“From my Creative Heart to Yours”: A dancer, writer and artist dishes on her creative process, how to channel your inner voice — and fill yourself with passion and ecstasy
GUEST COLUMN: LAURA HOLLICK
As an artist running my own studio, the conveniently-named Soul Art Studio, I often get asked about the creative process — and how my art comes together. One of the biggest topics revolves around ‘where’ the art comes from.
The questions often have this flavor:
How do you know when it is your inner voice and not just your rational mind telling you another “should”?
That one was from Kathryn; this one came from Judy: “How can you be sure it’s your inner voice and not your ego?” – Judy
My response: When you are actively listening to your inner voice, you are already engaged in the creative process. It means you are in a space of allowing things to unfold without needing them to unfold in a particular way.
When you are listening to your inner voice you will NOT know the outcome.
This can be a tough one to swallow because we are taught through our entire lives to set goals and plan for outcomes. But the inner voice isn’t concerned with goals. The inner voice is concerned with guiding you towards your evolution as a conscious being and spirit.
If you find yourself fixed on an exact outcome — meaning, you assume things will go a certain way — you can be fairly certain you are resorting to a pre-conceived ‘should’ or a past mental pattern.
Your inner voice is in the present. The inner voice is not dependent on the past.
So to be sure if you are listening to your ‘inner voice’ ask yourself, HOW PRESENT AM I NOW?
Being present will enable you to hear your inner voice. The bonus to being present and listening to your inner voice: some amazing things can develop that you could never have imagined!
This sculpture, Evolving Creature, was created entirely by the inner voice . . . I did not know what it would be until it was complete.
Laura is an Ontario-based artist, dancer, writer, radio show host, and postal worker! She has hosted and produced over 500 radio shows on art and creativity, and published over 200 articles on creativity.
You can contact Laura by email, or leave a comment below.
8 Comments »
If this spoke to you, here are five similar articles.
- Face yourself as you are . . . with total love
- Laura Hollick explains her spiritual definition of physical beauty
- A female mystic’s way to pull yourself out of money-worry
- An artist’s journey of creation: Klassic Koalas: The Book of Valentines
- An invitation to step away from your iPod: meditation through listening
the beautiful cycle of life...lambs in the spring...wild flowers in the summer...enlivening winds in [...]
on 02 Jun 2008 at 5:13 pm 1.rory said …
The sculpture reminds me of a show I just saw by an artist named Cline, who works with redwood
on 02 Jun 2008 at 5:45 pm 2.Cyndi said …
many people are worried about how their final piece of creative work will turn out, whether it be a book, piece of visual art or even a web site
i think we can learn from laura to just let the creative juices flow and see what happens. i’m trying to do this with my photography. it is hard though, especially when we try to please others with our work, or really want positive feedback. it’s something i struggle with anyway 
on 02 Jun 2008 at 6:30 pm 3.Paul said …
There is a parallel between Laura’s discovery of the key to her creative process (present-centeredness) and Paolo Lugari’s rules for invention and innovation. Especially with his Rule No. 7, below . . .
Paolo Lugari is the Colombian scientist and inventor who founded the eco-village, Gaviotas, Colombia.
I’m pasting his tip-sheet in below from a 2007 story I wrote for Business 2.0 — for your convenience, and so we don’t have to give the page-view away to Time Inc
Father of Invention
Paolo Lugari’s 7 secrets for creating creativity.
1. Ban brainstorming meetings: Creativity is spontaneous. Formal meetings are a poor forum for creation. People choke because they show up for a limited time with a narrow agenda. Turn every workday into a continuous, open-ended brainstorming session.
2. Practice da Vinci’s code: When your organization tackles a problem or a project, wipe the board clean of all assumptions and prior knowledge. “Leonardo da Vinci expressed it best,” Lugari says. “Step one is a tabula rasa.”
3. Play nice with others: At Gaviotas, new technologies grow out of a process of tweaks and upgrades, with a variety of contributors adding their own nuts and bolts. “These inventions came out of spontaneous, collective thinking,” Lugari says. “We don’t like prima donnas.”
4. Burn the corporate policy manual: To think freely, you have to act freely. A fanatical dedication to free speech - unencumbered by top-down prohibitions - has produced a Gaviotas mind-set in which unproductive behavior melts away of its own accord.
5. Rule out “degree-itis”: There is no hierarchy based on titles; a peasant worker gets the same hearing as a Ph.D. One of the most important revenue streams at Gaviotas - the production of industrial coatings and resins from pine pitch - evolved from an observation made by one of the cooks.
6. Master the art of indiscipline: Big breakthroughs are often the result of people crossing disciplines. Mendel was a priest before he was a biologist; the fuel cell was invented by a lawyer. So rotate your specialists out of their specialties and promote generalists ahead of narrowly focused experts.
7. Trash your Outlook calendar: Give up time-management tricks and devote each hour of every workday to whatever task or inspiration arises spontaneously. If you keep filling your week with scheduled meetings and tasks, you’ll snuff out your creative sparks before they have a chance to fly.
on 02 Jun 2008 at 6:45 pm 4.Joanne said …
The beauty of abstract art lies in the purity of expression coming from the artist’s soul — against all cultural and ego-constraints.
Once exposed for the world to judge, other people will inevitably recognize their own greatness through the original expression, creating an endless ripple effect of good vibrations. Your Evolving Creature is a such a wonderful example of this process. Thank you for sharing!
on 03 Jun 2008 at 5:36 pm 5.Bill said …
I notice that Laura is based in “Ontario”. Would this be the Ontario in Canada or the one in California?
on 03 Jun 2008 at 6:59 pm 6.Bill said …
I wonder if we are, on average, taking more interest in our inner voices in recent years, and how this might correlate with scientific interest in metacognition.
on 03 Jun 2008 at 7:28 pm 7.Cyndi said …
laura is from ontario, canada.
on 15 Mar 2009 at 9:50 am 8.Soul's Code » Laura Hollick explains her spiritual definition of physical beauty said …
[...] modelling was ruled out as a career choice, I invested my time and energy into art, dance and creative expression. Then the most ironic thing happened . . [...]