GETTIN DOWN ‘N’ DIRTY WITH INSPIRATION

Do you ever feel creatively stuck?

Are you waiting for inspiration to strike

before starting (or completing!) your creative projects?

Do you feel overwhelmed?

 

But your deepest desire is to be creative. To produce something that is a pure expression of your own talents and passions, allowing you to live with purpose…

Sitting around waiting for something to inspire you before you get started writing your hit song, award winning novel, online program, or any other creative venture is the recipe for your own demise! The muse of creativity is only met when you are willing and ready to dance with her. Even if you don’t have a clear vision, the only way to learn how to ride, is to get on that horse, baby, and ride!

The heart of being a creator means tapping into your own connection with the source. It means learning to think for yourself and getting really excited by your ideas. It is about chipping away at the stone to unearth the masterpiece that was already inside.

Let me break it down for you:

You are going to fall.

You are going to produce a ton of crap that you will never want to share with anyone – ever.

You are going to create things that seem wonderful at first and years later realize were amateur, and wonder what the #$*!!! were you thinking…

But if you just actually keep showing up and dance with your muse, she will sometimes take your hand and guide you, write the song for you, paint that painting with you and one day without thinking you will step back from a genuine work of art in amazement that you had any hand in the matter.

 

Your creativity has to flow through you.

You are just the vessel.

If you don’t consistently show up to do your part then your muse can’t do hers. 

You have to commit your entire being to your desire, and make a daily practice of showing up to do the work.

So why aren’t you showing up to do your work?

What is in your way?

What is stopping you?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I remember the moment I decided to fully commit myself to becoming a musician and a songwriter… It was the dead of winter, and the snow was falling so intensely that my flight back to San Francisco was actually cancelled. I was sitting on the steps inside my mothers cottage stairs in Long Island and we were discussing my life plans after spending over a year and a half living as a monk in a Zen Buddhist Temple. Having truly witnessed my passions and personality, my mom has always known me best, and has the uncanny ability to cut to the heart of the matter (just like a Zen Master!).

We spoke about my love affair with music and my former love of acting – and how something inside of me had changed when I left New York and spent time in deep contemplation with my soul. I told her that I really wanted to write my own stories – not just wait around to be chosen as a player in someone else’s elaborate vision. I wanted to express my true voice. I had my own grand visions and I wanted to realize them, but I was scared shitless that I would never be as good a musician as I was an actress, even though it was in my blood. I was letting fear paralyze me and prevent me from committing to my heart’s desire. I was letting the doubt of ever being good enough stop me from pursuing my own calling. I was stuck in a moment of non-committal and it left me in a state of emotional overwhelm. When I get overwhelmed I lose the way and do nothing. So nothing great is able to happen through me.

“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth that ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.”        

 ― William Hutchison Murray

On that fortuitous night given to me by the gods of snow, my mother pierced my soul with her love for me and her understanding of who I truly am.

She helped give me permission to step forth on my path, the courage to fail and the passion to succeed. She helped push me off my own ledge so I could soar.

In the years that followed my life changing decision, it was the intense discipline of Zen training that helped me spend my days and nights in a tiny practice room running scales on my piano and voice for hours and hours, struggling to get the music out of my head and onto the page.

By committing fully to my life’s passion, and showing up daily to do the work, the process of creating has unfolded for me, and I now live in a powerful, dynamic state of receptivity.  I stay open to receive, continually refining my talents, so I can be the vessel for inspiration. When that doesn’t seem to be working, I just practice the art of letting go.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I find my own creative process to be an experience of listening and responding. Connecting to my soul and to my inspiration by allowing the energy to flow. There are days when I don’t feel excited to work or connected to myself or anything else. I have also allowed myself time to disconnect from my heart’s passion to feel the bitter pain of it’s loss so I could know for certain that I am in love with the process and the experience, even more than the outcome. It is the daily work of showing up at my piano or my canvas or my notebook or my computer – that turns me on. It is the pure expression that fuels me as I attempt to create a work of art that pleases me to the bone.

“The advice I like to give young artists, or really anybody who’ll listen to me, is not to wait around for inspiration. Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up and get to work. If you wait around for the clouds to part and a bolt of lightning to strike you in the brain, you are not going to make an awful lot of work. All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself. Things occur to you. If you’re sitting around trying to dream up a great art idea, you can sit there a long time before anything happens. But if you just get to work, something will occur to you and something else will occur to you and something else that you reject will push you in another direction. Inspiration is absolutely unnecessary and somehow deceptive. You feel like you need this great idea before you can get down to work, and I find that’s almost never the case.” – Chuck Close, Painter

SO if you have been feeling stuck, overwhelmed, blocked, or uninspired recently – you might want to return back home to the agreements and promises that you have made to yourself.

Get out your journal and write about it.

Ask yourself:

What promises have I made to myself?

Am I 100% committed to my path?

If not, what’s causing my hesitation?

What am I willing to do to get unstuck?

Want to learn powerful techniques to help your creativity pour out of you like a rushing river?!! 

I wrote all about this in my book:

“The Seven Samurai Secrets of Creativity & Productivity”  

You can download your FREE copy of my book by clicking here. 

It is my deepest desire that you step completely into your creative power and access your full potential so you can live an extraordinary life filled with passion, power & purpose!

Are you ready to step up your game and take your life & biz to the next level?

Tired of living someone else’s dream?

Ready to say yes to all of the dreams you have brewing inside of you?

Need help figuring out exactly how to move forward?

Want some kick-ass strategies and support so you can finally make epic things happen?!!

Great News! I have just opened up room in my practice for a few more incredible creative entrepreneurs to work one-on-one and go deeper with me so you can experience absolute clarity, understand your path and purpose, become wildly creative and productive, and learn effective practical daily strategies to turn your ideas into full blooded reality and make great money doing what you were born to do. Click here to find out how we can work together!

I write to share my personal, creative, and spiritual journey with you so that I can help SAVE YOU immense amounts of suffering and wasted time. I write to illuminate your mind and your journey. I know that very few creative artists and entrepreneurs are genuinely sharing their process and this has created a terrible divide between the dream and the reality that you can create now. I know that for truly creative people, we are born to forge our own one-of-a-kind path and our own unique identity. Most of the world is not designed to help you become a self-actualized artist, creator, and human being. Most of the world you are now living in is designed to distract you from who you really are. I was born to remind you. If you liked this article and found it to be inspirational please share it with your friends on social media – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and or send it to them in an email. Thank you for helping share my work. 

Shine Bright,