Create February Fabulous! - Retrospect

February has finally come to a close and the rest of the year beckons enticingly as I look back on a month of creativity. I started a project with just myself in mind. To create and share a piece of art every day in February. I ended up creating a page and sharing my idea with a few friends and the group has gently grown over the last month.

Colour Square Sphere - Olafur Eliasson

I chose February because there I was at the start of the month looking for something to do. February seemed to fit. It doesn’t have that ominous, quick to end, New Year’s Resolution disappointment. It is a short month and this year has that magical extra day. An extra opportunity to start new things.

I must confess, I did not manage to create and post a piece of art, writing, or music every day. I am what I would call, an awakening artist. Whilst I am not new to creativity, I am certainly new to treating my art as a daily practice. I am new to telling myself that I am a precious human soul that is allowed to create, dream and imagine. I have always been in that place of wanting, but some voices have often held me back from stepping fully into this artistic life.

Even though I didn’t create something every day, I can count numerous victories. I started my blog again which has been the primary commentator of this project. I have written some great poems this month. I finally broke through an immense barrier within me and busked on the street where before, there was enormous fear. I have started selling my photos online and have taken some great shots recently. I have baked some new things and improved my kitchen skills. In the last two weeks, I started practicing my guitar again, played a local open mic twice and got a gig off the back of it and have had the best time ever singing! Last but not least was the creation of a small idea which is slowly growing. Within that idea, I have met, seen and been inspired by a whole bunch of talented artists and their work.

Part of the reason I wanted to create a group was the benefit I could see from isolated artists and creators connecting in a safe, judgement free environment. I feel that creativity is the life-blood of humanity. It is our reason for being and we need to nurture, respect and cultivate those urges within us in order to connect. I wanted to create a group that welcomes artists of all levels, from beginners to experts, and maybe provide a future forum and support network for anyone that wants to begin exploring their own creativity. There are future plans indeed.

I have seen countless people hold themselves back from creating, art, music and dance. I have heard even more people tell me they are not creative, cannot sing or do not have an artistic bone in their body yet simply living is an art in itself. Creativity takes countless forms and we are so much more creative than we tend to notice.

We often tell ourselves we are no good much to the detriment of our own minds, bodies and souls. Most of the time we are comparing ourselves to others, whether it is their success, talent or material wealth we envy. Yet at other times, we celebrate art, music and dance with a fever only matched by the energy that created it in the first place.

"A thought is harmless unless we believe it. It’s not our thoughts, but our attachment to our thoughts, that causes suffering. Attaching to a thought means believing that it’s true, without inquiring. A belief is a thought that we’ve been attaching to, often for years." - Byron Katie 

I believe we can all create. I believe we can all aspire to whatever we dream of and be able to experience that desire in this lifetime. I think other people’s art and creative processes are a source of inspiration, unity and wealth. Even though I still struggle with that inner critic that tells me I will never be that good, brilliant, rich, healthy, successful… I feel that my heart speaks a grander truth.

Creativity is our birth right. Creativity is what makes life happen. Creativity happens on a far grander scale than we can imagine. We are creating all the time. We create within our day to day lives. With our words, our actions. Even our thoughts are creative. If we can encourage good thoughts, and a good environment in which to create, then I think there is room for us all to realise our hopes and dreams in a healthy and sustainable way that does not harm another or the planet. Creativity unites us. Creativity is versatile enough to accommodate everyone. Creativity is a sacred, life-affirming bond between us and the world around us.

So as I sit on the threshold of March, I can honestly say that it has been a joy to partake in this idea. I shall now change the name of the group to simply “Create Fabulous”. Over the course of this year I am sure myself and others will come up with some new ideas, collaborations and even workshops that encourage and support finding our creative selves. I shall be blogging more, writing more and singing more. The Facebook group itself will remain open to artists to join and share their work over the course of the year and next February, we will once again focus on every day creation and maybe we can make it a thing! Follow the link below to join the group.

Wishing you always, a very creative day,

Love, love, love…

Matt Rivers

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Create February Fabulous! is an idea or challenge to try and show up with your own creativity every day for the month of February. It is a simple idea. The creativity can take any form, and take any amount of time. Any media, any discipline, the only condition is to have fun. No critics, no judgement, just a celebration of our own unique human quality of creativity. You are encouraged to share your projects anywhere you like (only if you want) using the hashtag #createfebruary. Join the Facebook group, share on Instagram, blog about it, invite friends to some daily creativity. Let's see what we can create together. 

