Real chat with real creatives

This week on The Mystical Positivist, we feature a pre-recorded conversation with Diana Rowan, author of The Bright Way – Five Steps to Freeing the Creative Within, published this year by New World Library. Diana Rowan is a Creative Alchemist and founder of the Bright Way Guild, a virtual learning environment dedicated to transforming and inspiring a global community of creatives. The classical inquiry of “what makes a good life?” has driven Diana from her youngest years, and sharing her hard-won discoveries with others is her mission. Having recovered from a soul-crushing case of stage fright and other challenges, Diana believes that by shining light on the darkness we fear, we can all become courageous purveyors of bright knowledge and live the good life.

Diana was born in Dublin, Ireland to college student parents, setting the stage for a lifetime of lively learning and seeking. Soon thereafter, her father became a diplomat for the Irish government, taking his family all over the w

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If you’ve ever told yourself you’re not creative, you’re wrong. Everyone — regardless of age, job, situation — has creativity within them says today’s guest, creative alchemist and author Diana Rowan.  Her new book The Bright Way: Five Steps to Freeing the Creative Within provides inspiration and action steps to help you find your purpose and live more creatively.

We discuss creative practices, why it’s important to embrace mistakes, how solitude is necessary, and why creativity and connection are synonymous. We also share Diana’s 5 steps,  and why fulfillment is an essential ingredient of sustainable creativity.

Diana Rowan is the founder the Bright Way Guild a virtual learning environment for a global community of creatives. Diana’s a musician and composer, performing and teaching in the San Francisco area and around the world.

Listen to the full podcast on the link below:

http://conversationslive.net/mar-18-5-steps-to-freeing-the-creative-within-with-diana-rowan/

One of the biggest barriers to creativity is lack of time. You’re busy. Your days are demanding. You have a long list of tasks from last week that you’ve yet to tackle.

But is it really a tangible, true-blue lack of time, or more of a belief or feeling that time is scarce or non-existent?

“If there is something you want to be doing, you have the time to do it,” said artist and author Bridget Watson Payne. She interviewed numerous people for her book How Time Is On Your Side who didn’t seem to have time for their creative work—and yet carved out “pockets of time in all sorts of amazing ways.”

Payne interviewed a woman who wrote two children’s books in 10-minute bursts on her phone while riding the subway. One book took 3 months to complete; the other took 1 month. Payne interviewed an artist who works for a ride-sharing company and “lets creative ideas percolate in the back of his mind while driving” and jots them down in his notebook between rides.

Prioritizing creativity—even in t...

Dear Friends, in response to your questions about getting started teaching and creating online, I made this tutorial for you. Sending love and please share with your friends and colleagues!

In case you don't know me, I work full time online as a musician, writer and teacher, run huge virtual summits, membership programs, small group and 1-1 teaching, as well as share my music and writing online.

✏️ Affiliate links:

📝 Sign up for ZOOM: http://bit.ly/2INWllF

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Mistakes! Monsters in my worlds of creating, teaching and performing. The number one fear I hear from creatives is “What if I make a mistake?” Not “what if I don’t sound expressive?” Not “what if I don’t sound interesting?” No: mistakes dominate as the greatest fear. And I completely relate. I gave up my entire music career for four years due to mistake-phobia.

It’s strange, because as humans, we’re born problem-solvers. We’re always looking to fix and improve things. Problem-solving is the basis of our innovation and evolution: it’s creativity and life-affirmation in action, from the pianoforte to record lifespans.

Sometimes we humans are accused of “negativity bias.” We look for problems without appreciating what actually is working. We get stressed out as a result. But here the thing; problem-solving isn’t inherently negative. What is negative is our fear of making mistakes, our “complete embarrassment” when do we goof up as Olivia W. puts it, and our tendency to flee the scene af...

Do you feel giving & getting feedback is a bit scary? I understand. I feel the same. Yet it's a risk well worth taking, as the joys far outweigh the lows. Yes, by both giving and receiving feedback we:

• cultivate community

• accelerate our learning process

• stoke our inspiration

• identify blind spots

• build resilience

...to name just a few of the benefits!

How to give and receive healthy feedback? Start with this sweet technique: you'll set the stage for positivity and true communication.

You already know practicing in small chunks usually gets better results. But! It's easy to get caught up in the moment and practice too long, reversing your gains. Or, if you don't have a full hour at our disposal, we often don't practice at all, thinking it's not worth it!

Do you have a Practice Journal? For any art form, your Practice Journal = your personal Artistic Diary! See many examples of Journals here - you'll be able to find 1 in your space right now so you can get writing & reflecting immediately. Your Journal helps with tracking, motivation & inspiration, & more. Bonus: learn the several-second move that helps you get into the right frame of mind, heart & soul for productive practice.

Do you know how to take something from short-term memory into long-term memory?! Learn how and get a head up on Mastery with this Bright Knowledge Instant!

You asked: "What is the best way to transfer improvised music into notes to be able to replicate it?" Watch this Bright Knowledge Instant to hear the answer!