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Creative Days of August 2007

Dial "O" for Originality

Hi You,

It's time for you to rediscover�your authenticity (or set it free for the first time). Creativity brings you a sense of well-being far beyond being captive to worrying about what others think or to the repetitive prison of habits that do not serve you. It taps into�the�distinctive�gifts�planted in your DNA and feeds your soul�when you choose to pay attention to who you�really are. Our brains are designed to be creative - we are ALL creative - our�renditions are simply different. Have you found what sets your passion on fire?�Taking small steps in the direction of�a liberated spirit will result in a joyful, sublime�lifestyle�much faster than�planning to make huge leaps in some elusive block of�time in the future that never comes because its overwhelming when you try to start. Small steps fool the demons of fear and self sabotage.

Join me on TOMORROW Wednesday,�August 1 at 5pm pacific and�8 pm eastern�for a teleconference on�Conquering Overwhelm. This is a fre.e call but will be recorded and can be listened to for $5 if�you miss it. Sign up here ...�email info@themuseisin.com for buying�the MP3 copy - this call is almost filled so�if you are not�in the first 50 to dial in on the call - know that the conference guards intervened. Aren't you glad you used Dial? Yikes. Did I just age myself or WHAT? When's the last time you dialed a phone or heard that commercial!

And�if you are�passionate about making your life deeper in enjoyment, creativity, and meaningful connections and less frustrating with the overwhelm, resistance, self sabotage, depression, crankiness�and perfectionism that plagues many women - sign-up for the October retreat. (see below)

In this�issue, I invite you to embark upon the creative freedom of taking whatever you are doing in work and in play and make it YOU.� If you don't know who YOU are, let me introduce you. You, this is you.�
Happy Mid Summer's Magic.�Take a moment and breathe into your mind, body and spirit,�the magic of summer - flip flops, barbeques, refreshing swimming romps, watermelon, tank tops, thunderstorms, honey sweetened limeade, beach blankets, lazy afternoon naps. Short issue.. I'm still working on The Awe-manac... see you next month.

San Diego: Writing Workshop August� 16th Book Works -�Del Mar, CA �7- 9 pm. Theme: "My Word!"�Come play with prompts, possibilities, personas and surprises. All levels. No critique. $13 includes dark chocolate

Next 14 week Kaizen-Muse Creativity Coaching Certification Training Begins October 29th see www.kaizenmuse.com

Try out a session with a KMCC coach.

Jill's latest column about the Muse, Marge�at Creativity Portal

The Muse is In Classes are updated HERE

teleconference sign-up

 

Forever Young Retreat: Partaking in the Potions - A Colorful Fall Reverie

Agelessness and Creativity : October 12-14!!! at Spirit Fire Retreat Center in Massachusetts
�- Don't be left out!


The low cost retreat price (early registration ENDS AUGUST 15th) of $375�includes lodging, meals, retreat activities,
a�souvenir canvas gift bag of anti-aging products including toys for the child spirit, SPA products for the outer goddess, art supplies and personalized permission slips for the mortal who needs a release in order to act with more vitality and less stifling perfectionism and hesitation. You can choose to join in all of the scheduled events or find time to reconnect with yourself. Join your tribe for conversation over meals, hike amongst the majesty of fall or hide in your room with a good book and your journal. We will be engaging in activities that preserve what we love about ourselves and prepare us for a future blessed with creative joy, agelessness and reward. Tap into your creative fountain of youth.

There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age.� ~Sophia Loren

RETREAT INFORMATION

 

Set Yourselves Free � Make it You

I recently spoke on Unleashing Your Creativity at a woman�s business networking meeting. Before the meeting, I�innocently milled around socializing with the bountiful bunch of brilliant broads* and was delighted to be in the presence of their sparkle, exuberance and, as is true with us humans, uniquely wonderful personality traits. (It is a grand time in our evolution to make connections with like-minded souls). When the time came for these biz-women to stand up and introduce themselves in a 30 second sound bite � for the most part, they all sounded exactly the monotone-business-self-same and very little of what they said made them stand out as distinctive. I wanted them to be the thems they were before they transformed into the Stepford Networkers. Where'd they go?

