HeART Centered Creativity

The lure of the new, the urge to make something, the desire to create and put yourself “out there” …no matter the phrasing, heART summarizes maker-centered, heART centered creativity. Taylor Smith puts it perfectly:

“As an artist you have to be really self-aware. As a songwriter, especially. You need to be aware enough to catch yourself creating similar things to what you have created before and steer away from that. You have to grow, otherwise you will lose people’s attention and you will get bored with yourself.”

Growth. Expansion. The opportunity to make your mark.

For as long as I can remember I’ve loved clean slates:

• January 1
• A new month
• Mondays
• Birthdays

My contemplation concerns how I mark my birth celebration, my special day and a new year. It gets special recognition. 

Hearts permeate my work. One of my very first blogs showcased a heart-shaped rock which I made into a bead weaving. (Read “Stories From the Heart”.)

 

Not only is the heart is a shape I’m drawn toward, it’s a concept I’m determined to put in the forefront of my life as in my newly launched home page “Market Art With Courage.”  Finally I’m blending the joy of making with the art of marketing, because, until I really got into the artist side of me, I found the marketing to be utterly burdensome and fairly joyless.

The importance of strong connections only grows. In a world of superficiality and a cacophony of noise, authentic communication is more important than ever. In my 2017-2018 year, I choose to go vulnerable and authentic. I choose to step boldly into my heart-centered creativity approach.

Who models heART centered creativity?

Words, spoken or written are magical and harbingers of the outcome we wish to project. A few of the heart-centered approaches I recommend to you include these:

• Marisa Goudy offers #365magicwords which she posts to Instagram and Facebook. It’s fascinating to look at the portfolio generated by Marisa’s consistent posting. Go to Instagram and see for yourself.

• Another heroine, mastermind participant Lesley Riley, launched 52-card pickup this year and continues to do a fabulous job of challenging her online community to creativity.

• Search #continuous practice on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter and you’ll find a wealth of posts. (Same thing for #artoftheday, or any number of phrases.) Evelyn Asher, an online friend and collaborator, lives #continuouspractice with a different picture each day onFacebook. 

• Many people choose to highlight special segments of their life daily. The 5-minute Journal is perfect for this effort. It offers an ongoing focus on gratitude. The app (from Intelligent Change) makes it particularly easy to tweet out the thought for the day, something I do first thing each morning. Not a day goes by that my tweet doesn’t receive a like from the app’s developers. How fun is that? It’s also neat to see others who use the app (albeit with different quotes) and note their quotes in my Twitter stream. “Is this connection spreading?” I ask. 

• All manner of businesses get into the themed creativity act with campaigns such as the #Minted50  – 50 design projects by 50 independent artists in 50 days. A smattering of publicity about this particular project lauded Van’s General Store for it’s creativity in art that was also advertising.

Have I piqued your interest with any of these five examples? Which one most resonates with you? What will you create and commit to? And create again and again? These are the questions I’m asking myself on the eve of the birth event.

Brainstorming: heArt centered creativity projects

My journal workbook lists multiple options designed to stretch me and my artistic capacities:

• Twelve special beaded projects 
  • 12 treasure necklaces
  • 12 antlers
  • 12 skulls
  • 12 projects by month that build a workbook 
• Cards
• Tags
• Handmade items

Speculation? Maybe. There are plenty of goals to be met each week. Yet there’s something magical in aligning one’s self with a bigger purpose.

“Take full control by creating a life of true bliss through utilizing the Power of The Heart.” ~Steven Redhead, Unleash The Power of Your Heart and Mind

Let me know if you’re game for alignment with a big heART centered creativity purpose! I’ll see you in my next year!