Posts Tagged ‘Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy’
I want to thank you for subscribing to my blog. Welcome to new subscribers! And, to those who have been followers (and readers) from way back, thanks for sticking with me!
In 2011, I decided to devote myself to writing weekly on my blog and to support creative community. From that intention, so many great things followed: community building, more writing, opportunities I couldn’t have imagined, new friendships, etc.
I’m inspired by all that you do, seek and create. I want to continue to walk this creative path with you. Let’s keep inspiring each other.
On that note, I wanted to share several inspiring conversations I’ve had with some of the most talented writers, coaches and transformational experts from my Creativity Bonfire Series. My Creativity Bonfire Series brought together 12 leading writers, authors, visual artists and thought leaders to talk about creativity—how to sustain and maintain it.
Each conversation is about an hour long. Let yourself soak in their wisdom about staying true to the creative process and eliminating distractions.
Conversation with SARK, artist, creative entrepreneur and author of Juicy Pens, Thirsty Paper: Gifting the World with Your Words and Stories and Creating the Time and Energy to Actually Do It
Conversation with Eric Maisel, creativity coach and author of Coaching the Artist Within
Conversation with Amanda Owen, consultant, motivational speaker and author of The Power of Receiving: A Revolutionary Approach to Giving Yourself the Life You Want and Deserve
Links will stay live until Oct 15.
Affirmations-366Days#7
Posted on: January 7, 2016
People often act intimidated with regard to publishing. People relentlessly believe that publishers don’t need or want them. Publishers exist because of the creative input and outpouring that comes their way…and they appreciate books and writers. Repeating the old story=reinforcing the story=doing nothing new towards being published.
SARK, Juicy Pens, Thirsty Paper: Gifting the World with Your Words and Stories and Creating the Time and Energy to Actually Do It
Affirmations-366Days#7-Editors love my content and pay me to publish my work.
For new readers, here’s why I’m committing to writing affirmations during the next 366 days.
This affirmation feels bold. But, why not affirm a truth? Publishers and editors would not exist unless there were writers! I also want to affirm that that editors and publishers love discovering new writers, that’s partly why they are in this business. The possibility of discovering people, whose words they love, is what gets editors to their desks each day.
- In: creative writing | creativity | writing
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There are exquisite pains and gifts within procrastination. When we put off beginning or completing a creative dream, we escape judgment and failure. . . Most of us are involved in procrastination to some degree–let’s bring it out into the open, speak of it with gentleness and humor–admit when it’s crushing us or stopping our joy.
–SARK, The Bodacious Book of Succulence
In July, I asked readers to take a one question poll and answer the following: What is the biggest obstacle you face in your creative life?
The second highest response after ‘finding consistent time to work on projects’ was ‘procrastination’.
I consider myself a recovering ‘world-class’ procrastinator. I often procrastinated with writing and creative projects because of fear, anxiety, ambivalence, not knowing how to ask for help and support, discomfort with ambiguity in the creative process, and not knowing how to start or stop a project. My procrastination pattern was both deep-seated and well-developed.
As creative people, many of us are struggling with world-class perfectionism issues. We usually suffer alone without support or guidance. We often feel guilty and angry about our behavior, but we rarely stop to ask why and how we developed these ways of being in the world. The work of one of my mentors, Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy aka SARK has been of enormous help to me. Many of her books explore the varied facets of procrastination. Until we look at our emotional history of procrastination, our ability to change, interrupt and soften this pattern will be ineffective.
The questions below come from SARK’s Bodacious Book of Succulence. They invite you to explore more deeply the pains and gains regarding procrastination.
Procrastination
- Are you aware of procrastination in your life?
- How does procrastination affect you?
- In what ways do you stop yourself from experiencing joy or success?
- When do you first remember feeling procrastination?
- Were your parents procrastinators?
- Is someone close to you a procrastinator?
- What gifts do you receive from procrastinating?
My additional questions:
Do you delay on projects important to you even when you feel physical or emotional pain?
When you procrastinate do you find yourself saying that working last minute helps spur creativity?
Who might you become without this pattern of procrastination?
What kinds of activities do you never procrastinate on?
- In: creative writing | creativity | writing
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No matter how lumpy or faded or boring you feel, your creativity is of value.