Yet, I remember doing this myself in days of anxious networking and was silently thanking my inner-muses that I veered off rebelliously away from adhering to rules that standardize, homogenize, de-flair-manize and give us strict instructions on how we are supposed to present ourselves. These instructions are after all, invented by people who may not even be like us. Granted, there are ways to be efficiently professional and it would not behoove us business-reputation-wise if during our 30 seconds we juggled poodles� or would it?

What I do notice is that when I introduce myself these days, I have a good time - I am my quirky, often irreverent self, I insert some element of humor if I can, and figure out some original theme because to me, that's fun. And I don�t seem to suffer from audience responses of repulsion, avoidance, loathing or nausea (except from people I really don�t want to be around so it works nicely as a screening tool as well). Plus, I seem to attract people to my business with whom I am tickled to work� because they are warm, humble, thrifty, kind, compassionate and endearingly odd � things I strive for myself.� I thank my obsession with the creative process for this self-defined coveted gift of individuality.

In the chapter Originality Bump in Seth Godin's The Big Moo: Stop Trying to Be Perfect and Start Being Remarkable, a good point is made about being too original � we humans tend to gravitate toward the familiar and something too different is often overlooked or avoided because it is not alerting our �This-is-popular-so-it-must-be-okay� receptors.� Yet if we are too much like others we will also be overlooked. We can be a balance of familiar spiced with brilliantly creative. I come from the Groucho Marx school of marketing. He said, �If you're not having fun, you're doing something wrong.� Life is too short, marketing too necessary, oblivion too lonely, suffering too unnecessary, conformity too boring - not to have fun.

So in this process of Reinventing Yourself, which in a world that demands adapting to constant change is just plain smart as a survival technique, make whatever you do � YOU. There's this cashier at the grocery store I go to who is talkative and silly. I'll wait in her line even if it's longer to get a dose of her giddiness simply because she dislodges me from my automatic-pay-the-cashier state into one of wonder. In her way, she is making a difference.

Here�s some questions you might muse upon, but if these questions ain�t you, print this out and fold it like a paper airplane and sail into the Kum-by-ya Bonfire of Bye-bye:
1. Who�makes you smile and why? In your journal or on your arm, list why they do? Consider that when you admire someone else, it is because they are a bit like you, though those forces in you may be presently hidden and need to be�set free.�What�s YOUR version of what you like about those people?
2. What did you like about yourself as a child? Where are those qualities now?
3. What aspects of the present yourself do you treasure? (self-loathers: call me for a session) Do you allow these aspects to sparkle in your business or do you keep them to spend only with close friends?
4. Are you being true to yourself? If you�re not, your inner Department of Self-Respect will be dragging, your motivation will be low,� your head will hurt and chances are, you will burn-out.
5. Are you having fun? What part of what you do, do you do the best? How can you creatively vary your approach so that it�s not too unfamiliar but it is the best of who you are and it�s fun to do? If your having fun, you're going to sparkle.
6. All the Modern Day Muses have something to tell you about making your world more you and will be advising in the upcoming columns in these next months. To find more out about the updated muses, visit
www.themuseisin.com or check for their profiles at Chris Dunmire's awe-some www.creativity-portal.com

*alliteration license? Of course you know what I mean is: "respectful goils"��

Jill's Monthly Column at Creativity Portal

 

More Summer Potpourri

J ust because
U ranus is a planet�
L ost in outer space...
Y ou can still be found.���~ Jerri�Pittluck

Visit Royce Addington's colorful blog �
http://museologies.blogspot.com

Does Your Art Life Need a boost? Watch This

Turn up the volume, sit back and give yourself some time to relax (thanks Rae Warde)

If you are a member of Artella - click here for a Guided Imagery Muse Cruise to Creative Brilliance (or join Artella for an abundance of creative inspiration: it is SO inexpensive for what you get) Visit Artella�.

Dear Muse Column

Dare to Dream (worth reviewing)

 

Creative Profile: Introducing Rae Warde

Introducing the latest addition to the world of Kaizen-Muse Creativity Coaching: Rae Warde.�Rae is an example of individuality, distinction, brilliance and warmth and is an integral part of the KMCC program with an expanding role. Take a read.

Where did you receive your formal training?

