Creativity Archives - Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Creative Spark Brings New Life Opportunities

A creative spark often comes from places that you don’t actively participate in, but that you see and appreciate. Like at a fair.

It’s easy as a spectator.

Like watching dance. Or theater.

And when I was 5, it was a tall man on stilts at the Ringling Bros. & Barnum and Bailey Circus. My family won 4 free tickets to the show. I was barely old enough to remember.

But I do vividly remember the lights, colors, and a show that was like nothing I’d ever seen before in show creativity.

Then years later came Cirque du Soleil. I saw “O” around my post-college years. It was future-proof original.

And alive and kicking today, there’s still nothing like the international traveling show. It’s in a league of its own. With characters in opera-esque costume designs doing Olympic stunts.

And The Spark is by far one of the most inspirational creativity books I’ve read. It’s all about the behind-the-scenes Cirque creative wizardry, executed at the highest level in my opinion.

They gotta dazzle and keep it practical safe too. Maybe one day they’ll add in robots as characters… just sayin’! 😊

But no matter what, it’s always a plus when the human audience (you and me) feel something.

Because then new ideas spark.

Inspiration comes from feeling ignited, and then you can manifest ideas in your daily life.

That’s a goal of creativity. Coming up with ideas inside you that inspire.

And an idea you can spark in yourself today.

…Where maybe you make dreams visible again in your life that may have gotten buried?

Connect your dots, of dreams to reality.

Feel, get inspiration, grow ideas, and manifest creativity.

It was done by the creators of Cirque du Soleil.

And Leonardo’s Da Vinci’s Vitruvius Man inspired the wheel character.

A wheel is a metaphor for completeness. It’s also a metaphor for getting to places.

So you can use those imaginary images to make your dreams come alive. And spark ideas.

Another character is Quidam… inspired by surrealist, Rene Magritte’s Charlie Chaplin headless characters holding umbrellas scattered in a repetitive pattern in the sky.

Magritte also used thick white dreamy clouds in his paintings to stir up imagination and wonder. Or a painting of a painting on an easel of an open window that blended with the outdoor landscape, giving a same-distance illusion (trompe l’oeil).

You don’t need to see a magic show to be amazed.

Creativity is happening all around us when we look.

That gets us inspired and our wheels turning.

Sometimes creativity can bring in far-out surreal elements (what’s not real and blend with the real).

And this is how real life is…

We have our own perceptions that can be off-color, but is our reality.

And we go about life with our perspectives.

Some factual and some not.

Doing the best we can with what we have presented to us.

Letting our imagination fill in the gaps.

And memory experiences to re-purpose ideas (like fashion trends where what’s old is new again).

Where the current times have changed, so the context and setting is different. So it’s a new idea.

And re-inventing is creative.

It’s our secret happy place.

You can re-invent anywhere.

Sitting on a yoga mat. Or climbing up a tree house. Relaxing in a bath tub. Or laying down on our magic carpet in our reading nook.

Before you know it, you can come up with ideas that are entirely new revelations to you… and maybe help the world in a unique way that no one else can.

It’s better to imagine and create than to follow because then you can freely use your one and only heart and feelings, and make stronger contact with yourself. And the world.

You find your purpose.

Where you lead.

And that can immerse from creativity and passion work (that’s love in work terms).

That’s what most the performers in Cirque du Soleil discovered.

And the most beautiful part is that the story is not about the death defying acts… it’s about developing character.

And the real characters behind the acting-performing characters.

That’s what our lives are about. Finding and being our best selves in the world.

Even if today you have a boring desk job.

Or lowly under-appreciated work.

That helps build character.

You go through to get to.

Let go of the old that’s temporary and changeable.

Pivoting is permanent.

Using your creative talents in your work is an example of the best of both worlds, where you give and receive.

And if you’re not happy with what you’re doing today, now is your best time to make a change no matter your situation.

There will never be a better time (because right now is all we’re promised). And time is your biggest asset.

If you don’t know what your creative story future is or will be, you don’t have a vision, or are waiting for your clues to unfold, let me encourage you here…

I’ve gotten only one real vision in my life.

And it wasn’t from a vision board or a dream I had.

It was a spiritual one that I didn’t orchestrate.

…I didn’t even agree to participate in.

But I trusted that the higher Universe knows and knew better than me.

And it changed the trajectory of my entire life. It uprooted me, my work, my relationships, and how I saw life from then on.

And then life got quiet and went on.

Like all of us, I’m taking one step in front of the other without knowing what’s next.

So I remember my past for clues.

I grew up around creative art influences.

Like art museums, fabric stores, art supply stores, art class at school, library books, and magazines that were often my creative inspirations.

And I loved making art, anytime.

