Creating Freedom through Creativity

Tags

creativity, freedom, socialmedia

For virtually every Sunday of my short life on social media, I have had the privilege of spending an hour or so on twitter, being part of the #SpiritChat community. In the form of questions and answers, with guest hosts and friends who step up to host in my absence, we the people have stood fast to our goal of “transforming the spirit with conversations in social media”. Over the years, many (hundreds?) have come through the virtual doors that formally ‘open’ every Sunday at 9amET to share their ‘answers’ to ‘questions’ posed during our gatherings.

As we research and probe and pry open our hearts and minds in the company of those of varying life backgrounds and experiences, we manage to take a deeper look at our beliefs, our faiths, our values and our actions. We may not always like what this self-exploration may bring us face to face with, but my thesis is that we all somehow walk away from our community experience with some agglomerated wisdom that sticks our hearts opens a little bit more every week.

It isn’t that the #SpiritChat community is some kind of homogeneous community with a single mindset. In fact, we are perhaps all grateful that it is exactly the opposite – a kaleidoscope of heterogenity! At the end of the day (or the hour), the issue is not whether we agree or disagree with each other – it is whether we can look at each other with a little bit more love in our heart’s eyes. And if we walk away with a little bit more empathy, a sense of friendship, an attitude of joy, or even a realization of the cause(s) of the pain and hurt that we carry around with us, then it is indeed time well spent in sharing and learning within a safe space.

I have often felt that I am the greatest beneficiary of the community’s loving heart. If the amount of stretching that often occurrs for me – before, during and after the chat – is any indication of ‘progress’, then I have the ‘spiritual stretch marks’ to show for many a new self-birth over the years 🙂 The creative energy of the community ensures that we all keep growing and evolving and involving. I am grateful that my stories of ‘walking’ and photos of being in nature and my attempts at poetry are received with grace by the community. In symbiosis, the creative energy of the community continues to inspire many to experience even greater freedom in their practice and work.

As some of you know, it was @waynemcevilly (piano viruoso extraordinaire) who inspired me to create the Sunday #SpiritChat on twitter, five years ago. Wayne’s creative, fun-loving and carefree attitude taught this staid, lackadaisical engineer to lighten up and learn to ‘go with the flow’. I have learnt the virtues of ‘practicing patience’, ‘art of showing up with a smile’, ‘this too shall pass for that is nature’s way’, ‘be kinder to yourself than you expect others to be towards you’, ‘don’t try so darn hard because a lot of it is beyond your control’, ‘give people time and space and that includes you’, ‘talk about the good stuff for there are many out there talking to them about the bad stuff’, ‘always and never are like hot chili peppers so use them sparingly’, ‘make time for tea and cookies’, and much more. All this agglomerated ‘wisdom’ from hosting the chat and associating with all of you – every single one of you!

And so, it continues. The need today to have conversations that ‘transform the spirit’ is no less, perhaps much greater, than it was in July 2011. I know in my heart that our conversations have just begun. For if the conversations that I have with myself after the #SpiritChat hour every week are any indication, there is an infinity of creative freedom that remains to be expressed. And who better to transform the ‘spirit of conversations’ in our world at large than some of the most kind, loving and generous-of-heart people that I have had the privilege to connect with?

Namaste, my friends. Stay tuned. For the best of our creativity is yet to come…

Kumud @AjmaniK

P.S. ICYMI The first #SpiritChat blog post (July 29th 2011) – On Slowing Down. And do join us, Sunday July 31st 2016 at 9amET on twitter – bring a sample of your creative energy to share with the community. Cake and cookies are always welcoome too. Thank you!

Creative Energy Practice – HeartFulness

Tags

creativity, energy, meditation

Among all of the creative practices that can help us increase our emotional and spiritual energy levels, mindfulness and meditation are often in the top few. Rarely does a weekly #SpiritChat go by where these to practices are not mentioned in an answer to one or more questions by one or more participants. Lately, mindfulness has become almost a ‘buzzword’ fix-it-all for many of our ‘problems’ that are apparently caused by our perpetually distracted mind. There seems to be an abundance of mindfulness (often labeled ‘self-awareness’) practices available to us. We simply have to choose one, or even many. But what about meditation as a creative practice to raise our energy levels?

