Embrace Your Unique Way of Seeing the World

"Rely on yourself,

and be true to who you are.

What's unique about you

is what will take you far."

--from the children's book, Unstoppable Me!, by Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, with Kristina Tracy

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I agree. Please stop trying to fit in! We need your unique perspective and thought processes. Yes, even if your perspective has been pathologized as ADD, dyslexia or some other label.

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Our educational system and work culture are designed to fit the majority. Just because these institutions have not fully learned how to bring out our best doesn't mean there's something wrong with us! So if the mainstream "operating system" doesn't help you to be your best, create your own.

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This requires the courage and self-confidence to dance to your own drummer. Divergent perception and thinking styles often show up in the most creative among us. Therefore, we don't want to root them out and eliminate them. Rather, we need to learn to mitigate the downsides and leverage the upsides of these styles.

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This process may sometimes include the help of an M.D., therapist, family member, employer, friend, and/or coach. To set up a free trial coaching tele-session, contact me at scleaver@dejazzd.com.

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Here I'll be specifically discussing the traits associated with high sensitivity and ADD as examples, because they're the ones I've had personal experience with and have studied the most about. For an expert's view, check out the resources I'm including for each.

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High Sensitivity: Brilliance or Burn-Out?

See the work of expert Elaine Aron, author of The Highly Sensitive Person. She explains the trait (which is present in 15 to 20% of humans and animals) and offers great tips for living well with it.

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Fortunately, this trait has not been officially pathologized, although those of us who grew up with it may have been labeled by peers as "worry warts," "scaredy-cats," "namby-pambies," "cream puffs," or "shy loners."

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Highly sensitive people (HSP's) feel things very deeply, take in more details, and tend to be highly intuitive. The upside is that these characteristics put us easily in touch with our creativity.

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To others, however, we look like we are processing more slowly than they are, but actually we are processing more deeply. This also makes us look even more hesitant and easily alarmed than we really are. You might say that non-HSP's are skiing along the surface of the water while HSP's are scuba diving.

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The deep processing of HSP's leaves us vulnerable to sensory overload. It's essential for HSP's to set ample boundaries, to take extremely good care of ourselves, and to speak up for our needs. For me, this includes rarely watching TV or reading newspapers. I have to be careful about the amount of stimulation coming through, or I end up with burn-out.

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ADD It Up: Pathology or Purpose?

For excellent coverage of ADD, see the work of Edward Hallowell, co-author of Driven to Distraction.

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For better or worse, ADD has been officially pathologized, but not all experts agree on this.

Maybe folks with ADD seem to be "all over the place" because that's where the creative ideas are! There's a time and place for linear thinking, but when you're trying to be creative, it's more likely to just get in the way.

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I like to think of the ADD mind as a kaleidoscope, reaching out in all directions to form new patterns. The lateral thinking that comes so easily to those with ADD has been written about extensively by Edward De Bono for anyone to apply. However, I have seen resistance to his methods from highly linear thinkers. This doesn't make him or them wrong; it just points again to the natural differences in thinking and perceptual styles that add to the richness of mankind's accomplishments.

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If you have ADD, take a look at what kinds of structure, support, and accountability work best for you and implement those into your daily life. I find the structure of doing these weekly posts helpful for me. And in preparing the material for the posts, it helps me to use large index cards so that I can freely change the order of my points or add to them.

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It's also helpful to team up with an accountability buddy. This works great for me. If you're interested in mutual support by phone as we each tackle our projects, email me at scleaver@dejazzd.com to set up a time.

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High Sensitivity and ADD: Kissing Cousins?

The more I learn about these two perceptual styles, the more overlap I see. As research continues in these areas, I would not be surprised to hear that they are closely linked.

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In any event, I believe that perceptual styles that deviate from the norm and the extra effort it takes to function in our culture with them result in a lot of "late bloomers." However, those of us who learn to compensate without attempting to conform are richly rewarded!

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Happy blooming,

Susan

How to Fail Successfully

Greetings Intrepid Creators!

Here's my holistic approach to making the most of our failed attempts at just about anything:

Practical Steps to Take
First, think through the risks involved before you embark on the project. What reserves will you need in order to bounce back if things don't work out as you planned? Money, energy, time, self-confidence, flexibility? What is your Plan B?

Also consider your timing...by this I mean your personal timing and rhythms as much as any external timing factors. Is this the best time to start from both of these perspectives?

If indeed you do need to resort to Plan B, don't put it off. Let go of Plan A, and trust that if it is meant to come back, it will, in its own way and time.

In the meantime, apply whatever you learned from the experience to Plan B. It's possible that what you thought was Plan B was the plan after all, so don't be too quick to shrug it off as a mere consolation prize. Make the necessary course adjustments and lead with your heart.

Also, review my post on transitions from April 12. A failed attempt, properly managed, results in a transition, not a dead end.

