Intentional Creativity - what is it?
Intentional creativity is essentially creating, in any form, with intention. Human beings have always created with intention, it is innate. When our ancestors created the outlines of their hands on the cave walls whatever else it was for it was clearly stating ‘I am here’. They were creating a mark that would show they existed. They also created images of animals and hunting, perhaps visually telling a story of a hunt that happened, or perhaps as an invocation that a hunt be successful. When they created tools, such as clay bowls, there was the intention to create something useful, but they also decorated them perhaps to make them beautiful, perhaps to mark them for ceremony. And we still create with some form of intention. Nowadays, for instance, when you prepare food and cook dinner you are intending to create something to eat and sustain you, but you may also want it to look and smell beautiful so that it is pleasing to yourself and whoever might share it with you. This is creating with intention.
Sadly though, we often associate creativity with talent and cut ourselves off from its transformative power by believing we have neither the ability nor the skills to be creative. This is a misunderstanding of the nature of creativity. We are all creative beings. It is not about talent or skill, it is not the domain of the elite few who have been trained, or those who have wealth. All of us are creative, by the mere fact of being alive, of being human. Creativity is in our DNA. It is our birthright and remembering how to create with intention for ourselves not only brings joy and delight but also awakens us to our true nature, our deep knowing and the gifts that are ours to birth into the world.
Intentional Creativity - How does it work?
The specific form of Intentional Creativity I practice and teach is a process I learned from my teacher Shiloh Sophia of Musea who learnt it from her teacher Sue Hoyer Seller, who was taught this way of approaching creativity by her teacher Leonora Thomas. This is a way of working that has been handed down the generations, a lineage, and I am passing it on too.
So how does it work? Well, normally as humans we tend to make decisions based on our past experiences and the desire not to undergo things we do not like again. Though this can be very helpful it generally limits us through fear of ‘bad’ outcomes. When we hold an intention to explore a situation, issue or question through creating, by being curious about the colours we feel wish to be used, what the pen or brush wishes to do, being playful and taking risks, we allow ourselves the opportunity to open to new experiences and undreamt-of possibilities. By creating, bringing something that was a thought into form, a shape that represents a possibility, we are giving our minds the opportunity to see and our bodies to feel alternative choices. The act of creating, of seeing and feeling a new story come into form acts as an interruption to our usual feedback loop of decision making and allows us to make different choices, or to become aware of patterns and behaviours that are unconscious. We have brought an idea into form, into manifestation on the paper, canvas, fabric, clay. This is the beginning of bringing a dream into reality, something different from our past stories and belief systems.
We all have the capacity to access this phenomenal way of communicating with our deepest selves, with Soul, with the sacred, the divine within and by doing so learn to consciously own our role as co-creators of the life we live and the world we inhabit. Remembering this and actively weaving practices that support it into our daily lives is sacred work that enables us to discern what is truly ours to create and bring into form, whether that be through painting, poetry, dance, food, gardening, any creative act. It increases the power and resonance of our vibrations which in turn impacts our ability to bring about the life we long for and that we choose through conscious awareness. For me, Intentional Creativity, this practice of weaving inquiry, intention and creation, the invisible and visible together, is nothing less than our own personal powerful magic.
To find out more about Shiloh Sophia's work take a look at the Inspirations page where you will find the link to Musea.