SARK
Creativity author and mentor, Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy (aka SARK) has written a lot on inner critics and how they can sabotage our creative work. Inner critics are the sharp-tongued internal voices that often prevent us from writing and/or creating. They speak to us with the seemingly definitive voice of KNOWING ABOUT EVERYTHING CREATIVE. Our inner critics, judges, and evaluators are uninvited guests during our writing sessions. Inner critics usually know how to do just one thing and have long outlived whatever protective role they once had. They won’t leave until we imaginatively assign them a new “job”.
I’ve had great fun reassigning many inner critics to new jobs*. One inner critic was called ‘Relentless Ruthie’ and no matter what I did, according to her, I wasn’t doing it fast or good enough. My accomplishments were only as good as yesterday. She was methodical, meticulous and intense. In dreaming up a new job for her, I wondered where her qualities might be really valued. SARK suggested that Relentless Ruthie would be perfect in being security detail on Air Force One. I agreed! Since being reassigned in my imagination, I haven’t heard a peep from RR in years.
SARK notes that a typical inner critic is the ‘comparer’. This critic is hyper focused on comparing us to others. I’ve been thinking a lot about the role of comparison in one’s creative life and the word COMPARISON.
Have you ever read a novel (or your creative equivalent) and thought, ‘This sucks. I can write SO much better than this’ (and felt quite good and superior about it)? Then, perhaps in the same week, have you ever read a book by a different author and thought, ‘God, I can NEVER write like this. This is brilliant’ (and felt quite inadequate)?
One can go between these extremes in the same week or even day!
A few days ago, I started doodling the word ‘comparison’ and I saw that is has the word PRISON contained in it. This made me think of how often we put our writing/creative selves in prison when we spend too much time comparing. Our job, as creative folk, is not to swing between feeling superior and feeling inadequate, but is to just do the work and honor our own process. Most of the time this is easier said than done! I wondered why I never noticed prison in the word comparison before, but was glad I got the message!
Do you notice when your ‘inner comparer’ gets activated? How do you respond?
*Two wonderful SARK books that have long discussions about (and great exercises for) dealing with inner critics is Make Your Creative Dreams Real: A Plan for Procrastinators, Perfectionists, Busy People, Avoiders and People Who Would Rather Sleep All Day and Prosperity Pie: How to Relax About Money and Everything Else. I highly recommend them.
When fears are attended to, it clears the way for clear and simple writing that comes from your heart. Even the briefest attention can melt fear. Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy (SARK)
In March, I began a series about spring cleaning for your creative life. There are three steps in the process:
1) You reassess your space, your schedule, and patterns of mind to see what is supporting or not supporting your creative life.
2) You reorganize your space, schedule, and patterns of minds to allow you to create with more ease.
3) After reassessing and reorganizing, you rededicate yourself to having a productive and joyful creative life!
Reassessing your physical space is a great place to start because it is visible and you spend a lot of time there. Another thing to reassess during spring cleaning are your ‘patterns of mind’. By this I mean, the habitual ways of thinking and responding to your creative life. I’ve been looking at the pattern of fear.
Fear can show up in so many ways in a creator’s life. We fear to write, draw, and sing badly, we fear rejection, we fear we won’t reach our potential, we often fear the blank page, canvas, music studio, etc. Fear often causes us to procrastinate.
Recently, I noticed that I was procrastinating on contacting an editor of a magazine that I met in January. This editor encouraged me to send him a story of mine. I’ve known for months exactly the story that I want to send him. Sending him my story has been at the top of my to-do list, but I have had some fear around taking action. Ironically, I’m not afraid of getting rejected. I’ve been writing long enough to not be undone by rejection. I know rejection is part of the writing process. What was it then? It was a ‘taking the next step’ fear. Since I’ve met him, he’s not a faceless editor anymore. Sending my work to him because I met him and he was encouraging made it harder, not easier. I know this sounds weird. Fears are far from rational! And, because he wanted me to send it to his assistant, and not through the regular submission process, it triggered a fear of ‘not getting it right’. These twin fears around ‘taking the next step’ and ‘not getting it right/doing it right’ are familiar patterns of mind that I am paying attention to this spring.
To put fear in its place, this weekend, I set a deadline for myself. I wrote a very nice email to his assistant and sent my story with it while I was also so sending out other submissions for this month. I keep a submission sheet to record where and what I have sent out to contests and journals.
Fears never go completely away, but I’ve now got these two on the run for at least a few more weeks.
Do you have pattern of mind that needs some attending to during spring cleaning?