In school I made stained glass art nouveau inspiration pieces made from tissue paper and construction paper.

And paper mache masks from plastic milk gallon jars. I even made a clay pot that got fired up in the kiln.

…And as I remember, mine never came out of the kiln.

And like getting lost in the fire, none of my school artwork from the past was saved.

…Except a fiction story book I wrote. Where I made a book cover out of cardboard and polka-dotted wallpaper (…where did that come from?) that I special red duct tape bound together.

I learned to be resourceful. And I used my color pencils to illustrate how the rainbow came about. And completed my work with my author page written in black marker.

…How cute to have a second grader autobiography when you’ve not even been around 10 years. 😊

But that special inspiration piece came full-circle to landing back to my writing decades later.

Somehow in life’s busyness and sometimes blinding chaos, destiny found a way back in.

And in your life, if you need a creative spark, look (or look again) at your early years. There are past clues. 🐾 They’re there.

See what has boomeranged back around. 🪃

And then play like children do with the idea.

Be resourceful with your idea. 🧦🖍️📝🎨

Joyfully make a cluttered mess outside of the boundaries.

And if your idea sticks around the next day, and the week after, and then a month later, take it as a meant-to-be sign.

When you look back a year, the writing will be on the wall.

Your passion calling and creativity will look like it was right under your nose the entire time. And it was.

It was just waiting for you.

It was ready.

What are you waiting for?

Muse to Create (and Self-Doubt Less)

Muse is a word that I find amusing. I’ll tell you why… it’s about a person, but one that you can’t see. So it’s imaginary, but I know it’s not from my life experiences where a muse is real.

Muse is a person and this mermaid statue is not real and not imaginary either. — This unreal muse is the most photographed woman in the world. 🧜‍♀️

The muse I believe is love and unlike humans (including ourselves), doesn’t act outside of love.

Because it comes from a perfect place …not Earth, that’s imperfect.

And while I have my version, I’m a magnet to hear how others describe and see a muse in their lives…

Especially writers who often talk about an inspirational muse in the room when they’re writing. Some even call them angels, elves, and intelligence like Author Steven Pressfield.

And Stephen King who’s also gifted at providing imagery through words where he describes a muse as “he’s a basement type of guy.”

…Maybe you have to be named Steve to get this gifting? 😊

Kidding aside, I learned who my real muse is in my quiet time.

When I was by myself and happen to be writing, having someone in the quiet space I was working in who helped and inspired me… and well, is not such a bad thing.

…So I wholeheartedly agree that a divine and inspiring muse sits with any of us when we get quiet enough… and is invited in to join the party.

This becomes meaningful inspiration when creating something.

Early on when I started blogging, I had a divine intervention that let me know who my muse is in a deeper (life changing) way.

It was a parallel season where inspiration aligned with the divine intervention.

And so my perspectives are based on that very real life experience that played out.

And back then, my muse was a voice inside me that whispered.

…But not faintly in the air like a passing thought. The muse was clearly audible to me as though outside of me but was inside my thoughts.

And this occurred all day and night until I fell asleep for weeks.

…Strange, I know.

But so is life, yes??

…If you think about it.

…Everything is a miracle.

Just look in the mirror at the person staring back with body parts intact or look out at nature busy at work day and night.

And the longer you’re here on the planet, the more you get to see the patterns in your life that make sense out of the organized chaos happening around you.

You can gain and use those wisdoms to a better life than the one you started with.

Connecting dots, you realize that there are odd circumstances that are unique to your life and smartly see how they help you. Some are coincidences that beat the odds.

…And this is to help you get to your purposes and destiny.

It’s meant to be discovered.

On our own, we could easily mess up what could and should be ours. I know I would.

The luck, coincidences, and supernatural happenings we experience are unexplainable, but meant to help you see or do something special with it.

…Like finding your muse and living out your life purpose.

And if you’re not there yet, don’t worry it’ll come if you’re looking.

Try to connect-the-dots often and it can happen sooner.

Sit quietly.

Get curious and try connecting-even-more-dots… that have the answers.

And so you can benefit from intelligence insight downloaded to you (from external) that isn’t just what most think of as our brain’s intelligence.

From my divine inspiration experience, I believe (and I know) there are life forces beyond us helping orchestrate and co-create our lives in the background that were here long before we were.

We have the opportunity to live a 4-d life (manifesting abundantly and creating beyond us) if we let go of what doesn’t serve us, so we can tap into what does.

The good forces are a helping hand that are happy to co-create with us.

We get divine inspiration (inside of us). Then when we take action, we’re acting in co-creation.

But then there’s also the bad forces influencing us from the inside. It’s dangerous because it’s invisible to us (like the good forces).

But the bad forces are doing damage and louder in our minds if we allow like the Blind Ego you may have heard about living in our subconscious.