In some way or form, I have had a personal practice of ‘meditation’ for a few years. I would call it more like ‘an attempt to sit still and examine what flows through my mind and heart’. It has basically been a ‘roll my own’ method with some partial guidance by sporadic attendance at meditation workshops, reading about meditation techniques and others’ experiences, and so on. To say that I had been simply ‘spinning my wheels’ without much apparent ‘benefit’ or tangible ‘progress’, other than the satisfaction that I had at least developed a regular habit of ‘sitting at a given hour’, would be an understatement. The universe must have felt my silent cry for assistance, for last November, I decided to give ‘heartfulness’ a try.

In a casual conversation on the ‘festival of lights’ holiday, I told my brother-in-law in India that I was ready to begin my heartfulness practice. It wasn’t that he hadn’t asked me to try out what he had been practicing for many years. It was just that I had not been willing (or able?) to listen to his invitation with any degree of acceptance. So, he had left me alone to ‘get ready to ask for help’ in my own way. And when I did ask, he was ready. We began with an introductory session the very next day, followed by two short sessions on subsequent days during the week. And then, it was all up to me, to have the self-discipline to follow the simple instructions.

Six months later, I can say that the practice itself is very simple, straightforward and effective. Like any new practice, it ‘works’ if you ‘practice’ it. I am earnestly working on being creative in creating time to make the practice of heartfulness a part of my daily life. I am getting close. Very close. Why have I ‘stuck’ with it? If the results so far are any indication of what the future will hold, I am eager, willing and present to all the energetic possibilities that heartfulness meditation has to offer!

As part of our weekly #SpiritChat conversation, I invite you to our conversation with special guest @amalik1818 (yes, my #heartfulness coach :)) on Sunday, June 26th 2016 at 9amET/1pmUTC. I am very excited about all of you meeting Alok, and feeling his wonderful energy. We have been trying to coordinate this for a few months now, and the time and space coordinates have finally aligned!

Namaste,

Kumud @AjmaniK

Resources: Heartfulness Meditation

Bio: Dr Alok Malik retired from the Indian Army after being a practicing surgeon for over twenty years. He is currently the Medical Director for one of the largest hospitals in Hyderabad, India. His meditation practice stretches back over a decade, and he is a certified trainer in Heartfulness techniques.

P.S. If you have been trying to establish a creative energy #meditation practice, or been ‘struggling’ with your current one (like I did for two and a half years), or merely are curious to try something new, Alok @amalik1818 will offer a choice of two thirty minute ‘remote’ sessions to get you started after the chat – Sunday 8pmET or Monday 8pmET (other times may be available on request. please ask). No strings attached. No charge or fee. How to sign up? Leave a comment below or DM me on twitter for the very simple instructions. Come join us!

Update: How To Participate in the ‘Introductory Sessions’ conducted by Alok Malik – @amalik1818 on Twitter in #SpiritChat

Step ONE: Watch and follow the Heartfulness Relaxation video commands for ten minutes, BEFORE start of meditation session (start at 745pmET today)
https://youtu.be/HuiV395xI4I

Step TWO: Login to twitter. Check in to #SpiritChat with a simple tweet confirming that you are PRESENT, at least five minutes before the designated START time of 8pmET. The trainer (@amalik1818) needs confirmation that you are present – we are doing this via twitter/#SpiritChat for now. (we may add a WhatsApp group or alternate way later to accomplish this step).

Sit comfortably, on seeing the Twitter message (or if not on Twitter, start at designated time) to START MEDITATION do the following ——

1. Put your phone on silent mode
2. Ensure that no one disturbs you for at least thirty minutes
3. Gently close your eyes
4. Gently take your attention to the source of divine light within your heart
5. Don’t try to concentrate or try to see the light. Just imagine that the source of Divine Light is within your heart and it is attracting you
6. If your mind wanders to some other thought, then gently push it away and naturally get it back to the source of light within your heart.
7. Slowly you will experience thoughtlessness and absorption in meditation
8. Continue meditation for thirty minutes. You may use an alarm to guide you.
9. Jot down your experiences during meditation and condition after meditation in a spiritual journal.
10. Remember NOT to concentrate on the source of light, or keep repeating the thought about the source of light as a mantra. If you don’t see any light, that’s ok, and if you see some that’s also ok.