Reframe the Failed Attempt for Yourself Emotionally
Put your own vision ahead of worrying about what others will think of your tumble. Give yourself permission to fail without labeling yourself a "failure." It's just trial and error on a larger, more frightening scale.

Also, remind yourself what good company you are in! We often hear stories of successful people who built their successes on the foundations of what they learned from their failures. Edison is perhaps the most frequently mentioned because of the many, many ways he discovered for making a light bulb that didn't work.

Transform Your Failed Attempts Into Service for Others
Use the experience you gained from your mistakes to help others find a smoother path. You can do this through writing, teaching, speaking, mentoring, and other ways. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "...to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is the meaning of success."

Coaching can help in all three of these areas. Email me at scleaver@dejazzd.com for a complimentary trial tele-coaching session.

To your success,
Susan

P.S. Last call for Saturday's Dig-In project day via teleconferencing technology, from 8:00am to 10:10am Eastern. To register for this complimentary gathering, email me by noon Eastern this Friday at scleaver@dejazzd.com. Dig-In Days are fun and effective!

Creativity Has Gone Egalitarian!

What a great time in history this is to be a creative soul! Not only have science and spirituality aligned to give us a new look into the creative process, but technology has swung the door wide open for us! We have new choices and opportunities for collaboration, support, publishing methods, and getting our work into the hands of our niche markets!

And even if you choose to take a more traditional route, such as having a book published by major publishing house, you are still in a better position to help promote yourself and your work.

I'll risk dating myself by giving you a look into what publishing, for example, was like 20 years ago in my experience so you can see how far we have come. My disclaimer here is that I self-publish now, and I haven't submitted anything to a major publisher in about 10 years. I have no idea what it's like today in that area. This is just a bit of history through the eyes of a writer who spent way too much time in a soul-deadening game where choice was out of bounds.

Sure, you could self-publish, but back then it was called "vanity publishing," and the resulting books were poo-pooed by reviewers, distributors, and bookstores. So without the access to the marketing avenues we have now through the Internet, many self-published authors ended up with most of the requisite large print runs getting moldy in their garages.

I went the traditional route, marketing to publishers directly. (I was a children's writer, so at that time I didn't need an agent.) I didn't fare any better than my self-publishing counterparts, because instead of spending money on books to decorate my garage, I spent it on going to far-flung conferences to get contacts, critiques, and the ever-elusive, latest "how-to" information.

Today, not only is self-publishing respectable, but you can even arrange for print-on-demand, use the money you save for a down-payment on a new car, and even have room in your garage to park it!

Now I enjoy trying new, creative ways to reach the people who will benefit from my work, and my entrepreneurial spirit is blossoming!

At that time, however, only "amateurs" would dare to:

• be creative in their marketing approach
• put the the title "freelance writer" on their cards or letterheads
• use any type of letterhead that wasn't plain white or cream with black lettering!

It all seems silly to me now, but at the time, I was easily intimidated, and I followed these ridiculous, soul-deadening rules. (As you can guess, I would not be good corporate material!)

But let's get back to today, before this post turns into a full-fledged rant. (I guess that ship has sailed!) Now, not only can we post and market our own art, photographs, writing, etc., on blogs and websites, and on the sites of joint venture partners, but we can get really creative about that marketing. We can teach teleclasses, make podcasts, post videos, and much more.

Coach David Wood at http://www.solutionbox.com made a simple but brilliant video of himself lying in bed (looking kind of rumpled) in order to drive home the value of early-morning writing as he had adapted it from The Artist's Way author, Julia Cameron. The video was very clever, original, and instructive, and he probably spent next to nothing to make it and get it out there!

Just the other day, I watched a great movie called "Little Miss Sunshine." In the supplemental material on the DVD, the directors and the writer commented on how search engines have made it so much easier to do the research needed to create authentic environments for the scenes of a movie. They also discussed their creative processes and challenges during the birth of this movie. If you're at all interested in how movies are born by creative collaboration, I think you will find their commentary as engrossing as I did.

In the meantime, enjoy this wonderful new environment for creativity! Even creativity itself is beginning to get the respect it deserves! As the pace of our world speeds up, only the most creative responses to it are going to be effective. Our time has come! So let's keep pushing the envelope, both in what we create and how we bring it to the world!

Shine on,

Susan

P.S. See last week's post for details about April Dig-In Days, or just email me at scleaver@dejazzd.com. You may also request 5 sample pages from my guided journal, The Whispering Heart, and/or a complimentary trial coaching tele-session. Thanks!

Transition Can Be the Ladder to Higher Creativity

Hi All!

Transitions come in all shapes and sizes. Some we welcome, some we tolerate, and others...well, later we wonder how we ever got through them.

