Creativity as a Life Path
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About this ebook
Jan Groenemann
Jan Groenemann is a masterful and prolifically creative painter in mixed media who has won many awards and exhibited internationally. She is the author of two previous books: Through the Inner Eye: Awaking to the Creative Spirit and Woman Alone: One Woman’s Journey Through the Murky and Magical. As a poet and mystic, a creator of sacred spaces, a teacher and life coach who nurtures creativity in others, Jan lives the message she shares in Creativity as a Life Path. Through the power of everyday creativity she has created a life she loves, and in Creativity as a Life Path she shares her wisdom so that you, too, can create the life you want.
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Creativity as a Life Path - Jan Groenemann
Copyright © 2023 Jan Groenemann and Groenemann Growth Resources.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Balboa Press
A Division of Hay House
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.balboapress.com
844-682-1282
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
ISBN: 979-8-7652-3532-4 (sc)
ISBN: 979-8-7652-3533-1 (e)
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022918446
Balboa Press rev. date: 01/31/2023
22106.pngPage%202%20copy.jpgForeword
In this treasure of a book, Jan Groenemann invites us on the heroic journey of creativity as a life path. Through inspiring poetry, compelling stories, and creative examples, she demonstrates that creativity awakens us to the realm of the sacred and our most authentic self. Creativity is a practice, and this book provides a generous toolbox of techniques on how to practice creativity with intention, curiosity, playfulness, and magic. Jan’s tools are not just based on theory, but on her own practice and process that have led to her becoming an artist of being alive.
Through the beautiful poiesis of our creativity we are led into a wholeness of being. Creativity heals and empowers as it takes us to the edge of wonder and delights us with awe and surprise. It is an adventurous journey that calls us to cross the threshold of our comfort zone and step into expanded possibility and perspective. French artist Henry Matisse was known for saying that creativity is another word for courage. It takes courage to embrace the bittersweet vulnerability of creative living that can feel so raw, wild, and holy.
Jan is a lover of life, wise sage, and spiritual guide, who has mentored many of us on how to consciously choose creativity as a life path. Her life not only exemplifies creative living at its best, but also the importance of forging creative connections and friendships on the artful journey. The creative path is best not traveled alone, for we are all creative sparks of inspiration for one another. Creative presence enables authentic connection.
Jan and I have traveled creativity as a life path for many years now. One of our greatest lessons and revelations on this profound journey of friendship has been how creativity and spirituality are intimately entwined in this spiraling dance we call life. Each helps us cultivate meaning, connects us to mystery, awakens, and enlivens us. Creativity is ultimately an interactive process of spiritual encounter.
So tend your own creative fire and trust your creative longings as you let Jan guide you on this wonderful journey. If you travel far enough along this creative path, you will one day come home to greet your truest self and say a resounding yes!
With you on the journey,
Holly Eden Carson, MA, LPC, LCSW
Psychotherapist, artist, and co-author of
Weaving Ourselves Whole: A Guide for Forming a
Transformational Expressive Arts Circle
Page%204%20copy.jpgThe Elder Grove, 30x30, oil and cold wax (collection of Fred and Maripat Monterubio)
We are all not only creative but creators. We are constantly making art in how we dress, how we talk, how we garden, cook, dance, sing, how we decorate our homes, and how we think. Art is life.
We can create out of confusion (chaos) or out of conscious intention. But we are always creating. We create with every thought, action, and choice.
The products of creativity are as uniquely varied as the individuals who produce them. Creative expression is what colors our world and makes us each who we are. If I want to know you I’ve but to look at what you create.
I have chosen a variety of my own creative works to share with you in these pages with the hope you might be encouraged to more fully explore and discover your own unique creative self-expression. By learning to create with conscious intention, you can create a life you love.
It is my hope that by opening up to you, being vulnerable to you, my reader, you might become more vulnerable in sharing with others the beautiful, creative being that is you.
Creating with intention requires vulnerability.
Jan
Page%206%20copy.jpgThis book is dedicated to my dear friend, Stanley Vincent Chambers,
who created a big, unique, and adventurous life!
Page%208%20copy.jpgWidening Circles, 24x36, mixed media
I Saw You Today
In the red and yellow canna’s profuse blooming,
So late in the season I thought it would not flower,
But within hours after your passing
A bud shot forth on a strong stem.
This morning
In my mourning I talked to you as there
Grew two new yellow flowers,
And you said, Of course this is from me for you.
And so I knew peace in the silence and the
Shading of the trees near my studio.
Then, turning to a tapping at the glass of my door,
So intent as not to be ignored,
A wild, red-tailed hawk, my totem,
Namesake of my family of origin,
Persistently pecking for my attention—
I knew instantly it was you,
Felt you, heard your laugh,
Your voice joyous:
"See, all that stuff is but annoyance, when
I can fly with the hawk and bloom with the flower."
For Stan (August 10, 1947-July 5, 2021)
Page%2010%20copy.jpgJelly Fish, 11x14, oil and cold wax on paper
Pairings
Clouds, so heavy with moisture that they drip, drip,
Slowly slip in as I carefully clip the roses,
Pull a weed here and there,
Stand back to stare as the garden becomes
Less wildish and out of control.
It is my life I trim, my thoughts,
My whim to run or become rooted,
Or wander with the wildness.
Freedom, too, my style, yet I am aware
There must be some bit of pattern,
Some sense of plan.
Sprinkles begin to trail down my scalp.
They pool and spread across my forehead and forearms,
Still I clip, carry, and toss,
Careful of thorns and poison ivy.
The rain begins to fall steadily,
I readily carry my clippers and gloves inside,