Matt is a singer/songwriter, musician, poet and writer of words. He is exploring the forests of consciousness, time and space, and surfing the waves of thought, love and being. Getting lost and wiping out are adventures in themselves!

Create February Fabulous! - Make Love to Life

Great sex is life-affirming, joyous and pleasurable. It leaves us satisfied yet eager for more. It puts us in a place of present moment connection with our lover and enhances the bond between us. Our lover thrives on gentleness and presence. Relaxation and trust allow us to let go and be ourselves whether it builds into wild passionate abandon or whether we flow and intertwine into a fluid and singular being, dancing with our hearts open. Of course, sex takes many forms and has many songs but the fundamental tenets of consent, trust, attraction and passion lie at the heart of our most natural and fundamental desires.

 Our relationship to life works in much the same way. Just like our lover, we cannot inspire the best within us if we are harsh, desperate, fearful or critical. We cannot expect life to yield to us ecstatic moments of pure joy if we have approached our experiences with anger, hopelessness or judgement.

Not that we should deny our emotions or pretend they do not exist. They must be listened to and they must be embraced and loved. There is great value in treating yourself as a precious object and embracing the difficult emotions in order to hear what they are saying to you. When we can start to hear the messages of our body, instead of reacting to them and throwing them outwards, we start to develop our relationship with ourselves and thus with life. All we have to do is become quiet and listen to ourselves and our bodies.

Life may teach us about sex but sex can teach us about life. A great lover is admired and loved. So too can we learn to admire and love the rhythms of life and the experiences that come to us. We can begin to admire and love ourselves. A great lover is caressed to lofty passion through delicate sensations that build over time; each of us preferring a different touch, a different way. Life touches us all the time and we reach out into life with our thoughts and perceptions. There is great value in allowing our thoughts to linger in places that feel good, in areas and subjects that allow our essence to flow. A great lover has rhythms we can tune into so that we begin dancing as one. Life too has a flow that we can choose to accept in the moment, not forcing or struggling, but following the tide, like water to the moon.

If we make love to life, we approach life as a lover. We are patient and artful. We are present in the moment, connected and trusting. We notice that our thoughts and words have power. We notice that our perceptions create realities and we adjust them in order to experience something new. We are free to choose new ideas and to focus on the beautiful aspects of what we see. Just as we complement our lovers, so we learn to complement life and look for that which arouses us, which ignites our hearts and sets our souls free. Just as we notice that appreciation affects our lovers, we realise that we too are affected by our own attitudes. We treat ourselves as we treat our lovers. We hold ourselves in high-regard. We are precious objects.

Slowly we realise that life is responding to us in much the same way. Slowly we realise that life yields and opens up to us as we open up our hearts to life. We approach our situations with new eyes, choosing to look for the silver linings as we listen to our intuitive guidance within. Life echoes us and just as we dance with our lover, so we dance with life.

Make love, in everything you do…

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Create February Fabulous! is an idea or challenge to try and show up with your own creativity every day for the month of February. It is a simple idea. The creativity can take any form, and take any amount of time. Any media, any discipline, the only condition is to have fun. No critics, no judgement, just a celebration of our own unique human quality of creativity. You are encouraged to share your projects anywhere you like (only if you want) using the hashtag #createfebruary. Join the Facebook group, share on Instagram, blog about it, invite friends to some daily creativity. Let's see what we can create together. 

Matt is a singer/songwriter, musician, poet and writer of words. He is exploring the forests of consciousness, time and space, and surfing the waves of thought, love and being. Getting lost and wiping out are adventures in themselves!

Create February Fabulous! - The Music Inside

Day 9

There is something fundamental within a human to want to create. As children we are forever in our imagination, creating at will and we are often coerced out of these habits as we grow up – whether by ourselves or the influence of parents, society or religion. But what happens if that creative urge never left us? What happens if we are all meant to be creators from the moment we are born until the moment we die but somehow we just left it by the wayside. Perhaps it is time to reignite the fires within and let out the creative genius that you are.

“Don’t die with your music still inside you. Listen to your intuitive inner voice and find what passion stirs your soul. Listen to that inner voice, and don’t get to the end of your life and say, ‘What if my whole life has been wrong?”

– Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

Create February Fabulous! was born of an idea I had to produce something creative every day in February. It is my idea of showing up to the page because I have often stuggled with wanting to create and not being able to. It is a way to be accountable and to challenge myself a bit. It is turning into something more than that. An exploration of creativity and a sharing of art with other beautiful creators around the world.

