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.

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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.

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

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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:

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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)

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For more information, contact Aliyah Marr at:

herfullname [at] gmail [dot] com