THE WHEEL OF CREATIVITY®

Traveling back and forth to England during these past few years has introduced me to a culture of people who know that the sun will not always shine, and it must be enjoyed right now. This has been a powerful mirror for me to see myself.

One of the things I’ve learned about myself over the years is that I wait. Sometimes this is a wise choice. Sometimes it’s not.

Let’s look at the first kind of waiting first. There have been a few times in my life when I’ve made decisions because I felt a sense of urgency, external pressure. People were waiting on me. Things needed to happen. Someone else was going to get it first. Even as I signed on the dotted line, I knew. “This is not right.” But I went ahead anyway. That kind of decision has always cost me, usually financially.

But there is another kind of waiting that’s more a habit than a choice. And it’s not particularly helpful. For example, I’ve observed over the years my tendency to buy beautiful fresh fruits and vegetables at the local farmers market, bring them home with joy, and then let them sit in the fridge until they have lost their luster. All too often, I’ve found  myself waiting until they are too far gone to eat. This in fact makes me very sad, because I hate for anything that has lost its life to be wasted.

The first kind of (not) waiting taught me to honor my uncertainty: “I don’t know, and I don’t know and I don’t know. And then one day, I know.” The second kind of waiting has taught me how to seize the day. Both taught me about the  power of knowing what I want and taking action on it.

More than any other station in the Wheel of Creativity, I hear new clients identify with the Anorexia station. Anorexia is the place in the creative process where you are paralyzed with the automatic No. Over time, self-protection becomes compulsive avoidance. And years can pass as you wait to become worthy of your dream.

Wherever you are in your life today, you will never be younger, never have more energy, never have more time ahead of you to achieve your dreams. When your heart calls to you, stop, look and listen. And then get up and cross the street. Tomorrow it might be raining.

What are you waiting for? What calls you to cross the street?

If you’d like to read more about the Wheel of Creativity, click here to buy the book on Amazon.

See you in the Wheel!

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Sometimes in the course of the day, I observe my tendency to take hold of my life and try to control my way through it. Whether I’m trying to make something happen that I really believe in or to keep something from happening that I think is bad or wrong, I close my fists around life and try to have my way with it.

Have you ever noticed that the more you try to force your will on life, the more your desired outcome avoids you? This approach breeds a sense of urgency and desperation that drives you farther and farther from your own true place in the creative process of living. It’s a feeling that if you don’t make it happen, nothing will happen. Big lie. And one I tell myself way too many days of my life.

There are two fundamental principles in creating the life you want. One is receptive and the other is active. Yin and yang. One is about being open and receiving the unforeseen gifts there in every day. The other is about taking hold and making the most of what comes. One without the other is an incomplete system, like a hand that closes but won’t open or opens but won’t close. It doesn’t work.

You are not in control of the creative process. You have a responsibility for how you engage with it, but you’re not in control. The more you close your fists, the less you allow life’s creative energy to flow through you. At the same time, if you only open to receive without structure, and nothing remains. Does this mean you don’t have to work at it? Oh, no. That’s the other big lie.

Life flows like water, seeking the openings to give it direction. How would you hold a sip of water in your hand? Squeeze too tight and you squeeze the life out of it. Open too wide and it will all slip away.

To hold what flows, stay open and give it structure. Show up every day. Set your targets. Then set them aside and focus on what’s in front of you. Don’t think about the past or the future. Just do the work. And then go out with your friends in the evening.

To learn more about the active and receptive principles in creating your life, check out The Wheel of Creativity on Amazon or sign up to get my monthly Creative Adventure Journal over there on the right.

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Every day Life gives you a set of letters.

Like a great Scrabble game, only in 3D where you can get hurt playing.

One day last week, my letters spelled L O N E L I N E S S. I saw myself starting to go down the path where that can take me. And I had a moment of clarity.

What else can I create with these letters?

I took myself out for a walk. I took a new route to the local library to renew my card. As I passed the familiar row of unentered antique stores, it occurred to me. Today’s letters are 2 Ls, 2 Ns, 2 Ss, 2 Es, 1 O and 1 I. What else could I do with these letters? I could write a poem, I thought. Just the question gave me the awareness that I could just sit there with my letters and complain about them. Or I could play the game. I could create something else.

In line at the library, I saw a beautiful, well-dressed family at the counter getting their first library card. A grandmother, a father and two girls. Dressed in a suit with with with a bag full of paperwork, the man was very serious about this card.  Hovering above them like an angel who knows how things work, the grandmother took the girls to explore while their father waited. It took a long time. His eyes caught mine, seemingly a bit worried about the line forming behind him. I smiled and nodded it was okay. Then it was over. We never spoke, but I was no longer lonely.