Procrastination, contrary to popular belief, is not laziness. It is fear. It is the ego fearing to let go as we dive deep into something transcendental like drawing or meditation or music. A favourite teacher of mine Jamie Catto helped me to see this. Perhaps many of us let go of arts and creativity because at some point we ‘grew’ up and got side-tracked. Now when we think of art, we either do not have the time, disregard the urge or intuition or suffer in silence, knowing not what ails us.

So how do we free the artist inside? How do we even know if we want to create something? Well, noticing any attraction to colour, music, dance, movement and words is a pretty good sign that there is something resonating inside that would love to create, make or take part in something. Think of how good it feels when you join in a rousing chorus at a celebration with friends, a concert or down the pub. That is pure creative human spirit! If you have the urge to sing, to write a book, to take dance classes, act, or make something, then that is your heart and soul speaking to you. You will feel much better for listening and taking action.

“Every child is an artist until he's told he's not an artist.”

John Lennon

I have heard many people utter the words ‘I wish I could do that but…’ The truth is, you can! The key to it is to just start and to embrace and dissolve those demons and voices that hold you back. And by embrace, I mean give those lost and cranky parts of you some love.

Here are some voices I have had in my head over the years. ‘I am not good enough’, ‘I am not talented enough’, ‘I will never be that good’, ‘I don’t have enough time’, ‘I have other commitments’, ‘I should be doing something else’, ‘I am not rich enough’, ‘there is no money in art’ and ‘what is the point!’. They all seem like valid arguments but the reality of squashing that creative urge or tingle down is not pleasant. It feels horrible. It feels like I am missing out on something. Here’s some suggestions for what to do if you have a hard time starting out.

• Try out something when you have the urge, however small and humble your beginnings. It may be one line of verse, a haiku, a doodle or a dance step. Just try it for five minutes. No more. 
• It is better to try something every day for five minutes in order to build up a habit than not at all. You will begin to create an energy of wanting to do more. 
• Everything you enjoy has been created by someone or something! Creativity is the base code of the entire Universe.
• Keep it simple at first. Simple ideas, simple tools. Just enjoy the moment.
• Look at life in front of you. Use your senses. See the colours and textures. Hear the sounds. Feel the wind and smell the smells. That is where inspiration comes from. 
• Get silly, get inventive. I once worked at a creative retreat where a woman was fascinated by a crack in the concrete. She followed her artistic urge and painted that crack loads of times. She loved it! 
• Try to let go of judgement and your inner critic. Be kind to that voice. Say ‘thank you dear crazy voice but even though you think this is rubbish or stupid, I am going to do it anyway just to see what happens. Don’t worry, all will be well.’ 
• Don’t compare yourself! You are UNIQUE! There is nothing compared to you or to what you will create! 
• Love the process but don’t worry about the result. The more you do, the more the work will develop. 
• Get risky and juicy. Be daring. Write, paint, dance whatever you feel, whatever you want to say, however crazy, dark, edgy or risqué.
• Don’t wait for inspiration or passion to move you, it tends to flow once you get started. 
• Great art doesn’t happen all at once. It happens in small increments, step by step. Day by day. 
• You are allowed to create and dream and imagine. 
• You are allowed to be an artist and create whatever you want to create! 
• If you just got the best idea then go with the flow! That feeling that comes with a great idea is your heart and soul saying yes, yes, yes!
• If you really want to dive deep with any art, have a look at 'The Artist's Way' by Julia Cameron.
• If you really want to learn to draw have a look at 'Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain' by Betty Edwards.
• If you really want to write have a look at 'Writing Down the Bones' by Natalie Goldberg. 

If you have any other great tips for getting into the creative flow, please leave them in the comments below.

Good luck and good creating. Let the music out dear friends!

Love, love, love...

Matt Rivers

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Create February Fabulous! is an idea or challenge to try and show up with your own creativity every day for the month of February. It is a simple idea. The creativity can take any form, and take any amount of time. Any media, any discipline, the only condition is to have fun. No critics, no judgement, just a celebration of our own unique human quality of creativity. You are encouraged to share your projects anywhere you like (only if you want) using the hashtag #createfebruary. Join the Facebook group, share on Instagram, blog about it, invite friends to some daily creativity. Let's see what we can create together. 

Matt is a singer/songwriter, musician, poet and writer of words. He is exploring the forests of consciousness, time and space, and surfing the waves of thought, love and being. Getting lost and wiping out are adventures in themselves!

