Nurturing Your Creative Soul Posted on June 18, 2011 by LJ I am in the process of reading a book called “Power Choices: 7 Signposts on Your Journey to Wholeness, Love, Joy and Peace” by Brenda Wade, Ph.D. Dr. Wade is a San Francisco based psychologist, TV host, author and speaker. I met her when she spoke at the Black Enterprises Women of Power Summit in February, 2011 on a panel dealing with relationships. She had a lot of very insightful things to say about how to better communicate with your spouse to get what you want or need and about our minds in general. One of the most intriguing things she said was that our minds are computers and that we control the programming. What she meant was that we have the ability to control how all those “lessons” we learned and internalized from our parents, society or wherever (whether taught to us overtly, by observation or implicitly) affect our lives, our actions, our emotions and our relationships. I found her contributions to the panel so useful that I bought two of her books. The second one (which I have yet to start) is called “Love Lessons – A Guide to Transforming Relationships.” When I finish reading each book, I'll do more in-depth posts about them. The first “signpost” that Dr. Wade identifies in her book “Power Choices” is investigation. That's where you take a look at your life and see what is working for you and what isn't. In connection with that, she gives you a Cosmopolitan Magazine-like test to take. Remember those “Test your Sexual IQ” tests? Anyway, the test she gives you is designed to measure how much attention we pay to various areas of our lives – Physical, Emotional, Mental and Spiritual. I took the test and discovered that I was really lacking in the spiritual area. This wasn't a great surprise to me. I had known for a while that I needed to do something in that area. I flirted with the idea of learning how to meditate and/or joining a church, but I had done nothing about it. I knew that I'd never be able to learn how to meditate effectively without getting some guidance first and the thought of organized religion seemed so restrictive. You see, I've always been more spiritual than religious and I've always related better spiritually through music. That's when the lightbulb went off. I decided to audition for and join a gospel choir. At first, I was a little worried about whether I'd really be able to make the time commitment necessary for rehearsals and performances. My choir rehearses for two hours each Monday and Wednesday evening and performs at two services over a five-hour time period on Sundays. Then, when I found out that we had to be at the church by 8:00a.m. each Sunday morning to warm up and do final preparations for the 9:00a.m. service, I wondered whether I'd be able to get there on time since I don't even get to work that early. I even wondered whether my burning desire to join a gospel choir and devote so many hours a week to it was just another form of procrastination in finishing my books. Despite my concerns, I have to say that my decision to join the choir has been one of the best I ever made. I couldn't have found a church better suited to my personality and personal philosophy or a better group of people with whom to sing. My choir is a large one comprised of an extremely diverse group of people in terms of race, national origin, sexual orientation, professions, talents, walks of life and even religions since you don't have to join the church to be a part of the choir. Yet somehow, we come together every Sunday and make beautiful, uplifting and inspiring music. I can't begin to tell you how good it feels to help make music that touches people's hearts, gives them hope and inspires them. I wake up crazy early every Sunday morning looking forward to repeating the experience. Being a part of the choir has had a positive effect on my writing too. Using my talent for singing, which had remained dormant and unused for years, has stirred up my creative juices and inspired my writing. Being a member of the choir has also exposed me to some very interesting people and gave me a few ideas for future books. More on that later. I guess the moral of this story is not to let the pressures of daily life get us so bogged down that we forget to nurture our souls. What would nurture your spirit? Listening to some good gospel music? Practicing meditation or yoga? Communing with nature? Joining a church? Whatever it is, take the time to do it. The benefits are numerous. Let me know how it goes. Peace. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Share this:ShareFacebookPocketLinkedInTumblrRedditPinterest
Get Inspired Posted on June 12, 2010 by LJ One evening, after a particularly grueling day at work, I dragged myself home, warmed up some food and had dinner sitting on the couch in front of a TV tray while I watched cooking shows. I wasn't in the mood to write a blog post. I certainly was not in the mood to write fiction. In fact, I wanted nothing more than to just mindlessly veg in front of the TV set. There wasn't much of me left. I was mentally exhausted from getting up early in the mornings to work out and write and then practicing law until well into the evening hours. I decided to check my e-mail. There was a message there from someone I had met at the Silken Sands Writers Conference. She had read my blog and said that it had inspired her to eat better and to start working out. Those few words lifted my flagging spirits. It felt so good to know that my blog was inspiring people to live a healthier life. It gave me a sense of renewed energy. That night, I jotted down several ideas for blog posts and began thumbing through my recipe box for recipes to add to the site. The next morning, I wrote a new blog post and started my recipes page. Later that day, I thought about how a few kind words could inspire a person to keep going – whether it's to write, to follow a dream, or whatever. But for that e-mail, I might have decided that I just didn't have enough time to maintain this blog in addition to working, working out and working on my fiction. Life has a way of beating us down sometimes. I realized then that I needed to find sources of inspiration wherever I could to deal with those times. As I searched for sources of inspiration, I realized that they were all around me. For example, when I read about the epidemic of childhood obesity in America and think of my nieces (who are not obese by any means but who eat as much junk food as the typical American child), I want to set a good example for them in terms of pursuing a healthier lifestyle. When I listen to one of them tell me that some of the kids in her class tease her because she likes to eat vegetables (and they don't), it inspires me more to show her, by example, that being an individual is a good thing – especially when it comes to one's health. When I read about other attorneys who have written bestsellers, had their stories made into blockbuster films and are now able to pursue their dreams full-time if they should so desire, I get inspired to write fiction. I keep a vision board – a corkboard with pictures and print cut out from magazines that represent different goals or aspirations that I have (becoming more money savvy, losing weight, etc.). Every time I walk past it, I see a picture of a smiling woman in great shape in workout gear. She is measuring her tiny waist with a tape measure. Above her head is the title “Healthy Living.” Seeing that image day after day inspires me to get up most mornings and work out. You may laugh, but since I am 45 lbs lighter than I was 14 months ago, it appears to be working. What can you do to get and stay inspired? Well, it depends on what you want to get inspired to do. If you want to get inspired to live a healthier lifestyle, then maybe reading blogs like this one or checking out health-related websites can help. If you want to get inspired to write, then joining a writers group, attending a writers conference or attending a poetry reading may be just the ticket. If you want to get inspired to learn how to cook, check out cooking websites or take a cooking class. If you want to get inspired to exercise, then find some sort of exercise you would likely enjoy and try it. It may be trying out a belly dance workout in the privacy of your own home, investing in a Wii Fit, taking a Zumba class, getting a bike and going bike riding or taking a walk with your child in a park and then having a healthy picnic. Get out. Live. Try something new. Get inspired. Peace. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Share this:ShareFacebookPocketLinkedInTumblrRedditPinterest