Creativity as a Resource for Survival & Encore Replay of Creativity Bonfire Series
Posted on: April 15, 2014
On Monday, I appeared on a radio show called ‘The State of Things’ hosted by WUNC, our local National Public Radio (NPR) station. This was the most vulnerable interview I’ve ever done. I discuss my early childhood experiences of creativity as connected to resiliency and survival. I publicly discuss my experiences with sexual assault and trauma in honor of National Sexual Assault Awareness Month. The role of speculative fiction for writers of color, creativity coaching and women and creativity were also topics the interviewer and I discussed with great delight. I thought you might like to listen to it as it gives you a glimpse into why I am so passionate about the subject of creativity and empowering others.
You can listen here.
P.S. I’m thrilled to announce that I an running an encore replay of the ENTIRE Creativity Bonfire Series through Wednesday. So many people wanted to listen but didn’t get a chance to hear ALL of the incredible speakers. Some people didn’t get a chance to register. Was that you? If so, register below and get your week off to a GREAT start.
The list of participating speakers is AMAZING! They include Amanda Owen, bestselling author of The Power of Receiving, SARK (aka Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy), creativity expert and author of sixteen bestselling books, Diane Ealy, author of The Women’s Book of Creativity, Kimberly Wilson, author of Hip Tranquil Chick and yoga studio owner, Dr. Eric Maisel, creativity coach and author of over 40 books on creativity, Hay House author and transformative coach Michael Neill and MANY others.
They provide tips, techniques, resources and wisdom on the issue of creativity–how to access it and how to sustain it.
Register here! It’s FREE!
Getting Off Grudge Island
Posted on: September 29, 2013
- In: column | creativity
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We all want to feel more grateful. The powerful benefits that stem from a gratitude practice are ones that science now validates and that spiritual traditions have always claimed. More than a decade ago, Oprah introduced us to the idea of keeping a gratitude journal and recently social work researcher, Brené Brown has highlighted the importance of gratitude in her interviews with resilient people. But what gets in the way of practicing gratitude? I’d say grudges. Grudges are often not part of polite conversation. But, in order to become more grateful we have to work on our grudges.
To live a creative life is to encounter frustration, jealousy, envy and to hold grudges. Grudges are a feature in our emotional weather system. They can be deep seated or have happened just yesterday: the biting comment from a trusted mentor that occasionally surfaces, the friend who doesn’t invite you to submit to her ‘zine though she’s invited all your writing buddies , the shopkeeper who says that your greeting card line looks ‘amateurish’. Having grudges is not the problem; it’s how deep they go and how long we hold them. And, that we forget there can be sweet joy in releasing them.
Getting off Grudge Island
In The Bodacious Book of Succulence creativity author Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy (aka SARK) talks about a place that many of us reside– the place in our consciousness where we replay, repeat, and sift through old hurts, grudges, resentments, and slights. She imagines this place as Grudge Island. All the inhabitants on the island are stooped over from carrying the weight of their grudges. SARK says that holding grudges “allows us to be right and live in the past” and that they “are companions of struggle and blame.”
In my creativity workshops, I often ask people to describe what their Grudge Island looks like, the nature of their grudges and the length that they’ve hung on to them. After reflecting on this exercise, a participant once exclaimed, “Goodness, I don’t just visit Grudge Island, I’ve built condos there!”
The first time I did this exercise, I started out with two pieces of paper and a pen. I thought, oh, this should only take a few minutes. As I got in touch with recent and old hurts, I found myself reaching for more paper and markers. As I wrote, I began reliving and experiencing the anger, hurt and loss of the events that shaped my grudges.
By the end of the process I had filled 25 pages (front and back) of my grudges and ego wounds! I was indeed a longtime resident on Grudge Island! I held a thirty year grudge against a six grade teacher who had forgotten to give me information so that I could compete in the city wide spelling bee and a fifteen year old grudge against a young man who told me that getting a PhD was useless and would not serve the African American community. I wondered what new energy could emerge from releasing these grudges.
The medical community’s interest in the connection between anger, grudge holding and well- being has increased dramatically over the last decade. Dr. Luskin, director of the Forgiveness Project at Stanford University, has lead pioneering research about how grudge holding affects our capacity to live a thriving life. Dr. Luskin notes, “Dwelling on a past conflict and the damage inflicted by another person, doesn’t hurt them, but it hurts you like heck. They own your nervous system, and they ain’t good landlords.” Studies suggest that grudge-holders tend to be sicker than their peers who are able to release grudges and forgive more quickly. If a person is a chronic grudge holder they can expect more visits to the doctor, cardiovascular disease and gastrointestinal distress.
