Earlier this year, I attended a meditation retreat and the retreat opened me to a new way of being.
Yes, like all retreats, the exquisite nectar of the experience faded over time… yet with this retreat, something stayed different, if you will forgive me that awkward phrase.
“Something stayed different.” Namely, a knowing that I am part of, and create from, a never-ending, ever-expansive wholeness.
Yes, I had touched that knowing before, but now? Now I can touch it at any time (subject to change, no doubt, so let me say, “So far, I can touch it anytime).” This is especially true when I am writing, teaching, creating the Oasis calls, or during my retreats. Something has stayed different.
I started calling that “something” creative radiance when talking to a dear friend. I’m calling it that because those two words symbolize the connection to this source and because they remind me to turn toward it when I am in the midst of creating. Plus I just really like those words.
Recently, I got curious and I asked some of my creative friends, “What comes up for you when I say ‘creative radiance?'” and “How do you nurture this connection, this knowing?” The conversations were so juicy, they turned into The Creative Radiance Toolkit, and as a preview of the Toolkit, here are a few of the contributors with their thoughts on Creative Radiance.
See if their words remind you of the knowing of creative radiance in your heart and body (the mind is often the last to get it).
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“When I think of sitting down to write these days, my mind and heart go quiet. Not still, but quiet. The gentle part of me I’ve cultivated shows up and says: ‘You can do this. Just do this small part today, then do the next small part tomorrow. That’s all.’ I’ve learned that creative radiance is the sun reflecting on a lake, not a lightening bolt above a crashing ocean – illuminating enough to let the ideas percolate, but not so much that it scares me back inside.”
– Anna Guest-Jelley, founder & CEO (Curvy Executive Officer)
“Creative radiance…
1) Self express (SHINE!) because that’s what it means to be fully alive. And it feels good.
2) Give that expression (SHINE!) with the intention to be helpful to others. Pick one or many ways to serve: inspire, entertain, alleviate suffering, encourage, inform.
3) Earn. (SHINE!) in a way that supports your life. Pick one or many ways to earn: income, recognition, mutual appreciation.”
– Danielle LaPorte, best-selling author, motivational speaker, entrepreneur, and blogger
“What does Creative Radiance mean? Not what you think.
Which is why opening to It often goes like this…
– Eric Klein, meditation teacher, best-selling leadership author, ordained swami of the Kriya Yoga lineage
“For me, creative radiance has everything to do with the spark that fuels the action and very little to do with the actual result. I believe it comes from a place of being open, receptive and awake, and inherently requires a certain level of vulnerability and TRUST. Whether it’s raw and gritty or shiny and beautiful, creative radiance is inspiration in action.”
– Flora Bowley, artist, author, inspirationalist
“Creative radiance pulses outward, around, through, and between. It is the orb we shine when we are engaged in our best work with others and with our surroundings. It’s the afterglow of what we contribute through making fresh and elevating films and poems, strategies and sculptures, books and businesses, moments and meals. It is not measurable, but it is a vital element for our thriving as a species.”
– Jeffrey Davis, author, speaker, creativity consultant
“Creative radiance, to me, is a pretty way to try to express the ever present goodness that I can find no beginning nor end of. When I turn toward it, my whole being relaxes, and from there, creating becomes not something I have to do to prove myself, but total play.”
– Jennifer Louden, best-selling author, teacher of this and that, and curator of this Toolkit
“Creative Radiance is the sweet spot between being served by our art and serving others with it. It’s the awareness that the work we do — whether it’s writing or painting or dancing or parenting or anything in between — is our best medicine. It’s our why yes, world, I-did-indeed-wake-up-like-this superpower that will carry us forward and carry us home.”
– Laraine Herring, author, professor, creativity consultant
“Creative radiance is about letting the Divine spark within you shine forth and express itself unhindered. I call this part of you your “Inner Pilot Light” because although it may grow dim, it never extinguishes. It was shining before you were born and will keep shining after you die. When you peel back the layers of all that is not the true, pure essence of you, inspiration, creativity and the generative force of what calls you to contribute your genius into the world can flow unimpeded, causing your Inner Pilot Light to burst into a bonfire of that which wishes to be born through the sacred vessel of YOU.”
– Lissa Rankin, MD, bestselling author, physician, speaker, and founder of the Whole Health Medicine Institute
“For me, it describes what happens when writing and magic are intertwined. Connection is a big part of it: when I can be present in my writing, I connect to something that feels whole and exquisite. Even when I’m just writing a terrible first draft — if I can be honest and real when I am making something, then I feel connected to life.”
– Sarah Selecky, author and creator of beloved courses, Story Is a State of Mind and The Story Intensive
“Creative radiance is a symbiotic exchange we engage in with near and distant environments… taking in from the world and then releasing yourself and your work, which is an extension of that authentic voice, into the world…
As simple and as natural as breathing.
When breathe, we take in air, we inspire, inhale, part of the world comes into us – when that air is released, we expire, exhale, and part of us goes into the world. No push. No effort.
How we are most naturally built to be in the world.”
– Wendy Saver, award-winning teacher & actress
Illustration by Brian Andreas,
writer & artist behind StoryPeople
Sit back and let their words wash over you.
Let them turn you toward that which you already know to be true, that which exists outside of effort, that which fuels your truest desires, that which loves and accepts you just as you are.
That which so wants you to create and share your genius with your world.
That which is beyond words and ideas.
Breathe it in. Breathe it out so all beings may remember!
Love,
Jen
Oh yes, The Creative Radiance Toolkit – so delicious!
It releases next Tuesday, October 27th, but only for 72 hours. It’s a curated pop-up love letter designed to help you remember Creative Radiance so that you can create – and share your work – with more ease and consistency and joy!!!
The Toolkit is a gorgeous collection of e-books, e-courses, music, intimate conversations, audio and video experiences, and writing prompts, whose contributors include everybody in this blog post + Alexandra Franzen, Andrea Scher, Chris Zydel, Christine Mason Miller, Christine Valters Paintner, Dani Shapiro, Dave Ursillo, Hiro Boga, Jen Lee, Tim Manley, Julie Daley, Kass Hall, Kelli Russell Agodon, Kira Elliott, Laurie Wagner, Linda Sivertsen, Melody Ross, Miriam Hall, and Susan Piver.
I am so proud to have curated this – there is something like 80% original content in the Toolkit! – and $8 of each sale goes directly to the refugee relief effort.
Stayed tuned October 27th for a note from me with all the details to see if it’s for you.
Until then, why wait to cultivate your own awareness of the ever present grace of your (of THE) creative radiance? Indeed!!