Create February Fabulous! - Ready, Steady, Go!

Day 1

The beginning of February and what better time to begin a new project. The long January is over, Christmas is but a distant memory and New Years resolutions have faded into dust. Time for a bit of excitement and creativity.

Yesterday I was writing my journal on the beach when an idea struck me. I want to spend some time every day this month creating something and I want to share it. Then another idea struck me. I want to share the idea of sharing creativity with everyone and see what happens. I want to see who joins in. I want to explore the notions of creativity and the connections it creates.

Create February Fabulous! is all about making one piece of art a day for the next 29 days starting today. At the very least, I am going to do something creative every day and post it on the internet. I am hoping other people will join me.

The art could take any form. It could be a doodle, a dance, a drawing or a design. It could be a photo, a song, a cake, a lego model, a painting or an origami flower. The point is to get creative every day and share your work. It doesn't matter if it took 2 seconds or 2 hours, all of it matters.

It doesn't matter whether you consider yourself an artist or not - I believe every human being on this planet is creative. Pablo Picasso once said that every child is an artist but the problem is holding onto that as we grow up.

Creativity is what makes humans unique. It is what makes each of our cultures glow with passion, excitement and colour. Our world expands because of our creativity, no matter how big or small. Sometimes the most precious moments can be found in a three line poem or the snap of a camera shutter and sometimes it is the roar of a stadium concert or the binding laughter of a family sing-song. We love to look at pictures and art. We love watching dancers leap and twist their bodies to infectious music. We love the sound of drums calling to the very essence of our souls.

I propose that when we focus and shine a light on our creativity, we begin to find elegant solutions to all kinds of problems. When we recognise that we are bound by much more than separates us, we can draw together as a species instead of drifting slowly apart. We are social creatures and creativity brings us together. Not only that, it is good for your soul. It is like meditation, being one with the moment, dancing in the rain!

So if you are reading this, I hope you are inspired to take part. Please check out the Facebook page Create February Fabulous! and use the hashtag #createfebruary if you are posting anything on social media sites. Don't feel like you have to share your art - there is no pressure here, no competition, just community and sharing. There is no pressure to create every day - art and artists need nurturing so be lovely to yourself as much as you can.

Let us see what happens. Let us see what we can create and let us see if we can make new conenctions, friends and communities.

Love, love, love...

Matt Rivers


"Practice any art, music, singing, dancing, acting, drawing, painting, sculpting, poetry, fiction, essays, reportage, no matter how well or badly, not to get money and fame, but to experience becoming, to find out what's inside you, to make your soul grow."                                                        — Kurt Vonnegut

The Forty Pilgrims Project - Baby Steps

Day 9, 10, 11 and 12

Progress along life’s path is never measured in even beats. Everything has its own rhythm, whether it is the beating of our own hearts, the gentle thrum and crash of waves, or the seasons of our lives. Sometimes we move in voluminous billows of action, like gathering clouds preparing for a hurricane and sometimes we can seem stuck in the mud, barely moving at all. Yet there is rhythm in everything, however fast or slow it may seem. There is a beautiful Japanese word for this natural rhythm present in everything – hyoshi – the sound of a child clapping.

When we can become one with the rhythm of what presents itself to us, then we begin achieving yoga or union within ourselves. Yoga is a state of consciousness we all possess that longs to be revealed. It is a state of oneness with everything around us. It sounds mystical and has many other definitions and interpretations but it is something we have all experienced. Oneness with the moment can be felt in the shower when there is just you and the cascading water. It can be felt when you are having a joyous day of adventure, where everything works, everything fits into place and you seem to be ‘on fire’! Yoga is the state of creativity when you are dancing, writing, drawing or singing and reality seems to disappear, leaving you in a state of flow. Your senses are heightened and your consciousness streams like the wind through the trees. Yoga is the potential within you longing to meet you in the present. Yoga is an inner peace that arises within you when you are fully immersed – running, stretching, breathing, praying, cooking, eating, loving…

Simon is practicing some beautiful walking yoga. He is connected to his pilgrims and guides, supported from near and far. The last time I wrote, I left him at Liendo after eight days of rambling. He had notched up 222km by then. What a lovely number! Four days have passed. Four slow days for me. Four walking pace days for him I am sure! As to his whereabouts at the moment, I am not entirely sure. He is a few days behind on his album updates on Facebook from whence I glean my knowledge. Most likely he has probably walked another 100km or so, through hill and dale, beach, wood and mountain.

