Grounded

My Goddess of the Lotus

The final stage of my four month Vision Quest with Whitney Freya brought us down to EARTH which is pretty appropriate as I plan to bring into this post an analogy about some cute fluffy creatures with big ears that like to burrow below the earth and make their homes among tangled tree roots, but more on that later.

Here with feet on terra firma we solidified the lessons learned in building our creative practice and gained clarity on what we wanted to manifest going forward.

Working through Air, Fire and Water had prepared the soil ready to plant the seeds that would be the start of new intentions. As I've been painting layers and meaning I've been building my understanding of what it will mean to take my coaching message out into the world.

I've also been realising how important it is to nurture those tiny new ideas and actions. Just like little green shoots, they are tender things that require constant attention - if I don't give them enough light, feed them or leave them in the dark they will wither and die. Ideas and intentions need room to grow, to put out new shoots that explore and develop.

Our the course of Vision Quest we have been learning to switch on and listen to our intuitive mind. The act of creativity, when we are completely in flow, will quiet the noise of our everyday lives and allow messages to come through. This might sound a bit 'woo woo' until you actually try it. Just as our brains sort through the day's events in the form of our dreams at night, so does our right brain like to figure things out.

Ready for the rabbit analogy now? Strictly speaking the bunny wisdom I want to share with you comes from a creature that didn't always live underground - not until he was 'real' anyway! I am of course referring to the Velveteen Rabbit! Tapping into our right brain through the creative process is like rummaging through our stuffing until we find what makes us real.

The simple act of writing down our thoughts and questions we seek answers to on our canvas and then covering them with layers of paint is like spark to a flame for our right brain. As we play, the brain sifts through its store of knowledge and produces solutions. It asks not "what is it?" but "what can I do with it?". Being intuitive opens us up to taking a much wider view, we look from all perspectives, going beyond the here and now. It never ceases to amaze me at what comes out when I start to paint, collage, create. I'll often look back and wonder if someone else made what is before me.

Then, moving off of the canvas and back into 'real' life we begin to learn the lessons from our creative practice. So many times when I make art I'll stare at a terrible first layer and want to quit. But I've learned to keep going, reinventing, trying something new, innovating.  It was just a step on the journey, a test to see if you could fight off any resistance you were struggling with.

And so now, as I develop my coaching practice I'm taking these lessons to heart. I fail fast, try another layer and bring in different tools and methodologies to see what will happen next. It's already making me a better coach.

And if you don't believe me, how about this guy?

"The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We  have created a society that honours the servant and has forgotten the gift."

Albert Einstein

Following my nose

My drawing of Little Bunny from the original illustration by J P Miller

When I was a little girl one of my favourite books was Little Bunny follows his nose, a story about a rabbit that sets off on an adventure with nowhere particular in mind. He just ... follows his nose, in other words his intuition!

There was something about this idea of nose following that I always loved - a clear clue to the free spirit in my nature, the yearning to always know what's around the next corner from the country path and city street to the results from the choices we make.

My intuition and I are friends and, although she doesn't say much, she's always there to nudge me in what she believes to be the right direction. I don't always listen though (bad Lisa!) and usually regret it if I shut out her opinion. My intuition lives in the right side of my brain alongside the power of the subconscious where she looks at pattern, shape, thoughts and puts the seemingly disparate together to make new meaning. She's a clever thing.

Recently I let her give me a huge push. I'd reached a point in my career where I wanted to inject something new into the mix. I've been thinking a great deal recently about sharing the wealth of knowledge and experience I've gained over the years. I've a yearning to make a difference in people's lives - particularly other artists and creatives. I love to talk about creativity, right brain magic and art making. Moving into coaching seemed to offer everything I was after and then, wouldn't you believe it, the Universe only went and delivered me an email from Whitney Freya offering the opportunity to train with her and become a Creatively Fit Coach.

We started our first month in September focusing on the under-utilised power of the right brain - a topic so close to my heart. I was blown away the first time I read Dan Pink's A whole new mind - why right-brainers will rule the future and love to let my right side loose outide the box - to rip it open, tear it up and make something new! Of course, there's a balancing act - we need the left side too, but as the world became more automated our right brains just haven't been given enough to do. For many, they are packed away in bubble wrap and placed in storage. It's time to get them out for a play!

Whitney's tool bag of exercises are designed to exercise and limber up the cramped right side - it was time to understand exactly how we will stretch the creative muscles of our clients' creativity and energise them into artistic action.

This month I've been losing myself in Mandala-making, spending time switching off and being 'me' and just playing with pens on paper.

By far the most interesting exercise I found to be the Soul Scribble. This is a method of tuning out of your left and into your right hemisphere. It's really easy, why don't you have a go now.

Grab a sheet of paper and a pen. Take a deep breath and try to switch off the 'noise' of daily life - you know, the thinking about chores you need to do, the urge to check your phone, wondering what the dog is up to... Try and empty your mind and ask it what it needs you to know.

