When Was the Last Time You Felt Joy?

"Jump" Copyright 2000 (Creativity Card in the Transformational Tarot) Aliyah Marr

A few years ago, I created a Tarot card deck, called Transformational Tarot; this deck was an interactive, online game that I created with the rather esoteric purpose of randomizing the titles to my paintings. By placing images on some cards, and words on others, the game was an experiment on meaning, adjacency, and context.

I never expected my deck to work as a Tarot deck (despite the name) and was surprised when people all over the world reacted favorably — some even told me that it was the best reading they had ever had. The game was created for a person doing their own reading, but a few years after I created the game I found myself reading my cards for people at a cafe.

It was a revealing experience; I discovered a great deal about myself, but more importantly, I discovered a disturbing trend among the people I read. Below is the article that I wrote in response.

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When was the last time you felt joy?”

This is a question I find myself asking people on occasion when they come to me for a Tarot reading. They may be asking about a love relationship, or about their job, but under the surface there is an essential sadness, a feeling of disconnection, of disorientation.

I can feel the empty space that they have inside as I read their cards. And the cards reveal the confusion they have: why am I this way? Is this all there is to life? Why do I feel as if I am a leaf in the wind? Where is the meaning in my life; where is the love?

Women in particular are taught to value relationships above all else: their lover, partner, children, etc. They are taught that their value is determined by the health of this relationship, and by the value that this person on the other end of the teeter-totter puts on them. Or rather, what they THINK the other person thinks of them. In fact, their mood for the day is based upon their evaluation of the last encounter with their loved one.

Love in this sense is a mask for a mirror of self-reflection. This kind of love values the time spent in a relationship as an investment, and sees love as a type of keenly monitored exchange. I hear people speaking of “their needs not being met” — as if someone else should be responsible for fulfilling their needs.

What if our happiness were not based upon these shifting sands? What if love were everywhere because joy is welling up from inside? I think that we can all intuit the rightness of this idea; even that we are all capable of feeling this way: in fact, it is our birthright.

I have an idea that the key to finding our love — our passion — lies in redefining what passion means. The heart yearns for passion because it is what feeds our soul; it keeps us young and vibrant. The heart senses this, and so it looks for it in the reflection of what our society calls love.

But before we can feel passion in our lives, we have to clear out all our self-hatred, our internal blocks. In order to do that we have to be still, empty, silent. We are so used to filling our silences that most of us cannot stand a moment without noise and our own internal chatter. A judge sits on our shoulder; when it is not judging other people, it is judging ourselves, which amounts to the same thing. So when I sense this longing, this emptiness in another, I feel compelled to ask: “when was the last time you felt joy?”. I have witnessed how this simple question affects people: they may not be able to remember — it is so far in the past. Or perhaps the judge that sits on their shoulder has blocked the memory. After all, it asks, what have you done to deserve joy? The judge doesn’t think you even have the right to have a memory of joy. Or perhaps the comparison of that memory to the present moment is too painful.

But, because joy is our natural state — our birthright — nearly everyone has had a moment of joy. It may be far in the past, in childhood; it is usually masked by a kind of emotional calcification of some kind. It is my belief that what usually happens is that the moment of joy happened just before an experience of judgment; such as a child who loves to sing and is shushed by an adult or by other children, telling her she sings badly and it hurts their ears.

So the mind in its shame and shock puts up a kind of protective barrier between the memory of the judgment and the person. I was told by my doctor once that the pineal gland — the master gland of the body that controls all the functions of the body and all the other glands — builds up a kind of crust with the experience of emotional stress. As a result, it cannot function freely, and eventually the whole body breaks down in disorder and disease.

When I ask the question, “when was the last time you felt joy”, the heart remembers, but the mind tries to protect the person from the other memory, the bad memory of judgment and disconnection. Most of the time, the answer is very simple: we can feel joy because it is our birthright. We deserve our own love, which is the same as love for life, and passion for what feeds our soul. It doesn’t matter what it is, only that it is ours; no one can take it from us, or withhold it, because it comes from within.

A personal passion is a kind of new kind of internal dialogue, one that is healthy instead of dysfunctional. Actually, at a high level, it is more than that; it is a way of dialoging with a higher source. I feel it when I work as an artist; I feel it when I surf; I feel it when I write, when I read Tarot. It feels like what they call channeling; it is the experience of opening up and allowing something larger to come through.

Why is it that we leave so little time for the things that give us real joy? The bills, the paperwork, the duties, work: these all take precedent. Joy is simplicity itself, it comes from simple things, it wells up inside from a core of silence within wherein resides the speck of energy that holds our portion of spirit. Joy connects us to all the other specks and to the universe of stars. In it we lose our sense of self without losing our identity or individuality. When was the last time you felt joy? What was the cause?

Trace it back to the beginning, and you will have discovered the secret of life and love.
Copyright February 8, 2006 Aliyah Marr

The Artist as Master Magician

“We live in a fantasy world, a world of illusion. The great task in life is to find reality.” Iris Murdoch

Dream Awake © 2002 Aliyah Marr

We all tend to forget how incredible this world is that we live in, how nature works seemlessly, effortlessly, and without any help. So, the artist is, when he works. There is no impediment between his desire to create and the art he creates.

As magic is in the world, so the artist in his most natural state is a magician. Whether painter, sculptor, musician, actor, writer, he uses the tools of his medium. As he creates, he reflects the magic of nature. Creative thought is natural to man, it is one of the fruits of the evolution of consciousness.

But we no longer live in the natural world. We live in a man-made world of our own creation, layered upon and dependent upon the natural world.

So what is reality? Is it what we see or what we envision? If it is what we see, then we are living only in the world that other people created. If it is what we envision, then we are living in the reality that we are creating today, with our thoughts in this very moment.

Mirrors reflecting into infinity.

Copyright 2009 Aliyah Marr

The Persistence of Vision

Field of Dreams © 2005 Aliyah Marr 5x10' mural

There is a well-known phenomenon called “persistence of vision” that describes how films and videos create the illusion of motion.

This visual illusion was discovered when Eadweard Muybridge successfully photographed a horse using a series of 24 cameras in 1878. The cameras were arranged along a track parallel to the horse’s, and each of the camera shutters was controlled by a trip wire which was triggered by the horse’s hooves. They were 21 inches apart to cover the 20 feet taken by the horse stride, taking pictures at one thousandth of a second. (Wikipedia, The History of Film)

A film is just a strip of still images. When it is run through a projector at 24 frames per second, the still images seem to move. The trick is in our minds, not in our eyes or even in the film or projector. Our mind has the ability to string together the still images into an illusion that fools our minds.

It’s amazing to me how the tools that we create can give us insight into perception and into the way our minds work. We can even examine the discoveries that they reveal to understand how we can change ourselves through art.

Reality is only in our minds. We are really just one step behind the pure experience of being alive.

Like a film that looks like it is moving only when run, our idea of ourselves is composed of static frames, moments in time, frozen ideas of ourselves that seem to have a reality and movement only because we believe in the illusion of our thoughts. Allow for the idea that your definition of yourself may not be a static thing, nor unchangeable, nor does it have to be the same from this moment to the next. Tomorrow, choose another image, another set of thoughts, run them through the projector of your mind, and change to please yourself. Use art to do it.

It’s the persistence of your vision, the quality of your images that creates another work of art, or another reality, which is just a dream made real. The illusion of movement and flow steps over the boundaries of time and space into the eternal now.

Copyright 2009 Aliyah Marr

Drop the Rock

Sound of Longing Copyright 2001 Aliyah Marr

Every now and then I get it. If I can just drop more of my baggage, there would truly be no limits to what I can do or be. It is natural for us to be joyful creators; I don’t know about you, but I can’t create a new future if I am dragging around the past with me. We all do it: we have our memories, our “slings and arrows that flesh is prey to”, and even our prized prejudices that we cannot change.

How many of us define ourselves so well today that we don’t have a chance at changing our present. We do in in innumerable ways: I like this, I do that, I am this, I am not that. Who cares? All these things amount to is a belief system about ourselves and who we are.

In the end, most of us end up being merely a collection of personal preferences and a storehouse for painful or limiting experiences (or rather interpretations) of those experiences. For me, most of these preferences are just academic arguments in favor of our own limitations.

When I was in New York, I used to walk to the subway on 14th street. On the sidewalk somewhere between 6th and 8th avenue, there is a spray painted stencil that implored me to “Drop The Rock”. I have been told that the slogan references the politics of the penal system, which is certainly in line with my interpretation.

Dropping the rock is letting go of the past. It is not about forgiveness, or even about understanding, it is allowing the ego to become fluid, to allow the mind to “unclench” its hold on our spirit. It is not denial, it is not revision; rather it is surrender.

When you realize that no one is asking you to carry around your past experiences and preferences, beliefs, etc. you can finally drop that huge rock. Now doesn’t that make you feel light? Doesn’t that make you want to dance?

Copyright 2006 Aliyah Marr

Art Historians Think Some Prehistoric Art Created by Women and Girls

An etching of a mammoth, called the Patriarch besides finger flutings by women.

“Most scholars have assumed that all prehistoric artists were male, but new evidence suggests women and even young girls produced at least some cave drawings, according to a study in the latest Oxford Journal of Archaeology…”

Read the rest of the article on Discovery.com by Jennifer Viegas:

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/slideshows/women-cave-art.html

Did you make the assumption that Paleolithic (and perhaps all ancient) art was made by males? I did, and I wonder now whether my assumption was made for me by male historians, and by the lingering prejudice of this culture, truly as they say, “Anonymous was a woman.”

The Eye of the Artist

"The False Mirror," Rene Magritte

Is the eye of the artist a lens that simply records what it sees like the lens of a camera? How much of what we “see” is due to our filter of experiences and is subject to our emotional/ mental interpretation?

My mother believed that it was the eye that made the artist, that if an eye from an artist were transplanted to another person, that person would be an artist. I always believed otherwise: that it is the mind, and the openness of the artist’s mind that defines someone as an artist.

Now that I have explored the artist’s path thus far, I know now that  it is not the eye that sees. The eye is not the lens of the camera of the mind. Science has proven that the eye sees more than camera lens can, because the eye sees over time and can adjust to minute or major differences in light and focus. What we “see” is a composite image that is assembled in the brain. But more than this, we are seeing what we feel as much as, or more than what is actually in front of us.

People who have been blind most of their lives cannot adjust to the information from eyes suddenly restored to vision. Dr. Oliver Sacks once wrote in An Anthropologist on Mars of a patient whose sight was restored after something like 30 years of blindness. The patient was unable to interpret what he saw, in fact, his brain was not adapted to receive the input from eyes blind since childhood.

Another case study from the same book cited a painter who suddenly lost all sense of color in a freak car accident. The part of his brain that registered color was damaged. Everything looked like a black and white photograph; he was unable to eat because food looked like it was made out of concrete. Although the experience was disturbing to the artist for some time, eventually he adjusted, becoming a sculptor. The man was still an artist because at his core he was an artist. Circumstances simply had changed the type of input, when he adapted to this minor change, he actually preferred the colorless state; offered a chance to have his sense of color restored, he refused.

What an artist actually sees is less important that what she chooses to see.

In a way, the artist aspires only to be what any other creature is; the natural expression of who they are. As a bird sings because that is the way of the bird, so an artist paints because that is the natural expression of the artist. There is no other way to be, in my view. So the eye of the artist is the artist because the artist no longer is separate from what she views; her every action and creation is her art, no longer separate from her self.

Copyright 2006-2009 Aliyah Marr

Carl Jung: The Artist as Collective Man

“The artist is not a person endowed with free will who seeks his own ends, but one who allows art to realize its purposes through him. As a human being he may have moods and a will and personal aims, but as an artist he is ‘man’ in a higher sense — he is ‘collective man,’ a vehicle and molder of the unconscious psychic life of mankind.”

— Carl Jung, Psychology and Literature, 1930

The Simple Art of Happiness

What makes you happy? Have you ever thought about it? Here are a few of the things that make me happy:

"Cumulous Clouds" from the Near/Far Series © 2004 Aliyah Marr

The ocean sparkling in the morning.

The way people dress their toddlers.

Christmas lights on houses at night.

Late night conversation and wine in front of a fireplace in the depths of winter.

Skirts, sandals, and dresses in the summer.

The sound and vibration of a cat’s purr.

A dog who is glad to see me, and sits on my foot.

A child’s laughter.

Surfing in warm water on a sunny day.

A good meal with people I love.

Flirting shamelessly.

Contagious laughter.

Sharing what I love with others.

What makes you happy? Share it with me, share it with those you love, and let the good news about the simple art of happiness circle the world in its arms.

Copyright 2009 Aliyah Marr
(Creative Commons – share with others, include ©)

A Modern Day Thoreau

I found the following story very inspirational; a story about creative thinking and personal power.

Unsung Fortune: A rich man’s secret

March 26, 2007, Philadelphia Enquirer

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/homepage/20070326_ Unsung_fortune_ _A_rich_mans_ secret.html

Hal Taussig wears baggy jeans and fraying work shirts that Goodwill might reject. His shoes have been resoled three times. At age 81, he doesn’t own a car. He performs errands and commutes to the office by bicycle. And he has given away millions. Given the fortune that Taussig has made through Untours, his unique travel business, and has given away through the Untours Foundation, you could call him the Un-millionaire. If he so chose, he could be living in a Main Line mansion and driving a Mercedes.

But he considers money and what he calls “stuff,” beyond what he needs to survive, a burden, an embarrassment. In many respects, he’s a 21st-century Thoreau. “Let your capital be simplicity and contentment, ” the sage of Walden Pond wrote. “Those are my sentiments precisely,” says Taussig, who has three children, five grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren .

He directs the Untours Foundation, into which he pours all his profits – $5 million since 1992. The money is used to make low-interest loans to ventures and projects that help the needy and jobless – from a craft store in Hanoi to a home-health- care cooperative in Philadelphia. “I invest in entrepreneurial efforts to help poor people leverage themselves out of poverty.”

“In America, we worship success,” he says. “It’s a shoddy ethic that leads us to value who we are by what we are.” The motto of the Untours Foundation is “a hand up, not a handout.” It provides low-interest loans, here and abroad, to create jobs, build low-income housing, and support fair-trade products: goods such as coffee that are sold at a price that guarantees producers and workers a fair wage and decent livelihood.

http://www.wanttoknow.info/a-unsung-fortune-rich-mans-secret

In 1999, they won an award from Paul Newman and John F. Kennedy, Jr., for having the Most Generous Business in the United States.

Mission

The Untours Foundation provides low interest loans here and abroad. Loans are issued to individuals and organizations in order to create jobs among disenfranchised populations, build low-income housing, and support Fair Trade Certified products all through the most environmentally friendly means possible. (Fair Trade certification guarantees a comprehensive form of development including fair prices and wages to producers and workers, land farmed in sustainable ways, women holding key decision making roles, and the list goes on.) We look for projects that are innovative and replicable.

The foundation’s interest rate on loans is one of the lowest in the world: normally the U.S. inflation rate. Most loan recipients have no collateral or track record necessary to borrow money through conventional lending institutions. By giving loans and not grants, the foundation provides a “hand up” and not a “hand out”.

Paul Newman said of the foundation: “Untours’ giving is creative in every sense of the word. Their low-interest loans literally create jobs among the hard-core unemployed and housing in decaying urban centers.”

Ben Cohen of Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream has said of Hal Taussig and the foundation: “What makes Hal so special is that he combines real kindness and compassion with that practical business side, and that, I think, is the key to making a difference.”

The foundation’s portfolio is quite eclectic. Most loans are under $50,000.

http://www.untoursfoundation.org/

10 over 140: More Quotes from Parallel Mind

Here are ten more quotes from Parallel Mind, The Art of Creativity. Feel free to pass them along and help me spread the word that creativity is for everyone. Put a quote at the bottom of your email, tweet them, or link with me on Facebook or Linkedin.

It has come to my attention that several people have been putting my material on their blogs without linking back to my original article. They are doing this to increase their content for search engines without paying the author for this content. Please don’t misuse content creators this way. It is one thing to quote someone, and quite another to use their material without paying them or linking back to the original source. This is illegal — an infringement of copyright laws. Please desist.

“An artist doesn’t wait for the perfect tool or circumstances; he can make art from anything and anywhere.” — Aliyah Marr

“The artist sees inspiration where others might see only a limitation or an obstacle.” — Aliyah Marr

“The creative person has a lifelong romance with knowledge.” — Aliyah Marr

“The creative person dares to ask the simple question.” — Aliyah Marr

“An artist passionately loves his subject; every detail & sensation.” — Aliyah Marr

“A creative person loves the pursuit of knowledge, not its possession.” — Aliyah Marr

“Creative thinking cannot live in a critical environment.” — Aliyah Marr

“In order to provide the necessary environment for inspiration, you have to allow for anything.” — Aliyah Marr

“One of the functions of art is to bring the viewer to a different perspective than the one he had before.” — Aliyah Marr

“The creative mood is one of ease, lightness and play.” — Aliyah Marr

Copyright 2008-2009 Aliyah Marr

9 Ways to Access Your Creative Intuition

Synchronicity Copyright 2006 Aliyah Marr

Intuition or what people sometimes call the sixth sense is sometimes no more that the conglomeration of all the other senses and experience. There is no mystery to this stuff.