Above steps are from the two-minute video for Heartfulness Techinques at
https://youtu.be/xMzZl_7mRpY

Tips:

1. Watch the Heartfulness meditation video

2. Follow the Heartfulness Relaxation script for ten min BEFORE meditation

3. Meditation takes place at the level of subconscious mind. When we imagine in our conscious mind that there is a source of divine light within our heart, the same settles in the subconscious mind and stays there. Now even if this thought were to disappear from the conscious mind it does not matter. We therefore don’t have to concentrate on it, repeat it or run after it.

4. If some other thought comes to our mind AND we give attention to it by actively participating in it, THEN that thought settled on the subconscious mind. Moment we realise that we have got swayed by another thought, then gently push it aside and naturally center back on the source of light within your heart.

5.While you meditate, the trainer focuses Yogic Transmission on your subtle body. Experience its effect and note the same in your journal.

Going Forward: After three guided meditation sessions (thirty minutes each), you may start meditating on your own at a fixed time in the morning. Start with thirty min and gradually increase it to one hour.

One meditation followup session with a trainer will be needed once a week (at least once every alternate week) going forwards.
We can schedule them on a fixed day and time (TBD) for all to join in a group setting.

Questions? Please ask in comments below or DM @amalik1818 or @AjmaniK – thank you!

Heartfulness – Cleaning

1. After finishing your work day, sit comfortably, close your eyes and focus your attention on the complete spine, from the top of the neck to the bottom of the tail bone

2. Continuously imagine that all complexities and impurities are leaving you through the back of the spine, in the form of vapor. Don’t try and see any vapor.

3. After a few minutes you will feel some vibration/heat coming out from a segment of the spine. Now concentrate on that segment of the spine and use your will to accelerate the going out of complexities and impurities, till it stops coming out.

4. Then move to the next segment of the spine and repeat the above process.

5. By the time you’ve covered the whole spine, you will be feeling much lighter.

6. Now imagine that the Sacred Current of Divine is flowing from the Source into your heart and spreading across the whole body, and filling it with Sacredness.

7. Get up with a feeling of being filled with Sacredness. The above process takes 15 to 30 min

Tips:

1. In case you tend to go into meditation during cleaning, break it by opening your eyes and restart the Cleaning.

2. In case you can’t do the Cleaning in the evening, do it before going to sleep.

On Creative Courage

Tags

courage, creativity, spiritchat, spirituality

Our featured guest on our weekly twitter chat #SpiritChat this week is Denise Buchman (@DeniseBuchman), founder of #couragecafe on twitter. We will discuss “Creative #Courage” with Denise on January 25th at 9amET. Denise has written a beautiful blog post about her journey, and the creativity it required of her, to discover and live with courage. Please read, comment, share, and join us. Thank you! ~ Kumud

Courage – by Denise Buchman for #SpiritChat

By Definition

Courage: (noun) the ability to do something that frightens one, strength in the face of pain or grief.

“bravery, courageousness, pluck, valor, fearlessness, intrepidity, nerve, daring, audacious, bold, grit, heroism, gallant, spunk, moxie”

When I look back on the trail I have tread, it’s actually hard to believe I was as scared or confused or as uncertain as I was….yet I still rocked it! How? Because I had to dig deep and use insane courage to detach from others and learn to believe in myself and love myself no matter what mistakes were made along the way and what others perceived of me from the outside.

The place I was searching and seeking for ALL my life was a higher connection to self. I always knew it was to a connection with my Higher Power, I just didn’t know who or what that was for me.