So I like to think of the good forces more like a higher soaring Eagle. It’s Eagle vs. ego.

When you purposefully make the eagle visible daily, then that’s when things get good in your life. 🦅

And you get all of this if you believe in and study Creation (like I do).

If everyone got intent enough to grow this spiritual type of self-awareness in them as a personal life mission, the world would be a Better Place.

Because each person would be better.

Individuals would be aware of what they put out that’s not just their work outputs, outward acts, and appearances.

People would emit less chaos from the get-go, bypassing going through costly trial-and-error lessons learned that others feel.

And following life’s organized ways that we didn’t come up with, they would be the best version of themselves.

And if this is befuddling to you… have you ever met a person who has different sides that when you ask others what they think of this person, it’s a completely different story than what you know?

…Almost like a good and dark person side. And sometimes that’s hidden from others until it’s too late. They leave a wake in the ocean.

That’s the type of chaos I’m talking about… but that awareness can help prevent.

The chaos comes from the ego and fear in people showing up.

“The ego” is almost like another person if it grows.

Young adults on their own are super susceptible as they’re far from seeing yet and are able to make their own decisions.

And if it weren’t for the good forces, I honestly don’t know if I would still be here from all the dumb moves I did early on.

But for those of us here, our egos can get stroked and that can quickly become a tangled mess.

…Like a heated debate or a myriad mess of twisted passive-aggressive moves.

But the mess can be bypassed if both sides are keenly aware and choose peace and kindness (as the best demonstrated behaviors).

Love and kindness is still the answer.

That shows up as humility.

And inviting in our muse to daily living helps us to calm down from the chaos around and in us.

Chaos happens between people (unaware) or shows up as self-sabotage (Impostor) thoughts.

In co-creation with the good forces (like our muse), we can bypass chaos.

Because it has never been all up to us.

That’s liberating to know (for me, anyway 😊).

And when I wrote my book Empowered Happiness, I titled my first chapter “Love Yourself First” because I believe when you do that, then love overflows out of you (and you’re running toward the right direction).

And that leads to using more of your higher purposes and superpower gifts.

Inviting in Your Muse For Co-Creation

If you’re aware (…or maybe now informed) of how your muse and these mysterious ways work in your favor, you can then become intent to grow more of this.

Inviting in your higher muse can be the bridge.

It takes external and internal attempts.

When you intentionally (and internally) ask the Universe to help you find your muse, expect to hear back at some point.

When and what you get back externally is not up to you or anyone.

But what you do with the information you get, is up to you.

Sometimes we’re given the same information over and over again, and we miss connecting-the-dots… maybe we’re busy, we half-believe, or we allow our dark side (or self-sabotage) to take over.

That sends mixed messages.

So then you’re not ready yet to get what’s being sent.

But if you practice managing thoughts and moods, you get better at this.

Because managing thoughts is a golden key to unlocking your best life. 🔑

It’s a skill that we’re not taught growing up… but the sooner learned, the better our life outcomes are!

Because at any moment, chaos can kick back in.

And you can kick it out.

Practicing regular and daily interference is the answer… walking away from those non-serving thoughts (and lies!) that drag you down.

Re-writing the mind’s script is not meant to be a secret, but it is a life mystery.

And can stay hidden.

To improve this: focus on a positive attitude, consciously show authentic love to others (and to self) because that’s what the Universe here before us wants and still rewards.

Your muse will help guide you to your calling purpose in this life.

Where you do have creativity!

If you can dream, you can wildly create. And discover hidden talents. I know this because I’m living proof.

And in your gifts and talents, you’ll get pointed to inspiration where none existed before.

Just remember to seek out your muse to co-create.

Or write yourself a daily reminder.

And those ways are still easier than creating something you don’t have inspiration for… yet.

Creative Blocks No More

Creative blocks happen when there’s not a focus or intention to be creative. And when stressed. It’s as simple and complicated as that.

Because it’s not true that creative blocks exist for everyone at some point.

You don’t have to EVER get a block.

But if you’re like me or many of us, our busy lives get in the way.

…Where you could be aligned to do something else at this time and the Universe is helping you by focus your attention elsewhere.

But you would know the difference because your time and energy is spent in what’s important this season.

And when you’re ready to be creative, it’s there waiting for you!

…because we are creations, and so we were born creative beings.

And our gut, intuition, and creative minds don’t shut off, but we could be creating creative blocks and silencing them with our thought noise and busy world we live in.

Simply put, creativity doesn’t die.

Whatever your hidden talents are (…and you do have them!), as they’re inside you even if you’re not tapping into the sparks. ✨🔥

…And that’s why the creativity stays hidden (or smoldered) 🐦‍🔥

You may not have discovered yours (or fully) …and as I didn’t discover my writing ability until I was well into my corporate career years and then put writing aside for more years.

