Eat Pray Love Create

Five years before the release of Elizabeth Gilbert’s book, Eat Pray Love, I left the USA on a journey of my own, a six-week solo tour of Europe. It was Autumn 2001. In the aftermath of September 11, the world had stopped in its tracks. And so did I, in the South of France. I swam in the Mediterranean, made friends with strangers, sketched and wrote. The soothing sensuality of the French Riviera began to loosen the grip of my American ambition. My life as I knew it was transformed.

As weeks turned to years, I made a dramatic discovery, at the intersection of The Hero’s Journey and The Artist’s Way. It was a new application of an ancient invention, used throughout history to describe the journey of life. It was the Wheel of Creativity. In Helen Keller’s famous words, “Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.” The Wheel of Creativity®:  Taking Your Place in the Adventure of Life offers readers a map for the adventure.

What began for me in 2001 as a six-week European “walkabout” led me to a new life in three countries, a quantum leap in my business, and a magical first marriage at 52. I am living the adventure. Everyone can. While it need not be geographical, it is always transformational.

The ultimate creative adventure is being alive. Far deeper than the work of a professional elite or the amateur pastime of the masses, creativity is a force as natural as breathing. Either we learn to allow it to flow, or it costs us our lives.

The Wheel of Creativity® identifies 12 stages of the creative process in the form of a wheel, revealing the unique experience of each stage, and the task required to reap its reward. This book unveils an ancient roadmap, rooted in world traditions, tribal wisdom and natural law, and grounded in the contemporary life experiences of people in all walks of life, as well as my own. With tools to clear blocks, capitalize on strengths and take effective action, readers learn how to create the lives they love from the lives they have today.

These principles are universal. Each time I share them, I see people recognize themselves in the Wheel, learn to trust the process again, and retake the wheel of their lives. That is why I have written this book.

Right now I am in London at the 2012 London Book Fair. The message so far that struck me the most was that the center of creativity is no longer centralized, but now sits at the edge of society. People are doing it for themselves. So, if you think you need an authority to validate what you dream to do, forget about it. Just do it.

Why stop with the Eat Pray Love fantasy when you can create your own real-life adventure?