I decided to destroy my grudge papers. I ripped them into teeny tiny shreds. This felt incredibly satisfying. Then, I began to knead them (also oddly satisfying). I then promptly took my ‘grudge dough’ and dumped the pile in the garbage. After I dumped the grudges, a very calm and peaceful sensation ran through my body. Feeling cleared of these grievances was a powerful return on my time and attention. The funny thing is that now, many years later; I can’t even recall the specifics of most of those grudges.
The more we share about our very human capacity to hold grudges, the more support we can receive for releasing them and experiencing the joy and vitality available to us in every moment. This energy becomes fuel for new creative projects.
Dealing with grudges first, makes way for gratitude.
A version of this article originally appeared on September 25 in The Chapel Hill News.
Photo credits include Thinkstock
- In: creativity
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Chronic exhaustion is a regular feature of modern life. Summer, however, presents the perfect time for us to slow down and get back in tune with our natural body’s rhythms. Until about a decade ago, I denigrated my body’s need for rest. Now I measure some of my success by my ability to get the rest I need on a consistent basis. And, I routinely advocate for people to explore restorative yoga postures and yoga nidra as powerful tools to experience deep full-body relaxation–which can lead to better sleep. For people who struggle with slowing down, I highly recommend creativity pioneer Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy’s (SARK) Change Your Life Without Getting Out of Bed: The Ultimate Nap Book. Carol Puchailo, a community health nurse, provides us with simple steps we can take to experience the power of deep rest.
Jump-start Your June: JUMP Back into BED
Ready. Set. Jump into bed! Okay, so you are not asking for world peace at a bed – in like Yoko Ono or John Lennon, but you can find your own personal peace during your precious sleep time. This will give you the most out of life and this summer season. There are some simple steps and over the counter supplements that can assist you to getting a more restful sleep; along with sticking to bedtime routines that repair and rejuvenate your body and increase your daytime energy and vitality to enjoy your June. I know I can use more PEACE in my life. How about you?
The British Columbia Sleep guidelines (2004), places specific emphasis on sleep hygiene (bedtime routines) that assist in improving and maintaining a restful sleep. First, ensure your room is cool and comfortable. If you share a bed with your partner and your bed heats up like a furnace, separate your covers so that you can have individual control over the temperature. It will also help to put up a blackout curtain that reduces light from entering the bedroom. A dark bedroom will help the release of a hormone called melatonin. I will tell you more about this wonderful hormone in a minute. Fact: An adult needs an average of 7-8 hours of sleep per night, and as we age we produce less melatonin and that’s one reason why elderly people sleep less.
Second, ensure that you use your bed only for sleeping and sex. If you were to read, watch T.V. or play Suduko in bed, these activities require a level of mental alertness that you subconsciously link with your peaceful bed and bedroom. So if you must read, watch T.V., or play Suduko then I suggest you leave the bedroom and find a different location and come back to bed only when you are tired. This separation allows your body to know where and when to rest and relax or where to concentrate and have mental alertness.
Third, for seven days of the week you need to wake up at roughly the same time every day since this reinforces your body’s internal clock (Circadian rhythm). Going outside during the day and having the sun shine into your eyes helps to reset your circadian rhythm that will allow your brain to bath in a hormone called melatonin. As I said before, you need a dark room at night time for the release of melatonin to occur. This wonderful sleepy hormone controls many bodily functions including: your sleep wake cycle, your body temperature, enhances your immune function, and it also acts as a free-radical scavenger (looking for cells that are pre-cancerous). There is evidence that suggests melatonin has protective benefits as adequate amounts limit tumor growth (Brezinski, 1997). Now that is an amazing little hormone! I am so grateful that it acts so efficiently, it is just up to me to set the stage.
