Do You Hear the Angel's Whisper?

If you are seeking creative ideas, go out walking.

Angels whisper to a man when he goes for a walk. ~Raymond Inmon

This summer I'm focusing on nurturing my creativity.  If you've been following along, you know that I have been using Julia Cameron's book The Artist's Way to guide me.  Ms. Cameron suggests 3 principles to becoming more creative and I've been writing about them for the last few weeks.  Let's review: #1 Morning pages, #2 Artist's dates and #3 Walking.

I'm hoping that by now you've joined in on the fun. Have you been doing your morning page assignments? Been on an artist's date this week? Have you been taking your artist's walks?

I love how walking alone allows me to immerse myself in the moment, something that's not easy for me to do. I really have to remind myself that I want to feel the experience. Speaking of immersing myself in the moment, one of my daughters gave me a gift of a 50 minute aroma-therapy massage for Mother’s Day.  I’m pretty frugal (my husband says I’m cheap) and don’t treat myself to massages….so while I was at the spa, I kept reminding myself to really enjoy every moment, each of the 50 moments, not waste one of them.  I wanted to just soak it in, feel the touch, the sounds, the relaxation.  Several times I had to pull myself away from the to-do lists in my head, and bring myself back to the moment. As good as the massage made me feel, I still had to work hard to keep my focus….just like our everyday lives.  Living purposefully and in the moment takes work and it takes using all of our senses.

My sister and I were chatting about how much we love the summer.  She said that one of the things she's love best about this time of year is that she takes time to better use her senses….She says in the summertime is when she really feels the lotion as she’s rubbing it on.  I laughed when she said it…but she’s right…we often just slap on the cream, quickly cover all the dry spots, minds elsewhere... too busy to soak in the experience and let our senses create a better moment. 

When we take our solo walks we need to use our senses. We need to feel...feel the breeze, the sun, the cold, our feet walking on the pebble stones, the dirt, the grass, the sand. We need to smell....smell the citrus trees, the city, the pines, scents wafting from kitchen windows. We need to look....see the doves soaring, the clouds moving, the ants marching.  We need to listen.....hear the dogs barking, birds singing, rooster crowing, bees buzzing, the laughter of a child,....yes and even the sound of an angel's whisper....

If you have a few extra minutes and would like to be inspired, I invite you to soak in Joe Castillo's beautiful and inspiring creativity.

http://youtu.be/68QgAdXC7Kk

This week's assignment:  Use your senses. Challenge yourself to use your senses:  Taking a shower?  Feel the water.  Preparing a meal?  Use all your senses in its creation. Listening to classical music, close your eyes and breath it in. Sitting on your patio, getting a manicure, eating an ice cream cone,  playing with a child?  Write about it in your morning pages.

Post your thoughts on the blog or email me at: http://smallsteps4bigresults.blogspot.com