{"id":43,"date":"2008-06-29T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2008-06-29T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/flowermandalas\/2008\/06\/cultivating-creativity-group-r.html"},"modified":"2008-06-29T06:00:00","modified_gmt":"2008-06-29T06:00:00","slug":"cultivating-creativity-group-r","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/flowermandalas\/2008\/06\/cultivating-creativity-group-r.html","title":{"rendered":"‘Cultivating Creativity’ Group Revisited"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Beach
\n‘Cultivating Creativity’ Group logo<\/strong>
\nBelow are reports from two members of the ‘Cultivating Creativity’ group documenting their experiences as “miracle partners” in the group, and beyond. <\/em>
\nChrysalis’s story<\/strong>
\nThe cultivating creativity group came along for me a couple of months after I’d crashed and burned with stress work. It left me depressed, exhausted and unable to cope with life. Initially I saw the group as a way to bring some healing creativity back into my life, but once I started the process, I realised it was an opportunity to create a new life entirely, and that’s what I’m doing!
\nI took time to choose a partner I felt I could relate to. Eva is a therapist with young people in the school and I was a therapist, but more recently have been teaching young asylum seekers. As time has progressed, we’ve established a good connection and often parallel each other when dealing with changes etc. Knowing we are going through a similar process, means we can and do share things with each other beyond what gets on the Cultivating Creativity board. We’ve become our own little support system.
\nThe changes for me, have been huge. I’ve basically turned my life around. I’m setting up a business and going back to my spiritual work, I’m more focused and enjoying life again. I’ve gone from virtually nothing to meditating, journaling and exercising every morning and now split my week between teaching and getting creative, designing my website and writing. I’ve just begun to play the guitar again and started to pick up my art, a huge shift from where I was when I started the group. I’ve even created a Beliefnet group, Living Life Authentically, where I and others share our path’s, which has brought me community and new friendships that I wanted.
\nIt has been good to see and comment on other’s miracles, fantastic to see them manifest. Having a partner is excellent! There’s nothing quite like sharing a process with someone dealing with similar ‘stuff’. I think Eva and I will remain firm friends, albeit across the pond!
\nI’ve taken my miracle a whole lot further than my original post. Once I got started and began to work towards what I see is my life purpose, things began to flow and opportunities etc are flowing with it. In the future, I see a balance between my spiritual work and my creative work, with some travel thrown in for good measure!
\nI would say to anyone considering joining Cultivating Creativity, just go for it! You have nothing to lose. I’d recommend doing it with a partner if you can, as you’re both in it together and can appreciate each other’s excitements and support each other’s bumps along the way. I also think that you need to be motivated or that your partner can help to motivate you or you could lose momentum.
\nThe cultivating creativity group is a fantastic opportunity to make some positive changes in your life. Thanks to David for setting up the group and to Eva for her support, I’ve made a massive change happen in a few months. Isn’t it at least worth a try?
\nChrysalis<\/a>
\nEva’s story<\/strong>
\nHello! My name is Eva. I was drawn to the Cultivating Creativity group because I noticed some of David’s pictures in his Flower Mandalas blog. I was looking at some of the flower mandalas and felt that I could actually see their life force. I imagined that it was their chi being picked up in the photos; they seemed to be illuminated from within. I thought that was kinda cool, and I resonated with that. I’m a fan of Georgia O’Keefe and the photos reminded me of her work. I then noticed that David had a group. I was drawn to it because I wanted to encourage the spurt of personal writing I was doing at that time.
\nI joined Cultivating Creativity and I believe I was discussing my profession and the teens I work with when I met Chrysalis. We have a lot in common. We are both therapists and seem to be interested in similar things spiritually, creatively and professionally. I also liked the idea that she was from England! We also seem to share a sense of humor and a similar communication style and we linked up!
\nOh, lots have changed for me since I joined Cultivating Creativity. There have been quite a few shifts and changes for me. The one thing that has remained steady is that I have been able to maintain a positive focus amidst all the chaos. It feels like all the things that are not working are in the process of falling away so that I now have more freedom to have success and a more creative lifestyle for myself. That’s what miracles are about; it certainly has been a challenge! It continues to be an invigorating challenge.
\nWhat I like about the Cultivating Creativity group process is that it keeps me mindful and accountable regarding the footwork needed to stay in the miracle moment. I enjoy bouncing around new ideas with Chrysalis and it keeps me stimulated to work on my creative process instead of letting it get buried in the mundane. I like the feedback and the structure of group process and it helps to move forward a bit with suggested questions and comments. It stinks to be stuck creatively and working in a group sometimes helps to move you forward. I think it may also help keep you creative if all becomes chaos. Check out some of the video downloads at the end of this blog!
\nI consider Chrysalis a friend and I hope we can continue to move forward together in continuing to create. One of the many goals I have is to continue my personal writing and to give that some more time.
\nI think that either trying a group on your own or in tandem with someone else is an excellent idea, and I believe that whatever we decide to pay loving attention to in our lives flourishes. It helps me to bounce ideas around with someone on the same path. Thoughts and suggestions with other people stimulate my creative process. Thank you for the opportunity, Chrysalis and David!
\nEva<\/a>
\nRelated video links from Eva:<\/strong>
\nBreathing Meditation with Thich Nhat Hanh<\/a>
\nPema Chodron on Bill Moyers Faith and Reason<\/a>
\n GOD -An excerpt from the Upanishads<\/a>
\n Om Namah Shivaya (Shiva Sahasranama Mantra)<\/a>
\nJesus Is Speaking from A Course In Miracles<\/a>
\nInspirational Quotes for Success<\/a>
\nFriends<\/a>
\nI’m Alive!<\/a>
\nDiscussion:<\/strong>
\nCultivating Creativity group<\/a>
\nArt, Healing, and Transformation group<\/A>
\nFlower Mandalas Project group<\/A>
\nRequest a flower mandala screensaver<\/strong>: Fifteen Flower Mandalas<\/a>
\nImage \u00a9 2008, David J. Bookbinder<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

‘Cultivating Creativity’ Group logo Below are reports from two members of the ‘Cultivating Creativity’ group documenting their experiences as “miracle partners” in the group, and beyond. Chrysalis’s story The cultivating creativity group came along for me a couple of months after I’d crashed and burned with stress work. It left me depressed, exhausted and unable…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":116,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,15,14,16,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art","category-autobiography","category-creativity","category-guest","category-transformation"],"yoast_head":"\n'Cultivating Creativity' Group Revisited - Flower Mandalas<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"'Cultivating Creativity' Group Revisited - Flower Mandalas\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"‘Cultivating Creativity’ Group logo Below are reports from two members of the ‘Cultivating Creativity’ group documenting their experiences as “miracle partners” in the group, and beyond. 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