I never set out to be a writer, EVER. I was NEVER developing the writing skill.

…And when I was a child in my home, I was surrounded by artwork and had some art history awareness.

So I knew I had an artistic gene somewhere.

And when I moved away, I also didn’t use any of it in my day-to-day corporate life so I grew even further away.

…I found my creativity genes occasionally on weekends when I had enough time to get out of anxious energy, could relax, and then get into my creative outlet of making scrapbooks back then. 📔

…Otherwise, my mind was creative blocked from creative energy, being filled with busyness, stress, and staying in the logical left brain routine.

…And maybe that’s you if you don’t think you’re creative! 🎨 Or identify with “I’m not creative.”

In that case, know that creative blocks are moveable.

You’re just steps away from your creativity.

Remember, it’s your choice in life and if you want to, then you can start the steps in that direction.

Creativity is waiting for you when you’re not blocked by your thoughts and creative emotions.

When those are aligned, you gain clarity and are creatively unstoppable!

In those clear streams, there’s not a creative bad day…

Because we’re all born talented. So it’s not about talent.

But when we think we’re having a creative block, it’s happening because we’re stuck on the levels of this earth and our earthly non-productive emotions.

And if we don’t develop a creative practice, then we stay stuck and in creative blocks.

Whether you identify as a content creator, artist, writer, or dancer as some creative examples, if you don’t use the creative spiritual places in you, then creation is missed.

It’s like getting into the nooks and crannies of an English Muffin. 😊

In writer’s block specifically (as in staring at blank pages), this can be trying to write out of the wrong place in our minds that are either distracted, or a spiritual-given clue that we have better things to do.

When we write from the creative areas of our mind, then we’re not writing only from our perspective and experiences, as we’re co-creating our writing.

So then writing flows and words seem effortless as though we’re on fire with our flow. Or riding a cloud in the air. ☁️

We can’t type fast enough.

In flow, it’s not work when we’re clear in thought and open to our creative passages. It’s the opposite of a writer’s block or creative block.

It’s bliss work… and we forget that our amazing drink we poured has turned cold. I switched to coffee cold brew so I don’t have that dilemma. 🧋

But the more we can get that flow feeling from our regular practice, the more we create creative sustainability.

It’s our jam that sticks. And we do it like our morning routines. They become habits.

But if we lean in on the opposite deterring moods, we allow in distracted thoughts staring at a blank page. And we can choose to give up or muster through…

Some of those deja vu thoughts aren’t bad… and they have a purpose for us…

We can have wanderlust thoughts that make us dream again. 💭

And if we get lost or stuck too long, if we’ve practiced writing enough times, sometimes we can wing it and get by even though we know it’s not our finest work.

Only we know what we’re feeling and capable of.

…And we then know there’s room for improvement… and there’s always next time. We challenge ourselves.

Each time is an opportunity to start over and without our interfering ego that can be the creative blocks or writer’s block “elephant in the room” 🐘… when we’re alone in our writing room.

And co-creation happens when the ego is not high and active (like in imposter syndrome).

Co-creation is a higher inspiration tapping into your higher self for answers that are inside you (in heart, gut, and mind alignment).

How you get there is different for each of us…

When you find what inspires your creativity in you each day then you can always find your way back to your spark again. ✨

For me, when I look inward for deeper answers, I actually get a tap sensation back. I used to wonder what that chill up the spine or gentle touch under the skin was.

…Now over a decade in, I’m full of no-mistaken clarity of what that is as the spirit living inside.

It’s not spooky. 👻

…It’s angelic. 🪽

For other people, they sometimes get their inspirational energy as an invisible muse in the room like a critic or a figment of the imagination ghost-like person playing a harp. 💭

Stephen King writes about a muse in his On Writing documentary where his muse keeps him on track. He’s been writing a while..

…Or, if you’re finding your inspiration… it can be a mind whisper, faint visions, or impression from your spirit or mind’s eye.

These are as real as seeing objects in your life.

When you pay attention (lowering external noises) and pausing to record what you interpreted from inside you, that can become your lens and way of looking at life that uniquely helps you in your writing, creativity, and EVERYTHING in your life… since your created life is one massive creative endeavor, one happening after another.

If nothing else, you are the character in your creative story where the ending is unwritten.

Every day happening miracles not created by people (but maybe acted out in people) are normal in this life… we just don’t hear about them as often in our noisy culture’s headlines.

Miracles are special moments in life that aren’t unusual. I had my own season of special miracles of deeper meaning exposing love over ego from a spiritual intervention.

I could’ve looked at it as a creative block as I stopped writing, but that was an opportunity to grow. It was a slow season.

