Maureen A. O’Donnell, MA

You can find the pathway to your creative self. Your creative imagination lies dormant, waiting for activation. First you must set aside time, space, and intention. Why? Because this part of your psyche has something to convey to you if you allow it to emerge. So much of your life is lived on the surface where reason and critical thinking are honored and encouraged. The inner-knowing and symbolic thinking that can be accessed through play and creativity is often touted as “irrational”, or even “nonsense”. However, this is the place where all art expression begins.

Expressive art is not just for “artists”. It can be a portal to the unconscious where you can find solutions to problems, ease anxieties and find parts of yourself that await to be consciously known. Edward Whitmont, author of The Symbolic Quest, writes: “The symbolic approach can mediate an experience of something indefinable, intuitive or imaginative, or a feeling-sense of something that can be known or conveyed in no other way, since abstract terms do not suffice everywhere”.

Our western culture values money, power, fame, and possessions. However, it is the act of creating (the process, not the product) that will give you a sense of wonder and meaning.

Try something new, take a leap into the unknown, and bring something new into being.

We are all called to create in different ways. The easiest way to get started is by recording feelings, dreams, and images every day in a personal journal. From there, you may want to experiment with collage, painting, drawing, etc.

As you explore these inner pathways, new insights will emerge. You may feel that your inner and outer worlds are coming together. A heightened sense of wholeness, direction, and well-being begins to take shape.

If you can spend 30 minutes every day in experiencing this collaboration, you can gain a greater sense of yourself, your relationships, and life’s direction.

Tags: creativity, inner knowing, jungian, mindfulness, unconscious