I returned home by a different route still. I called in at the Italian food market for their delicious breadsticks, and bought two even more delicious cookies too. And when I passed the busy stylish café on the quiet side street, there was one table free. I sat down and wrote that poem. I called my husband on his ship. I left an extra tip for the server.

The world that seemed so empty in the morning was full by then. Everyone seemed friendly. And I returned home changed.

What letters has Life given you today?

A N G E R

D E P R E S S I O N

A N X I E T Y

E C S T A S Y

J E A L O U S Y

I L L N E S S

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Join me.

Play the game. See what else you can create with the letters you have today.

Click on the MEDITATION tab above to discover one tool you can use to find the awareness you need today to…

liveCREATIVE!

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This Thursday, February 21st, I’ll be waiting for you at The Nomad Chef Secret Restaurant in Central London for the UK launch of my book:

The Wheel of Creativity: Taking Your Place in the Adventure of Life

Will you be There?

This party celebrates more than the launch of my book.

It is also a celebration of all your dreams still being dreamt and all your plans waiting to be laid down. It is a celebration of what you are here on Earth to do.

The Adventure Starts Here

Come join me and a select group of creative spirits — from artists to entrepreneurs — as we share an evening of solace for body and soul. This evening offer you safe harbour from life’s creative storms, just for a little while. Come get inspired to embark on the adventure of your lifetime.

Canapés and bubbly will be provided by The Nomad Chef.

Register Now

Click here to register and get directions to the secret restaurant.

liveCREATIVE!

Katherine

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What are you pulling?

Today I’m going to try something, and I’d love to know your thoughts about it. Today I begin a creative experiment by recording a video journal a few times each week. In each journal, I will invite you into my private world, behind the photos, quotes and status updates I create on the Internet. What’s really going on for me today? What am I pulling?

How can this help you?

For many years of my life, I made my living writing and producing TV/film projects. I still appreciate the candid, in-your-face kind of filmmaking that captures the authentic moments of real life. The more eccentric the people, the more interesting they are to watch.

Well, somehow in the intense process required to write, publish and promote my book, I’ve found myself getting caught up in a lot of should’s lately. I have focused on the things I thought I had to do for people to discover my book and benefit from it. Somehow I lost touch along the way with what I most love doing. And that, as I well know, is a sure-fire way to disappear into the oblivion of my own mind.

I know I’m not alone. So my hope is that my little experiment will help you find your creative process in the midst of your day-to-day life. If we can’t sit down over coffee today, this is the next best thing.

Let me know what you think!

• Leave your comments here below.
• Post your own video response on YouTube.
• Join me for that coffee on January 20′s live coaching call to take the next step

Live CREATIVE! Let’s create the best year ever!

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What will you create in 2013?

Whatever you want to achieve this year, you’ll go through a creative process to do it. The quality of your life this year depends on how you take that process on. Join me for this sneak musical preview of what that little trip is going to look like.

P.S. It’s the ride of your life!

Now, go live this year CREATIVE!

* The Wheel of Creativity: Taking Your Place in the Adventure of Life is a book by Katherine Robertson-Pilling. Learn more here by subscribing to my monthly Creative Adventure Journal.

Buy the book on Amazon.  Amazon USA: http://amzn.to/UCldyz and Amazon UK/Europe: http://amzn.to/TzFXos.

LYRICS:  12 Days of Creativity: A Musical Tour of The Wheel of Creativity

Station 1 and the Wheel of Creativity gives you… a hunger for something more than this.

Station 2 and the Wheel of Creativity gives you… an appetite for that… and a hunger for something more than this.

Station 3 and the Wheel of Creativity gives you…  anorexia… an appetite for that and a hunger for something more than this.

Station 4 and the Wheel of Creativity gives you… a little boat to launch… anorexia, an appetite for that and a hunger for something more than this.

Station 5 and the Wheel of Creativity gives you… isolation… a little boat to launch, anorexia, an appetite for that and a hunger for something more than this.

Station 6 and the Wheel of Creativity gives you… crisis-a-brewing… isolation, a little boat to launch, anorexia, an appetite for that and a hunger for something more than this.

Station 7 and the Wheel of Creativity gives you… conception of a new thing… crisis-a-brewing, isolation, a little boat to launch, anorexia, an appetite for that and a hunger for something more than this.

Station 8 and the Wheel of Creativity gives you… waiting for gestation… conception of a new thing, crisis-a-brewing, isolation, a little boat to launch, anorexia, an appetite for that and a hunger for something more than this.