And in busy seasons, if a main intent is to be time managing, systematic, network social, and following our calendar to a T with very little wiggle room fulfilling pressures of what others of us, then we’ve probably missed it…

…I learned this though blowing off a creative work life for decades until I was ready.

When focused on relationship building activities, following other’s instructions, and coloring inside the lines, then you’re shielding away creative possibilities. But could be more focused on growing other areas.

Because creativity is coming up with something original from inside you that’s unique because no one else can come up with the exact same creation in your way. It may look or sound the same but it’s not the same as the originator is different.

…In other words, the idea may already be in the world (we have a big world!) but if you genuinely came up with the idea, then that’s what’s for you as your spirit is wired to the energy of the rest of the world.

And if you discover (in life’s miracles) that at the same time you discover the same thing with someone else, maybe you should get together and work on other ideas. 💡

When I was younger, we didn’t have the internet so we didn’t know what was going on in the opposite side of the world.

Creativity came from color pencils on paper and other resources we had around the house or that we could gather.

We were limited by our community resources and that helped build our creativity. 🎨

We could take a sheet of paper and trace over another paper source. And then we’d have a duplicate copy of work that we did by hand.

Those were days before we discovered the copying machine. 😊

So often we’re looking for an original idea to come out when we’re inspired by something else already out there. Because so many things are out there!

But that’s how inventions were and are made.

They don’t start from scratch.

We are all starting with ideas already out there that we’ve seen before and are part of our memory.

…And that’s why technology is always evolving.

Like technology that drives the bus for so many life areas (that I saw first hand spending almost 10 years of my working life in tech when I wasn’t around food planning settings)… and there, I witnessed idea stalls like 9-11 when the nation halted.

And you saw halts in the 2020 pandemic.

Some areas froze in ideas and sometimes regressed.

And other people, places, and things grew in ideas and creativity.

In those testing seasons, we had time to work on new solutions to get out of the freeze.

And that provided our pivots that often gave more hope, joy, purpose, and clarity.

In purpose life, we’re called to be creative and not just do what has been done.

In creativity, we’re not following a template already created.

We’re calling upon ourselves to get ourselves inspired and come up with something different from our gifts and imagination.

And if you feel stuck, maybe this will help you too…

Unblocking Your Learned UnCreativity

Unblocking creativity is something I had to work on in the beginning of my creative journey and what others like me would too if they spent most or their time in structure.

…Like where I had to re-learn what corporate work life and school taught me in back-to-back lessons in 30 years… the lesson was simply, do as told.

So now I’ve had enough, and I can break free and do as I’m told. As in what’s inside me (and what’s inside you).

When I unleashed myself from those environments that were downloading instructions, at first I didn’t know what to do minute-by-minute with my newfound time.

When that becomes your life, it’s different than a summer break or sabbatical where the point in those cases is to relax and rejuvenate and then go back.

In my new creative-purpose work, I didn’t have a schedule template to follow… and no one does. If anyone offers that to you… run, because robots will never run the world. They create creative blocks.

…So from an instructed life to a creative life, I had to make opposite direction mindset shifts.

Sometimes I would pause and wonder if I should write daily… or was it just a waste of time?

…Because it wouldn’t be graded and nobody would follow up like in the structured world I came from.

And that’s part of the beginning when you’re switching to being your own creative teacher and boss.

But with those risky growth changes, comes rewards.

And if that sounds like you or you’re starting over with these same creative break-out-on-your-own desires, be encouraged!

Give it time. Unlike structure, don’t give yourself arbitrary goal deadlines as it will take longer than you expect.

Give deadlines to your inspired projects and show up.

Be consistent in your practice. so you don’t allow creative blocks to creep in.

If you feel anxious or worried because of the new season’s financial uncertainty, then get a part-time job that you can clock-in and clock-out of without any emotional attachment (as in stress, anxiety or boss struggles).

…You know what I mean! 😊

And if have a growth mindset that you lean into, then it won’t take you nearly as long to flip the script around and embrace your creative life.

Leaning into doing your passion (love) vs. fear will help you through. Do it afraid and do it when nothing looks like it’s happening.

Because you’ll continue to get ideas you’ll have to decide what to do with… and that’s a good problem to have!

You’ll take one baby step action that provides clarity for the next pivot that is needed for your growth and success… and the journey is exciting and not boring, predictable work that promotes creative blocks.

You’ll be learning new things while developing personal growth that didn’t happen in a corporate setting, teaching yourself daily, and learning about yourself as you tap of inside you for answers… growing your spiritual higher self. How cool is that!?