Let’s take the simple example of walking. When you first learned to walk, you had to think about how to do it, you had to pay attention to each muscle. Now you don’t even think about how you do it, you just do it. Your knowledge is “in your bones,” or more accurately, in your muscles.

Intuition is the same thing. I no longer think about how I create a design or a poem or a painting, my perceptions and inner guidance to the best solution come easily and automatically. Whenever I work, I have access to a rich source of guidance and experience through my intuition. But I am not unusual; we all have access to the same incredible tool.

Here are some practical exercises to develop your intuition and to help you build trust in the messages that come from your intuition.

1. When you talk to someone, pay attention to their body language over their words.
Listen with your whole body, and see what you hear. It is often radically different from what they are saying with their words.

2. Look at things with your peripheral vision.
Many things that you wouldn’t normally notice suddenly become obvious. Why? Because your right brain is the brain in charge of your peripheral vision because it grabs “the whole picture” — the holistic version. This is similar to a common technique practiced by visual artists: they look at their work and blur their eyes deliberately. This allows them to see the picture in a new way.

3. If you are watching an interview of someone on TV, try looking at the person while they are talking with one eye covered and then with the other eye covered.
I did this during the debates, and I could tell which candidates were sincere. Again the reason is the same as #2 above; the right brain grabs information that the left brain cannot.

4. When you have to make a decision, lay out all the choices before you and see which one naturally attracts you.
Go with that one immediately and see what happens.

5. When you have spent too long deliberating between several choices, try to remember which one came to you first.
The first choice is usually the one that your intuition was trying to give you.

6. Pay attention to any weird synchronicity; your subconscious is trying to speak to you through the objects in the external world.
The universe is not random, scientists suspect that even chaos has an order. And what is “out there” is actually just a reflection of what is inside you.

7. Record your dreams.
There is much insight to be gained from the rich source of your dreams. Record your ideas of what the dream means alongside the dream, then look at what you wrote a few days later to see how your insights have affected your life.

8. Start listening to the world over seeing it.
This makes a great meditation too.

9. Practice walking with eyes closed.
See how many steps you can take. You will find yourself trusting other senses than your eyes, and may find, as I did, that you can actually “see” your way. I once took 100 steps on uneven ground in a park this way. It showed me that I could trust my perceptions without thinking about how I was doing it.

This is what intuition feels like: you know something without knowing how you know it, you trust that knowledge because you feel it in your bones. Intuition is the holistic knowledge that comes from the tiny hints that you receive all the time. Intuition is not a loud thing, it only suggests a path, or just shows you what is what, but what an incredible tool it can be, if you decide to develop and use it.

Copyright 2009 Aliyah Marr

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Some Twitter Ideas for Creative People

For some creative examples of how other people use Twitter, you might want to read what I just posted on my blog on design and marketing, FreshAsylum:

http://freshasylum.wordpress.com/2009/09/29/how-do-creative-people-use-twitter/

These examples tend to be slanted towards marketing and self-promotion, but I have used Twitter to publish poetry and to Tweet excerpts from my book, Parallel Mind, The Art of Creativity.

A Fish in the Sea of Change

"Echo" Copyright 2009 Aliyah Marr

Many people are experiencing a great deal of change at this time, they say that every day thousands of people lose their health insurance, probably because they have lost their jobs. No one knows what is going to happen. There seems to be no security anywhere.

I am reminded of what my sister once said of walking: that you have to be off-balance in order to go forward. That going downstairs is actually a controlled fall.

We get nowhere when we are in perfect balance. Society would not advance. We would not change. In my experience, we have to be forced to change, we have to be forced to move. Most people would much rather stay put than take a risk. Most of us will put up with a lot of boredom and pain in exchange for dull security, but at what cost?

Security — the kind provided by money and established institutions — is an illusion. My mother’s best friend was a millionaire twice over, and yet all her money did her no good when she suffered from long-term diabetes.

The only security we really have is our determination to live a healthy life at all times — healthy physically, mentally, and emotionally. That is a matter of what I call living an “unconditional life,” deciding to live as well as possible in whatever condition you find yourself. That means that you value yourself outside any external valuations or scales. You are valuable because you are, not because of what you are “worth,” your job, your skills, your experience,  or even your reputation.

You can be flexible only if you do not identify with any externals; your security is internal and has nothing to do with any “facts.” Security is an internal feeling that cannot be dislodged by any external conditions or events.

When you no longer have any emotions regarding your external conditions, you are truly free, flexible, and secure. Practice personal evolution: see yourself as a fish in the sea of change; at ease, adapting, swimming and thriving.

Copyright 2009 Aliyah Marr

Squeezing Parallel Mind Through Twitter 140 Characters at a Time

The Night Bird © Aliyah Marr 2006 Assemblage: wooden box, black ostrich feather, feather from the wing of a mourning dove.

I have been posting exerpts from Parallel Mind, The Art of Creativity on Twitter with the hope that they will get passed around the world. Help me to spread the word of creative freedom:  feel free to retweet, share and pass single quotes around; just include quotation marks, include proper credit and do not change the quote in any way. If you are blogging, please include the book’s name if possible, Parallel Mind, The Art of Creativity and a link back to the source article.

It has come to my attention that several people have been putting my material on their blogs without linking back to my original blog. They are doing this to increase their content for search engines without paying the author for this content. Please don’t misuse content creators this way. It is one thing to quote someone, and quite another to use their material without paying them or linking back to the original source. This is illegal — an infringement of copyright laws. Please desist.

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“Artwork is only the by-product of the evolutionary process of the artist.” Aliyah Marr

“Art stops time in order to teach, expose, or reveal things that are normally hidden.” – Aliyah Marr

“We have this amazing, powerful gift of creativity until the first time that someone criticizes us.” – Aliyah Marr

“Creativity is play without purpose.” – Aliyah Marr

“Creative thought is native to the unconventional mind.” – Aliyah Marr

“The job of the artist is to be a keen, detached observer.” – Aliyah Marr

“Creative thought involves the capacity for introspection and time for incubation.” – Aliyah Marr

“Creativity thought is direct and spontaneous.” – Aliyah Marr

“Creativity is fearless immersion.” – Aliyah Marr

“Simplicity is to creativity as the match is to the flame.” – Aliyah Marr

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Excerpts from Parallel Mind, The Art of Creativity

Copyright 2008-2009 Aliyah Marr

Please Excuse Our Dust

I am trying to improve the email postings to those of you who have subscribed to the Parallel Mind newsletter by changing carriers. So, please let me know if this newsletter is coming in better or worse than before. The new newsletter is delivered by MailChimp; this newsletter has the MailChimp logo at the bottom.

Email me your thoughts at:

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I read all email and comments.

The Place Called Wisdom

The Natural Order of Things © 2002 Aliyah Marr

Wisdom is not static; it is fluid, moving and undefined. It is not possible to possess wisdom, anymore than it is possible to hold the moment.

A wise person knows this, that she is never wise, that she knows nothing — thus everything is ever new, a pure experience without foreknowledge, prejudice or inherited knowledge.

When I feel that I know — that is when I am most blind. When I am in the raw experience and I feel lost — that is when I am almost in the place called wisdom.

Wisdom is a place – a place at the very center of a short sequence. Like a filmstrip that has only two frames: the frame on the left is the place called the past, the frame on the right is the place called the future — both these places are mental / emotional constructs that are only as real as you believe they are. Like a vacation resort that you first visualize, then pay for, and then visit, the past and future become more real when time and emotions are invested.

Wisdom is the little line between the past and future frames, the middle ground — it is the place in the present. You can be in this place only when you are totally here. It is a wordless place, because the second you start talking and thinking, you put yourself in the past or in the future, and you are no longer in the present, in the place of wisdom.

This is why the wise person can only talk from experience, not wisdom — experience is the half-frame, that little line between one frame of time and another. It is the now.

Copyright 2009 Aliyah Marr

Beyond Parallel Mind

Perceptual Games © 1991 Aliyah Marr

When I am not writing and producing tutorial movies, I work with a few clients privately: I work with individuals as a creativity coach, and with entrepreneurs as a business and communications consultant. Below is a transcript from a question posed by a reader on Library Thing:

“How did you get into your field as a Life Path coach and what was your motivation?”

That is a great question! My book is all about how to create and nurture the “mood of the artist.” Remember when you played with your children? Do you remember how it seemed that sometimes they taught you? Essential things like how to see the world, how to find joy in simple things, how to be messy, etc. Well, that is the essence of how to find your muse again. Think like a child.

Coaching evolved from the things that I talk about in my book: expression of emotions, listening to your intuition, finding joy in simple things, etc. Life Path Coaching is a natural expression and summation of various talents and life skills for me. I have been a design professor, a gymnastics coach, a creative director for Fortune 100 companies, an artist, and a writer.

I bring diverse talents and skills into play depending upon each client needs. For instance, I have one client who is writing a book. I help him stay on track (he has A.D.D.) and help him organize his thoughts and help him with his marketing efforts.

Another client is making a career transition and building a new business and website. She needs help with the business aspects of her life: design, communication, marketing, social networking, advertising, etc. which are all skills I possess as a creative business consultant. So my advice is applicable to her new career path.

But, this client is also a highly creative individual who is often overwhelmed by the sheer amount of work that her project entails: she has to learn a lot quickly about marketing on the web. While she has many skills and talents, sometimes she suffers from creative block even when she gets to do something in which she normally excels, like writing. So, as a coach, my job is to listen to her, like a caring physician, and prescribe the right creative medicine. My first prescription was for her to “go out and play.” I gave her instructions on the form and nature of that play. When she returned from her weekend of unrestricted creative fun, her whole voice and demeanor had changed. She had relaxed. She finished the next week empowered, and more efficient in all her tasks.

My motivation in helping people who want to be more creative is that I truly believe that we are all naturally creative, and finding full expression of our creativity is so joyful that I want to share it with the world! It is a great feeling when I feel that I have helped someone find this kind of fulfillment in their lives. I like to help each client find their own way. The joy is theirs, their success is theirs. I am only there to witness it and encourage them.

One good way to start is to sign up for my free newsletter on how to use creativity for personal development. It follows whatever I post in my blog:

http://parallelmind.wordpress.com

My book is available online through Amazon and Barnes & Noble:

http://www.parallelmindbook.com

If you want a signed copy of my book, email me, I will invoice you via Paypal and I will send the book to you via snail mail. The print version is $20.00 inclusive of shipping.

parallelmindbook [at] gmail.com

(All my Life Path clients get a signed copy of my book if they don’t already have a copy.)

Copyright 2009 Aliyah Marr

Seven Over One Hundred Forty: Tweet Quotes From Parallel Mind

Seven more quotes from Parallel Mind, The Art of Creativity. Feel free to retweet, share and pass them around; just include quotation marks, include proper credit and do not change quote in any way.

——

“Creativity is our birthright as human beings.” — Aliyah Marr

“The life you are experiencing today is the result of the thoughts you were thinking yesterday.” — Aliyah Marr

“We are holding our reality in existence by our focus on the elements of what we perceive to be our reality.” — Aliyah Marr

“Whether aware of it or not, we are thinking our lives into existence from moment to moment.” — Aliyah Marr

“I know of nothing with the same potential for self-discovery & empowerment as the process of creating art.” — Aliyah Marr

“What if we are not Aladdin making wishes, (but) we are the Genie granting those wishes to ourselves?” — Aliyah Marr

“As humans, creativity is our talent and our gift, an inheritance from an abundant universe.” — Aliyah Marr

Copyright 2009 Aliyah Marr

Celestial Navigation

"Perfect Reflection," reversible diptych paintings, © 2004 Aliyah Marr

We all have an internal guidance system: our intuition and our emotions. We have the choice at all times whether to listen to the voice of our intuition and pay attention to our emotions, but they will be there whether we do or not.

If you are like me, it is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the combined force of these internal tools. If you choose to make a decision that goes against the gentle advice of your intuition, you have a strange price to pay, in the emotions that result from your actions.

At one time, I couldn’t hear the voice of my intuition. It was a tiny voice that was often drowned out by the combined voices of my mind and my fear.

Slowly, I found ways to access my intuition and subconscious. I had a great resource and tool in the multiple art-forms in which I could engage. My art taught me how to know the landscape of my emotions, and gave me feedback on how I was feeling, and on what I was really thinking.

I learned that my emotions were a guidance system par excellence; if I held a potential path in my mind and felt bad, or felt good, I knew which was the better one to take. One day, my developing intuition delivered an amazing insight: that emotions are what we use to help us create whatever we want. They are the catalyst in the creative process that helps bring something into existence faster. This insight was such a gift for me that a year later, it formed one of the basic premises — Chapter 5, Emotional Wisdom — of my book, Parallel Mind, The Art of Creativity.

If you were an explorer in unfamiliar territory, you would use a compass to help you find your way. In the same way, why ignore two of the most powerful tools that you own?

With the guidance of the compass of your intuition, you can navigate through the ocean of your emotions, and arrive at that wondrous destination that you envisioned long ago. You can do whatever you want: a field of pure potential waits for you on the horizon of your imagination, brought to you through the willing collaboration of your mind and heart.

Copyright 2009 Aliyah Marr

Harry Potter and the Practice of Real Magic

“An artist has a privileged occupation: the observation of and practice of real magic.” — Aliyah Marr, Parallel Mind, The Art of Creativity

I have been indulging in a guilty pleasure, one that I admit to freely now: I have been spending some quality time with Harry Potter.

I generally don’t like fantasy as a genre, but I have loved science fiction since 6th grade. I always liked the questions it poses. It is the questions that we ask that help us to imagine a new future, one that is different from our current reality, one that we can consciously choose.

But I could never appreciate fantasy, because it seemed so far-fetched, and silly. The protagonists and antagonists could do anything at anytime; they had magical powers that had nothing to do with their inner development. No inner discipline, no difficulty.

So I surprised myself recently when I found myself watching and enjoying the Harry Potter movies. The first thing I noticed was the sheer beauty of the production, and running a close second: I love the way the movies transport me into a feeling of magic, mystery and possibility.

Harry Potter and his friends don’t arrive at their powers easily. No, it is a difficult apprenticeship, full of danger and difficulty. Each lesson has profound implications: requiring the development of responsibility, ethical judgment, and clear discernment. The children learn how to establish true friendships and learn to see who is real and who is false. They discover how to navigate in a new wondrous world that has an entirely different set of rules.

This magical world exists  side-by-side with the hum-drum world of daily existence like an alternate universe. They go to sorcery school, learn their lessons and then return to the drab ordinary existence that has been somehow unaware of their absence.

Harry Potter and his cohorts — J.K. Rowlings, Chris Columbus, Steve Kloves and everyone on the set or in production — deserve kudos for their part in bringing magic to the world at large. It is as if suddenly everyone has been suddenly transported into a new realm of imagination and possibility.

The value of creativity is in the exercise of the imagination. Anything that we can imagine is possible, because we can imagine it. Somewhere, sometime, perhaps even in the near future, magic exists. It exists simply because it is practiced. We practice magic when we engage our creativity and our imaginations, and when we project our desires into a material form. That is the art of magic and the magic of art.

Copyright 2009 Aliyah Marr

140 Characters or Less: Tweet Quotes from Parallel Mind, The Art of Creativity

I have been pulling quotes from my book and posting them on Twitter. I will eventually compile these into a book or set of cards, but for now, I will also post a few of them here. Feel free to follow me on Twitter:

http://www.twitter.com/parallelmind

You can also retweet them on Twitter if you want or share them with your friends.

—-

“The power of creative thought can impel you to excel in any medium, in any field, any subject.” — Aliyah Marr

“Whatever you dream is available to you; first you must know how to use your creative potential.” — Aliyah Marr

“An artist is not defined by his work, but by the power of his creative thought.” — Aliyah Marr

“Manifestation is the natural, spontaneous conclusion that follows inspiration.” — Aliyah Marr

“Art is about change, exploration, and about the courage to know yourself.” — Aliyah Marr

“If you follow a path of conscious change you are walking in the very footsteps of giants.” — Aliyah Marr

“When will you allow yourself the life you deserve?” A voice is whispering in your ear: today is the day.” — Aliyah Marr

Parallel Mind Book Review

The reviews from Library Thing are starting to roll in. Here’s one from bennettsmama:

I received this book through LT’s Member Giveaway in an EBook format. The title of this book pretty much says it all. It is a wonderful little book dealing with the wonders of creativity. The exercises were fun and it was a very fast read. It helps to open the mind to other things, and in my book, that is a great accomplishment. I enjoyed this book very much. ( )

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bennettsmama | Aug 17, 2009

Aliyah Marr Discusses Parallel Mind, The Art of Creativity

Aliyah Marr discusses Parallel Mind (Aug 31-Sept 11) on Library Thing. Come by to join in!

http://www.librarything.com/topic/72128

——

Welcome to my author’s chat. Some of you have my book, via Library Thing’s book review giveaway. I invite you to discuss the book and creativity in general.

