Deep Creativity: Seven Ways to Spark Your Creative Spirit

Description

A deeply intimate exploration of the "7 Ways" to creativity led by three authors whose collaboration provides meditations on the creative process as well as practical and reflective exercises. Creative expression has increasingly become a prized component in many of our life's endeavors; in fact, there are many paths to instilling and nourishing creativity. The three authors of Deep Creativity distill these paths down to the "7 Ways to creativity"- The Way of Love, The Way of Nature, The Way of the Muse, The Way of Suffering, The Way of Practice, The Way of the Sacred, and The Way of Art; and invite the reader to explore each for themselves. The authors show how the 7 Ways have informed their own creative process and provide reflective and practical exercises on each. Grounded in Jungian psychology, Deep Creativity offers practical guidance for getting in touch with your own unconscious reservoir as well as engaging your everyday world to deepen the source of creative expression. Wherever one is on the creative path--a beginner or established creative--this book offers not only practical workbook-like exercises but is also a contemplation on the creative process itself. The result is a highly resourceful book, which will not only inspire the creative process, but also uniquely contribute to our understanding of creativity as a deeply human and embodied endeavor.

DEBORAH ANNE QUIBELL, PhD, has published in various academic journals, and has embraced the online publishing world, engaging with some of the top international and widely followed publications (The House of Yoga; Huffington Post; Levekunst, art of life; The Urban Howl; Expanded Consciousness; Rebelle Society). She holds a PhD in depth psychology with emphasis in Jungian and archetypal studies; is a senior instructor for The Institute for Inner Studies; and teaches pranic healing, yoga, and meditation in studio, corporate, and online environments. She has an essay published in Chicken Soup for the Soul- Dreams and Premonitions. JENNIFER LEIGH SELIG, PhD, is a lifelong educator with over 27 years of classroom experience and is currently at Pacifica Graduate Institute where she is founding chair of the innovative master's degree program in Engaged Humanities and the Creative Life. Along with teaching and photography, writing is her passion. DENNIS PATRICK SLATTERY, PhD, has taught for the past 45 years and for the past 20 years, has taught in the counseling and clinical psychology programs at Pacifica Graduate Institute. He is the author, coauthor, editor, or coeditor of 24 books including six volumes of poetry; he also coauthored one novel. He has published over 200 articles on popular culture, mythology, psychology, and more.

"Deep Creativity will live on my favorite bookshelf, alongside The Artist's Way, Bird by Bird, Flow, and Big Magic, all books that inspire the creative spirit. What Deep Creativity adds is inspiration for the creative soul, diving deep as the others fly high. The authors, three voices from three generations, draw the reader into an open-hearted, open-ended conversation. They share personal stories and universal struggles, then invite us in to creatively examine our own thoughts, feelings, memories, and dreams as we explore and deepen our own creative potential."-Cheri Steinkellner, corecipient winner of four Emmys, two Golden Globes, a Writers Guild Award, and multiple other awards for writing and producing Cheers and Teacher's Pet "Deep Creativity is a call to acknowledge each person's originality that inspires their creativity. The authors tell us that if we are faithful to our own idiosyncratic gifts and ignore the voice of the critic, desire and love will fuel our creative fire. What inspires me most about this delightful book are the stories told by each author about their unique creative process and the reflections they offer the reader at the end of each chapter to spark our creative spirit."-Maureen Murdock, PhD, author of The Heroine's Journey "Deep Creativity is an appeal, reminder, and summons to engage the autonomous "Other" that resides within each of us, just outside the range of ego intentionality. The authors appeal to our innate desire to create the world around us and to reclaim our coauthorship of experience that seeks incarnation in the world through us. Through examples and precepts, they lead the reader into a new experience of what is oldest in each of us."-James Hollis, PhD, author of Living an Examined Life "The title alone calls one to reflection and adventure. The chapters propel us deeper while the topics assist in our soul's singing when engaged in the art of creativity, an act that makes us all feel alive. These three muses touch our souls in ways only poetic writing can, while simultaneously providing the inspiration for the reader to reach for a pen, brush, instrument, or their creative method of choice. The readings are like medicine, with a probable side effect of propelling others to be creative."-G. Kwame Scruggs, PhD, founder and director of Alchemy, Inc. "For those whose creative life could use a boost as well as a grounding, reading and engaging with Deep Creativity offers a warm breeze of inspiration, as if from the original Altar of the Muses in Athens. This unique work combines probing essays into both the madness and euphoria of making art with a range of practices designed to rekindle the love and attentiveness needed for soulful self-expression."-Phil Cousineau, author of Burning the Midnight Oil "This is a must-read for anyone looking for insight or inspiration into the creative process. Learn from the master teachers."-Selden Edwards, author of the New York Times best seller The Little Book "Deep Creativity is a joy to read. Its creative format combines meditations to enhance seven creative gifts, providing essays on how each of the three authors-notable scholars all-experience each path. My stereotypical expectations about the creative life were continually upended by surprising, delightful, and unexpected twists and turns. I never before thought that a meditation book could be a page-turner. This one was, for me."-Carol S. Pearson, author of Awakening the Heroes Within "The practices within this book are like portals into which one enters a deeply creative and healing space. Without much effort, and in a myriad of ways, we are led closer to the creative force that calls to each of us. The poems, images, stories, and contemplations in Deep Creativity stir even the dimmest of embers within the reader, and page by page the creative fire is reignited. Thank you to Deborah, Jennifer, and Dennis for weaving a path that leads us back to the creative life. Your collaborative voices in Deep Creativity make a sum much more generous than its parts."-Kim Krans, creator of The Wild Unknown