Lean into YOU GET TO DO THIS and you’re paid or provided for in other ways, and that a pretty darn good freeing feeling!… 🤸🏻

Your passion outweighs the uncertainty. And if you’re all in it, then you have no chance but to succeed because this Universe is wired for your success when you don’t give up!

And when you don’t… That’s the clear sign you’re on the right path for you.

And the fears disappear with your faithful spiritual growth and your trusting belief.

So – what are you waiting for?

Clarity Spirituality For Content Creation

Clarity is alignment. It’s as simple and brilliant as that.

Back in the day, I didn’t have “alignment” in my vocabulary.

Everything was cloudy. Those were the caterpillar days. 🐛 Living to please and fit in the modern culture I belong to didn’t help those efforts along.

And that’s most of us living in metro America and cities.

In those busy places, you’re surrounded by noise and not much inner peace as you live satisfying cultural norms and staying busy most your time.

But, you get clarity from your spiritual life that’s in the deeper space and crevices inside you that are also wired to Creation and everything that is creatively abundant. 🌕

And this article is about gaining more clarity for your Content Creation Life.

…Which btw, we’re all content creators if we want to be.

You make something and put it out in the sharing Universe and BOOM, you’re a creator.

The big “C” Creator is reserved for only the Divine.

And as a creator, realizing the messages sent out is co-created can sometimes take years to develop. We can give those non-winning points to our ego that loves that.

And ego doesn’t want us to know that our thoughts are not ours alone.

When the truth is we are not alone even if we’re by ourselves.

…And that helps us out by leaps and bounds that’s better than if we had a life manual. That can be part of our discoveries on our journey.

Early on in our life journeys, we’re focused more on what we can do in our own might and giving credit to our work when all along that move was what we were destined for (aligned to do)… and with a little nudge inside us, we did our little part by making a simple micro action of hitting a button or saying something.

Getting co-created revelation can be a profound journey.

But in the beginning, we don’t have that clarity. We sorta think it (maybe hoping), but still question if it’s in our lives. Does anyone out and up there care?

Early on (no matter what age that is for us running our own race), we haven’t made enough room yet for the Universe to manifest in our purposeful living, teetering back and forth to limiting beliefs in earthly living.

And our lives are supporting the culture beliefs on earth.

That’s what my life was about growing up in the Washington D.C. suburbs where keeping up with the Joneses, as in suburban mall life was a way of life.

If I counted how many times the word “mall” came up in friend-related conversations, it would be a crazy number. Maybe not as many as the words I’ve written here, but it was often in phrases… let’s meet at the mall.. what store do you want to go to?…there’s a __ at the mall… what time will you be at the mall? 😊

I even worked in the mall at the information desk, retail shops… oh, and one of the restaurants I planned parties for was IN THE MALL!

It was in the Tyson’s Galleria.

…And I like to joke that my watch measured that I walked 4 miles for one event. I thank the mall for nice, comfy shoes. 👟

But so the more that I leaned in on pro-cultural norms like the mall, and doing work-life that looked good on paper and people pleasing, the less I liked myself and who I was becoming.

…And when I didn’t people please, I felt guilty not living up to pressures and culture’s standards. That’s how we were groomed from school age up.

So gradually I felt like I was losing my message.

I was blending in while the younger generations were moving in.

Where in my era of growing up, we wanted to be the same. Now everyone wants to be different so they can stand out.

…And that I believe is the better way because then you get to be YOU in your you-niqueness. You’re not trying to fulfill an image.

But back in my day, I was in a tug-o-war with my corporate work personna fitting in and living out my side purpose-filled spiritual desires.

And today is the same dilemma, there’s still a divide for most people living in culture with spirituality.

…Just turn on the news and you’ll see exactly what I mean.

And that is unconsciously building up pride by not running in the opposite direction… where a life of more meaning is.

If you don’t turn on your conscious intentions, then you get swallowed by the subconscious negative thoughts that make their way in… OUCH!

I didn’t like that in me.

So with season changes, I moved away from that life.

…I didn’t like not being aligned with my thoughts and out-of-touch with feelings that writing helped me escape.

Tapping into my deeper spiritual self side gave me the more satisfying-purpose driven life and personal growth I needed for a healthy and whole life. And that led to a higher, creative path, daily content creation, and aligned clarity.

Alignment and clarity that I never knew about before.

Clarity is not certainty as no one can claim a clear crystal ball belief as truth until it happens in life. Life is like a sport. We play it out.

Even if we believe in our gut, heart, and prophetic ways what will happen.

But clarity doesn’t live with the same level of anxiety, fears, and worries that are living amongst cultural norms filled with fear at the root.

And when you spiritually transform fear and worry, you move away from lifestyle triggers of anxiety that modern culture and suburbia operate in.