I�ve never been on a locomotive in a ball gown, but I have received copious amounts of seasoning from poking, prodding, digging, reading, and making mistakes. I would say that I have been �self-taught�, but that would be denying all of the people, places, incidences, books, and words of wisdom that have magically made their way into my life. Interesting that in my thesaurus (doesn�t that sound like a dinosaur?) one word for formal is �stereotypical�. I�ve never done anything in a stereotypical fashion. More of a semi-formal, unconventional, grab hold and find out all you can about a thing, kind of training.

I do know that the more I learn, the more I find I have yet to learn.

"You receive an education whether you go to school or not." LM Montgomery

Creative time of the day for you:

Nights more then mornings. Although, there is no time that is THE time� It is more a flow of projects then it is a time of day. I can get immersed in something and do it all times of day.

Do you have a mantra or a motto?

Several in fact!

Everything is created in our minds before it manifests itself in the outer world.

Change your Focus. Change your Choice. Change your Life

Everything in moderation, including moderation.

Nothing is good or bad but thinking makes it so.

Exclamation, not Explanation

Keys to your perseverance:

Faith and Inspiration. Faith is the evidence of things not seen. Faith is the knowing, even when there is no proof. This mixed with inspiration, the process of repeatedly in-taking Spirit in order to exhale creativity.

Also, a little bit of the following everyday� high heeled shoes, doing my makeup and flaming red hair, dressing cute, combined with yoga, meditation, reading and writing � especially in the bath, low-top converse, tank-tops, playing punk rock on my silver-flake electric guitar with my husband and son� loud! �and the color pink!

Do you work to music?

Music is an integral part of my world. What better way to create then to be immersed in the sound of another�s creation?


Best advice received?

Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs are people who have come alive.� ~Howard Thurman

I know I�ve made it when�

HHHMMM�� When my bookis published and sold� when I play my guitar ON STAGE� when I�m interviewed for a newsletter � �hey wait a minute!� Also, when I am flowing in passion, inspiring others, kindling spark and SHINING!���

��������� At times our own light goes out and is rekindled

by a spark from another person.

Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude

of those who have lighted the flame within us.�

- Albert Schweitzer

Most favorite achievement?

Our wedding day� It was an incredible example of how being in �Flow� can supersede time, space, boundaries, borders and all. My background is in events and specialty desserts so I planned, designed, organized, directed, and even did my own cake! The day was truly amazing! A creation of Divine proportion! My husband and I had such fun! I felt in flow all day despite so many things �to do�� none of the do�s mattered, except the �I Do�.

How do you get ideas?

I am definitely a conduit� the more I open the more flows through me. Call it Divine Inspiration. I have yet to run out of ideas. Ideas seem to inspire more ideas. I�d say a sense of freedom, permission, change and rejuvenation are some of my best idea promoters. I have also come up with more ideas because of lack of money, proper tools or supplies� �Poverty� is the catalyst for many ideas. Never say it can�t be done; say, �I wonder?...�

Current upcoming projects?

I am continuing my journey as a Certified Kaizen-Muse Creativity Coach, as well as working within the Kaizen-Muse Association, assisting, moderating, and hopefully one day teaching! I am currently growing my business Inspired Connection to include not only coaching, but consulting and facilitation, assisting individuals in guiding creative passion into a viable business, integrating an existing passion and working with small businesses looking to e x p a n d creatively. I want to inspire people who are looking around saying, �Is this it?� to know that, �We cannot wait until we are completely ready to make a change. We can always find some excuse not to act. Just taking one step will give you the momentum to pursue your goal.� Opportunity is in and around us. We only get one life in this body. Why not make it the most passionate, inspiring, wonderful, amazing life?

"It is certainly true that every day we don't strive to live authentically we do pay a price, with compounded interest... It is a mistake to accept as our reality, the illusion that many are called but few are chosen." -Sara Breathnach

Rae Rhys-Warde

Inspired Connection

InspiredConnection@msn.com

www.myspace.com/InspiredConnection

Visit Rae's Blog

 


What a wonderful life I�ve had. I only wished I�d realized it sooner. ~Colette

Rarely do members of the same family grow up under the same roof. ~Richard Bach

Uncertainty and mystery are energies of life. Don't let them scare you unduly, for they keep boredom at bay and spark creativity. ~R. I. Fitzhenry


Brought to you by Jill Badonsky�www.themuseisin.com and www.kaizenmuse.com
Write! info@themuseisin.com


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