In my “other” life I am a Life Path coach and Creative Projects Advisor, which means that I help people with their creative goals in their life or business. Parallel Mind, The Art of Creativity explores some of the basic concepts of how creative development can help in all aspects of one’s life.

I also invite you to follow my postings on Twitter — daily quotes from the book: http://twitter.com/ParallelMind

And my blog/newsletter: http://parallelmind.wordpress.com

Aliyah Marr

The Wisdom of the Butterfly

I had a wonderful childhood. My mother was an early environmentalist who had a talent for making everything interesting. She had a way of viewing the world that was totally unique. I remember laying stomach-down on an ocean pier with her and examining all the stuff growing on the trash under the wooden deck and on the pilings under the water. She said, “Look how Nature beautifies everything.” And it was true.

She was a great and wonderful teacher. She allowed us to capture animals and keep them on our back porch. We would try to feed them. If they didn’t eat, we would let them go. At any point, we had a real menagerie out there: toads, frogs, snakes, etc. We were taught to be afraid of nothing. We were taught to see the beauty in everything and to see how each creature fit in to the larger natural landscape.

One time she brought in a chrysalis of a Monarch butterfly for us to study. They say that a caterpillar’s body goes through a radical transformation inside the chrysalis: its body actually liquidates in order to reform into a completely different insect. I’ll never forget the moment our Monarch hatched from its shell. It seemed to take forever, because it had to expand and dry its new wings.

In nature there is a time for everything and a process. This process cannot be hurried; if the chrysalis is forced open from the outside, the butterfly will not evolve and it will die half-formed.

I know now that a real personal transformation happens only when we have dissolved our former selves, or rather, we have dissolved what we think of as ourselves. We have to first start with our beliefs, then examine and discard the thoughts that engendered those beliefs, and finally, we can detach our emotions from those thoughts. Once we do this, we are ready to emerge as a different person, expand our new wings and fly away.

Copyright 2009 Aliyah Marr

—–

Aliyah Marr is a Life Path Consultant and Creative Projects Advisor available for private consultations and transformational readings.

“What do you want to create today?”

LIFE PATH CONSULTANT
I coach artists, designers, authors, and entrepreneurs. With a solid background in marketing, design, coaching and writing, I help individuals throughout the entire creative process all the way from developing their personal vision to establishing their personal brand and marketing their product/service.

CREATIVE PROJECTS ADVISOR
If you have a creative project that you want to develop, market, or promote, contact me through my website: http://www.aliyahmarr.com References are available upon request.

Light Enough to Fly Away

© Aliyah Marr

Why do we create? I’d like to say that it is in our nature, but I am not sure. Yes, I think that we are naturally creative beings, and our creations are mainly thoughts enlivened by emotions.

When negative emotions are attached to thoughts, our thoughts become heavy. We become heavy. You can see the emotional weight of some people in how they carry themselves. But we have a choice to do otherwise; we can detach our emotions from our thoughts.

Emotions are what makes the ego feel “real.” That is why many people are actually afraid to be alone, or to meditate to the place where their thoughts stop. Since those daily concerns are emotionally-laden, it seems that we might just float away without the anchor of our emotions. All emotions are ballast for an incredible “lightness of being” that is our true self.

When we are no longer weighed down, our thoughts are like the ephemeral spin of cotton candy; light and meaningless without the drama of our emotions. Clarity and vision becomes possible because your world and your view has become suddenly quite a bit larger. Can you bear becoming so light? What would you do if you found that you no longer are bound by the gravity of your thoughts?

Copyright 2009 Aliyah Marr

Streaming Contemporary Art Channel,

MYARTSPACE.TV

Palo Alto, CA (PRWEB) August 24, 2009 – MYARTSPACE.com, the premier online social network for the contemporary art world, has announced the launch of MYARTSPACE.tv, a site providing live, 24-hour per day streaming contemporary art and music. Click on the image below to view MYARTSPACE.TV.

Catherine McCormack-Skiba, the founder of MYARTSPACE and CEO noted “With our incredibly rich collection of contemporary art from our 60,000 artists we represent, we have a unique ability to launch rich and interesting new art services to the viewing public. MYARTSPACE.tv allows people to enjoy very high-quality, curated contemporary art in their web browser 24 hours per day. The diversity of work is also unique, with artists from over 116 countries being represented in our community.”The live streaming fine art service is combined with a music playlist constructed on Playlist.com. The service is interactive. Clicking on the art as it streams by allows art appreciators to learn more about the artist and purchase work from them. # # #

ALT.PICTURESHOWS ‘09 Films at MCASD

ALT.PICTURESHOWS ‘09 Thursday, August 27 > 7-10 PM MCASD Downtown Free MCASD Members; $5 General Part cinematic funhouse, part short-film festival extraordinaire, the seventh annual alt.pictureshows returns as San Diego’s premier short-film showcase with a new collection of stunning and innovative live-action and animated short films that are sure to delight and surprise viewers. “Physical channel surf” your way through the galleries to experience a range of different short films as they screen on a loop throughout the evening. More . . . MCASD’s Film Program is made possible by grant support from The James Irvine Foundation, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and contributors to MCASD’s Annual Fund Campaign. Institutional support for MCASD is provided in part by the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture.

www.mcasd.org

| 858 454 3541

Proof that Inspiration is Right in Front of You All the Time

Do you have writer’s/artist’s block? Don’t forget to check the supermarket tabloid ads for inspiration.

Listening to one of my favorite internet radio stations, Radio Paradise, I found this little gem of inspiration:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByomIJf5n9w

Here are some choice excerpts from the lyrics:

Step Right Up — Tom Waits

Step right up
Step right up
Step right up
Everyone’s a winner, bargains galore
That’s right, you too can be the proud owner
Of the quality goes in before the name goes on

That’s right, it fillets, it chops
It dices, slices, never stops
Lasts a lifetime, mows your lawn
And it mows your lawn
And it picks up the kids from school
It gets rid of unwanted facial hair
It gets rid of embarrassing age spots
It delivers a pizza

Please allow thirty days for delivery
Don’t be fooled by cheap imitations
You can live in it, live in it
Laugh in it, love in it
Swim in it, sleep in it
Live in it, swim in it
Laugh in it, love in it
Removes embarrassing stains from contour sheets
That’s right

And it entertains visiting relatives
It turns a sandwich into a banquet
Tired of being the life of the party?
Change your shorts
Change your life, change your life
Change into a nine-year-old Hindu boy
Get rid of your wife

Step right up, step right up, step right up
C’mon, c’mon, c’mon, c’mon, c’mon
Step right up
You can step right up
C’mon and step right up
C’mon and step right up

What is Your Creative Working Style?

1: Spontaneous – bored by anything planned.

2: Planned – suspicious of spontaneity.

3: Planned Spontaneity – don’t ask me how this works.

4: Party Mixer – needs infinite variety and stimulation, hops around a lot.

5: Environmentally Dependent - workspace has to be just so.

6: Music Junkie – goes nowhere without iPod.

7: Java-Powered – what coffee jitters? That’s the way I draw!

8: Night Owl – this train only travels after midnight.

9: Regular Spigot - can turn it on and off at will.

10: Muse Within – inspired from within.

11: Wild Child - inspired by nature.

12: Shower Muse - ideas come in weird places, when you can’t write them down.

13: Pop-culturette - inspired by graffiti, tabloids, the smear on your shoe.

14: Art-aholic - inspired by all forms of art.

15: Workhorse - labors night and day, forgets to eat, sleep or pee.

16: Prima Donna – is the best, even if no one else agrees.

17: Tortured Soul - would cut off ear for each idea; worries doesn’t have enough ideas/ears.

18: Volcano – spews ideas forth like hot magma.

19: Mystic – ideas come from the very air.

20: Epicurean – tastes a little of everything.

21: Schizophrenic – wakes up a different kind of artist every morning.

Call to Artists! Juried Show at Rogue Gallery in New York City

INTERNATIONAL
JURIED SHOW
Judged by art critic David Cohen

January 14th – January 30th, 2010
Opening Reception: Thursday, January 14th 6-9pm

Following the success of our recent series of group shows and glowing article by Joe Bendik, columnist of Chelsea Clinton News,  Rogue Space Chelsea, will start off the new year with its International Juried Group Show. The show is open to all media and will be judged by David Cohen, renowned Art Critic and Contributing Editor of The New York Sun between 2003-2008. Best In Show will be awarded an Artist Package - a film created about the artist and their work, as well as, a gallery opening reception/solo show and film premiere.  For details, see our site FilmsOnArtists. Please see our entry form for specifications and to register online.

526 West 26th Street, 9E  New York, NY 10001 347.342.8787 GroupShow@ChelseaGallerySpace.com www.chelseagalleryspace.com

A Tool for Personal Development

I have always admired the work of Rene Magritte. One of my favorite things about his work was how he titled his paintings. They always seemed a bit random, as if he pulled them from a hat.

I was interested in how the impact of my paintings could change by applying different titles. Since I worked as an interactive designer, I thought that I could program a game to randomly choose text to match the image. What traditional game is based upon images and randomness? A deck of cards! Specifically Tarot cards, which have some really arcane imagery.

Since my imagery is a bit surreal, and could be described as arcane, I thought it might be a good idea to apply traditional Tarot card meanings to my paintings and see what happened. So my Transformational Tarot was born. You are invited to check it out:

http://www.radi8.org/exhibits/exhibit_8/

All the cards and their meanings are here:

http://www.radi8.org/exhibits/exhibit_8/tarot/readings/index.html

People tell me that they get good readings from it, and I have started comparing it to other tools that help foster creativity and intuition. I find it speaks about things that my subconscious wants me to know, but may have been suppressing. It allows me to access my intuition as well, because the purpose of the deck is to help the player get to a more self-aware state. Play the game and see what you think. Is it a tool for personal transformation?

Copyright 2009 Aliyah Marr

——

Transformational Tarot CD
$19.95, including shipping ($4.95 USPS)

Parallel Mind, The Art of Creativity
$19.95, including shipping ($4.95 USPS)

Transformational Tarot Game on CD and Parallel Mind, The Art of Creativity book (shipped in one package)
$34.95, including shipping ($4.95 USPS)

If you are interested in having a signed copy of this game on CD, a signed copy of my book or both, just email:

parallelmindbook [at] gmail [dot com]

Conditionals are Excuses

The first agreement in the book, The Four Agreements, by Don Miguel Ruiz asks that you be impeccable with your word.

Be impeccable with your word – Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.

I translate this to mean more than he does: I like to cultivate the idea that no one has limits except those we impose on ourselves. Others will try to impose their limits on you through their words and thoughts. You have the power to ignore or to counteract those limitations in how you think of yourself and in how you think of those around you.

Recently, a client of mine expressed an irritation with his parents to me. I told him that his parents could not see beyond the boundaries of their own limitations. His parents’ limitations come out in their words, which equal their thoughts. They cannot see beyond the limits of their thoughts. Why is this? Because the thoughts that they have practiced so long have hardened into beliefs. The beliefs practiced so long have become their reality.

He is right to be irritated, because he senses that if he listens too long to them, their negative beliefs will become his own. However, I encouraged him to see that his parents may have no other way to express their love and concern.

How do other people’s limitations become our own? Listen to these examples:

“You look good, for your age.”

“She can’t help being overweight, it runs in her family.”

“I am too old / young to ______ .” (put your own conditional in here)

“I am not ________ enough to be successful.” (put your own conditional in here)

“I am too ________ to be pretty.” (put your own conditional in here)

“Women / Men only like men / women who are ________” (put your own conditional in here)

What Don Miguel Ruiz is referring to by impeccability has more to do with your inner thoughts than what comes out of your mouth. In fact, what becomes conscious verbage is only the tip of the proverbial iceberg of internal dialog. How would you rewrite those conditional statements? Without conditional limitations, how would the script of your life read?

Check your thoughts hourly to see how you apply conditionals to yourself and to others. Keep notes about your internal dialog in a little notebook. When you find yourself applying a conditional to another person, check out how your own limited ego is dictating these words to your brain. It’s bizarre how many limitations we apply to ourselves everyday in our thoughts.

Don’t let the excuses of others to limit you. Don’t let your excuses limit others. Be impeccable with your thoughts and your life will change. Instead of seeing only limitations, you will be standing on the edge of the known world with a broad horizon of endless opportunities stretching out before you.

Copyright 2009 Aliyah Marr

——

Aliyah Marr is a Life Path Consultant and Creative Projects Advisor available for private consultations and transformational readings.

“What do you want to create today?”

LIFE PATH CONSULTANT
I coach artists, designers, authors, and entrepreneurs. With a solid background in marketing, design, coaching and writing, I help individuals throughout the entire creative process all the way from developing their personal vision to establishing their personal brand and marketing their product/service.

CREATIVE PROJECTS ADVISOR
If you have a creative project that you want to develop, market, or promote, contact me through my website: http://www.aliyahmarr.com References are available upon request.

Can a Movie Turn Around a Town?

Help turn around Paterson, one of the largest and poorest cities in New Jersey, 180 degrees in 365 days.

See the post on my other blog, FreshAsylum:

http://freshasylum.wordpress.com/2009/08/15/time-to-impact-turn-around-paterson-one-of-the-largest-and-poorest-cities-in-new-jersey-180-degrees-in-365-days/

Neither Your Thoughts or Your Emotions are You

Does life seem unfair to you? How many times have you seen someone receive unjust rewards while another person goes hungry for love, money or simple appreciation?

I’ll never forget the day that I discovered the three principles of emotions: that all emotions are valid, that they are supposed to flow freely, and that it is better to not to judge yourself for having them. Soon after, I found a very effective way to step out of them. When I felt myself get tearful, I would simply state quietly, “Ah, I am emoting,” and it would stop me long enough to step outside of my habit, so that I could observe the emotion and its trigger.

This little in-the-moment detachment technique proved very effective; it allowed me to break the habit of emotional reactivity. Now I understand that I have the power in any circumstance and in every moment to choose my thoughts and my emotions.

The nicest thing about my solution was that I created it out of my own need to both express my emotions and detach myself from them. You can choose a different way to step outside of your habits, and give yourself a chance to change. The act of creating a solution tailored to your own personality and needs is just as important as the technique’s ultimate effectiveness.

If you find this too difficult at this time it means that you do not have enough energy yet to make such a big change. So just focus on a negative thought the next time one arises. The emotional charge connected to the thought has made it noticeable; one may say that it shines, like a light in the dark.

Just sit with it, and feel it as energy in your body. Don’t think about it, just put your full consciousness on the energy; follow it as it leaves your body. Be aware of it as energy, meditate without thinking, and you will gain immediate relief from the negative emotion.

Copyright 2009 Aliyah Marr

Breath Meditation for Stress or Panic Attacks

“The purpose of life is to be happy.” — the Dalai Lama

The Breath Meditation
Focus on your breath as it goes in and out of your lungs. This simple exercise is one used by many people as a meditation technique and it is very useful for people who experience stress as panic attacks. Breathe out first, concentrate on emptying your lungs fully, visualize it like a balloon that has been emptied of all the air.

When fully deflated, your lungs create a vacuum that will fill with air naturally when you allow yourself to inhale. The intake of air that follows should feel very good; make both the inhalation and exhalation very full and slow.

Now focus on your abdomen: it should grow in size when you inhale because as you do so your diaphragm is filling this cavity in your body. When you exhale, the diaphragm moves up:  imagine it compressing the lungs to help you exhale. A baby is a good model for the right way to breathe: when she inhales her belly enlarges as her diaphragm lowers, it flattens as she exhales; her diaphragm pushing up into the chest cavity to empty the lungs of air.

Don’t do too many deep breaths, no more than ten at first. As you feel the air enter your lungs you can practice any kind of visualization you want; my favorite is to think that all of nature is nourishing me through my breath, and I, in turn, provide carbon dioxide for the plants around me when I exhale.

This makes a good exercise to do upon awakening before you even get out of bed. It sets a good tone for the day. You can then graduate to trying your breath meditation at intervals during the day. If you are feeling ungrounded or nervous, trying this little exercise can help you regain your composure. Eventually, simply remembering to do it becomes a mindfulness exercise in itself.

Copyright 2009 Aliyah Marr

What is Your Theme Song?

For those of us who are dreamers, there is an abundance of wisdom in the art that surrounds us. If you are like me you find inspiration in the lyrics of certain songs.

What songs would you want played at your funeral? What message of wisdom would you leave for those who follow you? I have had them picked out for a long time.