No one in my professional circles knew of my family background, yet, I kept running into people who suggested a program called “Al Anon”. After three totally different people mentioned this, it was a sign to me that I needed to learn more. So I found a meeting in 2010, and never looked back. Most do not know this, but my family is full of alcoholics, both sides, cousins and my ex-husband. All functional, but there is a life of patterns that we learn and take on behaviors and thinking of self that are very distorted ways of thinking. Because of my ex-husband, my children are children of an alcoholic and it’s a cycle I was determined to break by learning about it and opening up myself.

This took me to what I was seeking – closer relationship to a Higher Power. For me its God and The Universe. I always thought I was working on myself but really I would “put out a fire” in my life’s current situation and move on…..never really getting to the core authentic self with my true authentic feelings and validating them. I feared to go to inside for what I would find. That took insane courage. Hence my affair with courage in all things in life became my passion!

From an early age, I developed a tremendous fear of making mistakes. No one would know this on the outside – I made decisions and had many successes. However, they were made not from a place of feelings, self, heart ~ but what would “look good”, “be best for others” ~ not centered from me.

My yearning to have a higher connection with something greater than me was not taught in my childhood by my parents. The message was, on a good day when they wanted to impress the Jones’s, we went to Sunday School and other weeks taking the day off. Mixed messages became a thread in my childhood and followed me to my teenage years, to my own life. I too was giving mixed messages to others because I myself was a mess inside!

Courage is what we need to find a method, a process to live from inside out!

“Harvest the Courage to be You”

I think we have it ALL wrong. For example…..find a job that pays well……how can this work if you don’t know yourself? Authenticity is what people buy both professionally and personally.

I spoke on a panel of women in business who were dead inside and needed courage to change.
Three things I shared:

1. How to be Grateful and Not Fearful (writing a grateful email changed my life)
2. Courage to Detach from People Places and Things (shift awareness of self to do this)
3. Walk Your Thinking – Making Your Own Path and Smiling All the Way

Doing all these on a daily consistent basis took insane courage…..especially for me who is a creative thinker and my mind, heart and soul is all over the place on most days!

When we trust ourselves we allow ourselves to lose everything in order to find our self…….that in its self is scary……aware of how we feel, pay the piper, whatever dues you think you have to pay to be your own authentic self and soar in life under your terms not someone else’s definition.

“It’s only by overcoming the fear of what our ideas may become
that we discover what we are really capable of “ #quote

Denise Buchman is founder of CORE “Consulting & Business Development LLC”. She is a Strategic Business Builder, Social Media Strategist, and Relationship Marketing Consultant. She hosts the #couragecafe twitter chat on Wednesdays at 8pm ET.

On Creativity and the Spirit – with @AlexisDaria

Tags

creativity, spiritchat, spirituality

As I weave and wend my way back home through airports, a regular in the #spiritchat community, @alexisdaria will lead the weekly community discussion on Sunday, October 20th at 9am ET. The very first word in Alexis’ twitter bio says – creativity. If you visit her website you will see creativity in full flow. So, I believe that it is fitting that she host the discussion on creativity, with a focus on how it connects with spirituality.

In order to help us frame our thoughts, I share with you some quotes on creativity from some of my favorite sources. I hope these quotes energize your heart and spirit, and motivate you to engage in creative endeavors which elevate your spirit. Namaste.

On the need to preserve creativity…

“It is, in fact, nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry; for this delicate little plant, aside from stimulation, stands mainly in need of freedom. Without this it goes to wrack and ruin without fail.”
― Albert Einstein

On creativity and creating…

“But unless we are creators we are not fully alive. What do I mean by creators? Not only artists, whose acts of creation are the obvious ones of working with paint of clay or words. Creativity is a way of living life, no matter our vocation or how we earn our living. Creativity is not limited to the arts, or having some kind of important career.”
― Madeleine L’Engle, Walking on Water

On fields of creativity…

“Our species is the only creative species, and it has only one creative instrument, the individual mind and spirit of man. Nothing was ever created by two men. There are no good collaborations, whether in music, in art, in poetry, in mathematics, in philosophy. Once the miracle of creation has taken place, the group can build and extend it, but the group never invents anything. The preciousness lies in the lonely mind of a man.”
― John Steinbeck, East of Eden