Then you can more easily develop clarity and build creativity muscles. 💪🎉

In purposeful living, the glory is in you… and leaning on your higher self for guidance is the higher way of life that lets you pursue passions (and not meaningless work and desires).

And if that’s what you want…

Here’s how I started… I realized one day that I won’t get my time back.

None of us will.

And you can take that thought as your motivator.

Because tomorrow will be yesterday in 2 days. And forgotten as we focus on today. That’s not a riddle, it’s the truth. 😀

And in the end of our lives, most of the things we achieved in this life won’t matter to us.

They were placeholders.

They got us to the next moment and step… that got us to who me and you have become.

Btw, I used that in a job interview when I was in my Corporate Life… and I got the job.

So someone believed that too. 😉

And when you consider all those past jobs you had that have faded in impact in your current life… you get to realize that most never make it back to memory without prompting. So it’s not that important.

..And this wiser concept and way of thinking grows the more years and experiences you have here on earth. 🌍

I lean into forgetting parts of the past as helpful… having selective brain fog is a superpower 🔌 and is often spiritual guidance to help you and me toward our clarity light. 💡

When you look back and realize that the experiences and some early on breaks you got in your 20s and 30s didn’t last… you can start to wise up that there’s more to this life.

And the only way to fully discover that is to move on.

You often get a hint that “it’s time to move on” listening to that inner wisdom.

Doing so means growth.

And we are meant to personally grow.

To personally grow spiritually means birth to the deeper feelings of living a life of meaning and satisfaction that produce clarity-alignment.

You naturally grow out of your past or the things you once needed, but now no longer do.

And when you let go of the former things, the Universe will meet you there! 💕

Speaking of Universe, if you think of the astronauts stuck in outer Universe floating around with their hair sticking up, you’re visually reminded they’re in another place.

…Not just overseas, but above earth in outer space.

They have digital contact with earth, but they live on a spaceship in another space, at least temporarily.

Their new home is not the cultural norms we live in.

They don’t deal with the daily norms and noises we have on earth.

They don’t see cars, wildlife, and trees.

They are aligned with the rhythms up in space.

And in our different spaces and existences, we all have the ability to reach our spiritual potential, so we can live a life that’s focused on creativity and love, and away from fear.

How cool is that!

We’re tethered by our inner forces.

And aligned with clarity, we’re clear no matter what the distance is.

There’s not muck interfering. Our attenas work.

…Our daily fears, limiting beliefs, and subconscious insecurity wall defenses that lead us to the actions we take and reactions we make are knocked down.

Because left unattended, they become blockades and blockages and show up in our visible lives on earth.

…That’s when we can’t hear what’s outside our immediate world. We listen to our heads and what we see (cultural norms).

Living this way, not in full potential, keeps us stuck.

When we tap into our higher inner self, that’s when we can grow and manifest greater things that exponentially grow (beyond our thoughts) and yield clarity where we’re importing ideas from the Universe that knows better about the future.

…The higher Universe orchestrates coincidences as part of creation intent.

Next time, I’ll share more about creative blocks that are 100% removable when you want to let it happen. 🍥 I hope you’ll join me here same day, same channel. 😊

Vinyasa Yoga Common Mistakes and Creative Flow Moves

Vinyasa yoga flow is good for getting movement and activity flow through your systems. Learn some of the common mistakes below.

healthy chocolate mousse dessert gluten free. — Creative expression flow from winter to spring in a healthy (gluten-free) chocolate mousse dessert. 🎉Recipe below…

Vinyasa was introduced a few years after I started regular yoga that was just starting to grow in America. We were slow to catch on, immersed in our busy Western ways.

And the Vinyasa series was repeated.

Classic Vinyasa yoga includes 4 parts: Downward Dog, Plank, Chaturanga, and Up Dog.

vinyasa yoga flow. — Start at Down Dog and end in Up Dog.

These poses help your arm strength and back flexibility. All are great for flexing your back if you’re having back tension issues.

Vinyasa flow is good for life balance rhythm especially when you’re having a tough season and wanna work out your Pitta frustrations on your mat. And of course, yoga helps your body balance in the process.

The Vinyasa front down, on-the-mat poses complement your Plow Pose restoring your back.

We can easily need a tune up. And learning good form in the beginning helps to use as a guide.

When we don’t know any better, we choose the easiest form for our bodies.

To start, get into your Downward Dog pose. Feet are firmly grounded on the floor. You’ll then transition into Plank, Chaturanga and then Up Dog (Up Dog vs. Cobra vs. Sphinx).

Note: by the time you get to Up Dog, your tops of feets will roll transition and be on the mat vs bottom of feet. So your feet position is evolving as you move into the Vinyasa yoga pose.

And is often forgotten about.

