The Power of Asking!

Have you found yourself in a similar situation?

I was trying to move something a little heavy and a bit awkward. I could do it. It was a struggle, but I could get it into the other room by myself.

I am noticing people around me, wondering why they aren’t giving me a hand. Can’t they see me sweating over here?!

I think about asking them, but when I look around, they all look busy and I don’t want to interrupt.

Then I hear a voice inside that says, “Just ask! They can say no!”

So, I ask and five people are suddenly at my side happy to help and it gets moved with so little effort and so much more fun!

One of them even says, “I’m so glad you asked! You help me all the time. It’s nice when I can help you.”

We could all use a little help moving things, even when they aren’t physical things.

Today, I was noticing that my excitement for the Creative Community Circle membership was all mixed up with a sense of struggle.

I could get it out there by myself. It might be a bit of a struggle, but I can do it.

As I sat with that awareness in a doodle meditation, a voice said, “Just ask! They can say no!”

So, I have an ask for you, dear supporter.

I am asking you to join me in celebrating the launch of the Creative Community Circle membership on either September 17th or October 13th. The link to register for these free events is here.

I really do think you will have fun with the creative activities I have planned and I really do want to share this thing I have been dreaming about and creating with you!

If you feel so moved, I am also asking you to share my event in your circles. If you have participated in any of my events or worked with me, it is so effective to post the event link with a few words speaking to why you feel compelled to share it with people.

Lastly, I would love to focus my marketing time and energy by interacting with others. If you know of people either in your social or business circles that could use an activity to get their creative juices flowing, I would love to do this in exchange for sharing about the Creative Community Circle.

I thank you for this kind of support. This endeavor is all about doing things together creatively which is way more fun and joyful than struggling alone!

I also don’t want you to struggle alone. So here’s your chance. If there is something I can support you with, just ask! Or maybe there are others in your life that it is time to ask for something! The worst that could happen is you get a no. But what if you get a YES?!

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In addition to joining us for a free CCC Launch Celebration and Tour event, you can also learn more about the Creative Community Circle here!

How to Step Into the Unknown

Reflection and Artwork by Sebila Kratovac

Embarking on a creative journey is kind of like going on a hero’s journey – it is a feat of trial and error, fear, confusion, resistance, slaying inner demons, and feeling lost. But, there are rewards on the other side, gifts from the universe once we do the necessary work to overcome what is preventing us from creating authentically on our own terms. I recently listened to a wonderful Creative Peptalk podcast episode called Your Creative Center: How to Find It and Create from It with Johnny Pemberton, which inspired me to talk about some of the ways we can begin this daunting journey.

In many cases, we are afraid to start our creative journey based on limiting beliefs of unworthiness, lack of talent, or that we have nothing unique to offer to the world. Other reasons we feel stuck and resistant might be related to our fear of the unknown or of doing something that is out of our comfort zone. The hardest thing may be to make that first step but how and where do we start? As Joseph Campbell once said, “Just dive in!”. We can start by finding a first step that feels the easiest for us to make. For example, in the book The Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron talks about encouraging her clients to commit to writing morning pages, three page stream-of-consciousness writings completed every single morning before anything else is done. Activities like Cameron’s morning pages, freestyle dancing, or doodling that suspend our judgement and our tendency to plan are very effective in freeing the mind from the left brain box and releasing our fear of doing something in the “wrong way.”

After making the first step to ease a bit of our fear and resistance, we can then feel freer to explore and gain some life experience, which is priceless for teaching us more about who we are and what makes us light up. There may be times when we follow a direction which, in the end, will not feel right to us but we are always free to change our course. Through our life experiences, pivoting as we go, our inner compass will be refined, clearing our way from distractions to our true North.

Once we find something that is dear to our heart, the trick is to focus all our energy into that creative activity. Let’s say we figure out that we want to illustrate children’s books but getting a job as an illustrator with a big publishing company seems like a far-away dream. What we can do is seek out people who have written a children’s book and would like to have it illustrated or we can illustrate our own book! This may be a path of less resistance where we can gain more experience and confidence which can prepare us for bigger, more competitive projects.

Fully engaging in something we love, something that feels authentic and nourishes our soul, can lead us to experiencing the flow state – a place where time is suspended and energy is limitless. The more we create in this flow state, the more we can perfect our craft and gain confidence to show our work to others. Our authentic voice will inevitably shine through. We won’t have to look for our creative specialty or style - it will find us.

There isn’t necessarily a milestone or a destination that we have to reach on our journey. For me, the creative journey is about getting to know myself and making choices that feel better and are more aligned. These gifts of clarity and purpose may be even more valuable to us than reaching a particular goal. Our journey never truly ends because humans have this innate drive to grow, expand, and create. So why not make our creative journey an exercise in what is possible and also enjoy the discoveries along the way?

For me, there is NOTHING more important to my creative journey than finding and staying in my creative center. Finding and creating from your creative center is about tuning into the pulse of your path. There's nothing worse than creating from a place that feels untethered and imbalanced.