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    Celestial Journey, The Voyage of the Creative Spirit
    Celestial Journey, The Voyage of the Creative Spirit
    Celestial Journey, The Voyage of the Creative Spirit
    Ebook132 pages2 hours

    Celestial Journey, The Voyage of the Creative Spirit

    By Aliyah Marr

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    About this ebook

    Sixty-three motivational and inspirational short essays on living a creative life written in an easy to read, engaging style. Bestselling author Aliyah Marr takes us on a transpersonal and transformative journey exploring creativity and genius, psychology creative ability, and the inner child. For those who know that the way to self-actualization is through the medium of art, any art. Whether you are a creative writer, a journalist, visual artist, musician/composer, computer artist, graphic designer, architect, screenwriter or actor, you know that your art is what makes you want to get up every day. It is what helps you face the world, or rather, it helps you transform the world.

    This book is for those intrepid explorers of human expression: artists. It doesn't matter what field you choose—whether in the arts or sciences—if you do it in the attitude of curiosity and passion, you are an artist, or what I call a "conscious creative." You are not satisfied with the status quo; you find your own answers. You forge your own path.

    *** Excerpts from book ***

    The Unbearable Lightness of Creative Freedom
    The creative attitude is one of limitless opportunity. Think of an open space, a clear horizon representing endless possibilities. A creative person is standing at the center of the universe, with infinite paths going in all directions; the unknown is exciting, and the path chosen is simply one of personal predilection.

    The Healing Power of Art
    These days it seems everyone is experiencing changes. Changes often evoke fear; if you find yourself in a dark night of the soul, you may find it very difficult to make good decisions.

    The brain reacts to fearful circumstances by shutting off the blood supply to the higher functioning parts of the brain; automatically shutting off creativity, and openness at the same time. The brain does this so that the entire person may survive adverse conditions without getting frozen in abstract thought. Anxiety generates the same reaction in the brain, preventing creative thought.

    So what can one do when the brain is caught in the wheel of fear or anxiety? One of the best ways out is through expression in art. I have discovered—as have most artists—that it is best to know what is bothering you, and I use art to bring it out in the open. Once it is out in the open, it has a chance to no longer be in you.

    As an artist you can choose any kind of creative activities to explore an issue, and thereby lighten your mood. In the process, the artist finds unsuspected resources that have nothing to do with what we normally associate with ourselves, with our conscious thoughts and identity.

    Art as personal therapy—like the blues in music—has the power to transform the artist: it can change his mood, his outlook on life, even his future. But beyond healing the emotional landscape of the artist and viewer, it has a direct effect on the evolution of the entire person.

    I have an idea that the key to finding our love—our passion—lies in redefining what passion means. The heart yearns for passion because it is what feeds our soul; it keeps us young and vibrant. The heart senses this, and so it looks for it in the reflection of what our society calls love.

    Creative Writing, Journal writing, Art, Dance, Graphic Design, Architecture, Theater, Music, The Creative Life, Individual Artists, The Life of an Artist, Motivational and Inspirational, Creativity and Genius, Psychology Creative Ability, Self-Help Inner Child, Self-Help Creativity, Self-esteem, Happiness, Transpersonal Psychology, New Age Self-Help, Counseling and Psychology Gestalt, Humanistic Transpersonal, Cognitive Neuropsychology

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAliyah Marr
    Release dateApr 30, 2015
    ISBN9781311380432
    Celestial Journey, The Voyage of the Creative Spirit
    Author

    Aliyah Marr

    I LIVE BY 3 PRINCIPLES1 Maturity is overrated.2. Play is mandatory.3. Don't ever, ever put away your toys.Aliyah Marr is the author of several books on creativity and self-actualization. She is a creative director with a client list of Fortune 500 companies and a creative consultant for entrepreneurs. As an educator, she taught graphic design, art, interactive programming, and new media at Parsons, Pratt and The School of Visual Art in New York City.Newsletter on creativity:http://parallelmindzz.comwww.linkedin.com/in/aliyahmarr

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      Book preview

      Celestial Journey, The Voyage of the Creative Spirit - Aliyah Marr

      Introduction

      This book is for those intrepid explorers of human expression: artists. It doesn’t matter what field you choose—whether in the arts or sciences—if you do it in the attitude of curiosity and passion, you are an artist, or what I call a conscious creative. You are not satisfied with the status quo; you find your own answers. You forge your own path.

      The journey of the conscious creative is one of adventure and courage. It isn’t always easy, but a creative life is extremely rewarding. For an artist, it is the only life worth living.

      Dedication

      Everyone wants to understand art. Why not try to understand the song of a bird? Why does one love the night, flowers, everything around one, without trying to understand them? But in the case of a painting people have to understand. If only they would realize above all that an artist works of necessity, that he himself is only a trifling bit of the world, and that no more importance should be attached to him than to plenty of other things which please us in the world, though we can't explain them. — Pablo Picasso

      Were You Born at the Right Time?