Somewhere Wonderful
by Israel Kamakawiwo ‘ole

Somewhere over the rainbow
Way up high
And the dreams that you dream of once in a lullaby

Somewhere over the rainbow
Bluebirds fly
And the dreams that you dream of
Dreams really do come true

Someday I wish upon a star
Wake up where the clouds are far behind me
Where trouble melts like lemondrops
High above the chimney top
That’s where you’ll find me

Somewhere over the rainbow
Bluebirds fly
And the dreams that you dare to
Oh why oh why can’t I

Well I see trees of green and red roses too
I’ll watch them bloom for me and you
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world

Well I see skies of blue and
I see clouds of white
And the brightness of day
I like the dark
And I think to myself what a wonderful world

The colors of the rainbow
So pretty in the sky
are also on the faces of people passing by
I see friends shaking hands saying
How do you do
They’re really saying I, I love you

I hear babies cry and I watch them grow
They’ll learn much more then we’ll know
And I think to myself what a wonderful world
world…

Someday I wish upon a star
Wake up where the clouds are far behind me
Where trouble melts like lemondrops
High above the chimney top
That’s where you’ll find me

Oh somewhere over the rainbow
Way up high
And the dreams that you dare to
Why oh why can’t I…

——

The Abundance Card, Transformational Tarot © Aliyah Marr

Imagine
by John Lennon

Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today…

Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace…

You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world…

You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will live as one

—–

I Hope You Dance
by Leanne Warwick

I hope you never lose your sense of wonder
You get your fill to eat
But always keep that hunger
May you never take one breath for granted
God forbid love ever leave you empty handed
I hope you still feel small
When you stand by the ocean
Whenever one door closes, I hope one more opens
Promise me you’ll give fate a fighting chance

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance
I hope you dance
I hope you dance

I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance
Never settle for the path of least resistance
Living might mean taking chances
But they’re worth taking
Lovin’ might be a mistake
But it’s worth making
Don’t let some hell bent heart
Leave you bitter
When you come close to selling out
Reconsider
Give the heavens above
More than just a passing glance

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance
I hope you dance
I hope you dance
(Rolling us along)
I hope you dance
(Tell me who)
I hope you dance
(Wants to look back on their years and wonder)
(Where those years have gone)

I hope you still feel small
When you stand by the ocean
Whenever one door closes, I hope one more opens
Promise me you’ll give faith a fighting chance

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance
Dance
I hope you dance
I hope you dance
I hope you dance
(Rolling us along)
I hope you dance
(Tell me who)
(Wants to look back on their years and wonder)
I hope you dance
(Where those years have gone)

(Tell me who)
I hope you dance
(Wants to look back on their years and wonder)
(Where those years have gone)

—–

I hope you follow your dreams even if they lead you over the rainbow Maybe you’ll join me in my dream; a place where everyone has creative freedom. Whatever you do, I hope that when you have a chance, you dance.

Aliyah Marr

Freedom From Limiting Beliefs

Dream Vortex © 2005 Aliyah Marr

Here is  a creative exercise to achieve freedom from limiting or highly-charged beliefs:

1. Isolate your negative belief.

2. Express your negative reality in art: write a poem, paint a painting, compose a musical piece, write a play or short story. Allow it full expression, paint the darkest picture you can.

3. Write the essence of the belief (and history) you want to dump on small pieces of paper.

4. Keep these papers with you. Look at them every day.

5. Embrace your beliefs — and emotions about your beliefs — for a full week. Really embrace them, as if they were a person you loved that you knew was going away soon forever.

This step is the most important one, because, at an unconscious level these beliefs represent a fragment of yourself that has an emotional reality. This self has a message to give you. By bringing it up to the surface first through art, you have allowed it to deliver its message. But if you don’t honor the self that brought you this gift of insight, it won’t allow you to discard it. The ego that holds this fragment self in form thinks that the change you want represents its death and it does not want to die.

6. Just before the end of the 7th day hold a private ceremony in a quiet place. Assemble your pieces of paper, a candle, small bowl and a few matches or lighter. To go forward, you must dump your history, but you are not going to dump it like yesterday’s trash. That would amount to mistreating yourself, because your history is you, and at heart you cannot allow that. Instead you are going to honor it first and then ask its permission if it is OK for you to no longer hold this belief. Once you no longer hold an emotion about it, it will be easy to change, but you cannot if you are emotionally attached to your limiting belief.

7.  State the belief written on each paper, hold it in your mind for the final time, ask if it is OK for you to let this belief go forever, and then once you no longer feel emotion when you read the words on the paper burn it. The burning symbolizes that you are now done with your history of negative beliefs and limitations, and represents a commitment to a new life of freedom.

Copyright 2009 Aliyah Marr
All rights reserved.

——

Aliyah Marr is a Life Path Consultant and Creative Projects Advisor available for private consultations and Transformational Tarot readings.

“What do you want to create today?”

LIFE PATH CONSULTANT
I coach artists, designers, authors, and entrepreneurs. With a solid background in marketing, design, coaching and writing, I help individuals throughout the entire creative process all the way from developing their personal vision to establishing their personal brand and marketing their product/service.

CREATIVE PROJECTS ADVISOR
If you have a creative project that you want to develop, market, or promote, contact me via email. References are available upon request.

Email me at:
myfullname [at] gmail.com

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

One of the great functions of art is how it allows us to fully view and understand the past. An event doesn’t have any meaning but what we have assigned it. Meaning has no impact without the emotional glue that keeps it sticking to us.

When you find yourself stuck in a morass of emotions or a reality that seems to become more and more limited, there is a good therapy — and a solution — available through art. The past can serve us or it can limit us. It should be a conscious choice, but it is often anything but that. The reason? We are attached to our version of reality by our emotions, and our emotions define our identity at an unconscious level.

Getting to a view of total detachment (not numbness, or shock) is key to mental and emotional freedom. Once freed mentally and emotionally, physical freedom is not far behind.

Let’s say that you have a problem with money. You cannot seem to make enough, or hold onto it when you do. This story has a history which makes it more real; in other words, you have thought this thought “I cannot make enough money” for a long time. Every time you had this thought, you had an emotional reaction to your thought. Eventually, that thought has become a solid reality.

Would it surprise you to learn that you are addicted to this thought? More specifically, you are addicted to the “negative” emotion that gives you a little zing every time you have this thought. Emotions are energy, and are addictive. Practice that negative thought and feel it’s effect in your body right now. Like a drug addict, you find yourself doing it many times a day.

I remember reading about an experiment with a monkey where they hooked up the pleasure part of his brain so that he would receive a burst of electrical stimulation (emotional energy) every time he pressed a lever. This monkey pressed the lever so much that he didn’t eat or sleep, and died as a result. It might take us longer, but our limited reality is what eventually makes us die.

A reality that becomes more and more limited everyday unless we make conscious choice to change and evolve our addictions. You can replace a “bad” addiction with a “good” one, which amounts to replacing a “negative” belief with one that has more “positive” benefits, but, if, in the process, you forget that this belief was a choice, then you are still addicted. Addiction is the opposite of freedom. Freedom means choice.

You might say that until now you were taking two steps forward and one step back into the past every time you tried to change. Once you are able to achieve emotional detachment to your thoughts — and to your beliefs — you have true freedom and true choice. You can now go anywhere and do anything because your past history is no longer active in your life. The future is yours.

Copyright 2009 Aliyah Marr
All rights reserved.

——

Aliyah Marr is a Life Path Consultant and Creative Projects Advisor available for private consultations and transformational readings.

“What do you want to create today?”

LIFE PATH CONSULTANT
I coach artists, designers, authors, and entrepreneurs. With a solid background in marketing, design, coaching and writing, I help individuals throughout the entire creative process all the way from developing their personal vision to establishing their personal brand and marketing their product/service.

CREATIVE PROJECTS ADVISOR
If you have a creative project that you want to develop, market, or promote, contact me through my website: http://www.aliyahmarr.com References are available upon request.

Give Yourself Permission to Play — Part 2

Detail of "Jump" - Creativity Card, Transformational Tarot © Aliyah Marr

The function of play in our own internal development cannot be overemphasized. But I am convinced that play does not have to stop when one becomes an adult. In fact, it becomes even more important to our own on-going personal evolution. Those of us who discover this secret, seem to live charmed, interesting lives.

But whether they are successful business men or happy gardeners, they have one thing in common — they have learned how to continue to play as an adult, they have learned to relax and enjoy the journey of their lives, moment to moment. They have learned to do what I call “follow the energy”– the thread of creativity in their lives that leads to happy pursuits. Joseph Campbell calls this “following your bliss”.

life lived with creativity is like one long recreation period. In this aspect of ourselves as creative beings we mirror the sublime and are most like our essential being. As Cat Stevens wrote in the lyrics  his song “Morning is Broken”, the day is “God’s re-creation, light of a new day”.

An eminent anthropologist wrote in Scientific American that what distinguishes us from other mammals is not our hands or language or toolmaking ability, but our unique drive to create art. I find it very apropos that art in its purest form has no “function”. It does not clothe us or feed us; often it doesn’t make money, in fact it consumes it.

Copyright 2009 Aliyah Marr
(all rights reserved)

Give Yourself Permission to Play — Part 1

Detail of “Jump” – Creativity Card, Transformational Tarot © Aliyah Marr

People a lot talk these days about “creative problem-solving.” But to many artists, creativity isn’t really much about problem-solving at all. Pure creativity (non-commercial art forms) is not about fixing something, but about creating something that wasn’t there before.

In the sphere of pure creativity there are no problems at all — problems are in the realm of those misguided left-brained individuals who are merely trying to think creatively. As Einstein says “you can’t solve a problem with the mind that created it”.

The operative word here is “problem”. In order to truly think creatively, one must return to the mindset of a child. Children play. There are no problems in the world of play, only fun and imagination.

Creativity is play without purpose. Creativity is essentially free play, play free of judgments, free of mental constraints or goals.

This idea is frightening to that part of us — the “adult” self — which is guarding us from the evil of the world, the rigid protector or guard that doesn’t understand that it is no longer functioning as a benign guardian and is actually slowing killing that which it is trying to protect. How many of us feel trapped by our own minds? Isn’t this ennui the real reason for desiring the temporary release that drugs or sex can give us?

Going back to the example of the child playing — is failure even an option? Is success even a goal? Of course that is ridiculous — there is no purpose or goal to play. And the reward is simply the pleasure in the doing.

Fortunately, we can remember what it is like to play, and make it a big part of our lives. Adults, once they are set again on the path of creative play can suddenly feel that the world just suddenly “goes their way” and serendipitous things just start to happen. Somehow, just by allowing oneself to do what one loves, one automatically becomes more skillful at the endeavor.

I have noticed this time and time again when coaching others. The blockage is there only when one regards what one is doing as odious work. Once it is regarded as play, it becomes interesting: once a certain skill in the subject is learned, it even becomes fun.

In the life of a creative child, she wakes up in great anticipation of a day spent playing. She doesn’t anticipate problems or worry about how she will play or arrive at any solutions. She doesn’t plan her play, time it, or even organise it. She just starts. Any decision that she has to make is instantaneous, sometimes unconsciously innovative, always imaginative.

If her decision doesn’t work, she just makes another one. If she had a more specific idea and it doesn’t work out in the way she had foreseen, then she is just as happy to play in a new way suggested by the turn of events. (see “happy accident”). In a world of creativity, the point isn’t any goal or solution, the biggest decision amounts to what one wants to play with next.

Copyright 2009 Aliyah Marr

Author Chat With Aliyah Marr August 31st

Library Thing will host an author’s chat with author Aliyah Marr starting August 31st and ending on September 11th, 2009. She will discuss the premise of her book, “Parallel Mind, The Art of Creativity,” and will offer creative coaching online during the chat. The chat will be here on August 31st.

http://www.librarything.com/groups/authorchat

Preceding this event, the author is giving away 99 copies in exchange for book reviews. Please join to get your copy of the book and participate in the chat.

The Search for Meaning

Gertrude Stein was on her deathbed, friends gathered around to hear her last words. She whispers, “What is the answer?” Her friends, concerned, anxiously ask her what she is talking about. It’s a few minutes (I imagine) and she says, “Then, what is the question?”

Are You Destined for Greatness?

We all have certain ideas about what success means and how it appears. At one time, I thought that one measure of success was how you deal with stress. Since stress seems unavoidable, happier people seem to have figured out a way to alleviate or even eradicate stress.

So, you could say that I equate success with personal happiness. As for greatness, I know that we can all be great. We all are. Greatness is not a matter of superiority over others, but an internal matter. It is a knowledge that we either have or don’t have. I guarantee that no great genius ever got very far if he thought he was useless and stupid. No, they got there because they knew they were great.

Greatness is not a wish or a desire, it is a deep knowing. A way of succeeding where others might fail. Why do great people do great things? Because it is natural to them. They don’t have a doubt about their abilities. However, their knowledge is not based upon past performance or upon accolades or even upon encouragement from outsiders, although these things can certainly help. When they begin, they have none of those things. None of us do. We all start the journey of evidencing our greatness from the same place.

We don’t have to prove we are great because greatness is natural to our creative selves. Anything that is natural doesn’t have to be proved, it only evidences itself over time. Deep inside all of us is the potential for greatness; you just have to decide to allow yourself to be that which you naturally are. As for success, that is easy once you have that inner knowledge. That knowledge doesn’t come from your brain, but from your heart.

You are great when you listen to your heart.

So I want you to listen to your heart about what makes you great. Never mind that your mind does not believe it, remember it tells you lies all the time about how bad or unsuccessful you are all the time. It has said these things for so long that you have come to believe it.

I am not requiring you to believe me — belief is not important, because belief stays only on the surface of your mind. And because the heart is so much more powerful than the mind, I am talking directly to your heart. Repeat with me:

“Greatness is not my destination, it is my reality.”

Don’t ever be afraid to be good enough to be great.

Copyright 2009 Aliyah Marr

Are We There Yet?

The following phrase just popped into my head as I was driving today, “If you are afraid of hitting bottom, you aren’t there yet.”

They say that sometimes you have to hit the bottom before you can start going up again. Maybe you will never hit bottom, but if you ever do, you will have to know that you are there in order to be able to go in another direction. The only way you will know that you have hit the bottom is if you are no longer afraid of hitting it.

Zeno’s paradox says that you can never get to your destination since you can never be halfway there, since “halfway there” is not a constant. Getting halfway there involves an infinite number of operations. One Flash developer used this paradox in mathematical form to make an element move slower and slower on the screen; the graphic never quite got to its destination since it is programmed to only go halfway every time the program goes through its (infinite) loop.

There is a classic underground cartoon character, named Zippy, who was an escapee from a circus. He was the classic “Fool of God,” easily amused by such things as watching the clothes go round and round in the commercial dryer at the laundry mat. While we find it incomprehensible that this might be amusing, is it any less insane to be impatient for your destination.

So I’ll pose the question to you, because it is one that I think occurs to all of us, at least on the unconscious level:

“Are we there yet?”

Maybe it would be better to ask, like Zippy, “Are we having fun yet?”

Copyright Aliyah Marr

Interview With Artist / Designer Sean Kelley

Sean Kelley is an artist / designer who designs and curates art exhibits in San Diego. Recently I interviewed him for my tutorial, Designers with Double Lives, for Graphics.com. He generously gave me more information than I could put in the tutorial. So I decided to post the rest of the interview here as inspiration for readers of Parallel Mind.

How did you get into design and art? Which came first for you?

I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t a hybrid designer/artist, and I usually tend to ignore those labels anyhow. I was always an art nerd, but I grew up around my dad’s architecture studio so his thought process as a designer had a big impact on me (that and legos).

Is there anything special about your process?

Even if I am working with a 2-dimensional surface, I end up creating something more sculptural… A recent discovery of mine that was truly a happy mistake, was the rad texture created by using a power-sander after layering paper and acrylic on heavy.

How are you inspired?

By materials, by nature, by books, and by other artists/designers. I am constantly inspired by the creatives I know.

What is your artist\’s statement for your work at this point in your life?

I have very few goals with my current work; lose myself in experimental processes and materials, keep my eyeballs glued to the pavement for forgotten treasures, and establish world peace. I’ll be happy with 2 out of 3.

As an artist, do you work in one medium or in several? How does your choice affect your life?

Several. It’s almost always sculptural in some way, but it ranges from acrylic on panels to installation and living plant life. If the work requires a lot of space, smells nasty, or gets really messy, my wife gets pissed so I have to get creative with how I work.

My life is better now that I’ve discovered exhibition design.

Where do you work?

I work out of my home… but often I’m moving around and working on site for the events we put together. Our latest show was at Swiv Tackle Circus: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sanctuary143/3470496778/

When is your best time to create?

I love working through the night on art… but I’ll often do design work in the early AM too. Really anytime it’s quiet.

Does your process on one side inform the process on the other?

I’ve been forcing myself to use more handdrawn type and illustration in my design work, but those weren’t a direct result of art I had already done. I guess the act of using a pencil and paper is something in the art side that is informing my design more and more.

What is the difference between design and art?

