We work together (online) over 12 weeks to discover and unlock the latent creative forces within you.  My favorite thing about online courses is that there are no time constraints — the content is posted each Monday, but you can access the material anytime throughout the week as your schedule allows.

Not sure if it’s your thing?  Check out the clip from my welcome message below and see if it resonates with you.  There’s never a better time than NOW to change your life.

I’d love for you to join us.  Register online at Creative Spark.  Have a friend who might be interested as well?  If they mention your name, you’ll get a $100 “thank you” check in the mail — put the money toward the cost of the class, or split it with your friend — it’s up to you!

Listen here:  creative spark – welcome clip

I often tell my clients, “It doesn’t matter to me what you believe in, I’m interested in what you experience.”

Wesselman clarified this idea when he talked about how “direct experience is above belief, beyond faith.  Direct experience equals personal transformation.”

He spoke about the role of the shaman as one who restores power to those who have lost it.  In some ways, this is how I approach coaching, except I don’t think of it as restoring power, so much as reminding people of their own power and offering a re-connection with what may have been forgotten:  the strength within, a source of personal power.  It’s the essence of all that is beyond your physical self, yet accessible by your physical self.

He also touched on how nature mysticism is the doorway to authentic deity mysticism.  It begins “out of doors, where the juice is,” in nature.  And it’s not like this is new.  Everyone who’s had anything to say about the evolution of consciousness “got it”… that nature is one of the truest references of that power – that life force – that energy – that flows through us.  It is our blood, and cells and aura and vibrational being that is, and emits, this stuff…

I have yet to read their book, but based on his talk, I’m looking forward to learning more from him.  It was refreshing to see the reverence for such an ancient tradition, as Wesselman, Ingerman, and their colleague Michael Harner all maintain.

And if you haven’t read Bird by Bird, it’s fantastic. I dare say “essential” for writers, but Lamott is so good, anyone can benefit from her insights on life.

A 12-Week Course

based on The Artist’s Way

March 1 – May 24

“Let yourself be drawn by the stronger pull of what you really love.” ~ Rumi

Whether you are an entrepreneur, musician, lawyer, writer, stay-at-home parent or currently unemployed, creativity plays a vital role in your life’s work.

• Maybe you’ve longed to visit the museums of Paris.
• Maybe you’ve secretly written poetry for years and are feeling the urge to send it out to the world
• Maybe you’ve been dreaming of starting your own business.
• Maybe you’re a manager hoping to inspire your team
• Maybe you’ve found yourself in need of inspiration these days…

Within each of us, there resides an inner artist.  While some may have been dormant for years, it is not too difficult to brush aside the ashes and discover the still-burning ember that you can use to ignite newpassion and enthusiasm in your life.

Your artistry could be speaking or sculpting, making business decisions, acting or writing…  It doesn’t matter what form of expression you choose; what is imperative is that you express.

Creative Spark: Unleashing Your Inner Artist is a 12 week course that will walk you through The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity.  This book sat on my shelf for YEARS before I finally worked my way through it in 2006.  Since then, my whole world has changed, and I wish I would have picked it up sooner!  Now you can join me on a journey to discover your imaginative, inspired self. The work is still yours to do, but I’ll provide support and answer any questions along the way.

See my Courses page for full course description & registration information.

I use the I Ching frequently so I made a video to describe how it’s done.  Hope you’ll find it helpful…

The Question: What book – fiction or non – touched you? Where were you when you read it? Have you bought and given away multiple copies?

I’m re-reading Marianne Williamson’s A Return to Love right now and it’s pretty much altering the way I perceive everything — again.  Of course there is the famous quote that is always a good reminder…

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us, it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

But there are so many other, equally potent gems scattered throughout the pages.  My copy is already filled with underlines from the first go-around, but I’m finding new ideas on almost every page that somehow resonate with me in a way that is both novel and familiar.

Want to play along? Check out the list here and blog about your favorites for ’09 all through December:
http://www.gwenbell.com/blog/2009/11/30/the-best-of-2009-blog-challenge.html

That got me thinking about the state of my home office.  If it’s the epicenter of my work and creativity in my home, it would serve me to get organized and allow the flow of energy a clear path.

Then, in a completely unrelated conversation with my awesome astrologer friend Tony Howard, he mentioned that it might be helpful for me to consider how, in Japanese culture, great care is taken in the placement and order of every item in their home.

All of this within the last few days.  Hmm… noticing a theme?

And then, in a conversation last night regarding Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich, someone mentioned this line:  “Resolve to throw off the influences of any unfortunate environment and to build your own life to order.”  He may have meant order as in made to order, but the first thing that came to mind was ORDER, i.e. the opposite of chaos.

This is how the universe teaches me… through the people in my life and the material I read.  It shows me the same lesson, time and time again, in a different presentation, until I get it.  My job is to listen, learn, and take action.

Done!

We talked about all my favorite breakfast/brunch places in Portland, and which restaurants the PDX Breakfast Club meetup has visited to enjoy their first meal of the day.

My top picks:  Tin Shed on NE Alberta and Veritable Quandary downtown.  Holy yum!

If you missed the show, grab the podcast here:  http://www.breakfastinbridgetown.com/?p=641

This from The I Ching or Book of Changes: A Guide to Life’s Turning Points.