So, I am inspired to write this post by a past retreatant who I have had some email communications with this week (you know who you are!).
I haven’t been writing as often recently as I was not sure whether people were reading my articles. As someone who creates and then sends out their creations, it is sometimes hard to know whether what you create is received, and whether it has benefitted anyone; added to anyone’s life in any way. And, it can be easy for me to doubt my impact and therefor stop producing so much.
But, just even one person – like this person who I have had this contact with this week, who told me that my email about the Soul Alchemy Poetry Workshop sparked up his dormant creative impulse, reminding him of his desire to write a book – this is enough for me to continue my work. Knowing that I have touched even one other person’s life is enough encouragement for me to continue on, in the hope that I can touch and ignite sparks of creativity and life in other lives (yours, maybe?).
Talent grows and develops as you do your work
This person said that he’s always had this creative impulse within him, but that he’s not necessarily talented. And to that I say – who knows? Who knows what talent is buried inside each and every person, until we try pulling it out?
He congratulated me on having the confidence to record my songs and write and publish my upcoming book of poetry, but I say back to him (and to you, dear reader), that it is really not so much about confidence for me, as about just getting it out there. I have been an artist since I was young, but it’s only in the last five years or so that I confidently claim that title.
Before then, I would always be very shy about saying it. But, I guess with age (I’m 47 now), mortality becomes less a blimp on the horizon and more something that looks like it just might be true (:-) ) , and in the end, I don’t want to have the regret on my deathbed, that I didn’t do what I came to do, that I didn’t do my best to pull out the best of me. So, that’s the real reason I recorded my album. It’s just a part of my journey, proving to myself that I can do it, and having the satisfaction that I did it. That’s all that matters.
Of course I also hope that people will listen to the songs, will buy the album, and will gain some pleasure, enjoyment, and dare I say it – epiphanies, from my work. But all that would be an extra added bonus.
Creative Energy, unrealised, often turns destructive
This ex-retreatant mentioned something really important – that creative energy, when not manifested / expressed, often becomes destructive. He mentioned the feeling of ‘imploding’ and this is also my experience. I used to have a little energetic movement within me, which was a feeling of shrinking. It was an internal experience of shrinking – running and hiding, that was happening within myself. It often was accompanied by tears and deep sadness. Since I have committed more fully to my path as an artist, especially last year when I made the You-Ni-Verse paintings and the You-Ni-Verse album, this internal shrinking feeling is no longer present within me. It used to feel very icky and bad but I thought it was normal, whereas now, I very clearly recognise this energetic internal shrinking as the result of not fully opening myself to my creative expression. It was a warning sign of imminent implosion!
I am someone who has songs coming to me regularly, and I also have full visions of paintings before I go and buy a canvas. Then when I actually create the song or the painting, and it is pretty close to what I heard, envisioned, it is literally a birthing process. But the even more amazing thing is that with each creation, I am created anew. I am renewed as a spirit by the creation. I learn something more about myself and about life.
Creativity, when expressed – whatever form it takes, whether it’s a poem, a painting, a song, a garden or a business idea, is a form of soul alchemy. It renews us and revives us. Just as our bodies need constant replenishing, through good food, exercise, exfoliation (reminder to self!) and things like massage, our souls also need constant replenishing, through yoga, meditation, adventure, travel and creativity. The wonderful thing about a creative practice, is that you get to go on an amazing journey within yourself, without even having to leave the house or buy plane tickets (particularly great right now).
If you think about it, our bodies today don’t actually have any of the same atoms and molecules that they had when we were born. Everything has changed. Over the course of our lifetimes our bodies are constantly renewed. If that is not enough proof that life is completely magical, then I don’t know what is. But I believe our souls need to be constantly renewed too. It doesn’t matter how old you are, you need to have dreams and goals that you are working towards, because you need to witness the new you that manifests as a result of realising your dreams and goals. This is the life journey. You don’t know who you will become, but each goal and dream is a stepping stone of your path to being fully you in every moment. And who knows, maybe you feel so different from who you started out as, that you feel the need to change your name?!? It has been known to happen, in the best of all possible worlds.
So, What is the Soul Alchemy process?
So what is the soul alchemy process?
First, we turn inwards. We connect in deeply with our own soul. We tune into the unique frequency that is us.
The next step, after receiving our guidance, is to embrace it with all our hearts.
Next Step is eat the fruits of your divine guidance. Drink the alchemical elixirs which are being offered to you.
Then, alchemise all of your feelings into gold! This might result in a poem, a painting, a story, or something else, but in the end, you are the art. The one you are alchemising, is YOU. And you will shine bright and strong thanks to your dedicated work in the soul alchemy laboratory!