A designer constantly thinks of the audience. An artist doesn’t necessarily consider the audience. My work as a designer, especially in exhibition design has influenced my installation work, bringing the viewer’s experience to higher importance… This sharp attention to the viewer influenced my “Hustle” installation for Conspire, as I hoped to create a rich sensual experience of light, texture, and sound that could remove the viewer from the art event occurring around them and feel some shred of the moments documented through art/music from my life and the life of my conspirator Josh Shelton.

What wisdom could you give new artists and designers?

Don’t take yourself seriously. Just create.

The Fool’s Journey

The ship of fools, depicted in a 1549 German woodcut

The Fool’s Journey

In the Middle Ages, villagers called the local idiot, “a fool of God;”  they thought that the one who “knew” less must be “connected” more. An artist’s journey is to know less and less, while the artist’s mission is to experience more and more.

Only by knowing nothing of “what is” can you ever get to the place where you can receive inspiration for something new. This is what is called “beginner’s mind” and it is the secret of all creative people. They start with no preconceptions, judgments, or negative thoughts. And in truth, nothing bad can happen when you sustain this mood, because it is the mood itself that makes your reality and your future.

A fool begins his journey innocent of the potential problems that he may encounter. You may say that this is the particular wisdom of the fool. The fool starts out in sunshine and hope filled with the vision of the flowering of his inspiration. He has few belongings (knowledge) in his pack, and his face is turned towards the Sun.

Everyone else sees the cliff ahead, but the Fool walks blithely on.

A creative person allows a space inside themselves for the nurturing of an inspiration. This space is an incubation box of sorts. Outside the box, the inspiration and the person holding it might be viewed as crazy, but inside the box it is an oasis of inner sanity, the ultimate sanity of clear, unobstructed vision, unfettered by limitation or fear.

A child who says that they are going to be a movie star or the President of the United States will often be ridiculed by their peers. The outside pressure doesn’t change when we grow up. An adult with a vision of a new something, whether a new business, and new relationship, or new life, is often considered a foolish, impractical dreamer by his peers.

When your vision for a new future begins it is a tiny seed. You must protect it and let it grow. That means that while your seed is just an idea, you cannot expose it to negativity, any more than you would expose a newborn child to the elements or expose a seed on a rock to the desert sun. Other people’s opinions and negativity will only serve to make it whither and die. You must grow the seed of your vision with a good fertile soil of hope, the water of expectation and the sunshine of love.

People who live inside cages of judgment and fear can only see limitations and failure. No matter how much they love you, they cannot see more for you than they can see for themselves. They have not been gifted with your particular vision. So, if you tell them your idea too soon, they can only warn you of their own limitations, and infect you with their projections of fear and failure.

However, when you allow your vision to grow until it is a strong sapling or even a tree, it can weather the naysayers easier because you have proof of the strength and viability of your vision. After all, “it is already here,” you can point out as you look at your idea.

From the standpoint of normal society, any really new idea is insane. Bob Broska says that “insane” really means “sane inside.” His creative definition allows us to see something that has become common language from a new perspective.

A shaman in a tribal culture was revered for his ability to have a vision, and was expected to see ahead, and see through. But mostly what he was doing was to see inside himself, make a home for the birth of a vision. He allowed it to speak to him, and through him the vision provided guidance to the tribe.

The movie, “Being There,” by Jerzy Kosiński was a modern version of the Fool’s journey. Peter Sellers starred as the simple-minded Fool who wanders through life with the ultimate “beginner’s mind.” When the movie begins, he is leading a sheltered life as Chance the gardener in an old man’s house. All he knows is the house, TV, and gardening.

The old man dies and Chance is forced to wander the world penniless. Outside there are all types of menacing things, things that would make most of us fear for our lives, but the Fool innocently wanders on.

Because he has no idea of limitations, everything that happens to him is an opportunity. He ends up as adviser to the United States President, and is featured on TV. He only speaks of gardening, but others interpret his words as a broad, hopeful vision for the future.

At the end of the movie, he has become one of the most trusted advisers for Rand, the “King Maker.” He is surrounded by nefarious types who want to know his secrets and offer him wealth and power. But Chauncey is incorruptible; he is still a simple gardener without the burden of a mind full of preconceptions and fears.

He wanders through Rand’s estate, and finally starts walking on the surface of the estate’s lake. He is physically walking on water, but this fool has no idea that this is unusual at all. He is blissfully unaware that he is doing something that we all know is impossible. He pauses, dips his umbrella into the water as if testing its depth, then turns, and walks blithely on his journey.

May we all enjoy such Foolishness on occasion.

Copyright 2009 Aliyah Marr

All rights reserved.

Twitting Poetry

I am sure not to be the first person to think of it: the 140 character limit on Twitter looks more and more like poetry to me. The lines of my poems fit well within this limit, and in fact, my lines have gotten shorter and shorter with time.

So I thought it would be fun to post a short poem on Twitter. Now, for those of you who don’t tweet yet, Twitter reads in reverse, so I had to post the poem that way. Go to my page to see it in action:

http://www.twitter.com/ParallelMind

For those lazy or technowary types out there, the whole poem is on this blog, go to:

http://parallelmind.wordpress.com/2009/06/20/the-way-of-lov/

I am going to start using Twitter more and more, so watch out!

The Way of Love

The Way of Love

Simple, gracious, Lovely in itself;
Love comes in unexpected moments
Slips inside like the hand of a small child
Love is trust in the moment
Tiny and large at the same time
Love is without expectations
Love is without desire
Love is requited and never wanting
Love is a garden of never-ending delight
Love is all sensation
Love is consumed by the eyes
Love is held in the heart
Love is the only thing that can be multiplied and divided endlessly.

Copyright Aliyah Marr, September 11, 2006

The Garden of Earthly Delights, Hieronymus Bosch (c. 1450–1516)

The Last is First, The First is Last

A couple years ago, I was interviewed by Renderosity’s online magazine by email. Dee Marie, an editor from the magazine, sent me a list of questions. I answered them, attached some pictures, and sent the email back to her.

Recently, I looked at the interview again, and remembered that the last line in the interview became the last line in my book. Strange to think that I might have written the last line of my book first.

Here is the excerpt from the interview that contains the final line from my book:

Dee Marie: Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to allow our readers to get to know you. As a last questions…what advice can you pass along to artists wishing to make a living at their craft?

AM: Well, don’t be shy of doing whatever you can to survive in this crazy world. Then turn around and use it in your art. For example, I had an acquaintance who had a master’s degree in English Literature, who was bemoaning her fate when she had to take a job as a secretary at the World (wide) Wrestling Foundation. I thought: What an amazing opportunity for a writer: the stories you could collect! Everything that happens to you is an opportunity; just be aware of it, and use it to make art. Your experiences are the paint, the skills you gain are your brushes, and your life is your canvas. The art you create is you.

It’s still true for me today. The daily challenge is to see everything as being right and whole, right now. Live in the moment, notice everything, because the moment is your creation and everything is a tool for your art.

Copyright 2009 Aliyah Marr

The Voice of the Muse

The Greeks and Romans believed that goddesses inspired the artist. Those goddesses were called Muses. Here is the Wikipedia definition:

The Muses (Ancient Greek: perhaps from the Proto-Indo-European root *men- “think”) in Greek mythology, poetry, and literature are the goddesses or spirits who inspire the creation of literature and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge, related orally for centuries in the ancient culture, that was contained in poetic lyrics and myths.

Trying to force inspiration is like trying to fit the moon in a jar. Inspiration is more like a state of grace, not a state of mind. You cannot arrive at it through willpower, desire or by force.

Inspiration has to be invited, enticed  in, like a shy animal or child. It will not come to those who wish to use it for any purpose, although the ideas that inspiration leaves behind are often useful.

Like the moon, the face of inspiration is a mirror. As the moon reflects the Sun’s light, so inspiration mirrors the mind. What mind does it reflect? This depends on the artist’s focus. If focused narrowly, inspiration reflects a single mind, but if focused on a larger, cultural basis, it reflects a collective consciousness.

How do you entice the muse of inspiration to speak to you? First, open your mind up to original thought. How do you open your mind? Clear the clutter of non-original thought. Most of our thoughts are not original. They are thoughts that we have had many times before. They may be inherited from others around you, from your parents, siblings, friends, culture, or media. This clearing of old, limiting thoughts is the only real discipline that an artist needs to follow.

When the clutter is clear, all of a sudden, like a tide original thoughts rush in. The muse sits over your shoulder, like a friend or a lover, whispering sweet nothings in your ear. When will you listen to the voice of your muse?

Copyright 2009 Aliyah Marr

——

Aliyah Marr is a Life Path Consultant and Creative Projects Advisor available for private consultations and transformational readings.

“What do you want to create today?”

LIFE PATH CONSULTANT
I coach artists, designers, authors, and entrepreneurs. With a solid background in marketing, design, coaching and writing, I help individuals throughout the entire creative process all the way from developing their personal vision to establishing their personal brand and marketing their product/service.

CREATIVE PROJECTS ADVISOR
If you have a creative project that you want to develop, market, or promote, contact me through my website: http://www.aliyahmarr.com References are available upon request.

Look Inside Parallel Mind

Amazon just posted the “Look Inside” feature to my book on their site. It shows quite a bit of the first pages of the book, the front cover and the back cover. My favorite part is the “surprise me” feature which gives you a random selection of pages from the book.

Check it out: Parallel Mind, The Art of Creativity.

I tried the “surprise me” feature a couple of times and ran the pages of the selection backwards and forwards. I even did it twice, and Amazon didn’t slap my hand. For those really cheap people out there, you could potentially read the entire book this way, but you’d have to have a non-linear memory and an ability to comprehend a book in random chunks.

(I think it would be fun to write an interactive book using a random generator like this, one that would limit the user’s view to random chunks of pages.  Maybe a romance novelette next?)

I also have an author’s page on Amazon for those who can’t get enough of me already. This blog gets cross-posted there too.

Reviewing the Reviewers

Book reviewers seem to abound online. I was searching for * serious * reviewers for Parallel Mind, and found these two diamonds shining in the rough. See what you think.

The first is a blog called Biblioklept. “Klept” for kleptomaniac, no doubt.

“And so well with the help of Jenny Sterlin’s narration and my handy-dandy portable mp3-playing device, I finally made it through Zadie Smith’s 2000 novel White Teeth, and, having digested all of it, am now fit to declare it hilarious in places, larded with moments of intensely brilliant prose, wildly ambitious…”

This reviewer has a razor wit sharp enough to cut a blade or a new author’s teeth on (yes, I know that this is bad English, but I couldn’t resist).

I really like his About You page of survey questions that quickly gets rather too personal. Here are some of my favorites:

1. Have you ever stolen a book? If you’ve never stolen a book, go ahead and skip down to question 3.

3. Do you intend to lie or misrepresent yourself on this survey?

4. Did you find question 3 to be a little belligerent in its tone?

9. Do the remnants of your shambolic youth taste like batteries in your mouth?

10. Are you neurotypical or do you somewhat suffer?

17. Isn’t this a lucky number?

15. Is it ever okay to eat large amounts of cold sour cream directly from the plastic container, perhaps with a large metal spoon, and if it is ever okay to do such a thing, when is that time?

13. When you were a child were you plagued by recurring nightmares that miniature werewolves in torn blue jeans were slowly nibbling all the flesh from your toes as if they were Maine lobsters (your toes, here likened to said lobsters, not the werewolves), nightmares that were attended by actual somatic tingling of the extremities, and possible bedwetting?

——

On a more serious note is the blog Great New Books at Blogspot. Peter N. Jones has an interesting background himself: he is a social scientist and publisher out of Boulder, Colorado who specializes in Native American culture. Check out his most recent review on a novel called Atmospheric Disturbances by Rivka Galchen.

That’s my short review reviewing the reviewers. How did I do? Make sure you fill out above survey.

My Secret Double Life

Yes, I confess: I do lead a double life. I am an artist and a designer. I write about design and publish tutorials on creativity for designers with Graphics.com/learning.

My most recent tutorial for Graphics.com was called , “Designers with Double Lives,” (see the intro here) so the idea of doubling or reflecting has been on my mind lately. I posted a follow-up article on my double life my other blog, FreshAsylum. Then I spent some time wondering if it belonged on Parallel Mind instead. So, I’ll let you decide. Here is an excerpt from the post and a link.

I am both a designer and an artist. That is to say, I was educated as a fine artist, and later went into design. Design started out as a coping technique and then grew into an amazing medium for my art…

…You can see how I play with interactive media, story, and user choice in my artwork at: www.radi8.org. My video piece “Subtitulo” remakes two films, by taking out the story and dialog. Is it still a film? What makes a film a film? Is it the story, or is it the linear basis of the medium?

link to rest of article >>

The funny thing is that my double life is reflecting back onto itself; while I define FreshAsylum as my blog about design, and Parallel Mind as my blog about art and creativity, there is definitely some blurring. The reason I thought the FreshAsylum posting needed to be here was because it refers to art, but now it inspires me to post on a couple key topics for Parallel Mind. See the next couple posts…

Leap of Faith

I have always loved some phrases, in fact, I often use them as titles to my paintings. I have yet to use “Leap of Faith” as a title, but I think it is a concept I have seen as an image more times than I can count.

How often have you felt that you were jumping off that proverbial cliff? Do you feel you are doing that now? Perhaps you are starting a business or you suddenly find yourself without a job. This is the time of transition when you see the end of one thing very clearly — a solid past to which we often desperately cling — and the beginning of the future that seems shrouded in mystery. The cliff at your back is a solid rock while the castle of your dreams hovers in the air before your eyes. Between the two is a frightening chasm.

These times of uncertainty are the most poignant moments in my life. The last time it happened I had just come to California. In the midst of my feelings of insecurity and adventure, I had an image that I kept on seeing with my mind’s eye. An image of eagle wings, flying. Just wings outlined against a brilliantly blue and cloudless sky.

Then I had another image that became a feeling in my body.

I saw / felt myself standing at the edge of a bottomless cliff, with my back to the empty air and with my heels on the edge. I saw / felt myself topple over the edge, and with my arms outspread fall towards the ground far, far below.

There was that heart-stopping moment when my heart felt as if it had left my chest, and then I realized that my cliff had no bottom. I was resting on a cushion of air, on a pillow of faith.

My dream was not the illusion. The fear that went before my fall was the illusion. Fear creates the cliff and the idea that if we jump off the cliff of reason we will die, but instead what happens is that when we jump off the cliff of fear we end up in our dream, and that dream is bottomless.

Copyright 2009 Aliyah Marr

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Aliyah Marr is a Life Path Consultant and Creative Projects Advisor available for private consultations and transformational readings.

“What do you want to create today?”

LIFE PATH CONSULTANT
I coach artists, designers, authors, and entrepreneurs. With a solid background in marketing, design, coaching and writing, I help individuals throughout the entire creative process all the way from developing their personal vision to establishing their personal brand and marketing their product/service.

CREATIVE PROJECTS ADVISOR
If you have a creative project that you want to develop, market, or promote, contact me through my website: http://www.aliyahmarr.com References are available upon request.

Inspiration and Opportunity

With all the work I do online, sometimes all I want to see is something that has had a human actually touch it. Now that’s the original meaning of digital. The site 1001 Journals makes me want to create a new journal that is not online. Excuse me while I go play with my crayons.

Living an Unconditional Life

When we think about what we want in life, do we place conditions on it?

In programming, a conditional statement is one that defines a branch in the path of the program. The condition makes the branch in the path. The statement tells the program to go ahead in one direction only if very specific conditions are met. If the exact condition is not met, the program is to go ahead in another direction, or stop. If the code has an error, it might loop endlessly, like a lost child wandering endlessly in the woods.

Do you put conditions on your life? Here are some conditional statements that unconsciously lie under our acts and words:

I’ll be happy when I finally get promoted.
I’ll only accept a boyfriend who is successful.
I’ll take that vacation when I have more money in the bank.
I’ll call her when she shows me that she loves me.
Things will be better when I can buy my dream house.
I’ll start my career as an artist when the last kid is out of college.
I’ll enjoy my life more when I can retire.
I’ll be happy when my prince charming comes along.

This is what I like to call the eternal “happiness deferred” excuse to not live your life now. What are you deferring to a later date? Why not do it now instead?

Try listening to your internal dialog for a day. It’s a good idea to bring a little notebook around with you for an hour and record what you are saying to yourself. Witness it without judging it. Your internal dialog eventually reflects itself in the world you see around you.

Internal dialog is the “program” that is looping and stopped when you find yourself unhappy. You are unhappy because you are stuck in a self-imposed conditional statement. Notice and remove your conditional statements one-by-one. Usually, no matter the circumstances of your life, you can find a way to do one thing today to get beyond those silly conditions that we tend to place on our lives. You can create something today — now — even if you don’t have the ideal materials or that studio that you want. Make music, dance, create a poem, write a play, improvise a comedy routine.

No one can impose conditions on you. Your conditions are solely your prerogative. You can limit yourself or free yourself. Yes, it takes courage, but if you practice with small things first, it will get easier with practice. We all find ourselves in conditional loops from time to time. It’s takes just a small bit of attention to what we are telling ourselves to break that loop to get back into a creative life.