The last four days have been slow for me – I have not walked so far. I have been listening to the hyoshi of my moments and have been seeking that state of yoga within. I know that sounds a little poncy but it has a very practical significance.

I cannot go any further without revealing a little of my intentions when I joined ‘The Forty Pilgrims Project’. As I have previously mentioned, this is a co-creative adventure connecting 53 people with a series of powerful quantum experiments. We are collectively healing, transmuting and manifesting a whole bunch of dreams, intentions, ideas and plans as Simon leads the way on his camino, physically taking steps, reading personal prayers he wrote, and connecting to the guides.

I spoke to him before he left. We discussed what I could offer him and the group as a guide. We discussed reiki, certain shamanic attunements, the violet flame and ideas such as focus and strength. He requested that I reveal an intention I would like to manifest over the next year. My intention is to rediscover my motivation to create more works of art – in writing, music and song. I have been struggling for years with confidence and various patterns that have prevented me from experiencing my full potential in this area of my life. Many other areas of my life are really quite fantastic and I would count myself as incredibly blessed to have created and manifested a wonderful experience for myself.

The thing is, Simon said it something like this, ‘You seem to have found your way into heaven but left a little bit of your soul outside the door’. He had hit the nail on the head. My deepest wish is to always be singing, writing and creating. It matters more than anything to me except I had forgotten. The gradual build-up of blocks and patterns I had in my head that stopped me being the artist I dreamed of became so big I had become numb to the beauty, genius and potential of myself. Take note, we all have these qualities. It can just take some work to realise it.

The night after I last wrote in this blog, I went up to the retreat to say goodbye to the last group. Somehow someone found out I was a singer and after a good hour of wrangling, I was eventually inspired to sing them some songs. We had a ball. There was so much joy that night. Everyone was singing along, I bowed to the hyoshi - the rhythm of that moment and found myself in yoga. Time and space faded away and there was just the connection to the guitar, my voice and the beautiful people around me. I basked in a feeling of joy for the next two days, remembering just what it feels like to be immersed in the thing you love the most.

Since then, the last four days have been a series of baby steps. That is all we can do in the moment as we are moving toward our dreams. A little practice here. An inspiring magazine clipping of a band stuck on the wall there. A little day-dreaming about songs exploding out of my head. A little focusing on my current blessings. A little poem. A bit more feeling good. Each action drawing in new ideas and energy.

Do what you can in the moment it presents itself. However small the action may seem – do it. Find your dream. Focus on it. Feel good about it. Whatever your intention is, however big or small – move toward it in any way you can each day. Don’t fight the hyoshi of the moment. Go with the flow. Glow with your flow. Go slow if it’s slow and show up if you can.

Remember, it is just one foot in front of the other. The only thing you need to focus on is the next logical step. Baby steps count. Trust them.

Love, love, love…

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'The Forty Pilgrims Project' series is a blog inspired by a journey. Simon Welsh, poet, writer and new paradigm adventurer is walking the Camino de Santiago - a simple mission to put one foot in front of the other. Carving out a journey over 1000km of trails, roads and pathways, he is heading for Santiago, and further yet to Finisterre, the ‘End of the World’. He carries with him 40 prayers, one for each day, one for each pilgrim that is energetically walking with him. He is supported by 12 guides, energetically supporting him from afar. 

This is my journal of his 'Forty Pilgrims Project' - an observation from the outside, as one of his guides and friends. An exploration of my own journey by his side, as we connect in the quantum field.

Matt is a singer/songwriter, musician, poet and writer of words. He is exploring the forests of consciousness, time and space, and surfing the waves of thought, love and being. Getting lost and wiping out are adventures in themselves!

You Are Allowed

You are allowed to dream, create and be whatever you want. You may not be encouraged to or taught how that works but nevertheless, you are allowed. There is no power on this Earth that really tells you what you should do. There is no force stopping you from physically, mentally or emotionally following your bliss.

You are not required to find a steady job, get married, buy a house, settle down, pay your bills, vote, walk on the pavement, watch TV, pay taxes, go to school, pay your pension, take pills, go to the dentist, read newspapers, retire, feel up, feel down, feel happy, feel sad, be big or be small.

All these things are just habits and constructs that we have created out of pure potential. They are all things we have agreed upon as we have moved through evolution. Yet much more is possible. That is not to negate what we already have. It is not to negate these experiences either. They are vital for contributing to who we are now and our history has brought us to this point - therefore it has been of the greatest value. Yet you are allowed to be more. You are allowed to follow your dreams. You are allowed to express your heart and the fullness of yourself in ways you may not have previously imagined or allowed yourself to.