Now just close your eyes and scribble on the page. About three seconds should be enough. Now, look down. What do you see? A tangled mess of lines? Look again. Turn the page 90 degrees, squint and turn it again. Write down five words inspired by the drawing then just keep writing and see what comes out.

I saw a whale on a stormy sea - was that me? Riding the waves, singing my own song?

Another day I drew my scribble, looked down at the marks on the page and saw a pair of lungs. Not really surprising as I'd had a chest infection all week and was still coughing so hard it felt like I was turning myself inside out. I grabbed at this symbolism and started writing about how my lungs feel clogged. Then the magic happened. I moved beyond the sickness and took my power back. I wrote down the word BREATHE. I realised that the story wasn't about my lungs at all. It was a message to slow down. Maybe that's what the chest infection has forced me to do... I have already started this process but it's given me more clarity. I have put many of my projects on hold so I can focus on becoming a Creatively Fit Coach. I'm putting away the things that aren't serving me at present. Not all of them are bad, far from it. There just isn't space for them in my life right now. That's OK. They can wait.

I saw a face with crazy hair that looked like two women. Was this perhaps the strongest message of all? That my exploration of both sides of my brain is exactly what I should be doing, that I'm learning. The figure on the right side looked like she was climbing out of my head - emerging, ready to move into her own power.

The Soul Scribble is taking us into our right brain, it's speaking in symbology rather than words and forcing us to think differently - it's taking us to answers to unspoken questions. It's incredibly exciting and I can't wait to share this and all the other things I am learning with my clients.

Magic is happening my friends. Stay tuned... there's so much more to come - I feel it in my soul scribbles!

Left hand drive

I couldn't figure what to paint so I stuck the brush in my left hand thus allowing my right brain to take over the driving.

As you can see we swerved around quite a bit while we figured out just who was behind the wheel and which way to turn to avoid total disaster.

We ended up here. It's a river, not a road (by now we had parked and were moving more slowly on foot).

I wasn't actually painting with my foot at this point, it's just a figure of speech to give you the impression of a more careful consideration of subject matter.

I'm typing with my right brain too. Well, the fingers are using the left but both hands are on the keyboard to get the message all right. All right?

I should maybe think about going to bed... I sleep on the right if there's any left.

Celebrating the (W)right brain

Image from Mercedes Benz advertisement

I have a confession to make. I am completely smitten by a business book! Dan Pink's Whole New Mind has somewhat lodged itself in my own. I am a right-brainer and to be told that we're on the cusp of a revolution where we're set to take over the world was most gratifying. OK, slight exaggeration, but I'm just showing my passion! This was completely vindicated today when I took a Strength Finder test (more on this later).

Mr Pink reveals "that the future belongs to a different kind of person with a different kind of mind: designers, inventors, teachers, storytellers - creative and empathetic 'right-brain' thinkers whose abilities mark the fault line between who gets ahead and who doesn't".

He theorises that in an age dominated by abundance and cheaper labour and manufacturing in Asia, we need to be differentiating ourselves to guarantee success. It's not about being a great number cruncher anymore. You need to be number cruncher that discerns patterns, can see the whole picture, empathise underlying causes and be willing to stand out and be different.

Dan Pink doesn't dismiss the left brain at all, his theory is that for too long we have neglected half of our brain power and that getting the two working together - being master of both - will be the traits needed for success in this new age.

His book hinges on six much neglected senses that will guide the lives of us 21st Century citizens obsessed with information, technology, logic and focus. It is time for Design, Story, Symphony, Empathy, Play and Meaning to make their resurgence. It's all there inside us - we just need to let it live again.


 As my career has rattled along through the years I have increasingly found myself hanging out with an edge of eccentricity. Ask me to complete a detailed project plan and you'll watch the light die in my eyes. Encourage me to think outside of the box, to blend humour with financial forecasts, to strategise with story and you'll have me in the palm of your hand. I don't do normal, conventional. I think "What if...?" and explore hidden pathways, open portals and adventure! My right brain needs a free leash!

Right brainers see possibility in discovering that 2012 is apparently 'the year of enchantment', I'm already wondering what spells I might weave to reach my lofty goals.

As we enter Week 3 of the Hello Soul. Hello Business course, we are exploring the 'what's' of our entrepreneurial craft. On Monday evening I stayed up way past my bedtime mind mapping some incredibly exciting opportunities to develop my creative business. I am incredibly excited by the opportunities I've discovered.
 
I am also blown away by the wonderful sharing community of ... you guessed it... right-brainers taking this course. We are all there to help and support each other see our dreams take shape. Our destiny awaits!
 
Today I came across this series of advertisements by Mercedes. It reads...
 
I am the right brain. I am creativity. A free spirit. I am passion. Yearing. Sensuality. I am the sound of roaring laughter. I am taste. The feeling of sand beneath bare feet. I am movement. Vivid colours. I am the urge to paint on an empty canvas. I am boundless imagination. Art. Poetry. I sense. I feel. I am everything I wanted to be.
 
Interesting coming from such a technology driven company. The times they are indeed a-changing...