Melatonin is a precursor (the beginning hormone that becomes serotonin), and only when the lights are off and the room is really dark and cool can it do magical jobs. Have you ever experienced jet lag? Jet lag happens because the internal clock (circadian rhythm) can get out of balance when we travel by plane or if our homes are too brightly lit at night. Too much light will affect when melatonin is released and this alteration changes your sleep pattern. According to Dr. A Brzezinski (1997), a melatonin supplement can be used to help alleviate sleep problems related to a disturbance in the circadian rhythm, and the earlier in the evening it is taken (before air travel for example), the better results you will experience. For example, if you were to take 5 mg of melatonin at 6:00pm before a flight your body would experience less jet lag. You could continue to take that dose at the same time every day for 5 days and this could hasten your symptoms of jet lag, help you feel drowsy and sleep better.
Fourth, to ensure you are ready for a good night’s sleep exercise 4 hours before you go to bed; exercise is best done first thing in the morning, but that is not always possible. Be mindful of timing your exercise routine to maximize your sleep hygiene and experience a more restful sleep. If you love your coffee then you are going to want to drink it 6 hours before bed to ensure it is out of your system and it does not interfere with your sleep.
Last, from my own experience, having a piece of paper and pen at the bedside has given me permission to record dreams that I have or to write about a problem that I am facing. This dream journal gives me a place to write about my night time adventures or to reflect on what my subconscious has to teach me. I look forward to bedtime and writing down what has been revealed to me during my dream time. I will dialogue about what is bothering me and how I have tried to solve it so far, but most amazingly I will ask for specific solutions to my request and be given an answer that I will understand. One of my favorite pastimes is dream interpretation, drop me a line or tell me your dreams.
Here’s hoping you hop into bed happy each night and wake up feeling rested, peaceful and enjoy the summer days ahead.
Carol Puchailo RN, BN and currently working on her Master’s Degree in Nursing to become a Nurse Practitioner. As a community health nurse, she has a rural practice in Manitoba, Canada and one day dreams of opening her very own wellness business. Email her at carol.puchailo@gmail.com
References:
Primary care management of sleep complaints in adults, (2004). British Colombia Guidelines. http://www.bcguidelines.ca/pdf/sleepcomp.pdf
Amnon, B. (1997). Mechanism of disease: Melatonin in Humans. The New England Journal of medicine, Vol 336 (3), pp. 186-195. Retrieved online http://www.deborahburnett.com/images/uploads/MelatonininHumans.pdf
Making all the Time You Need and Then Some: A Review of Marney Makridakis’s Creating Time: Using Creativity to Reinvent the Clock and Reclaim Your Life
Posted on: September 4, 2012
At every creativity workshop I have ever taught, I always get the question: How do I find time to do more of what I love? The metaphors about time that I encounter working with clients often include the language of battle, scarcity, worry, challenge and management. I think that’s true for most of us. Think about it. When’s the last time you heard someone say, “I’ve got all the time I need for x?” or, “I’m not crazy busy anymore. Time feels like molasses.” or, “Time–my little bundle of joy!” The fact that people struggle with time is not news. What is news is that author Marney Makridakis in her pioneering book, Creating Time: Using Creativity to Reinvent the Clock and Reclaim Your Life shows us that it is possible and even fun to learn how to shift, visualize, command, tickle, seduce, and measure time in completely new and revolutionary ways.
I am head-over-heels in love with this book and declare Marney, a genius. Marney is a well-known artist, entrepreneur, coach and founder of ArtellaLand.com, the ground-breaking online community for artists, writers, and creative individuals. She also promotes the ARTbundance philosophy, an innovative approach to self-improvement through creativity.
Her deep wisdom as a successful coach, artist and student of time is evident in this book. Creating Time is beautifully written, edited and incorporates insights and original art from a variety of folk, including professional artists but also many people from Marnie’s creative community. You’ll find how to ‘stretch and shrink’ time from creative guru Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy (aka SARK), view original artwork by entrepreneur Leonie Dawson and artist Brian Andreas.
Marney taps into the mundane and magical aspects of our psychological (nonlinear) and temporal (linear) experience of time. She advocates that we need an expansive view of time and that time is a “valuable resource far more infinite than we tend to think it is.” Her constant reminder to us is how to become better aware of the states in which we perceive time, so we’re less aware of the limiting factors of time “but more aware of the present moment.” She helps us discover “more tools to support this blissful state.”