Copyright 2009 Aliyah Marr

What World Do You Live In?

Have you ever noticed how your mood can change with a single sentence or piece of music? Today I learned of the death of someone who I briefly met a few months ago. She was swimming with the dolphins and had an accident, entered a coma and died the very next day.

As I thought of her this morning, I remembered her goodness, her enthusiasm, and her brilliantly creative mind. I found myself in tears. However, I am not feeling sad, I just feel that this is one of those moments or opportunities to look at what is important in life.

When my mother passed away I wondered where all her knowledge and where her incredible personality went. She had a love of nature, and so I like to say that, according to her beliefs, she is just part of the natural world she so loved.

My mother said, at the end of her life, that she was happy with her life as she had lived it. I think that my father was as well, although I regret that they both had such painful last days.

What is the common denominator in the stories of all these people? That they lived their lives according to their highest motivations. My mother felt her duty as a mother to be the overriding value in her life; being a mother was her definition, her role, and her life path. She dedicated most of her thoughts and energy to her mission.

My father was a deep thinker, a philosopher, a scientist and a father. He achieved his life dream and exceeded his own ideas of what he could do. He had very strong values and he lived a truly moral life in the purest sense of the word.

Christianne was a filmmaker and storyteller who loved animals. She lived her craft, and was kind and supportive to everyone she met. Upon reflection, I think that dying in the ocean surrounded by a pod of incredible dolphins, is a very good way to go.

In all, this life can be a long life of “quiet desperation” or it can be a short life filled with all the good things you can imagine: love, passion, interests, puzzles, and ideas.

It’s an enigma to me why people are so afraid of dying. Is it because death represents the final “bill” to be paid upon receipt, or because they cannot imagine themselves ending? After all, it is hard for us to imagine something without end. What is indeed at the end of the universe? Does it end where the light ends as the scientists say? From this end of materialistic reality it seems to be that we cannot imagine with a mind that is so grounded in the concrete reality of hard edges.

But I think now that the reason people are so afraid of death is because they realize that death represents the bell at the end of school recess. Did you have all the fun you wanted and did you learn everything you wanted to learn? Or did you fritter away your time worrying about the material illusions that this life loves to put in front of our eyes?

When my mother was dying, I realized that she was committing a sublime act, a lesson just for me. All my pettiness dropped away, as I realized what was important in life: love, and the expression of love.

The world is a universe of feelings, not things and not even ideas. What is the world you live in? Are you happy now? What can you change in your thoughts to allow your highest feelings to come through?

What world are you creating right now with your feelings? Could you die this moment in completion? Or are you putting off your joy until an undefined date in the future that never comes?

Yesterday, as I was surfing I almost had an accident that could have been fatal. As I saw my board race headfirst for the sand in shallow water, I was reminded of the intuitive hit I had had just before entering the water that warned me of a potential danger in the water that day. I had wondered if the danger would come from my fellow surfers or from the ocean. I had not guessed it would be the sand on which I walked.

I knew I had passed by a potential “exit” point for my life, and got out of the water. I am recounting this story because I know I have passed this exit ramp a few times before in my life, and each time decided to stay on the highway.

It’s a good time to understand why you might choose to stay in a life that is sometimes very difficult. I like to say that I have found that I have a purpose, but it is more of a feeling that I have. That feeling is the vehicle that carries me forward. I won’t leave yet because I love this feeling. What is the feeling, you ask. It’s a love for life that isn’t even mine, but likes to express itself through me. Life loves love, and death is not an ending or beginning or even a transition, but like everything else in a creative universe, it is simply an expression of love.

We may not understand that expression because we have such a veil of illusion in front of our eyes: we see only change and loss. This is the “maya” of which the philosophers speak. It is related to a linear concept of time, and this concept is what gives us the feelings of loss.

It is up to us to focus on what is important. If death has to come around a few times to remind us of that, so be it. I don’t intend to imply that our thoughts should be morbid, but that the occasional reminders are to free us to do what we want to do now. Use the idea of death as a friendly adviser to be in your highest creative self. The time to create your “future” self is not tomorrow, not yesterday, but now.

Create the feeling of the world you want to live in, and your life will follow.

Copyright 2009 Aliyah Marr

Inspiration is Sometimes Found in Weird Places

Weird things inspire me. This morning I realized that one of those things is Seth Godin’s bald cranium.

Seth is the modern uber-marketer, and cultural philosopher. Suffice it to say that his head gives me all kinds of ideas. Now that’s inspiration.

Read the article I wrote on my blog about design and marketing, . Fresh Asylum

http://freshasylum.wordpress.com/2009/05/12/seth-godins-head-bald-as-a-brand/

Recommended Reading

One of the better books on the Law of Attraction is Penney Peirce’s “Frequency;” practical guide to the idea of living an intuitively-guided life.

Frequency

Poem of a Silent Global Revolution

I found this on the web. I’d like to share it with you.
—-

“We Are Here.”

On the surface of the world right now there is
war and violence and things seem dark.

But calmly and quietly, at the same time,
something else is happening underground.

An inner revolution is taking place
and certain individuals are being called to a higher light.

It is a silent revolution
from the inside out, from the ground up.

This is a global operation.
There are sleeper cells in every nation on the planet.

You won’t see us on TV or hear about us on the radio.
You won’t read about us in the newspaper.

We don’t seek glory, we don’t wear any uniform,
we come in all shapes and sizes, colors and styles.

Most of us work anonymously,
quietly behind the scenes,
in every country and culture of the world,
in cities big and small, mountains and valleys,
in farms and villages, tribes and remote islands.

You could pass one of us on the street and never notice.
We go undercover, we remain behind the scenes.

It is of no concern to us who takes the final credit
but simply that the work gets done.

Occasionally we spot each other in the street,
give a quiet nod, and continue on our way.

During the day many of us pretend to have normal jobs
but behind the false storefront, at night,
is where the real work takes a place.

Some call us the Conscious Army.
We are slowly creating a new world
with the power of our minds and hearts.

Our orders come from from the Central Spiritual Intelligence.
We are dropping soft, secret love bombs when no one is looking:
Poems, Hugs, Music, Photography, Movies, Kind Words,
Smiles, Meditation, Prayer, Dance, Social Activism,
Websites, Blogs, Random Acts of Kindness.

We express ourselves each in our own unique way.
“Be the change you want to see in the world”—
that is the motto that fills our hearts.

We know it is the only way real transformation takes place.

Love is the new “religion” of the 21st century.
You don’t have to have exceptional knowledge to understand it.

It comes from the intelligence of the heart,
embedded in the timeless evolutionary pulse of all human beings.

Perhaps you will join us
or already have.

The door is open.

– Anonymous

Recommended Green Blog

As easy on the eyes as a deep green forest:

http://naturallygreen.wordpress.com/

Dare to Dream It!

If you can dream you can create anything. But sometimes people need help when they are trying to make their dreams come true. My experience has shown me that people get stuck in several places:

1. THE CHICKEN OR THE EGG?
This person can’t focus or doesn’t know what to do first. They need to “talk out” their vision to find their direction.

2. ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER
I share a process with my one-on-one clients I call “envisioning.” This process is very intensive and personal. The physical result is a mind-map of ideas, connections and directions that you can take home with you to post and keep you on course for several months. (Envisioning can be done several times a year and involves two solid hours of intensive co-creating)

3. A DAM IN THE FLOW OF CREATIVITY
Emotional blocks can stop us from creating anything else but limitations. As I explain in my book, “Parallel Mind, The Art of Creativity” emotions are the essential catalyst in the creative process; they are in fact our greatest ally and tool. If your emotions are going right when your intended direction is left, then we need to work on the emotional level. This problem is best seen energetically: misapplied emotions are just an eddy of vital energy in your creative flow. Some people are so disconnected from their emotions, that they don’t even know that they have blocked them. They can no longer feel. As our emotions serve as an intuitive guidance system, a life with no emotions is like trying to navigate blind. Unblocking your emotional flow restores your inner vision.

4. IDEAS ARE POPPING UP EVERYWHERE LIKE MUSHROOMS AFTER A DOWNPOUR
This is what happens to certain people after they have been opened up creatively. The flow won’t stop, keeps you up at night, and serves only to waste your time and energy. You wish you had one simple, stupid little idea that works instead of so many incredible, far-fetched and lofty ideas that are not practical. The coaching process for someone with this “problem” amounts to checking your idea garden and weeding it. You will be left with the strongest, most practical, viable concept and a strong direction. Your other ideas will be recorded, so you can do what you want with them. Compost anyone?

5. ONE STEP FOR MAN, ONE GIANT LEAP FOR MANKIND
You know where you are going, but simply can’t take the first step. A coach can get you past that invisible barrier. Together we find your comfort zone and help you divide the first step into smaller and smaller pieces until you find it not only easy but fun to go forward.

6. THE MESSAGE IS THE MEDIUM
Often, a creative individual has a strong vision and all the confidence they need, but they have a hard time organizing the parts into a cohesive whole. This is where my experience as an art director and editor comes into play. Organization is what enables communication. You could have an incredible idea, but your delivery is so disorganized that your audience cannot tell what you are saying.

7. YOUR PERSONAL TRAINER WILL MEET YOU AT 6 AM
A lot of creative people are too A.D.D. to work on their own, so they need direction and defined work-goals. They often need on-going coaching, so they feel they have to do the “assignments” the coach gives them.

8. TRANSLATE RIGHT BRAIN INSPIRATION INTO LEFT BRAIN ACTION
My background in design and marketing is what gives me the outward tools for helping people materialize their creative dreams. However, there is so much more to coaching people. I like to say that I put a person’s higher creative self into communication with their ego-self or left-brain. The ego-self, if healthy, is what helps us manifest our dreams.

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There is no dream too big and no dream that cannot happen. Bring on your ideas and let’s talk!  Here are some ways to get started:

ONE ON ONE
I work with individuals on a sliding scale basis. I like to meet with clients once a week to make sure they are staying on course, and there is enough flexibility in your program. Billed monthly. This coaching is done over the phone unless the client can meet me locally. New clients get a signed copy of my book.

GROUP DYNAMICS
If you can’t afford personal coaching, or prefer a group setting, we will be meeting locally every Sunday. A donation of $10-20 is requested. Email me to request to join the group; time and location will be provided in the personal response I send you.

SUBSCRIBE TO MY NEWSLETTER
Shy about starting or unsure? Get the most recent postings to my blog on creativity by subscribing to my newsletter:
http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=524497

CHECK OUT MY BOOK
See if my philosophy resonates with you.
http://www.parallelmindbook.com

SUBSCRIBE TO THIS BLOG (the newsletter is sourced from here)
The accompanying blog has excepts from every chapter in the pages section to the right.

See my profile on LinkedIn to read some recommendations and find out more about my experience and expertise:
http://www.linkedin/in/aliyahmarr

Letter from Steve Kaye Reviewing “Parallel Mind, The Art of Creativity”

Hello Aliyah,

You have written a beautiful book.

I just posted the following review on Barnes & Noble and on LinkedIn. I’ll seek out amazon next.

—-

Review of “Parallel Mind, The Art of Creativity”

—–

This book has a beautiful voice. It is encouraging, gentle, and kind. It speaks to you like a good friend.

The book is about more than creativity. It’s about opening your mind to become the creative person that exists in each of us. So, instead of providing a catalog of quick techniques, this book goes deeper into the heart of creativity. It goes into the fundamental mindset that drives creativity. Once you master this, then you can use the tools like an artist.

And yes, the book also provides techniques. But the real value is in the profound wisdom about how people unfold into being creative.

I found this to be one of those rare books that deserves to be kept and cherished.

I strongly recommend this book. It belongs in any personal library.

- – -

Wish you the best,

Steve Kaye
Speaker, Author, IAF Certified Professional Facilitator

- – -

Find over 90 articles at http://www.stevekaye.com

Sign up for the monthly newsletter

- – -

Today’s Blog: “Modern Version of an Old Problem”

http://stevekaye.typepad.com/meetings/

Twitter at:
http://twitter.com/stevekaye

Living in Passion

The sincerity of real passion is something terribly magnetic. People are drawn to someone with passion. When I came to Southern California with nothing but the burning desire to learn to surf, it seemed the way just opened up for me. People came out of nowhere to help me achieve my simple dream. Boards were given to me, someone gave me a place to live on the beach, I found surfers who were willing to teach me. A year later, I was talking to a surfer from the East Coast; he told me that he didn’t like it here. I asked him why, and he said that he didn’t find the people too friendly. I was stunned; it was so different from my experience.

A similar thing happened to me when I went to New York to pursue a career in design, and earlier to Paris to study art; the way just opened up before me. I now believe that it is my passion that has always sustained me through every  adventure. Moreover, it is the sincerity of my passion that other people respond to; they can’t help it because it speaks to their soul. Everyone craves passion in their life; most are afraid to live their passion, but they appreciate it when they see it in another. More, they want to be near it; passion is a fire that provides warmth to all it touches.

When others see that it is possible to live a life with passion, sometimes they suddenly change direction, wake up, take action. Often they find themselves doing something that they otherwise may never have dared. It occurs to them that they have always wanted to travel, do art, take up music, build a new career, or design their own house. Life for them is no longer a collection of habits, a nest of outdated ideas, but instead an exciting horizon of possibilities.

When you take that proverbial leap of faith off the cliff of security and familiarity, your courageous act generates an enormous surge of energy; this energy comes back to you tenfold. Extreme sports addicts are a good example of this: just the adrenaline rush alone is enough to addict one to taking risks. But one doesn’t have to run a rapids or jump out of an airplane to get the surge of energy that empowers you to change your life forever. Find out what feeds your soul, what makes you feel free, what you desire in life. Then just go for it. It is as simple as that. Go for it with full passion, unafraid of what others may think or say.

The best safe deposit box for your passion is not another person, not an organization, or a cause, but something that you alone can create: a passion that can hold and sustain your interest, teach you and elicit your excitement your entire life long. It doesn’t matter what you choose; if you master the art of sustained desire and non-objectified interest, you may find yourself on the most extraordinary journey. You may continue in the same medium or you may find yourself exploring avenues beyond your wildest dreams.

Make love to your passion, everything that you create in the proper mood of passion is good because of the absolving and purifying power of your love. If others respond to your work and think it good, that is just icing on the cake. You already have your reward in the work, in your sustained passion, in the organismic moment of creation. As you invest time in your interest, you will naturally gain the skills and the control of your medium that others mistake for art, but you are already an artist. Within the tiny seed exists the whole tree.

<—–>

“Action is the path in the dark forest of life, and passion is the light that illuminates our way.”

— Copyright 2009 Aliyah Marr

Own the Moment

When you think about it, we own nothing but the moment and how we are going to spend that moment. I like to look at the birds when I feel down. A bird owns nothing but its wings, and it uses them to fly. We own our thoughts and with our imagination we can fly. However, we can’t do that if we are weighed down by our history or those really heavy coulda, shoulda, woulda’s.

A few years ago I moved from New York to California. In New York, when you meet someone whom you know on the street, they ask you what you have been doing. In California, they ask you if you are having fun. That’s a big shift.

How can you go from a life lived in stress to a life lived for fun? The trick is in getting really simple — down to a sensory level. If we get really simple, we realize that most of our “problems” are human-generated, and belong to the structure of the particular society in which we live. Even cancer is human-generated because it is the result of societal stress. Getting cancer is your body trying to warn you that you are living an unauthentic life. What is authentic about doing something that makes you anxious, stressed out or bored most of the time? What is the measure of an authentic life? Simply put, a life that you enjoy.

A bird, and every other being on this earth, has only a few real needs: food, sleep and shelter. Most of humanity’s “problems” are not real problems at all. They are only imagined problems built upon the expectations in our society. Our structure puts us out of touch with reality because it requires that we must do things to make money to have the basic needs met. We can never have a truly simple life, because we are removed from getting what we need directly, and we have grown to expect complexity, and our tastes are far from simple. We expect to have to have a job and a car so that we can have the things we need in life, but what we want far surpasses the bodily needs of food, clothing and shelter.

Now, I know that we have to live inside this society. The structure of our society demands that we have a decent house, an education, a car so we can get to work, etc. But when you are in a mental emotional meltdown brought on by the failure of this system to work for you, the only way out is to stop thinking inside that box. The only way out of that ever diminishing box is to get really, really simple. Take a walk out in nature, run through your senses one by one. Touch, see, hear, taste and smell everything in that moment. As you do this, you will find relief from circling thoughts, and you will find a moment to breathe. That moment is reality and the kernel of a truly authentic life.

Copyright 2009, Aliyah Marr

The Beginning of the End of Time

Welcome to the beginning of the end of time

With all the changes happening everywhere, many people are alarmed. We are concerned about how our lives may be affected.

I know what it is like to see how everything that had been working suddenly not work anymore. I am here to tell you that when you see this start to happen, just let go; don’t hold onto the dead weight of your past anymore. The quicker you let things go, the easier it will be to step into your future.