      How many times have you been inspired by the lyrics in a song? I have been working non-stop for four days now, and am exhausted. 

      Paul Simon’s song, Born At The Right Time, comes on my internet radio:

      Never been lonely

      Never been lied to

      Never had to scuffle in fear

      Nothing denied to

      The lyrics remind me that no matter how difficult life may be, we should approach the world as if we are just born.

      This is the way of the artist, to be as if just born, to be what we are, no expectations and no fear. A blank canvas. We are all born at the right time if we have the courage to be what we are.

      Surfing The Sea of Change

      My good friend Dan tells me that the secret of surfing is to relax, and so the same tip works when we are going through a lot of personal change. Relax, enjoy the ride, and be OK with not knowing. Not knowing where you are going or the outcome of your journey.

      The two most useless words to ask at the juncture of change are the words why and how. Why me? Why does it have to happen this way? How am I going to cope? How will our family survive? How will I find a new job?

      The best question to ask is what do I desire? Then pay attention to that little internal voice of intuition that tells you when and where you can place yourself to be closer to where that desire can easily manifest.

      An artist specializes not so much in generating art as he specializes in generating desire. The secret is not trying to create what you desire; instead, you merely need to focus on the desire itself. What you desire is then pulled magnetically towards you by the energy (e-motion) of your desire.

      Relaxing and accepting change is key to finding a sense of ease and enjoyment no matter where you are in life. Opposing change is like fighting the ocean—it’s pointless and it’s exhausting. Accepting change means that you can surf the greatest wave of change effortlessly, using the power of the wave to carry you along, and enjoy the sometimes scary, sometimes exhilarating ride.

      On Being Ruthless

      Creativity in any form is married to the ability to make decisions and carry them out. As a creative person involved in a creative medium you make literally thousands of tiny decisions in every piece you create. The practice of art in any form is a great way to develop and refine your ability to make incisive decisions, which naturally leads to a more creative, and empowered life.

      Think about the times when you felt creatively blocked—did it seem that you couldn’t make a decision or that there weren’t any good choices to make? Did it feel that you were trapped in indecision?

      Now what about the times when you felt creatively empowered; did it feel as if you had incredible lightness and freedom?

      When you make a decision to change your life, suddenly things that were formerly cloudy become crystal clear. You suddenly become prepared to do whatever it takes to achieve your purpose—your actions become aligned with the intent of your life’s purpose: you become what I call ruthless; you can make instant, unerringly right decisions based upon pure instinct and intuition. A movie editor is ruthless when he cuts out extraneous parts of the movie. Artists are ruthless when they can see a better solution in their mind’s eye, and instantly act to execute their inner vision.

      Recently, I made a ruthless decision: I edited a mural I had made some years previously, cutting out a full 1/3 of the picture. I knew that the painting would be better because I could see it first in my mind’s eye.

      I have probably made millions of similar sweeping decisions in my artistic life. When the decision is right, I feel it immediately; I see that the image is more powerful without the unnecessary clutter and parts that are extraneous to the integrity of the piece.

      The practice of art gives me the ability to make good decisions in my life, guided by the intuition that comes directly from my heart. You can apply the rules of ruthless editing to everything that you want to create in your life:

      1. Decide to become ruthless and distill everything down to just the essentials.

      2. Focus on the freedom you will feel without unnecessary things weighing you down.

      3. Make sure your life and art have integrity and are aligned with your heart and your inner vision.

      4. Invest your energy just on doing what makes you happy, rather than in any future happiness or goal.

      When your heart is unencumbered by the past, by unnecessary things, and by negative, disempowering emotions, you will find that it is the most amazing wise guide to your new life—let your heart speak and it will always tell you true. 

      You no longer need any goal and you will no longer have to delay your happiness. Instead you will be living the life of your dreams, flying through a landscape of incredible beauty with the bird of creative freedom as your companion and guide.

      The Unbearable Lightness of Creative Freedom

      The creative attitude is one of limitless opportunity. Think of an open space, a clear horizon representing endless possibilities. A creative person is standing at the center of the universe, with infinite paths going in all directions; the unknown is exciting, and the path chosen is simply one of personal predilection.

      Top 7 Things to Do When Your Creative Muse Leaves You

      If you are an experienced creative, chances are that you have experienced a creative high and a corresponding creative low. The creative high can be so amazing that we often forget that a low almost always follows.

      Just as the ocean has high and low tides, it’s only natural that the depths of the low creative period should balance the height of the preceding creative high period. The difficult thing to remember is that the high will come back, but for the time being it can seem that your muse has truly flown the coop. What to do?

      There are several courses of action:

      1. Take advantage of the time to do all those pesky errands that can’t get done when you are burning with creative fervor.

      2. Use the ebb to consolidate and build on ideas you have had in the past.

      3. Get active, do something—anything. The crazier, the better!

      4. Learn something new.

      5. Listen to the world, instead of looking at it (if you are a visual

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