I'm sure that, like me, you can relate to more than a few of these examples (some more fondly than others!):

• career changes
• falling in love
• getting married
• becoming a parent
• physical, emotional, or spiritual illness
• shifting paradymes
• lifestyle changes
• geographical moves
• habit changes
• life simplification
• finishing a long-term project
• having an empty nest
• becoming a grandparent or great-grandparent
• overcoming a major obstacle
• breakdowns and/or breakthroughs
• value shifts
• midlife
• making and following through on a major decision
• settling into a fulfilling retirement
• personal development shifts

The bad news, as I'm sure you've noticed, is that even the welcomed transitions involve stress. But the good news is that we often bounce back from even our most devastating transitions with a renewed and improved access to our creativity and intuition! This is coming from me, a woman who would rather hug a porcupine than admit that her bitter medicine was good for her. But it's true.

I do NOT subscribe to the theory that we must suffer in order to create. However, there are times when stressful transitions do leave us on a higher rung of the creative ladder, where the view is amazing! And since we have to go through transitions anyway, why not acknowledge and employ this new level of awareness? Coaching can help! Email me at scleaver@dejazzd.com to set up a complimentary trial tele-session.

Many people, like Christopher Reeve, have found creative ways for themselves and many others to benefit from their experiences. So if you find you've been bumped up a rung, voluntarily or not, take in the new sights and start brainstorming!

Good luck,

Susan

P.S. Complimentary April Dig-In Days are available two ways!

Via teleconference on Sat., April 28, from 8:00am to 10:10am Eastern, when we will tackle projects from our homes or offices with brief group support calls at the beginning, middle, and end. For more information, contact me at scleaver@dejazzd.com. Pre-registration is required by noon Eastern, Friday, April 27.

If this date doesn't work for you, email me at scleaver@dejazzd.com to set up a one-on-one Dig-In Day at a time convenient for you!

"I got more done on this project in the first hour than I've done in the past month!" --Mary Beth Krawchuk, Dig-In Day participant

Creative Stewardship

Hi!

We have all been blessed with the wonderful gift of creativity. (Yes, even those of you who don't see yourselves as creative...yet!) We have been entrusted with a sacred stewardship of this precious gift. Here are a few ideas for nurturing and protecting it.

Roots and Wings

Your creative nature needs the security of a strong root system. This includes taking excellent care of the vehicle through which it emerges...you! Also, keep financial pressure off of it and you by arranging a dependable way to stay solvent while your creative dreams are developing. You may need to keep a full-time or part-time job and/or simplify in order to do this, depending on your situation. I know, it's a bummer, but you will be glad you did.

Learning and practicing your craft will help provide roots, too. So does patience.

Your creativity also needs wings! The wings can be developed and strengthened by the following, to name a few:

• intuition
• passion
• enthusiasm
• experimentation
• joy
• play
• authenticity
• spirituality

Trust Yourself

I love this quote from Dr. John Dimartini: "When the voice and the vision on the inside become more profound and more clear and loud than the opinions on the outside, you've mastered your life." Dr. Dimartini is one of the teachers from the DVD/book/audiobook The Secret (www.thesecret.tv).

Protect Your Ideas from Premature Criticism

Examine and adjust your self-talk and limiting beliefs about yourself and your work. Share your blossoming ideas only with those you can trust to give them the gentleness they need to thrive.

Review My Past Posts

Most of my past posts offer ideas that will also help you to best carry out the fulfilling responsibility of creative stewardship.

Share What You Know

As we support each other in this effort, we are taking the idea to creative stewardship to a higher level by supporting not just our own, but the creativity of our world community. So please share your ideas, comments, and questions here, and anywhere else that they will stimulate thought and elevate the positive effects of the creative process.

Thanks,

Susan

Multi-Tasker's Delight!

Greetings!

Are you a multi-tasker? Here's a buffet of practices and healing modalities that double as jump-starts for your creativity and intuition!

Hydrotherapy
Let's start with a very easy and accessible one that you do already every time you take a shower! Your mind wanders and leaves space for the ideas to come through. A bath is great, too, and a whirlpool is even better! What a great invitation for your right brain to kick into gear!

Journaling
Journaling expert Kathleen Adams calls her journal her "79-cent therapist," because it's always ready to listen without judgement. Julia Cameron, best-selling author of The Artist's Way, has an exercise in that book called "Blasting Through Blocks" that I use a lot in my journaling.

The guided journal I've written, The Whispering Heart, contains fifty quotes and accompanying questions to get your thoughts moving. It's available through me for $10 US. Please email me for more information at scleaver@dejazzd.com. Tax and shipping will depend on where you live.
Or you can ask for a free 5-page sample!

Meditation
Meditation is also great for getting out of your own way to let the ideas and intuitions come through. Meditating with a group is even more powerful. If you have trouble with sitting meditation, try walking meditation. The rhythm of the movement is a plus.