Station 9 and the Wheel of Creativity gives you… finally breakthrough… waiting for gestation, conception of a new thing, crisis-a-brewing, isolation, a little boat to launch, anorexia, an appetite for that and a hunger for something more than this.

Station 10 and the Wheel of Creativity gives you… a new thing to nurture…  finally breakthrough, waiting for gestation, conception of a new thing, crisis-a-brewing, isolation, a little boat to launch, anorexia, an appetite for that and a hunger for something more than this.

Station 11 and the Wheel of Creativity gives you… a grown plant for pruning… a new thing to nurture, finally breakthrough, waiting for gestation, conception of a new thing, crisis-a-brewing, isolation, a little boat to launch, anorexia, an appetite for that and a hunger for something more than this

Station 12 and the Wheel of Creativity gives you… a ripe crop to harvest… a grown plant for pruning, a new thing to nurture, finally breakthrough, waiting for gestation, conception of a new thing, crisis-a-brewing, isolation, a little boat to launch, anorexia, an appetite for that and a hunger for something more than this.

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Christmas is upon us.

So each day from now until December 25, drop by the Wheel of Creativity blog for a deep breath of spirit in the midst of the festive flurry.

Let’s be creative and connected this Christmas!

It’s the best gift under the tree!

Lean back.

Take a deep breath.

Look up from the screen.

Relax.

Station 11 and the Wheel of Creativity gives me… a grown plant for pruning

The enemy of art is the absence of limitations.

 

Orson Welles

There comes a point in the process of creating anything new that is about nothing but sheer nose-to-the-grindstone, out-of-balance-for-a-while, get-the-job-done discipline. By the time you’ve gotten to this point, you’re serious about what you’re doing: you’ve clarified your vision, you’ve done the research and you’ve completed the draft.

Now you have to perfect the product. Nature in its wisdom puts the work here, because by this point your investment is so great that it’s usually too painful to quit. But abandoning ship may cross your mind more than a few times.

When I was producing documentary film and TV, people often approached me with a good idea. “You should make a film about…,” they would say with hopeful eyes. It took me a while before I stopped feeling the pressure of “Yes, you’re right. I should make your film.” But the more programs I produced, the more I realized that many projects are years in the making. Only the person with the passion has the stamina to see them through. No one can do that for you.

This is a timely subject for me now, as I have just released my book, The Wheel of Creativity: Taking Your Place in the Adventure of Life for sale in the marketplace. The first seeds of this book planted themselves in me ten years ago. It has taken this long for them to grow into a plant that I hope will nourish many of you the way it has nourished me. All the living, learning, experimenting, teaching, listening and revising I have needed to do is done now. These past months have been the most intense of all, as I have cut away what needed cutting and shaped what remained into a finished product. Now, it’s time to let go.

DOWNLOAD THE EBOOK FOR FREE on December 25 and 26 at Amazon.com.

PRUNING is station 11 in The Wheel of Creativity.

What needs completion in your life before you can move forward?

First Day of Creativity – Hunger

Second Day of Creativity – Appetite

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Christmas is upon us. So each day from now until December 25,

drop by The Wheel of Creativity blog

for a deep breath of spirit in the midst of the festive flurry.

Let’s be creative and connected this Christmas!

It’s the best gift under the tree!

Lean back.

Take a deep breath.

Look up from the screen.

Relax.

Station 6 and the Wheel of Creativity gives me… Crisis-a-brewing

There is a moment in any kind of struggle when one feels

in full bloom . . . vivid . . . alive.

One might be blown to bits in such a moment

and still be at peace.

                         - Alice Walker

The holidays can be stressful for us all. Emotions, expectations, priorities and celebration mix a potentially explosive cocktail, and when we try to manage it all we can easily feel overwhelmed. These moments of overwhelm are part of the creative process too. Respond to them consciously and transform them.

Good rope, bad rope

In the mid 80s, I participated in a self-development seminar in the Adirondack mountains of New York. One day of the seminar was a ropes course in the forest, which included three events. It was my undoing. And that was a good thing.

For the Tyrolean Traverse the ropes team secured a rope across a high gorge, some 50 feet across. I stepped into a harness and was attached to the rope with a carabiner. I stepped off the cliff and felt all my weight suspended below that rope. On my back with the carabiner at my waist, I was to pull myself to the other side.

Advancing was much easier than I expected until I got to the center of the gorge. Suddenly the angle of the rope changed from downhill to uphill. No matter what I did, I couldn’t move even an inch. I was furious. Tearful. Desperate. Someone was going to have to come get me. But no one did.