And just what is your future? If you let it (allow it to happen) it will be what you have always wanted at the deepest level of your soul. Or to put it another way, it will be what is best for you. It is your chance to live the life you were meant to live, an opportunity to live a truly authentic life.

When I went through these changes a few years ago, I went through a lot of angst. My circumstances forced me to change; one by one the things that used to work for me — career, home, finances, everything — just stopped dead. I felt as if I were abandoned and alone. I could not understand why; I couldn’t even understand how.

What made it most difficult was that I seemed alone; everyone else was doing well, while I experienced the most humbling years of my life. These days, the same thing is happening to those who previously were doing well. The only difference is that we are experiencing it as a group. We are learning that there is no security, no continuity, and no future in our old lives. Those lives are dead-ends. Why? Because they don’t belong to the new paradigm that is unfolding.

The new paradigm is one of individual creativity and freedom. Creativity and freedom cannot exist inside an environment of fear; they can only grow inside a matrix of love and openness. The new paradigm will not have the kind of security that comes from amassing great stores of money, or from building a fortress against unseen enemies. Instead, we will find security in our relationships and the quality of our lives. Our assets will be counted not in cold hard cash, but in the measure of our integrity, in the health of our children and society, in the quality of our goods and services, in the inventiveness of our ideas, in the consistency of our friendships, and in the honesty of our partnerships.

Artists are scouts into the unknown; I can say that I have seen the future. I have returned from my journey to tell you that you should not be afraid.

You should not be afraid to listen to your heart and follow where it leads. Years ago, the voice of my heart was a tiny, almost inaudible voice. It was almost drowned out by my fear and by the fear in the world around me. It was difficult to hear. I was not sure what it was when I heard it speak. Sometimes I was not even sure that it wasn’t the voice of fear.

How do you know the voice of fear from the voice of the heart? Fear makes your heart and throat feel constricted. New ideas, new paths, and freethinking people seem threatening from the limited perspective of fear. A fearful person wants to control everything. Fear puts leashes on people and cages around thoughts. On the other hand, the voice of the heart always speaks the truth of your soul, but it can seem irrational, and the paths that it proposes feel exciting and sometimes downright scary.

At the beginning, the two voices intermingle. For instance, the heart might propose an idea that the fear-based mind calls crazy and dangerous. When that happens, just listen to both voices in detached silence. Allow the voice of the heart grow louder, as it will over time as you continue to listen to it. Finally, you will just know what to do, and you will simply find yourself doing what the heart proposes without question.

You will find your individual truth and speak it fearlessly. How do you know it is your truth? The key is in how ideas and insights just seem to come to you: suddenly you will have an insight that seems to come from nowhere. You have never heard it before, but it resonates with you at a deep level.

Someone recently asked me (in reference to speaking my truth): “How do you deal with fear?” I replied, “The message has grown larger than my fear. My mission has grown larger than my fear.” This is really strange, because before this change I had no mission, and would have looked at anyone askance if they had proposed that I could have a purpose beyond my own personal development.

Something I have noticed in the last few years is that time is speeding up. In fact, time is accelerating year by year at an exponential rate. Each year seems twice as fast as the year before. Time is faster now than it was in the summer of 2008, and it was faster then than the beginning of the year. Now, like the Red Queen in “Through the Looking Glass,” we are virtually flying over the ground.

What does this mean? It means that we don’t have any more time to be afraid to follow our hearts and do what we are meant to do. We no longer have much time to dilly-dally around doing things that don’t serve us or anyone else. How much longer do you think you would have wanted to work at your old job? Check with your heart: weren’t you really glad when you lost it?

What better time to build that new green business, meet new people, sail around the world, have a child, adopt a baby, take loving care of your elderly parents, start a new career, take up photography, make a movie, climb Mt Everest, learn to ski, go on a archeological dig, teach reading, found a charity, start a school, go on a vision quest or walkabout, or just sit still and meditate.

The time to do what your heart wants is now, because these days mark the beginning of the end of time: as time accelerates toward the speed of light we will finally run out of time. Soon, we will have finally arrived at the finish line of the now. That day will mark the end of the tyranny of time. No longer will you mark your days with a clock, instead, your day will be as long as you want it to be; instead of marking time, spending time, wasting time, or running out of time, you will be able to make time to be whatever you want to be.

The end of time will come when we finally do whatever makes us most happy, when we are finally here and now. When we follow our hearts, which always tell us true, we become timeless and eternal. And so the paradigm shifts, time ends, and your real life can finally begin.

Copyright 2009 Aliyah Marr

Written on the equinox of the Spring of 2009, March 21, 2009.

——

Aliyah Marr is a Life Path Consultant and Creative Projects Advisor available for private consultations and transformational readings.

“What do you want to create today?”

LIFE PATH CONSULTANT
I coach artists, designers, authors, and entrepreneurs. With a solid background in marketing, design, coaching and writing, I help individuals throughout the entire creative process all the way from developing their personal vision to establishing their personal brand and marketing their product/service.

CREATIVE PROJECTS ADVISOR
If you have a creative project that you want to develop, market, or promote, contact me through my website: http://www.aliyahmarr.com References are available upon request.

Remember the 3 P’s

Author Aliyah Marr inspires listeners to create using the three elements of creative thought manifestation: Passion, Persistence, and Patience. Audio version of her blog and newsletter, Parallel Mind, The Art of Creativity. This text may be read at: http://parallelmind.wordpress.com.

Remember The Three P’s

Create What You Want Using Passion, Persistence and Patience

How does a creative thought manifest? There are three elements in this transformation.

The first element is Passion. Without Passion nothing can be created. Passion is the drive for something that is not yet here, a search for that something Other; a longing for a thought that flew into your head and left as suddenly as it came, trailing a tantalizing scent of possibility.

Manifestation involves movement or change, it is the point of creativity; creativity is proof of our movement in thought.

A person in their creative power understands the use of passion. When you are in-passioned you feel good, there is a buzz of energy that circulates in your body and needs expression – “x” meaning external and “pression” meaning pressed or made to travel. Expression therefore means to travel outside, or to move from the point of origin.

The energy of passion travels outside into the world through the vehicle of expression. Expression allows the energy of passion to manifest the object of desire.

Passion is the most important element in the process of manifestation. In fact, at another level, it is the only necessary element. Perhaps one day, perhaps even soon, we will arrive at that point where passion is all we need. However, because we still live in a system of time, space and history, we need to understand how to use the second and third elements of manifestation.

The second element is Persistence. Persistence is sustained interest, dedication, attention and service to the first element, Passion. Think of Passion as a flame that you light: it can be a brief, intense fire that burns everything in its circumference. Or you can build a fire that lasts by carefully banking the embers, shielding the fire and feeding the flames.

Without Persistence, the flame of your Passion may be noticed, but soon forgotten. Who is the observer of your Passion? I like to say that the universe responds to the three P’s, but in reality, you are the only one here, and it is you who has to notice and believe in your Passion. That is achieved by sheer, unremitting Persistence.

Your sustained persistence is the boat that will transport you to the object of your desire. It is your sustained interest, unselfish dedication, unlimited attention and service to your Passion that brings about the manifestation of a creative thought. You may think that attainment is what you seek, but that is not the point at all. Deep down, your soul craves the movement of creative thought. It is very energizing to experience the journey of an inspiration from its inception to its fulfillment. You enjoy the entire creative process without feeling a single want or need. The process is what nourishes and sustains you.

The final element is Patience. Patience is knowing what you are waiting for, and enjoying the anticipation as much as the fulfillment. Patience is knowing that the promise of your initial inspiration will be fulfilled. How do you know? You have the Passion, the Persistence, and the knowing in your bones. A woman knows that there is a time for conception and a time for birth; she knows what true patience is: Patience is joyous anticipation. Patience knows that at the right time, what you have envisioned will appear, and you are content in the delicious anticipation of the fulfillment of your desires.

When these elements are working in perfect harmony, you cannot fail, because the experience of these three qualities puts you in the quantum moment of both desire and fulfillment. Passion is the current, Persistence is time, and Patience is knowing. Set your inspiration in the river of Passion release it to flow in the current of Persistence, and patiently know that you will eventually come to the shore of your desire.

Copyright 2009 Aliyah Marr

Get these inspirational messages in your mailbox. Sign up for the free newsletter on creativity and consciousness at:

http://www.parallelmindbook.com

Aliyah Marr Interviews Marc Zegans, Creative Development Advisor

In this audio segment, Aliyah interviews Marc Zegans who advises artists from all walks of life on their creative development and careers. Marc works with artists of all kinds and at all stages in their careers. He reveals how his work as a life coach and advisor is deeply satisfying because it is a creative process that helps others achieve their dreams. Zegans was the creative deveolpment advisor for Aliyah Marr’s book, Parallel Mind, The Art of Creativity.

Aliyah Marr Offers New “Creativity at Work” Seminar and Workshop

Aliyah Marr, author of Parallel Mind, The Art of Creativity offers a new seminar on “applied” or practical creativity. She will show participants how to apply the creative principles to specific problems and situations at work.

Following is a copy of the abstract:

<——>

PARALLEL MIND, CREATIVITY @ WORK

Do you have a need for creative thought or innovation at work? How do you generate truly out-of-the-box ideas?

This seminar leads you down the rabbit-hole of creative thought. Author and creative director Aliyah Marr brings in her experience as designer, artist and author to bear on the practical aspects of the creative experience.

“Creativity at Work” is a seminar on how to think creatively, even while under the pressure of a deadline or intense competition. True creativity and innovation cannot be achieved by staying within a rigid problem-based structure. This seminar enables you to escape the structure so you can do your thinking outside the box.

Aliyah Marr has engineered a unique “envisioning process” that is a key component of her free-style form of brainstorming. In addition, she has a more analytical approach that enables participants to take the techniques that she demonstrates and implement them immediately for fast results.

Marr teaches creativity from an experiential standpoint: members have the opportunity to participate in an “envisioning session” and brainstorm a solution to one or more of the members’ actual problems. She uses a unique and fun visual and metaphoric approach to define and describe the creative process, which help to cement the process in the minds of the participants.

Topics:

• The envisioning process
• Levels and kinds of applied creativity
• General principles of practical creativity
• Practical creative techniques
• How to apply the right kind of creative thought in every situation
• How to facilitate a brainstorm session
• How to create an internal think-tank

Benefits to Members: Members of the conference will be able to think outside the box at will, discern which kind of creative thinking is needed at what time, and how to apply a brainstorm process to a problem at hand.

This seminar is for business people and entrepreneurs who wish to understand the nature, value and process of creativity; for those who, while they may not need to be creative themselves, need to understand how to evaluate, hire, and nurture creativity at work.

Biography: Aliyah Marr is the author of “Parallel Mind, The Art of Creativity.” She has taught design and marketing for over 15 years at top design schools in New York City: Parsons, The New School, Pratt Institute, and The School of Visual Arts. Marr has led seminars and corporate training events for over 10 years. She has produced tutorials for Nautilus CD Magazine, and Graphics.com/learning, and authored articles for trade magazines on self-development, design and marketing. Currently the creative director for an action-sports TV show, she has worked in print, video, film and interactive media for a Fortune 100 client list.

Aliyah Marr
author / speaker / imaginator
creative consultant and coach

Author of “Parallel Mind, The Art of Creativity
www.parallelmindbook.com
www.freshasylum.com (design firm)

Aliyah Marr on LinkedIn
Facebook: Parallel Mind

For more information, contact Aliyah Marr at:

herfullname [at] gmail [dot] com

Parallel Mind Creativity Seminar on iTunes Video

Click HERE to see the show on your iTunes player (will open iTunes application):

RSS feed for show:

http://parallelmind.blip.tv/rss/itunes/

Parallel Mind, The Art of Creativity Seminar at San Diego Chat Club, Section 2

Aliyah Marr talks on her new book, Parallel Mind, The Art of Creativity. In the second section of her seminar, she talks about the process of creative thought and about how we are all natural creators. She traces the path of a thought through the entire creative process, showing how any inspiration can become a reality.

Parallel Mind, The Art of Creativity Seminar at Chat Club, Section 1

Aliyah Marr talks on her new book, “Parallel Mind, The Art of Creativity.” In this first section of her seminar, she talks about her background and the science of the brain. This section is about the psychology of the creative development. She introduces the concept of “pure” v.s. “applied” creativity, and discusses the dual nature of human brain; the inner child and adult self.

This video was originally shared on blip.tv by thetawave with a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 license.

First Seminar for Parallel Mind at the San Diego Chat Club Jan 23, 6:45pm

PARALLEL MIND, THE ART OF CREATIVITY

Are you ready to live the life you were meant to live? Do you dream of a life filled with magic and adventure? Whatever you can dream is available to you, but first you must know how to use your creative potential.

This lecture is for a broad audience: from the professional creative to thecount person who would like to be more creative in their daily or professional lives.

Artist, designer, poet Aliyah Marr has produced the world’s first book on the process of creativity told from the standpoint of the visual artist. Parallel Mind, The Art of Creativity reveals how you, as a creative individual, can mold your life with the power of your thoughts and how those thoughts can be used to create whatever you want in life.

Art is so much more than mere self-expression or an exploration of mental/emotional issues. Author Aliyah Marr introduces the revolutionary concept (to anyone else but an artist!) that art can serve not only as a tool for personal self-development, but it is humanity’s preeminent tool for the evolution of consciousness.

This lecture introduces key concepts in the book, Parallel Mind:

– innate vs. conscious creativity
– pure creativity (non-commercial art) vs. applied creativity (everything else)
– the four bodies of the human energy field and how they work to create health or disease
– the science of creativity

Aliyah Marr’s lectures are like her art: spontaneous, joyful explorations of the moment. Her teaching method is at once gently playful and fun. Expect to be invited to explore some of her concepts through deceptively simple in-class exercises that will bring you to a new point of view, inspire the flow of creative thinking, unblock your blocks and transport you to the next level in your own development. We will explore the power of creative thought and see how it can impel you to excel in any medium, in any field, or any subject.

This lecture gives you the tools to achieve your dreams, whether you are a creative professional, a student of art, or someone interested in personal development; it answers some essential questions, the most important being: what is creativity, and how can it bring me freedom and happiness?

So I ask you: when will you allow yourself the life you deserve? A voice is whispering in your ear: today is the day.

Parallel Mind, The Art of Creativity can be found on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and at: www.parallelmindbook.com. Copies of the book, and the author’s Transformational Tarot interactive game will be available to attendees.

Educated at the famous École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France, Aliyah Marr is a multimedia artist, graphic designer, and educator. She has explored painting, design, artistic gymnastics, sculpture, music, dance, poetry, prose, theater, and improvisational humor. As a visual artist, she works in a variety of mediums from painting and sculpture through to interactive art and video art.

A graphic designer with a stellar client list of Fortune 100 companies, the author is a creative consultant for companies and entrepreneurs. As an educator, she has taught graphic design, art, interactive programming, and new media at three top design schools in New York City.

Aliyah Marr
author / speaker / imaginator
creative consultant and coach

Author of “Parallel Mind, The Art of Creativity
www.parallelmindbook.com
www.radi8.org (artwork)

http://www.linkedin.com/in/aliyahmarr

Articles
http://freshasylum.wordpress.com
http://selfpromotion.wordpress.com
http://alteverything.wordpress.com

Parallel Mind Now in Print

It is listed with Ingram and will be available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Baker & Taylor. You will be able to order it in the United States and in the UK.

Signed copies are available directly from the author. Please order through the website at:

www.parallelmindbook.com

Parallel Mind, The Art of Creativity is not about how to draw or paint, but how to think like an artist. Aliyah Marr draws from her experience as a teacher, visual artist, poet, graphic designer, and art director to demonstrate how you can change your body, your profession, your relationship, and your life just by changing your thoughts. A powerful reference guide for artists, educators, psychologists, entrepreneurs, scientists, and for those who have an interest in a practical form of self-development. Packed with practical examples and exercises from every medium: visual art, theater, music, video, poetry, scriptwriting, and dance, this book shows you how to use art to first express, and then clarify thoughts and emotions to create whatever you want.

	Subject Code	Description
1:	SEL009000	Self-Help : Creativity
2:	ART027000	Art : Study & Teaching
3:	PSY034000	Psychology : Creative Ability

ISBN/SKU:	0982105916
ISBN Complete:	978-0-9821059-1-7
Status:
Book Type:	B&W 5 x 8 in or 203 x 127 mm Perfect Bound on Creme
Page Count:	252

Speaker Series Based Upon Book, Parallel Mind by Aliyah Marr

See following articles and posts on other blogs for materials on the speaker series:

Think Upside-Down: Prescription for Corporate Success

Speaker Series Proposal

Parallel Mind Website Offers Advance Copies for Sale

Aliyah Marr’s book on creativity, Parallel Mind, The Art of Creativity is now on sale through the website: http://www.parallelmindbook.com

The site offers ebook version for immediate download, and advance copies (allow 4 weeks for delivery).

