Over the years I’ve received plenty of feedback about my intuition, about how sometimes what I share here on the blog, on the podcast or on the Behind the Scenes addresses just what someone is going through, is exactly what their heart was aching for. This always touches me deeply because it affirms the depth and magic of our connection. And whenever someone asks, “How do you do it?” My answer is always “I listen.”

Connection is nourished with listening.

If you want to be more connected to yourself, to your loved ones, to your work, to your clients, to your community, to your art,  to your pets, a great place to start is to listen. Listen with your whole self. Listen with wonder and compassion. Listen like you don’t know what you’re going to hear.

Listen Within

Begin with listening to yourself. Come to know the sound of your own voice, the deep ticking of your own heart. To do this, spend time on your own, time where you won’t be swept up in the rhythm of the world you move in and the music of the people you share it with, time where that whisper inside of you has the chance to be heard.

Many of us find space for this listening in our journals. Many find it in going for walks and being outside. Some find it in the shower or in meditation. Sometimes, especially for extroverts, we find it in deep conversation with trusted confidants, discovering our truth only when it streams out of our mouth into a good listener’s ears.

Listening within connects us to our inner compass. It is from here our deepest dreams, our best instincts and our true voice come to life.

Listen Around

Connection is possible when you engage in the simple act of listening to those around you. So often we’re rushing through the conversation, with somewhere to go, something to do and many more conversations to have. We may complain that others aren’t listening, just waiting for their turn to speak, but are we guilty of that too? Do we listen to our spouse, our friend, our colleague with an ear to what impacts us instead of paying attention to what they are sharing about them? Those of us who are deeply sensitive sometimes stop listening when we feel like we feel we’ve got a situation or a person sussed.

Slow down just a touch and choose moments to really listen to those around you, whether it’s your friend, your dog or your barista. Exhale deeply and listen without expectation. Listen with your eyes, your ears and your heart. What do you hear?

When we listen, we create a live wire between us able to carry an electrical current back and forth. Listening makes the magic of connection possible.

Listen Through

Magic and insight awaken when we sink into listening to the reverberations of the world. Every moment, we are receiving unspoken information like vibrations singing through the web that connects us all.

Stretch your senses out and listen. Pay attention to synchronicities, to energy, to trends. With your inner ears, listen to your community, to your clients, to your kids. Listen for the underlying transmissions in your workplace, in nature, in your studio. Listen to what is being sent but not said. Listen through.

The Magic

As we grow in our capacity to listen, we develop confidence in our inner voice, we are able to meaningfully connect with others and our sensitivity to the currents that flow all around us guide our way.

When you feel lost, unsure and alone, when you are ready to deepen your intuition and your experience, when you’re ready for what’s next, listen. Discover, once again, how the magic of listening empowers us all.

No matter how long ago your last school day was, September brings with it a sense of new beginnings, time for fresh notebooks and new shoes.

As students, our teachers led us through a curriculum of learning. One day we explored Egypt or weather systems and the next, the life cycle of a tree frog or how to conjugate verbs. Now we’re in Life University and are free to design our own program.

What do you want to learn next?

Pick Your Courses.

Whether you’re feeling called by felt or feathers, by improv or encaustics, by baking or birds, explore it. Don’t worry about why you’re drawn to drumming, Italian or gardening. Don’t worry about where you’re going with it. Just begin. These tidbits of inspiration are the way our muse lets herself be known. She sparks our interest and waits to see whether we follow the light. This is one time where it’s wise to bite the hook!

Don’t Worry About Getting It Right.

In life there isn’t one right answer. If you decide to focus on butterflies, precious stones or collage, on quilting, tap dancing or Spain, no red marker is coming down to give your choice an X or a checkmark (unless you decide to) so stop stressing about getting it right. Whether you focus on short stories or novels, whether you learn French or Mandarin, whether you knit or crochet, whatever you start learning will immediately be more positive and productive than staying stuck in trying to make the right choice.

Get Out Your Kaleidoscope.

Once you’ve decided on something to explore, pull out your kaleidoscope. Look at it from all sorts of angles. If you’re drawn to trees, see how many ways you can explore them. Take a picture of as many trees as you can. Take a picture of the same tree at different times of day. Sketch a tree. Plant a tree. Hug a tree. Learn 52 varieties of trees and recite their names like poetry. Write a tree-inspired haiku. Write a story about a sapling. Read the mythology of trees. Wear a tree necklace. Make a tree necklace. Take on the posture of the next tree you see. Dance like a tree in the wind. What can you learn, create and share inspired by trees?

Give Yourself a Gold Star.

And when you feel you’re complete (you’ve written your story, shared your photos, planted a seed, whatever), give yourself a gold star for being a student of trees. Celebrate all that you’ve learned, shared, created, wondered and experienced.

And then pick your topic for next term.

When was the last time you were brave in your creative life?

Maybe today you were… or will be.

Our creative lives ask for our courage. In fact, they demand it.

Now, there are days when that’s anything but true, when our creativity shows up like that proverbial lamb, when we’re happily crafting at our kitchen table, when we’re making a special dinner and everything’s turning out just so, when we’re out in our garden enjoying the blooms. I love those days. In fact, I’m smiling just thinking about them.

And then there are other days. The days that are a slog or the days that are a struggle. The times when we just can’t get it to work or make it go. There are hair-pulling, nail-biting, tears-welling days. I’ve had them. Lots of them. If I had a penny for every time I’ve been discouraged or hurt or scared in my creative life, I’d have a veritable field of treasure. I’m just imagining the dragon that would be guarding the inestimable wealth of those piles!

So why do I do it?

I mean, why, why, why put yourself through this torture? Are all of those magazines lying when they show creative life as women laughing together, red rain boots on their feet and yellow balloons in their hands, paint on their fingers and sparkles in their eyes?

It sure doesn’t feel like that when my yarn’s tangling or I can’t hit that note or one more rejection letter arrived in the mail.

It doesn’t feel like that when nobody comes to my blog or my show or my party.

It doesn’t feel like that when I’m frightened half to death of stepping on the stage, sure that I am going to lose my lines and that clearly I look fat in this dress.

If art is so healing then why does it tear us up like this?

Because art is powerful.

Because sometimes being torn up means discovering something important inside.

(And sometimes being torn up means this isn’t the right teacher, the right environment, the right practice. Though sometimes it is.)

Our creative lives grow us.

It’s in the DNA of creativity to grow, to become, to evolve, to unfold, to unfurl. And that takes us again and again and again to our edge. It only stops when we do. And we can. We can pause when it gets too much. We can go outside and look at the stars. We can breathe. We can cry. We can go back to bed. We can pace ourselves.

What we can’t do is deny ourselves. When we stop, full stop, something in us starts to die. Our lives start fading. We start graying out. For a while we may run on the steam we’ve created and then, after a time, we forget that we created at all.

And that’s not okay.

You are meant to grow, to make something, to share something, to say something, to dance something, to believe something. Sometimes there will be balloons and rain boots. And sometimes there will be tears.

But tears don’t get in the way of your creative life.

They are there to remind you that you, my dear creative heart, are not only a frolicking lamb but also a lion.