On creativity and solitude…

“When I am ….. completely myself, entirely alone… or during the night when I cannot sleep, it is on such occasions that my ideas flow best and most abundantly. Whence and how these ideas come I know not nor can I force them.”
― Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

On creativity, creation, divinity and work…

“You become more divine as you become more creative. All the religions of the world have said God is the creator. I don’t know whether he is the creator or not, but one thing I know: the more creative you become, the more godly you become. When your creativity comes to a climax, when your whole life becomes creative, you live in God. So he must be the creator because people who have been creative have been closest to him. Love what you do. Be meditative while you are doing it – whatsoever it is”
― Osho

On the creative spirit, art and artists…

“Whoever uses the spirit that is
in him creatively is an artist. To
make living itself an art, that is
the goal.”
― Henry Miller

On creativity and the (spiritual) life…

“To be creative means to be in love with life. You can be creative only if you love life enough that you want to enhance its beauty, you want to bring a little more music to it, a little more poetry to it, a little more dance to it.”
― Osho

So, what is the connection between creativity and compassion? Creativity and criticism? How do we balance our spiritual upbringing with our need to be spiritually creative? I hope you will join my friend Alexis Daria on Sunday, October 20th at 9am ET for this special discussion. Thank you, and if you have a minute, please connect with @alexisdaria on twitter and her website.

Be creative, and, Be well.

Kumud

Update: Here are the questions asked by @alexisdaria during the chat. Enjoy, and feel free to answer in the comments… The full transcript and statistics are available at http://bit.ly/sc-tr-1020

Q1: What does creativity mean to you? #SpiritChat

Q2: What is the connection between creativity and spirituality? #SpiritChat

Q3: Everyone is creative – agree or disagree? #SpiritChat

Q4: How can we nurture the creative spirit? #SpiritChat

Q5: What impedes/blocks creativity, and are creative blocks real? #SpiritChat

Q6: How do we keep our creative spirit strong in the face of criticism? #SpiritChat

Q7: Is inspiration necessary for creativity? Why or why not? #SpiritChat

Q8: How can we more fully live in the spirit of creativity? #SpiritChat

Creating and Holding Space by @CandaceG222 for #SpiritChat

Tags

creativity, space, spiritchat

We continue our “Summer Series” for our weekly Sunday morning #SpiritChat conversations with Candace G.. Candace’s basic philosophy in life is to live from a positive standpoint, even during tough times. Every day she finds a reason to smile, and she truly believes that we can learn something from everyone we meet, whether it’s in person, or in the virtual world!! Please enjoy this post from Candace.

Regardless of what our life purpose is, I think that a large portion of it is creating and holding space for others. Sometimes this is as simple as being an active listener, but no matter how we offer this gift, it’s always something unique and special for each of us.

In some situations, holding space for a person is akin to anchoring the thin rope they are clinging to, preventing them from an otherwise inevitable crash. We can hold space for others in a myriad of ways, it’s just a matter of opening our hearts to the possibilities!

Just as we can’t love someone if we don’t love ourselves, we can’t create this sacred space for someone else if we don’t already do it for ourselves. The question is what do we fill the space in our lives with? What do we need to make more space for?

And how does this connect with creativity? I see us as beings that channel creative energy, but sometimes we fill those channels with junk. How does self-awareness come into play with all of this?

We need to consciously create room in our lives to optimize the flow of this creative energy, and on many levels…mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual. Although this sounds wonderful, it usually involves changes that are difficult, and this sometimes feels negative.

How can we serve others along this same line, whether it’s at work, home, or with strangers who cross our path?

As we prepare for our chat on Sunday, I thought the following quote would be a great way to get us thinking about creating and holding space:

“Some changes look negative on the surface but you will soon realize that space is being created in your life for something new to emerge.“ ~ Eckhart Tolle

I’m looking so forward to our chat on Sunday! I hope to see you all there!

In Light and Love,

Connect with Candace on her blog
Connect with Candace on Twitter

I hope you enjoyed this post written for our weekly #SpiritChat discussion by Candace G.. I invite you to join Candace and me for a conversation on twitter in #SpiritChat – Sunday, July 21st at 9amET! Thank you – Kumud.