of the physical and social world. He also discusses his innovative collaborations with major modern performers, filmmakers, and artists around the world. Part memoir, part journalism, and part aesthetic manifesto, Creative Life is a dazzling set of writings from a musical artist who has worked on the cutting edge of new music for thirty years.
IDEO founder and Stanford d.school creator David Kelley and his brother Tom Kelley, IDEO partner and the author of the bestselling The Art of Innovation, have written a powerful and compelling book on unleashing the creativity that lies within each and every one of us. Too often, companies and individuals assume that creativity and innovation are the domain of the "creative types." But two of the leading experts in innovation, design, and creativity on the planet show us that each and every one of us is creative. In an incredibly entertaining and inspiring narrative that draws on countless stories from their work at IDEO, the Stanford d.school, and with many of the world's top companies, David and Tom Kelley identify the principles and strategies that will allow us to tap into our creative potential in our work lives, and in our personal lives, and allow us to innovate in terms of how we approach and solve problems. It is a book that will help each of us be more productive and successful in our lives and in our careers.
Forgiveness: Key to the Creative Life begins with new information on how the brain operates in the process of forgivness.The book begins with the relation between field theory as it relates to understanding the brain. The book then develops a theory of forgiveness as a process demonstrated in both scripture and case studies. From a look atthe Kennedy assasination,the Columbine and Amish school shootings, and individual experiences, the book demonstates the process of forgiveness as leading to creativity rather than a reactive life..
A path for female creators, activists and magicmakers. The Creative Doer offers a roadmap for women who are hungry for a more creative life and who are willing to ask a few burning questions: What if we stopped trying to follow in the footsteps of the Male Genius? What does devotion look like if it doesn't mean forsaking everything and everyone, including your kids, for your art? What would happen if we granted ourselves the permission we're waiting for and started doing our work, our way? In this insightful, no-bullshit guide you'll learn how to: - Redefine creative work and bust the old myths about The Artist - Zoom in on your dream until it's doable - Claim the time and space you need to do your work - Understand fear and how to flow with it - Do self-care in a way that will change your creative life forever - Share your work, truthfully, tenderly and courageously
Arising from a research project conducted over two years, Transformative Learning through Creative Life Writing examines the effects of fictional autobiography on adult learners’ sense of self. Starting from a teaching and learning perspective, Hunt draws together ideas from psychodynamic psychotherapy, literary and learning theory, and work in the cognitive and neurosciences of the self and consciousness, to argue that creative life writing undertaken in a supportive learning environment, alongside opportunities for critical reflection, has the power to transform the way people think and learn. It does this by opening them up to a more embodied self-experience, which increases their awareness of the source of their thinking in bodily feeling and enables them to develop a more reflexive approach to learning. Hunt locates this work within recent developments in the influential field of transformative learning. She also identifies it as a form of therapeutic education arguing, contrary to those who say that this approach leads to a diminished sense of self, that it can help people to develop a stronger sense of agency, whether for writing or learning or relations with others. Topics covered include: Creative writing as a tool for personal and professional development The transformative benefits and challenges of creative writing as a therapeutic activity The relationships between literary structures and the processes of thinking and feeling The role of cognitive-emotional learning in adult education Collaborative learning and the role of the group This book will interest teachers in adult, further and higher education who wish to use creative life writing as a tool for learning, as well as health care professionals seeking art-based techniques for use in their practice. It will also prove useful to academics interested in the relationship between education and psychotherapy, and in the theory and practice of transformative learning. Additionally, it will appeal to writers seeking a deeper understanding of the creative process.
How DO they do it? If you could ask your favorite artist or crafter only one question, chances are you'd ask about creativity: Where do your ideas come from? How did you get started? What are your tricks for overcoming blocks? In Living the Creative Life, author Ricë Freeman-Zachery has compiled answers to these questions and more from 15 successful artists in a variety of mediums—from assemblage to fiber arts, beading to mixed-media collage. Creativity is different for everyone, and these artists share their insights on the muse (if you believe in her), keeping a sketchbook (or not), and prioritizing your art, whether you aspire to create solely for your own pleasure or to become a full-time artist. • Try your hand at creative jumpstarts straight from the pros. • Glimpse the artists' innermost thoughts and works in progress as you peruse pages from their journals and notebooks. • Share textile artist Sas Colby's triumph over creative block during an exotic art retreat. • Learn how internationally acclaimed artist James Michael Starr uses experience from his former "day job" to fuel his creation today. • Explore the work of Michael deMeng, Claudine Hellmuth, Melissa Zink and the other artists right alongside their insights. No crafter or artist should live the creative life without Living the Creative Life! The inspiration is contagious.
