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“You are imperfect,
permanently and inevitably flawed. And you are
beautiful.” ~Amy Bloom
Dear Creative Friend
One of the biggest leaps in my evolution from constipated creative slug to free-wheeling artistic
spirit was tapping into my less than desirable traits and feelings... my shadow.
Giving up all effort to be perfect was one of the best things I ever did and capitalizing on my laziness ended up saving me from crashing and burning. It allowed my recklessness -- the half baked drawings, the imperfect application of paint, and the irreverent, yet half-ass approach to writing -- to actually get done because I was no longer paralyzed by the pressure to be anything but myself. I stopped caring and started producing. And in an unexpected encore, not caring seemed to attract my kindred tribe. I didn't plan it that way, it's just what happened when I gave up trying to follow someone else's notion of what you're "supposed to do."
"The higher up you go, the more mistakes you are allowed. Right at the top, if you make enough of them, it's considered to be your style."
~Fred Astaire
Well, I'm not quite "at the top" but my reckless
creativity is my style and I do it mostly for my own state of mind.
Another freeing aspect the Shadow Muse is ditching unrealistic propaganda to be positive all the time. I was presenting at a conference in Asilomar and sitting at the lunch table making some
humorously enjoyable but self-deprecating remark and a zealot positive thinker pointed her
finger at me and shouted,
"Stinking Thinking." I took my tray and moved to another table, happily content to make fun of myself, knowing it doesn't affect my traction with loving life or meeting my potential. Please, keep your shaming rhymes to yourself.
It's exhausting trying to be positive all the time and if you haven't noticed, a good work of art contains negative space as well as positive. I use my energy to persist in the process, not to suppress being human. It doesn't mean I dwell on my judgmental, cranky, lazy, doubting, occasionally snarling tendencies (except on Mondays). It mostly means I salute them with compassionate acceptance, and say to them, "Thanks for validating that I'm a member of the tribe called humans," and then I muster up the cajones to find what behavior better serves my next tiny step toward creative amusement.
Awareness helps us befriend the shadow.
One of our most heroic quests is to acknowledge and ACCEPT our negativity instead of rationalizing, denying, skimming over, and blaming someone else for it. When we are aware, we have a choice.
On this call about called The Unstoppable Artist with empowerment coach and former NYC Rockette, Nikól Peterson, I offer a shadow experience where you will embrace awareness of what you don't like in the spirit of empower your next step toward making money and getting the attention you deserve. Nikól described this little tool I share as "A game changer for any artist feeling stuck and uninspired." See more about this in the Event section below.
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Things That Might Interest You  |
Complimentary Creativity Coaching
The Fall Kaizen-Muse Creativity Coaching Class is moving into practice labs. If you have an issue with your creativity that involves resistance, procrastination, perfectionism, avoidance, fear, self-sabotage or giving in to habitual distractions and would like a short session (value $75), please respond to this email or message me if this is on social media. I'lll take the first three people and coach you in class myself.
2018 Creativity Calendar
Get your holiday shopping done in one fell swoooop or even better, treat yourself to year round inspiration. Free Postage until Dec 1, 2017
$20 with a stand for each month
$18 if you have calendars from past years
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Beginning October 16, 2017
My friend, Empowerment Coach and former NYC Rockette, Nikól Peterman, is talking with more than 20 Experts, Artists and Creatives who are doing incredible work, living incredible lives and having incredible success.
I'm honored to be part of this event because it's not just TALK… it's actual transformation in real time!
Every interview will include a LIVE process designed to create a transformation in you, as you listen. With each interview, your muscle to be Unstoppable will grow just a little stronger.
Along the way, you’ll discover how to:
* Know that your work matters even when you're not getting accolades
* Be completely true to yourself AND attract a large audience
* Create meaningful work that people want to purchase
* Claim Center Stage for yourself or your work
* Let go of the self-sabotage that keeps you stuck in procrastination and endless resistance
By the end of this event, you’ll have that Unstoppable quality that makes the world take notice and finally respond with the accolades you’ve always dreamed of.
Grab your free front row seat
See you there!
The Muse in Winter and Camp Creative Thunder in
Taos, New Mexico!:
Every February and July
For all levels of writers and artists, or for those who don't know where to begin, those who want to begin again, or those who don't think they are creative. A different kind of retreat. Limited enrollment to keep it intimate. Every February and July. Bring a friend.
Wednesdays, February 21 - June 20, 2018:
Now accepting applications
Kaizen-Muse Creativity Coaching™
Certification Training Thank you, again, for opening this door for me. Not just for the business, but as a whole way of being, and doing, and expanding into the world. Last year this time I felt like I was being gradually choked to death by a constricting, ever decreasing reality. I’d begun to fear that my life would just keep getting smaller and smaller, but now the world is expanding all over again. I’m encountering new ideas and meeting new people and it’s a wonderful thing.
~Kerry Schafer, Fantasy and Mystery Author and newly certified Kaizen-Muse Creativity Coach
If none of these appeal to you, find something that does!
Connecting to kindred spirits is important right now. Take a class, find a community, start a movement, eat consciously.
For more about classes, trainings and retreats with Jill Badonsky,
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Jill Badonsky, M.Ed. is founder of the Kaizen-Muse Creativity Coaching Certification Training, multimedia artist,
inspirational humorist, yoga teacher, and author of three books on creativity.
Look up right now. What around you could you consider art?
Savor it, it's your life. #ArtIsEverywhere
Permission to be amused,
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