I love Jill's humor and the way she reminds me to take life lightly. Her "Modern Day Muse" book is a great way to learn about and play with many creativity principles. Her new book, "The Awe-manac" is a fun twist on "The Old Farmers Almanac", and is filled to the brim with Jill's colorful art, ideas, quotes, birthday "awe-servances", Toasts of the Day, humor and Doses of Mirth (and that's not all)! The book calls to your creative side to come out and play.
Page 5 says that The Awe-manac will also help you to:
~retrain your thinking to focus on thoughts that make you more confident, creative and joy-filled
~see your day in a more desirable light
~be inspired by the many muses and amusing events there are in the world
~be reminded of the wonder of who you are
~have an abundance of creative prompts to use for yourself, classes, workshops, with coaching clients, or for writing, collage, art, doodling and just thinking.
~turn a dread-locked attitude (that's an attitude that begins the day with "I have to...") into one of eager-anticipation (and that would be an attitude of "I get to...")
~discover how life's daily events can entertain you, unearth your hidden cleverness, and accelerate what genius might already be flowing.
~wake up your still life and send it dancing into morning glories
~celebrate moments of delight, wonder and amusement alone or with others
~feed your mind
~press purple periwinkles flat
The image you see is the page for today, March 26th. View larger image. (I hope it works for you like it does for me.)
For her tour, I've asked Jill a few questions....
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Wow, Lisa. You ask hard questions. But it was fun to answer them anyway. Thanks so much for hosting The Awe-manac Blog Tour! I enjoyed stopping at yours.
1. "Being creative is the ultimate high of being alive" from page 2 of "The Awe-manac - A Daily Dose of Wonder". Would you talk about your thoughts of creativity being important even to one who isn't in a "creative" career like writing, dancing, painting, sculpture, music, photography, etc.?
Well, okay. The flump (financial slump) we are in is requiring creativity from everyone. Creative ways to make a dollar go further, creative ways to get business, even the re-creation of who we are without the lifestyle we were used to are important ways to awaken those creative juices.
Our thoughts create our reality so the more creatively resourceful we are, the more versatile and adaptive we can be. I cannot think of a way that creativity cannot enhance one's existence. Creativity in relationships, parenting, choosing an attitude, in work helps us to excel in all those areas.
Even if we are not in a creative career we can explore writing, art, music or whatever in a way that brings us joy. We don't have to be experts to find the fulfillment of a creative moment.
2. I've heard from you that perfectionism is quite common. How does it affect people's creativity and their lives in general? What suggestions do you have for dealing with perfectionism?
I don't have the perfect answer for that so I'm not going to answer it at all. All or nothing at all is one way perfectionists get blocked: "Either I'm great or I'm not good enough," "Either I know everything and have everything I need to begin or I don't begin at all." But I have an entire Modern Day Muse named Spills that will free perfectionists from the joylessness they can experience. The main thing Spills says is practice, lighten-up and lower your expectations at the beginning. Give yourself permission to be bad and you'll begin, and then you'll get better. Enjoy the process.
3. What question would you like me to ask you about The Awe-manac that hasn't been asked?
Someone wrote me today asking if it was too late to begin reading The Awe-manac since it begins in January. You can begin reading The Awe-manac anytime and keep reading it again and again. It's perennial; each page is a creativity workshop and a piece of inspiration in and of itself. Once you've finished the year, begin again. The more you read the messages, the more their meaning and power will penetrate negativity and refocus your existence to one of celebration. And you'll notice that your answers to prompts will change from year to year, if not from week to week.
4. Knowing that you are a proponent of not taking life so seriously, what is one small thing people can do today to bring a little bit more humor and lightness to their day?
Read The Awe-manac. It has a Dose of Mirth in it daily. Also watch The Daily Show, Ellen, and any comedy that makes them laugh. Hang around people who make you laugh and who easily laugh at you… well, with you.
5. My favorite prompt in The Awe-manac for today, March 26, is to make up your own holiday. What would one of your made up holidays be? (Include its name, the way it should be celebrated, ceremonies or rituals, decorations, costumes and food to be consumed.)
The Awe-manac already has several of my made-up holidays, but if I were to add another one it would be Lie on the Ground and Look Up Through the Trees Day. It should be celebrated by finding your favorite tree; putting a comfy quilt on the ground, lying down and looking up through the tree into the sky (make sure there's no birds directly overhead). Everyone would do this at their favorite time of the day and write poetry, prose or song, or paint inspired by the view and then meet with their friends for dinner to share. Dinner would traditionally end with peach cobbler.
6. Would you give us a creativity prompt involving nature?
The one above.
7. What is the address of your Awe-manac blog? Click here.
8. Please tell us more about the following or point us to a website where we can get more information:
Kaizen-Muse Creativity Coaching
Modern Day Muse Groups
Kaizen-Muse Creativity Coaching training
Thank you, Jill! I loved hosting you here and wish the best for you and The Awe-manac! Thank you for offering your gifts to us and the world. See you in class! :) Lisa
Now, here's your chance to Comment and Make Up Your Own Holiday!
Please comment on our Q&A session, and leave your perfect or imperfect made up holiday!
Here's my imperfect holiday:
Cloud Shape Day. Go outside on a day when the clouds are fluffy and numerous to your favorite place in nature where the sky is visible. Relax, get comfortable and gaze up at the sky, finding recognizable shapes in the clouds. Wear your favorite colors found in the clouds during sunsets and sunrises, or white. Make and decorate with cottonball shapes, perhaps the shapes you saw in the clouds. Eat marshmallows.
What's your made up holiday?
Thank you for stopping by!