Reiki
Intuitive pops are common during Reiki treatments for both the giver and the receiver. Reiki practitioners generally see this get stronger over time in themselves. Level One practitioners can give Reiki to others and to themselves.

If you'd like to know more about Reiki, you can send me your questions anytime at scleaver@dejazzd.com. I've been at the Master-Teacher Level of Reiki for about a year, and I've noticed some interesting ways that is has affected my outlook (and therefore my output.)

Massage
Again, this is a way to open the door and let the "still, small voice" be heard. I particularly love Shiatsu massage, which works by stimulating the accupressure points along the body's meridians.

However, as long as the method you choose is gentle enough to be relaxing, I believe it can double as a welcome mat for creative ideas and intuition.

Dream Study
You can do this on your own, or better yet, with a therapist who is experienced in working with dreams. Dreams are loaded with creative and intuitive messages! A good therapist will know what questions to ask to help you make connections between your waking life and your dream life. Keep a notebook and pen by your bed so the dreams don't slip away. The symbols and metaphors will amaze you!

Labyrinth Walks
This ancient form of meditation takes you on a meandering path to the center of the Labyrinth, where you can sit and meditate for a while and then meander back out. It produces a similar quieting of the mind as I have discussed above, and again, it invites your creativity and intuition to come out of hiding.

There are indoor Labyrinths, outdoor Labyrinths, and even finger Labyrinths that I've seen carried in catalogs. Give it a try!

Life Coaching
Coaches are trained to ask expansive questions, to be thoughtful listeners, and to be effective brainstorming partners. We also encourage you and hold you accountable during that bumpy stretch between your "ah-ha!" and your finished product.

Please contact me for a free trial phone session at scleaver@dejazzd.com!

Gestalt Therapy
This is an interesting and revealing ride, and your imagination is in the driver's seat! The therapist will guide you as you act out dialogues between one part of yourself and another or between you and another person, object, animal, dream figure or creative project! And because you are doing this without forethought, you get to the heart of the issue quickly. Your left brain doesn't have time to interfer or object!

Please post your comments about your experiences with these practices!

Thanks,
Susan

Connect the Dots to Holistic Creativity

Hi All!

Our creativity is intregrated with almost everything we do. What habits do you need to adjust to structure the areas below into a firm foundation for your creativity?

Your Body
This one sounds so obvious, but in the past, I've been guilty of overlooking it. I was living in my head all the time while my body was screaming for restoration of my health and energy. As you can guess, all that pushing and striving didn't do a thing for my creativity or my well-being!

Your Mind
Provide your mind with lots of fertile input about your topic and about life in general. Keep your mind clear and relaxed, and choose the right level of challenge for you that will put you into the flow state, where concentration becomes effortless and you lose track of time.

Your Spirit
When I started studying the creative process about 20 years ago, I was surprised to find that it was linked to spirituality! Julia Cameron covers this beautifully in The Artist's Way; I highly recommend it. Develop your intuition (there are lots of great books available on this). Give meditation and solitude a try.

Perhaps the trickiest part is the paradox of passive volition. This is where you clarify what it is you want to create, and maybe play around with it a bit. Then you back off, and keep an open, accepting attitude, listening for the pieces as they come together. If you're a fan of the movie/book/audiobook "The Secret," by Rhonda Byrne, (www.thesecret.tv) then you are familiar with this already.

Your Emotions
The best advice here is simple but not always easy: feel your emotions, acknowledge and process them, and keep them moving on through. Don't bog yourself down with stuck emotions.
Journaling can help a lot here. I've written a guided journal called "The Whispering Heart," available through me for $10 US. Please email me at scleaver@dejazzd.com. Tax and shipping will depend on where you live. You can also request a 5-page free sample from the book!

Your Environment
See last week's post on creativity and your environment. Your work environment doesn't have to be opulent, but it does need to be nurturing and supportive.

Your Community
In The Artist's Way, Julia Cameron says that we need "believing mirrors." These are the people who will hold faith in your work until you are ready to hold it for yourself. Barbara Sher, a career counselor and author, says, "Isolation is the dream-killer."

My friend Mary Beth and I have weekly "Dig-Ins" where we call each other and state what we are going to work on for the next hour. Then we hang up and get to work, followed by a check-in call at the end to see what we've accomplished. Instant accountability and focus! After our first hour, Mary Beth said, "I got more done on this project in one hour than I have in the past month!" It sounds simple, but it works. Email me at scleaver@dejazzd.com if you'd like to try it. I don't charge for this; it helps me, too!

All my best,
Susan

P.S. A special note to those who feel they have put their creativity aside in order to raise kids: raising children is one of the most creative things you can do! You wear many creative hats as a parent: entertainer, problem-solver, role model, soul soother, cheerleader and facilitator for their talents, and much more. Enjoy your on-the-job training!