I dangled there for about 10 minutes, facing the sky, powerless to move. I got more and more angry, more and more helpless, until finally I kicked. With each kick, I discovered that I could lift my weight off the rope just enough to put one fist ahead of the other. And that was enough; just like that I moved my body across the second half of the rope and got myself to the other side. And then I got it!

Crossing over

Crisis is inevitable in the creative process. Seeing the Promised Land is not the same thing as entering it. Whatever you want to change in your life—whether it’s actually enjoying your family this season, managing the holiday have-to’s differently, or both—the obstacles between you and the new you are the way through.

The crisis, your feeling of overwhelm, is a wake-up call. In the midst of the storm, it yanks you from the crescendo of external demands and rivets you to yourself. In the center of every hurricane there is an eye, a still point where everything is silent. The storm brings you to the end of yourself, and finding that still point within it reveals the new idea, and the new you waiting on the other side.

This moment of CRISIS is station 6 in The Wheel of Creativity.

Where in life do you feel overwhelmed and out of control?

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Christmas is upon us. So each day from now until December 25,

drop by The Wheel of Creativity blog 

for a deep breath of spirit in the midst of the festive flurry.

Let’s be creative and connected this Christmas! It’s the best gift under the tree!

Lean back.

Take a deep breath.

Look up from the screen.

Relax.

Station 5 and the Wheel of Creativity gives me… I – SO – la – tion

“To navigate you must be brave . . .

and to be brave you must remember.”

                     - Mau Piailug

In yesterday’s post, I mentioned that while confidence and optimism will surely visit you in the creative process, they do not necessarily stay for long. The process of creating anything original—whether you are Man Ray in Paris or Cowboy John in Lubbock—requires that you leave what you know. And somewhere along the line, that is likely to make you a bit anxious.

“What was I thinking!”

I can’t begin to count the number of times I’ve found myself in this station. More than 20 years ago, when I first got a glimpse of the truth buried deep within me and the possibility that I could live my life in harmony with it my first reaction was fear. Established society does not always take kindly to those who honor their own truth above all else.

But I could also see the possibility of a world in which every person takes their place in the creative unfolding of because they listen and respond to what they know inside. Through every year I have lived since then I have come to see very little else. It’s the vision that inspired me to create The Wheel of Creativity. It’s the courage to stay my own course that changed the course of my life.

The gift of the creative process is that once you’ve left the shore, there is no turning back. The dark night of the soul is part of the cycle, and learning to navigate your way through it will show you strength and resilience you didn’t know you had inside. Find your center deep down in the bottom of the canoe, watch the stars and waves and keep your eye out for signs of land.

This ISOLATION is station 5 in The Wheel of Creativity.

What becomes available to you way out there, far away from all you know?

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 Christmas is upon us.

So each day from now until December 25, drop by

The Wheel of Creativity blog

for a deep breath of spirit in the midst of the festive flurry.

Let’s be creative and connected this Christmas!

It’s the best gift under the tree!

Lean back.

Take a deep breath.

Look up from the screen.

Relax.

Station 4 and the Wheel of Creativity gives me… a little boat to launch

Come to the edge, he said.

They said: We are afraid.

Come to the edge, he said.

They came. He pushed them,

And they flew.

                      – Guillaume Apollinaire

It takes a lot of energy to finally launch yourself into the unknown. And what might have felt like futzing around in the previous three stations was actually necessary to build the energy for launch. Whether you finally dare to apply for a new job, start dating again or don your old yoga clothes and get back to class, this is the moment when you take the plunge and “just do it!” You have to let go.

Trusting the unexplainable

Solar physicist and computer scientist Peter Fox has learned, through 30 years of research into changes in the sun’s activity, to “look for the unexplainable” in his intuition. “As a scientist, you have to have some element of confidence in yourself,” Peter told me on the phone, “because otherwise you don’t open yourself up to the creative thought. There’s the point where you have to trust that at some level your intuition is right.

It takes what it takes to find the courage to trust your intuition completely. It’s one thing to sit on the shore and want something; it’s another thing completely to pounce. When you finally do let go of the shore, it’s the high dive. You throw back your head, feel the wind in your hair, and a great big “Wheee!!!” flies from your lips. It is pure joy! For a minute.

Trusting yourself

Optimism of course does not last forever. Even though you will soon cry, “What was I thinking!” that is still to come. For now, the confidence of trusting your deepest knowing allows you to find freedom in your life again, often without changing a thing in the world around you. You have launched your boat and your are on your way.

LAUNCH is station 4 in The Wheel of Creativity.

Where do you find the confidence to take the leaps you need to take?

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