Creativity Tip:
Design Your Own Muse
Artellagram 11-29-12


In ARTbundance™, we call upon dozens and dozens of ARTsignments™ to guide our clients and students to transforming any situation using creativity. I've now taught seven classes of ARTbundance™ Trainees in the ARTbundance™ Certification Training (ACT) and I can easily say that one of our trainees' favorite ARTsignments™ is an exercise we call, "Create a Muse".

In this ARTsignment™, we literally create a Muse (or Guide, Guardian, Angel, Soul Companion, etc.) to serve as a guide throughout any particular journey, in any circumstance. Trainees begin their ACT training by designing a Muse to accompany them through their training as they launch their new ARTbundance™ business or practice. They then learn how to encourage their clients to design Muses to support all kinds of scenarios and achieve great results.

Personally, I've created dozens of Muses to guide me through endless situations. I even designed a whole fleet of Muses, one for each letter of the alphabet, which eventually found a home in the Artella e-course, Artella's AlphaBetter Muse Workshop: 26 Inspiring Art Journaling Muses for All-Around BETTER Living! Just last week, I sketched out a new Muse to help me with a particularly befuddling technology situation. I simply drew "Web Server Starla" in my journal, gave her a magic wand embellished her with a bit of glitter, and asked her to help me find the magic in the situation. Sure enough, when I came back to the situation, I was full of new ideas and re-ignited energy for sparkle-dust problem solving.

How might you Create Your Own Muse to help you?  Here are some tips:

1. First, decide on a topic for your Muse. To decide on your topic, see if you can identify one of the biggest challenges in your life right now. Can you identify it in just a couple of words?

2. Create a Muse who will support you in transforming this topic. Examples might include a "Decision Muse", a "Prosperity Angel", or a "Health and Vitality Guide". When my biggest challenge was time, I created a "Time Guide": a supportive, benevolent figure to help me re-imagine and re-shape my relationship to time. Here is my "Time Tango Muse", which is one of the first projects presented in Creating Time:




3. Immerse yourself in the process of creating your Muse, using any materials you like: collage, painting, drawing, doll-making, sculpture, mixed media, or even simply writing a creative, detailed description of the Muse. A quick way to create a three-dimensional Muse is to alter an existing doll or stuffed animal, and fill it with the personality of your Muse. In the example below, I took a vintage paper doll, gave her wings, and placed her in a fun environment to support her theme: "Improvisational Girl", a Muse to help me "wing it" when I ran into unexpected challenges:




4. As you create your Muse, see if you can "hear" her voice. What kinds of inspiration and guidance does she give you? What do you find yourself most wanting to hear from her? Encouragement? Affirmation? Gentle Pushing? New Ideas? Allow clarity about your own needs to emerge as you work on creating your Muse.

5. After your Muse is complete, keep it where you can see it often. This alone is very powerful; you now have a visual, tangible reminder of your desire to activate something new in your life. You also can deepen your relationship with it by engaging in a meaningful dialogue. Writing letters is great way to do this. To start, write a letter to your Muse, asking the most pressing questions on your mind:

Dear Muse,

I really could use your help. I'm feeling…

Allow yourself to continue writing, sharing whatever thoughts, feelings, and questions are coming to the surface.

Then, allow your Muse to write back to you. For example:

Dear Marney,

I'm so glad you reached out to me. I really want you to know…

Again, just allow yourself to continue writing, only this time you are writing from your Muse's point of view. Imagine that you are simply taking dictation from your Muse, and writing down what she wants you to know.

Writing these letters is a fun way to immediately access your own creativity to tap into your deepest wisdom and rediscover what you already know. You can continue to reach out to your Muse whenever you need to find new layers of guidance and support along the way.

To learn other ARTsignments™ and see how they can be used in coaching, teaching, and even in enhancing your own life, I invite you to join us for the free teleclass on Wednesday, December 5: ARTbundance™ in Action: A Creative Romp in the ARTsignment™ Sandbox.
Applications for the 2013 session of ACT are being accepted through December 15. You can learn more about ACT and request an application here.

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