Taking Steps Toward More Creativity

Me thinks that the moment my legs begin to move, my thoughts begin to flow.

~Henry David Thoreau

So I'm anxious to know, are you feeling more creative?  What have you done to prove it?  Have you been writing in your journal every day?  How about your artist’s date, did you go on it?

Julia Cameron, author of The Artist’s Way talks about 3 principles that we need to follow if we want to nurture our creativity.  The first two are morning pages and the artist’s date; which we’ve been discussing the last few weeks.  Today we’re going to be talking about the third one.  Like the artist dates, she wants us to do it solo.  You can listen to her talking about it here.

 

 

 

I know some of you may already have a walking routine in your life, but it might involve walking with a friend, or listening to music as you go.  Don’t stop what you’re doing, just add two more days a week, at 20 minutes minimum each.  What walking alone does, as Cameron says, is help us to get in touch with our higher being, it helps us to listen to God. 

A friend of mine recently hurt her foot and wasn’t able to walk for a few weeks.  She said, “I don’t know what I will do if I can’t walk?  That’s when I do my praying.” I also pray when I walk, I love to think about my blessings, and name them. I write lyrics and tunes in my head when I walk, I come up with new ideas when I walk, and reflect on some old ones.  That movement of my legs and my feet just feels like what I'm supposed to be doing regularly, especially if I want to live my life more intentionally. 

I recently read about how more therapists are walking with their patients during their therapy sessions.  They are finding that patients are more likely to call up their emotions and their issues if they are walking.  They are also finding that when their patients extend the walking outside the sessions, they are making quicker recoveries and finding themselves better able to cope.

But, who doesn’t know that walking is good for you? (unless you are walking in the downtown streets of china without your gas mask).  Walking is healthy for our body, our mind, our spirituality and our creativity!  So, get your legs moving and feel those creative thoughts flowing.

Homework assignment: (from The Artist's Way). On your walk and in your morning pages think about ten changes you'd like to make for yourself, from the significant to the small, or vice versa (examples: get new sheets, go to China, paint my kitchen, dump my bitchy friend Alice).  Do it this way:
I would like to _______________________
I would like to _________________________
Then select one small item and make it a goal for this week.

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