Let us get this straight first. I am not talking about doing crazy things that you think might bring you happiness because of a void or emptiness inside. I am not talking about making judgements and decisions for others either. That path leads to addiction, oppression, violence, dictatorship and righteousness. I am talking about facing the darkness with open arms and hearing what is has to say first. Then hearing what your heart has to say. Sometimes that heart voice is distant and hard to hear because of the filters we have layered around ourselves.

Sometimes the filters we hear are the ones of our childhood and schooling that told us to be limited and small beings. Sometimes the voices are of well-meaning parents who also didn’t know they were allowed to be whoever they wanted to be. Sometimes we are way too worried about what others will think of us. Sometimes it is the voice of corporations informing us of our imminent happiness once we own their products – highlighting our dissatisfaction until we do! Perhaps it is governments and politicians foisting their rhetoric upon us, trying to convince us that there is something to fear. Perhaps we have been faced with an endless series of problems and disasters, or have just witnessed enough suffering on the planet and cannot see a way forward for humanity or ourselves anymore.

The thing is though, the only thing that holds us back from exploring and expressing ourselves in any way we want to is ourselves. Only we hold the key to our hearts. Only we have the power to open that door within ourselves. It starts with allowing ourselves to dream. Allowing ourselves to find our passions – however big or small they may be. It starts with letting everyone else of the hook and taking the courage to look inside for the answers.

In any given moment we have a choice. We have the choice to react as we have always done. To live the same drama, the same moment, the same year. We can choose to watch the same things, despair at the same tragedy, read the same papers and continue going to the same jobs, doing the same things we do not want to do. Feeling feelings over and over that we wish we could get rid of. Repeating the same mistakes when we thought we knew better.

Or we can take a moment to listen to our hearts. Take the time to breathe and find a space to feel what our body is feeling in any given moment. Instead of responding to outer circumstances with knee-jerk reactions – stop and pause. Begin to watch yourself… Notice your body, your feelings, your breath, your thoughts. Just watch and observe. You are in control. You get to choose. What will you do next… Tell yourself - I am allowed to dream, create and be whatever I want.

What is the future of this thought? What could we do individually and as a species? Would we decide to react differently? Would we see if there was another way? Would we decide to take a more loving approach? We would decide to see things from another point of view? Would we be honest and tell ourselves that the last thing we want is to create an argument – with others or with ourselves? Would we turn off the TV and pick up the paint brush? Would we start dancing in the middle of the shopping mall when we heard our favourite song? Would we start taking small baby steps towards our dreams? Would we pack up our belongings and go travelling? Would we have the courage to talk to that gorgeous shop helper? What would happen if bit by bit, we stopped listening to the voices that tell us no, and started listening and taking actions on the inner voice that tells us yes? Would we start seeing loving supportive hands reaching out to help us in our quests? Would we start reaching out to help others…?

Know this… you are allowed to dream, create and be whatever you want. You are free. The choice is yours.

 

Matt is a singer/songwriter, writer of words and fiction, poet and yoga teacher. If you are interested in the writing process and writing from the heart, he will be running 'Soul Writing' workshops and teaching yoga with his partner at their summer retreat in Spain in May 2015. Check the website 'Yoging the World' for full details.

Creative Flow

We wait for inspiration yet inspiration also means to breath in. Breathing is a present moment action so nothing will come if we wait. Waiting says that right now, in the present, there is nothing. The energy of 'waiting' is that something is not here yet! But just like breathing, we must be present with our own creativity. Let go of thinking for that is the block. Thinking and waiting block us. We 'think' creativity is something else - some grand gesture, some intense flash of genius that instantly produces great art but actually it is a series of small steps, just like a jigsaw. We do not compete a thousand piece picture in one placement of a tile. We slowly uncover it by being present and trusting our heart and the flow. Creativity is trusting that flow, being impulsive in the moment and making one small step. A line on a page, a word, a gesture, one note. Bit by bit, we flow toward the next step, trusting our heart. We breath in the moment. We flow with our hands, our bodies, our feet. Genius lies in the power of focus and we all have the ability to focus. So, what do we focus upon... the idea that is not there? Or the present moment and what is flowing out of us? We let go of mind. We let go of thought. We embrace creativity in the moment. Flowing like a river. Freeing our minds. We let go and drop into our ever-present hearts. Love.