On that topic, these are some of the common Vinyasa Yoga mistakes:

We forget to flow our feet. In Down Dog, our heels are not on the floor. Or our toes can be curled under on the mat in Up Dog, like in Plank Pose.

We forget to pause. You can slow down (as also a metaphor in life) and insert in a Child’s Pose from the Up Dog to Downward Dog transition if you would like a rest.

Another common mistake is in the hands. Hands are partially flat relying on finger strength on the mat (when it’s good to have full hands flat on the mat). Ideally, hands and fingers are flat on the mat that also helps to protect your wrists and awkward arm bends that could send strange sensations to your hand parts.

In Up Dog, often the position of hands are too low beside the body as you shift the top half of your body forward. Try to align with your shoulders.

And while we focus on hands and feets, we forget about our mid areas, where:

The buttocks are not peaked high enough in Down Dog for a higher pronounced “V.” If you’ve been to a class and received individual instruction, often the teacher will pull your mid-section body up. And that feels lighter and totally different than in a comfy “V” where the body feels weighted toward the ground.

Using a body mirror can help you better assess if your form is good.

Then naturally as we just hiked ourselves up: when we move into Plank pose, our Buttocks are too high in the air resembling a hill in Plank pose. Lower just a bit, so in a mirror you look more like a down sloping seesaw. There aren’t bumps in the middle.

And then in Chaturanga, don’t be in a hurry. Stay there longer for a few breaths and gain the arm strength building benefits. You feel control over your body.

Then Up Dog if you choose is your last part of the flow. There are slight differences between Up Dog, Cobra, and Sphinx. Up Dog is the one with the highest energy vibes.

Then before you get back into Downward Dog, pause into Child’s Pose if you like a rest.

And this is also a good place to insert other inspiring creative poses for Vata especially if you need more energy in your life (feeling Kapha tired).

Your Creative Vinyasa Flow

When you feel comfortable with the basics, you can also add your own yoga spin. Just like each yoga class is different, you can make your own yoga pose moves with your basic Vinyasa Yoga flow series. And these movements will benefit your body.

Yoga is about feeling good and getting the kinks out. And being physically creative can do just that!

One instructional move is that yoga is different than other forms of exercise.

For one, many of the yoga up moves are inhale breaths and down moves are exhales. It’s the opposite in many other forms of exercise.

Like, in weight lifting, when you lift up, you exhale and let go of the air. So switching up your breath inhale and exhale for yoga can be helpful and tricky. The most important point is just to breathe naturally and then let the rest follow. It’s more important to follow good breathing habits in weight lifting where you can unintentionally hyperventilate if you overexert yourself.

Give yourself grace in yoga!

Another move that’s fun to do (if you see it that way) is when you’re in Chaturanga: shift your toes and arms forward and backward on the mat where your height or plane distance on the mat doesn’t change. You’re constantly moving. 😊

What makes Vinyasa special is it keeps you flexible and moving and this helps your creativity. As you use your breath in flow, you get in touch with your deeper senses inside you. And this can help you tap into your creativity that can be missing in your life.

In modern life, unless we surround ourselves in creative environments and inspired, we can get out of touch with creativity.

That’s my story (and maybe yours) in corporate where creativity is as far removed as personal expression unless you have intentions to improve those areas in your day.

One easy way is create your own Vinyasa yoga flow. Maybe you add a Pigeon pose in between your Downward Dog and Plank pose. Or a Hare pose coming out of Up Dog. Or you add a Mountain pose after your Plank pose and then step or take a jump back.

You can reach your Mountain with just a ‘lil creativity and nudge. Sometimes you just need the suggestion or permission and then you’ve enhanced your day with a few more calming breaths and moments without breaking a sweat.

And if you’re feeling energetic, you could get into your hands up Tree or full Dancer poses. And then come back to your Mountain, fold down and jump or step back to Plank. And from there get back to Chaturanga.

The possibilities are endless in your creative day of activities that take just escape break minutes away from your work and devices.

Healthy Chocolate Mousse Dessert Recipe 💕

Print Recipe

gluten-free chocolate mousse dessert recipe

Chocolate Mousse Dessert - Almond Flour Healthy and Gluten-Free

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Ingredients

2 oz Dark chocolate
1 tbsp Coconut oil
1-1/2 one egg and one yolk
1 tbsp almond flour

Instructions

Prepare baking vessel. Brush coconut oil and dust with cocoa.
Melt chocolate in bain marie with coconut oil.
Beat egg and any flavors (optional)
Add eggs to chocolate.
Fold in almond flour.
Pour into baking vessel. Bake for 12 minutes on 350°F. Do not overbake for a soft, gooey center.
Zhugh with healthy ingredients: raspberries, coconut shavings, mint leaves, pistachios, other chopped nuts, or orange zest.