New Bookcover Design for Parallel Mind

Parallel Mind Endorsed by Michael A. Nitti, author of The Trophy Effect

“As a life coach with a focus on developing self-awareness I found Parallel Mind a fascinating read. Aliyah Marr demonstrates how developing one’s own creativity can help anyone, from artist to entrepreneur, change their lives. Aliyah presents a compelling argument for the value of creative consciousness; showing how you can use tools from the arts to shift your thinking through the power of self-understanding and love. She inspires you to be in your highest creative self at all times. This book is an incomparable reference guide; keep it in in your backpocket until the pages get dog-eared and worn — until the changes that she endorses become part of you like a pair of your favorite jeans!”

— Michael A. Nitti, Executive Life Coach and Author, The Trophy Effect

Michael Nitti is known as “The Blue Jeans Guru”

Dedication Page for Parallel Mind

		            I
         	      wish
   	           to express
	      thanks and
	  appreciation
	to all my
 	innumerable
 	    teachers, but
	        first and fore-
	           most to my
	          parents — to
	      my father who
	   taught me
	 how to think
 	  and to my
 	    mother who
	       taught me how
	           to feel. I wish
		 to say to those of
		    you, who like me,
	           always felt “different,”
	        but didn’t know why:
	    you’re probably an artist —
      you have a license to be free.
 Start the incredible journey.

New Preface for Parallel Mind

Below is an excerpt from the book Parallel Mind:

“Are You Up To Your Destiny?” — Hamlet

Preface

Are you ready to live the life you were meant to live? Life should be lived passionately, joyously, fearlessly, and creatively.

This book is about how to live a creative life: not how to paint or draw, but how to think like an artist, and how to find a joyous, complete life as a result. The power of creative thought can impel you to excel in any medium, in any field, or any subject.

Many people are creative in their daily lives, others would like to be more creative, still others would like to experience the magic that they have seen only from the outside until now.

This book answers some essential questions, the most important being: what is creativity, and how can it bring me more freedom and happiness?

However, the real value of this book is not in the questions that it attempts to answer, but in the questions that it poses. These questions are traditionally asked under the cover of art, but I ask these questions here so that you may ask them of yourself.

I started out as a fine artist, and entered the fields of illustration, graphic design, video art, and interactive design. As I developed my commercial skills and artistic craft, I learned that there is a difference between pure creativity and applied creativity. Pure creativity is an activity that has no predefined destination or purpose, while applied creativity is an activity that always has a goal or application in mind. Pure creativity can be seen as a kind of play, while applied creativity is usually seen as work.

Examples of pure creativity include (but are not limited to): a painter who paints from his heart, a musician who creates a symphony while toying at the piano, a writer who bases a screenplay on the people he knows at work, a scientist who discovers a new law of the universe by playing with raw materials and outlandish ideas.

Examples of applied creativity include (but are not limited to): design, architecture, scientific inquiry, technological innovations, copywriting, and business development.

One form of creativity is not superior to the other. It is just easier (and more fun!) to learn pure creativity before attempting to apply that creativity to a purpose. Applied creativity can be fun and playful too. However this book focuses on the importance of play to our development as a complete, creative individual, and so it is about pure creativity.

Parallel Mind reveals how a creative individual can mold their lives with the power of their thoughts; how your thoughts can be used to create whatever you want in life.

~~~
Chapter One, Creativity, defines and outlines creativity: what is it, how can we use it, where does it reside?

Chapter Two, Double Vision, is about the source of creativity — our inner child — and how we, as adults, encase this pure self in a cage of fear and limitation.

Chapter Three, Body & Soul discusses the relationship of the body to the mind; how to use your mind creatively to create the body you want.

Chapter Four, Shaking the Tree explores more deeply into the mind, how to change limiting beliefs, how to overcome fear, and encourage original thought.

Chapter Five, Navigating a Sea of Emotions is about emotions: why do we have them, how to choose your emotions, and how to use them effectively.

Chapter Six, The Secret of Sex reveals how to marshal the twin forces of passion and desire to supercharge and sustain your creative vision.

Chapter Seven, The Conscious Creative shows how the practice of art brings the artist increased awareness and personal power.

Chapter Eight, The Infinite Self brings together the concepts introduced in the former chapters, and shows how they can lead the artist to creative freedom.

Included in every chapter are quick in-text exercises intended to help you activate the principles you have just read. The exercises provide a break in reading, and allow you to move from passive to active participation.

1 Record Your Internal Dialog — What did you say?
2 Internal Wisdom — Access your subconscious
3 Bottoms Up — Change your point of view
4 Recall Your Child Genius — Your thoughts as a child
5 Remember Your Dreams — Keep a dream diary
6 Rise and Shine — Visualize health
7 Change the Subject — Make a lens
8 The Medium is the Message — Change mediums
9 Chain Reaction— Tracking thoughts and emotions
10 Touchbase — Allowing yourself to feel
11 Objective Observation — Pure observation
12 Play With Syntax— Syntax and context
13 Happy Accident — Plan an accident for inspiration
14 Gather and Float — The art of doing nothing
15 Practice Naivete — Dare to ask a naive question
16 Simpify & Reduce — Simplify, simplify, simplify
17 Shift Focus — Change focus
18 Notice Negative Space — Understand negative space
19 Form Groups & Families — Group for understanding
20 Direct Attention — Use accents and structure
21 Arrange a Marriage — Force a new relationship
22 Go Gestalt — The psychology of perception

~~~
Whatever you can dream is available to you, but first you must know how to use your creative potential. An artist is not defined by his work, but by the power of his creative thought. This book gives you the tools to achieve those dreams, whether you are a creative professional, a student of art, or someone interested in personal development.

Becoming an artist does not require a mastery of technique, great skills or advanced degrees, it only requires that you take the time to be an artist. Art is about change, exploration, and about the courage to know yourself.

Often we don’t accept a challenge because we fear change. Often we don’t accept a challenge because we fear change and commitment. Perhaps we are afraid, because we know deep down that a life like this takes unconditional passion, courage, and dedication. To live a consciously creative life, you have to show the forces that be that you deserve the life you want by consistently displaying these qualities. This is what Joseph Campbell calls the Hero’s Path. Make no mistake, if you follow a path of conscious change you are walking in the very footsteps of giants.

So I ask you: when will you allow yourself the life you deserve? A voice is whispering in your ear: today is the day.

New Additions to Manuscript of Parallel Mind

This week I have been up very late making changes to Parallel Mind. The changes are in the realm of some great additions to the book: illustrative diagrams and additional in-text exercises. The tenor and tone of the book have not changed, but these additions make the book more accessible. Below is an excerpt from the preface, which explains the book to the new reader.

Amit Goswami requests Parallel Mind Manuscript

I have sent press releases, sample chapters and the ebook version to various names in the fields of personal development, psychology, creative development, and science. My list of recipients of my manuscript now numbers over 100 people. Yesterday, noted theoretical nuclear and quantum physicist, Amit Goswami requested a copy of the Parallel Mind manuscript.

Amit Goswami is best known for his interview in the movie “What the Bleep Do We Know?” and for his book, “The Self-Aware Universe.” He is one of the scientists whose work I admire, and who’s philosophy most matches my own.

There are others on my list who have networks that extend to other interviewees on “What the Bleep” and to the movie “The Secret.” Another contact knows someone who works with Jack Canfield, and another knows someone who worked with Tony Robbins.

Michael Port, marketing guru and author of “Book Yourself Solid™” has added his blurb to my book.

Ah, viral marketing at work. My book is a virus, or rather, the premise of the book is a virus; everyone is creative, we just have to learn to develop and use our power of creativity for positive change. Let’s all catch the creative influenza!

Parallel Mind Soon to be Released in Print

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

“There is a treasure map inside you, a map to your deepest dreams, to a power that you have had since birth, a guide to a world of unimaginable riches.”

Encinitas, California – August 26, 2008 – Author Aliyah Marr, “The Guru of Creativity” soon to release in print the first of several books on the nature of creativity. The book is now available in ebook version for review by qualified individuals.

Parallel Mind is a book about how to access the creative force in all of us by awakening the inner child. Parallel Mind is not about how to draw or paint, but how to think like an artist. Aliyah Marr draws from her experience as a teacher, visual artist, poet, author, and designer to demonstrate how you can change your body, your profession, your relationship, and your life just by changing your thoughts.

This book celebrates the gift of creative consciousness. All great artists and creative thinkers know that the way to tap into the power of freshness and originality is to revive the creative “inner child.” The author helps you reclaim the birthright of your natural creativity through exercises designed to develop and inspire your full creative potential.

“You have the map, you have found the treasure — Parallel Mind invites you to open the lock and discover the life of your dreams.”

Design schools are interested in using Parallel Mind, The Art of Creativity as a textbook on creativity, while corporations are interested in it as a topic for leadership training and seminars. Noted individuals in the arts and sciences such as David Heenan and Temple Grandin are championing this book.

The world’s first “living book,” Parallel Mind, The Art of Creativity began in May 2007 as a conceptual art project. For an entire year the author / artist provided an interactive window into her own creative process as she wrote and edited her book in a blog online:

http://parallelmind.wordpress.com/

Aliyah Marr is a multimedia artist, graphic designer, and educator. She has explored painting, design, artistic gymnastics, sculpture, music, dance, poetry, prose, theater, and improvisational humor. As a visual artist, she works in a variety of mediums from painting and sculpture through to interactive art and video art, and has exhibited her work internationally.

A graphic designer with a stellar client list of Fortune 100 companies, the author is also a business and marketing mentor for startup companies and entrepreneurs. As an educator, she has taught graphic design, art, interactive programming, and new media at three top design schools in New York City.

The author is available for speaking engagements and seminars.

Contact:
Aliyah Marr
(please leave a comment in this blog to contact the author)
http://www.aliyahmarr.com/
http://parallelmind.wordpress.com/

###

Please feel free to send “Parallel Mind” to whomever does your book reviews and author interviews.

Thank you for your time. Please enjoy the book!

Aliyah Marr

Author of Parallel Mind, The Art of Creativity
To contact, please leave comment in this blog.
http://www.linkedin.com/in/aliyahmarr (professional profile)
http://www.freshasylum.com (design firm)

Blogs and Media
http://www.planetx.tv (creative director/sr producer/show host)
http://freshasylum.wordpress.com (marketing and design)
http://selfpromotion.wordpress.com (articles on how to self-promote)
http://alteverything.wordpress.com (reports on everything alternative)

Advance Reviews for the Book Parallel Mind

“Aliyah Marr has clearly and eloquently tackled the subject of creativity. I am particularly impressed with her understanding of attention and its fundamental role in the creative process. Her book will serve as a fundamental text in the field of creativity.”

— Les Fehmi, Ph.D., author of The Open-Focus Brain. www.openfocus.com

“As a marketer and creator of the Book Yourself Solid™ system, I know the value of creative thinking; it can make or break a business. “Parallel Mind” contains invaluable information on how to release the mental and emotional blocks that most of us encounter in creating a new business and in marketing ourselves. Highly recommended.”

— Michael Port, author of Book Yourself Solid™ & Beyond Booked Solid

“An enlightened, engaging and provocative look at how to blend creativity and personal pursuits for a truly fulfilling life. Must reading.”

— David Heenan, author of Flight Capital and Double Lives: Crafting Your Life of Work and Passion for Untold Success Stories of Extraordinary Achievement

“This book is about the life-changing power of the creative spirit, but it will also be relevant to those who primarily work with their left brain. As Marr shows, we all have deep reserves of creativity that we can draw upon to transform not only the way we interact with the world around us, but also the very thoughts and emotions that determine our reality. Aliyah Marr’s ideas are provocative, even challenging, but she presents them in vivid, accessible arguments supported by an eclectic assortment of quotations from philosophers, theologians, and other famous figures. Parallel Mind contains the rare gift of a new, necessary angle on contemporary life.”

— Benjamin Kessler, playwright and managing editor of Graphics.com

“As a person with autism, my visual thinking mind finds unexpected associations that help me invent new ideas. Parallel Mind will give you lots of new ways to look at old problems.”

— Temple Grandin, author, Thinking in Pictures

“Like a master weaver, Aliyah has gracefully woven together all aspects of ourselves — the child, the adult, our emotions, our unacknowledged feelings, and internal vision. With a masterful blend of science, metaphors, wisdom, quotes, and storytelling skill she brings the magic carpet of creativity to life. When all is integrated we become the creative masters of our lives.”

— Sharon Lund, Author and International Speaker, The Integrated Being: Techniques to Heal the Mind-Body-Spirit

Free Advance Copy of Parallel Mind to Accredited Authors/Creators/Coaches

A free advance copy of the book is offered to accredited authors, creative people and coaches. Just send the author your credentials. If you qualify, she will send you a free advance copy of the book in PDF format (ebook). Your blurb will be featured in the book when it is published, along with your contact information, if so desired.

Use the comment section to access the author, Aliyah Marr. Tell her why you would be a great person to review this book.

Thanks to the Readers of Parallel Mind, Book in a Blog

I wish to thank the readers of this blog for their interest and support.

It has been exciting to publish my book online as I wrote it; I know that many people were following my blog, reading my book as I wrote it. I thank those readers for their patience as I took entire chapters down, edited and rearranged the content. During this year of writing Parallel Mind, it was my intention that the reader have a peek into my life as an artist. After all, it is a book on creativity, why not let the reader see the creative process in action? I thank you for your interest and hope you enjoyed reading the book as much as I enjoyed writing it.

I hope you will come back to see the progress of Parallel Mind as it goes to print. I will keep you posted. Meanwhile why don’t you play my online Tarot?

Transformational Tarot by Aliyah Marr

If you decide to buy Transformational Tarot on CD, and you mention that you heard of the Tarot through the Parallel Mind blog, I will ship a signed copy of Transformational Tarot to you.

Parallel Mind in Final Chapter — Read it Online Now!

Readers have less than a week to read the first six chapters of the online book Parallel Mind before the book is taken off-line for editing and publishing.

Personally, I like to read books in print, and I assume that most of you feel the same. After all, who takes a computer to the beach or curls up in bed with it? I have always preferred to read books myself. However, it has been exciting to publish my book online as I wrote it. It is my wish that everyone enjoy the creative process of writing this book as much as I do.

Parallel Mind Nearly Complete

Now in the final chapter of the book that began nearly nine months ago. Magic numbers, 7 and 9. Seven for magic, nine for birth. With the completion of Chapter Seven, and with the end of the year 2007, I am already planning a new book, this time about creativity in the business environment: how to set up the proper structure that allows creativity to flourish in the work place.

— copyright Aliyah Marr 2007

publishers or businesses interested in my concepts or writing, please email me at:

myfullname@gmail.com

All Chapters of Parallel Mind Have Been Edited And Reposted

Parallel Mind, Aliyah Marr’s book about creative manifestation is going through final rewriting in all chapters posted up until now. Read it soon: as soon as Chapter 7 is posted, the other chapters of the book on the blog (which are available to read for free) will be reduced to excerpts. The book will then be available for sale first as an e-book, then in written and audio form.

– Aliyah Marr, author of the online book on creativity Parallel Mind. Read it in the pages to the right —>

Chapter Six of the Book Parallel Mind by Aliyah Marr Now Posted

Chapter Six — Putting It All Together (working title) is where the magic happens. This is the chapter that shows how to use the connections between the mind, body, emotions revealed in former chapters. The alchemical reaction: healthy mind/emotions frees creativity into full expression, transforming the individual into a conscious creative.

Chapter Five of the Book Parallel Mind by Aliyah Marr Now Posted

Having covered the physical side of the whole person in Chapter Three — Body and Soul, and the mental side in Chapter Four — Shaking the Tree, Parallel Mind explores the emotional landscape in Chapter Five.

All chapters of Parallel Mind are being edited weekly with new content. Please read the book in the pages section to the right.

Major Online Revision

Seven to five; five to seven. This book has an elastic quality: I started out with an outline of seven chapters in May; I condensed it down to five chapters in July; now I am back to seven in September. As a result, some of what you have already read is now in future chapters, and new information is in chapters you may have already read. True to my spontaneous nature, I am revising the outline as I write the book. Sometimes the book leads, sometimes the outline does. It is difficult for me to be linear, so I have written pieces of every chapter before finishing the first one. Stay tuned, and please don’t get confused by my changes.

What Is The Book About?

Parallel Mind is a book about the relationship of creativity to wholeness and health. The purpose of this book is to serve as an essential guide to enable people to reawaken their inner creative child; learn to free themselves from limiting beliefs, overcome fear, rediscover limitless play, and find within themselves the adventure of living full, passionate, prosperous lives.

I fully believe that people can learn to create their own tools for self-realization, and discover their own inner guides. Addressing the needs of the full person: the physical, mental, emotional states; and clarifying each one allows the natural individual to freely explore his or her creative potential. I teach people how to be the creative architects of their own lives, so that they can build, and then live inside their own vision of joy, abundance, and well-being.