Plan Your Own Creative Retreat

Have you ever dreamed of going on a creative retreat but didn’t have the time or money to take one? Why not plan your own? That’s what I did last weekend, and it was so worth it. The winter had been taking its toll on me and with my birthday just around the corner next week, I thought it was a perfect time for a little rest, reflection and creativity.

So I devoted an entire day, when I knew I didn’t have any obligations, turned off the phone and computer and enjoyed the silence. I spent a lot of the day musing, reading, creating, and planning. I now have a clear vision of where I am going and all it took was about 12 hours of my time.

If you don’t have the time to spend an entire day for your retreat, I would suggest taking a morning or afternoon and finding someplace quiet where you can think without being disturbed.

Here are some more tips on planning your own creative retreat:

1. Start out with an opening ceremony to get you focused on creating. Try lighting a candle or even reciting a creative mantra. I took mine from the Rituals: Light for the Soul Kit:

I look upon an empty canvas
And see there an unformed opportunity
To express my life
And how it could be
I begin

2. Reflect on the questions I created for a bi-annual Creative Check-In to determine not only goals for the upcoming year but also celebrate achievements from the last 6 months.

3. Look for images to reinforce those 6 month and 1 year goals. Create a visioning collage to inspire next years' successes. For mine, I used images that I cut out of my favorite magazines.

4. Work on your creative project. Once your goals are established and you have a visual plan for them, then have some fun by creating. I completed a few small sketchbook collages, with no particular goal in mind.

5. At the end of the day, blow out the candle and take a moment to reflect on your creative achievements and future goals.

• What would you include in your creative retreat?

Five {5} Creative Questions with Andrea Schroeder

This month we feature the inspirational Andrea Schroeder. You may know her better online as the author of ABCcreativity. But above all else, Andrea is a creative being and believer in possibilty. Andrea takes this sense of possibility, blends it with sparkles and secret messages about the magic and wonder of life, and uses it in all of her creative work, infusing it with flashes of inspiration and reminders of what an incredible being you are.

After graduating from Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada with a bachelor of applied arts in fashion design, Andrea explored many different avenues of art and design including costume design, textile design, textile art, knitting, cloth dollmaking and interior design.

Andrea has also spent years studying new thought and other spiritual and philosophical teachings and is currently an accredited new thought healing practitioner at the Centre for Conscious Living in Winnipeg, Canada. Andrea describes this as ”a believer in possibility, a creator of dreams come true and a mentor for others in creating their happily ever afters.” Andrea blends spiritual and artistic creativity in all of her creative work, which is filled with maps that will guide you on your path in creating your own “happily ever after”.

1. What does creativity mean to you?
i see myself above all as a creative being in a creative universe. my inspiration, intuition, uniqueness and gift flow through my creativity out into all parts of my life. creativity is life for me.

Calling All Creatives: Social Entrepreneurs and Social Innovation

In my last post, I explored the concept of using creativity as an agent of social change and highlighted a program in Cleveland that was doing just that. I also asked readers to share their own examples of creativity and community building.


One reader, Isobel, left a comment praising the organization Ashoka and the partnership between IDEO and the Gates Foundation. I decided to check out her suggestions and was thoroughly impressed.

Ashoka is a leader in the social entrepreneur movement supporting some 2,000 fellows in 60 different countries with projects ranging from sanitation to establishing schools. Ashoka has created a global network of innovation and creativity empowering regular citizens to become change makers.

Similarly, IDEO, not only has an alliance with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to support projects on health but with several other well-known global foundations. At IDEO, it is not just about innovation but social innovation as defined by using design-thinking principles to better serve underprivileged areas and communities. Recent examples of projects have included the Human Centered Design Project providing a tool kit for innovation and the universal ear, an affordable hearing aid both created for developing nations.

Creativity is About Perspective

The other day, while taking off my earrings, I dropped one on the floor. I looked down but couldn't see it. The tiny earring blended right into the hardwood floor. I decided the only way to actually find it was to change my perspective by getting on the floor to locate it.

Voila! Within seconds of bending down and getting on the floor to look for it, I found the earring. It reminded me that creativity is also all about perspective.

Similar to me not being able to find my earring while staying in the same position, creative ideas aren't usually found by thinking the same thoughts. Creativity requires us to take a different approach to finding the answers, like I took a different approach to finding my earring. I could have stood there all day looking for it, but if I hadn't changed my perspective I would have never found it.

• How can you change your creative perspective? 

Everyday Creative: Let’s Begin

Like most years, I decided to start 2010 by dedicating the year to becoming more creative. Usually, my dedication ends up occurring in not so everyday inspirational spurts. I hope this year will be different. I hope my creativity remains constant and in the forefront of everything I do.

So how am I going to manage to pull off this feat? By learning to be everyday creative by following Eric Maisel’s The Creativity Book: A Year’s Worth of Inspiration and Guidance. Yes, that’s a year’s worth of dedication!

I first encountered creativity coach extraordinaire, Eric Maisel’s work when I signed up for his Intro to Creativity Coaching online course five years ago. At the time, I was working as a museum educator, where I was focusing on everyone else’s creativity but my own. The course not only taught me how to empower other creatives but how to focus on my own creativity.

After I finished the course, I worked for almost a year with a creativity coach, moved to another part of the country, and switched careers. But before I changed careers completely, I had some time to explore my inner creative urges. I signed up for art classes, exhibited my work in shows, launched my blog, taught creativity and art workshops and realized that I was creative.

Introducing Five {5} Creative Questions

Five {5} Creative Questions is a new feature I am starting this year on the blog. Each month, I plan to highlight a different creator and have them answer the same 5 questions on creativity, their creative process and inspiration. I hope you enjoy!

Our first guest is the talented Dee Wilcox, who you may already know from the fantastic blog, Creative Perch.

Dee is a graphic designer, marketer, and writer. A little bit about Dee… she is 50% right-brained and 50% left-brained. Her interests are rather eclectic, and she believes the combination of these two qualities makes her a better writer. She loves trend-watching and all things design. She believes that public art can raise the spirit of a community and lift the individual spirit, as well. She loves the art and process of creating. Creating is in her blood. Her creative bent is her favorite thing about herself.

1. What does creativity mean to you?
I believe creativity is both an innate ability and a skill that we can develop to bring a creative approach to every aspect of our lives. In other words, creativity allows us to bring new ideas and concepts and approaches into existence that were never there before. It also allows us to tweak current ideas, develop a new perspective, and see things in new ways.

Calling All Creatives: From Vacant Lots to Vineyards

(Image Re-Imagining Cleveland)

What is the role of creativity? We all know the function that creativity plays in art and innovation, but what is the purpose of using creativity to build and enhance our communities? I’d like to look at using creativity as an agent of change and encourage you to think more creatively about your community.

I first encountered the idea of creativity for change while an undergraduate studying art history. This is where I first learned about art movements, primarily in the late 20th Century, using creativity for social change. Years later while working in museums in Washington, DC, I encountered another way that the arts affect change through my personal interactions with inner city school children. For them art was a way to escape, but not change their social situation.

Now, I’d like to explore how the ideas behind the art (aka creativity) can generate community. But I am not talking about Richard Florida’s concept of the Creative Class, which while a wonderful theory only takes into account the people that use creativity for their profession. What I’d like to see more of is everyone, not just professional creatives, using their ideas to improve the quality of their cities and neighborhoods.