Visual Planning

Last spring, Shiloh and her biz coach Amy Ahlers offered Dancing Entrepreneur for both Color of Woman students and the general community. We created the folded Vision Plan books (one of the CoW assignments) plus a set of 16 cards to support moving forward with our plans. 

We connected with others in the class (a weekend workshop or 5 week class) and used the momentum of the class to bring ideas into action or products. I developed my virtual Red Thread Circles, and collaborations with other students and IC teachers.

Some of the posts that caught my eye were of Karen Dawn's Visual Planning system, and I joined her Beta Test group on crafting similar systems of our own! I love Karen's creative approach to planning! (Her blog includes some of these teachings!) 

Vision Plan Board

Mine is on a foam board from a vision board class I offered, and has two of the Dancing Entrepreneur action cards, a little vision board we created with Karen, and - pockets. My clothesline is a ribbon, and I just taped the ends to the back of the board using painter's tape! You can use nails to tack the lines directly on a wall - so many options!

Karen uses this 'clothesline' system for organizing ideas visually. She found that when her notes were tucked away in journals and files, they weren't as accessible, and often dropped off her radar. (So me!) You can clip cards directly to the line, or Viola! - make pockets to hold sets of cards with those ideas! (Who doesn't want to make pockets, lol!) 

Larger file folder size pockets can be tacked up, with in depth writings/images. You can clip labels to the front of the pockets, to keep organize. I also like making little vision plans in Zines - these could easily tuck into small pockets! 

Planning pockets

As I dream into new offerings, and projects on my plate, I'm using this system to keep organize my ideas and action steps.

Creating with Intention

 We are often asked, "What is intentional creativity?"

The simple answer is, any creativity that begins with a purpose! Time out of mind, people have combined setting an intention with creative process. Knitting a sweater for someone? We think of how we want them to be cozy and warm! Cooking a meal? We intend that those eating our food will be nourished.

Flowers in paint water

Our friend and fellow Intentional Creativity® teacher, the Bejeweled Baroness Elizabeth Gibbons writes, "By creating with intention, we create a cosmic portal, a quantum field where we can explore our potential and possibilities. We shine the divine light of our higher self into the darkness of our shadow self. We are able to heal and integrate all aspects of our psyche and to access a miracle field, the space between the thoughts where our divine spark lives."

When asked if they are creative, 95% of young children say 'YES!' ... by middle school, that's dropped to about half, and by late teens, only about 5% see themselves as creative! What changes? 

Often, that thought begins with a thoughtless comment, criticism, or a comparison with someone more 'talented.' Unfortunately, that comment is often made by an "expert," a teacher or a "more talented" friend. In reality, Creativity is the birthright of all humans! 

With Intentional Creativity, the process is more valued than the 'product,' though chances are you - yes YOU - can create something that brings you and those around you pleasure and joy, and looks good to boot! And like any other 'muscle,' the more we create, the more skillful we become.  

Intentional Creativity *Metacognative exercise: 

1) Take a few deep breaths, and ask yourself a question, perhaps 'What am I passionate about?' - 'What upsets me?' - What brings me joy?'  Take a marker or pen, use a piece of paper, a simple composition book, or fancier art journal; place the tip of your marker on the paper and doode for a minute or so, just letting the line flow. (You can use your non-dominant hand if you wish.) 

Doodle, non-dominant hand

2) Then begin writing, inviting insights from your quick doodle. Write what comes to mind. Did new awareness arise? Write for about minute or two. 

3) Now, move to another page, choose a pleasing color, and sketch a symbol and wrote some of the words around it. Draw a line (a kind of ripple around your symbol and words) more words, and another ripple. 

Symbol and word ripples

In this case, the layers were

• What becomes possible when I bring more scared space into my life?
• What form does it take?
• What needs to be released/added in my physical space?

Musea Atelier - step 4 sketch

4) Do a simple sketch, bringing form to your insight - here, we sketched our muse holding the visionary screen depicting our sacred space (my Atelier studio) 

We can jot down a couple of action steps that will help us bring our vision into reality, and choose one or two we can do in a day or two. I often put these on little cards in my Vision Planning pockets.

Visual Planning Board

*Metacognative drawings can be done for most inquiries, this way of "thinking about thinking" brings our thoughts conscious, so we can acknowledge, fine tune, and release ones which no longer fit! We often use Metacognative drawing in our Red Thread circles and IC classes are a way to quickly shift state and tap our intuition. 

In our Red Thread Creatives group, we explore bringing intention and awareness to different creative practices in our circles and classes. 

Happy Paint Party Friday!

How do you bring intention to your creative process?

Vision Plan Cards

Many of us who identify as creative are challenged when it comes to the business side of things! And even zoning in on what we have to offer can be a challenge - so many ideas! So many possibilities!! 

Thoughout Color of Woman and the other Intentional Creativity® trainings, we are offered tips and tools to help fine tune our vision, and keep us on track. One of the recent offerings for both students and course graduates was Dancing Entrepreneur, which was offed as either a weekend course, or a deeper 5 week dive. 

Vision cards

I participated I the longer journey, and enjoyed the depth of offerings, calls, and focus groups that emerged. Several of our teacher Shiloh's colleagues and advisors shared insights, and it was very rich.  In addition to creating a folded Vision Plan Book, we created a deck of 16 card Dancing Entrepreneur deck, as action prompts for our next 'Dance Move.' We wrote short prompts or Dares on the back, and Shiloh suggested drawing one daily.

Vision Cards

I loved seeing the other students' work, and was especially drawn to a visual organization system Karen Dawn created, and to how she incorporated the cards. Karen has developed a visual planning wall that helps her stay organized and focused, and I'm excited to participate in her 6 week course. 

Our next assignment is to create a Vision Board for our own planning wall. I enjoyed Karen's video with tips on creating one. I've done and taught several over the years, it feels timely to do one focused on current energies! 

I'm thinking of creating some calendar pages for my wall, like I've done in journals. One of Karen's inspirations for her wall was realizing how many great ideas were tucked away in her journals, and "out of sight, out of mind!" (Does that happen to you, too?)

Calendar spread

One of the Creative Business planning projects we did in CoW was to paint our Biz-Muse - she's a whimsical muse, with a winged eye, for seeing behind the ordinary, and intentions collaged on strips of paper.

Biz-Muse

Next up - collage time!!  

I used an 11×15" sheet of watercolorpaper for the backing, and images and words from several magazines for the board. The mountains are The Three Sisters, which I grew up with in Central Oregon.