In the first section, you begin by exploring your relationship to both linear and nonlinear forms of time. Once you’ve done some excavation work assessing your needs and desires that are time related, the next section introduces and helps you tap into unique methods for creating time through creativity. You go deep in these chapters as Marney presents a specific concept and interweaves anecdotes, personal stories, literary and pop culture references, and scientific theory (everyone gets a refresher course on the theory of relativity!). After reading chapters in this section that include, ‘Creating Time Though Stillness’, ‘Creating Time Through Metaphor’, and ‘Creating Time through Synchronicity’, you will not doubt that we can indeed create time outside of our usual and often narrow frame and “welcome a new way to experience time.” Each chapter concludes with an engaging ARTsignment, an art project that is designed to activate and expand self-awareness and transformation. You don’t have to possess any particular set of artistic skills to dive right in get started. In this book you learn by doing and will be inspired to try your hand at the ARTsignments as you see many examples of others’ interpretations.
The third section integrates all of the time concepts you’ve learned over the course of the book and offers diagnostic tips about what techniques might be best to apply right away. She provides a list of quotes that form a nice short hand for charting one’s self talk (i.e. like “I’m always worried about the past or the future, and I find it hard it hard to live in the moment.” or “I don’t have a realistic sense of time. I’m always procrastinating and am never sure of how long things take.”), and what techniques to try right away.
Creating Time stands alone as a book that seamlessly and deliciously combines creativity with science and offers adventure after adventure to completely expand our sense of time. If your relationship with time is tired, played out, frustrating, confusing and one that always seems to be defined by scarcity and lack, order this book today. It’s definitely time for a change!
Who is in Your ‘Envy Hall of Fame’? Coming to Terms with Envy, Jealousy and the Creative Process
Posted on: July 27, 2012
Envy is a vocational hazard for most writers. It festers in one’s mind, distracting one from one’s own work, at its most virulent even capable of rousing the sufferer from sleep to brood over another’s triumph. Bonnie Friedman, ‘Envy, The Writer’s Disease’ in Writing Past Dark
What role does envy play in your creative life? While preparing for a creativity workshop, I found a list that I created several years ago, ‘Ways to help with the inner critic/judge’. One entry was ‘Write or collage your ‘Envy Hall of Fame’ and move on’. This made me reflect on my ongoing relationship with envy and jealousy.
For a long time I struggled with the sting of persistent feelings of envy and jealousy toward other writers and creative folk. I felt I was the only one. And, for many years I felt ashamed of my feelings and kept silent about them. As a culture, we rarely seem to acknowledge envy and jealousy in a healthy way.
When I came across the musings on jealousy by creativity author Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy (SARK) in her book, The Bodacious Book of Succulence, I felt seen and witnessed:
“I wish we would all have more clear, truthful, jealous outbursts. We all feel jealousy. I feel it often, about both odd and common things…Jealousy only points the way towards where we might like to go. It is a gift(an oddly wrapped gift)…Practice saying loudly and firmly I AM SO JEALOUS.”
She notes that most of us believe that we’re inferior if we feel jealous yet when “jealousy is shared consciously when felt, its power disappears”. She also says we try to protect others from being jealous of us by sometimes denying our own good fortune. And that our silence and a sense of scarcity is what “feeds” jealously. Agreed!
Bonnie Friedman reminds us in her excellent meditation on jealousy (‘Envy, The Writer’s Disease), that jealousy is about projecting the perfect and good onto others which is often illusory. She argues that with any projection we unconsciously give our power away to someone to judge our talent, or accept our work, or even accept our vital self. And, of course once you’ve given away a part of yourself, you resent the other person and then become metaphorically hungry, unable to find fulfillment except fleetingly. According to Friedman, we long to say ‘yes’ to ourselves.
This brings me to the ‘Envy Hall of Fame’. I came up with the idea in the midst of doing a liver cleanse and a 40-day Kundalini practice for anger, grudge holding and jealousy (many alternative health modalities believe that anger is stored in the liver). I came to realize that intense envy and jealousy are often our inner critics’ favorite weapons. So sitting down and writing or making a collage of folks that one is truly envious of can be therapeutic and can help redirect our inner critics. And, once you release that energy, you can move on. It’s not like you’re never going to feel those feelings ever again, you will, but your inner critics can’t beat you up in the same way.
Over the years I’ve found the best antidote for envy and jealousy is good self-care, a return to my own creative work and creative community. The work waits for us in all its possibilities and imperfections, to be settled into and explored.
Do you admit to your envy and jealousy? Do you write about it? Confide in friends? If you were going to create an Envy Hall of Fame, who would be in it?
(Photo credit-image blossoms)
The Practice of Creativity 