Please visit us there to learn how to become Creatively Fit so that you can create the change you desire in YOUR world!

~Whitney

Please join us there!

Watch Whitney’s CBS News appearance on March 2, 2010.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6261123n&tag=contentMain;contentBody

I was an athlete growing up, not an “artist”. I love competition and I love that feeling when you are pushing yourself, getting better, faster, stronger. Now, for me, this same energy is channeled into my Creatively  Fit Program and my book, The Artist Within, A Guide to Becoming Creatively Fit.

Life is a mental game. Our thoughts and attitudes shape so much of our reality and nowhere is it better illustrated than in the sports arena.

During this year’s Superbowl, all you had to do was look at the face on Peyton Manning, sitting on the sidelines, to get a feel of who had the upper hand in that competition. The thoughts, images, and beliefs swirling around in your mind play a major role in the outcome of your efforts-regardless of the “arena”.

One of the books that has had the biggest impact on my work is The Breakout Principle by Dr. Herbert Benson. In it, he shows us how we can conjure up the “ah -hah” moment, the “light bulb moment”, the SHAZAM! by realizing how our minds work.  To have such a “breakout” moment, one first has to do the left-brain work.  You have to know the stats, have done the lay-yups, swam the laps, or done the research.  THEN, to get your breakout, you have to do something completely different. You must “sever all previous thought processes to get out of your left brain” and tap new mental power. His first example in the book is of a high powered business consultant in NYC who is hired to perform acts like appointing new CEO’s of major corporations. When this consultant has exhausted all forms of research and data gathering his standard practice is to go back to his hotel room to needlepoint to get his SHAZAM!!! moment! I could not believe that was the first example in the book.  This high power business consultant is using a “creativity exercise” to physiologically change his thinking and tap his subconscious so that the perfect business solution just “pops” into his mind!

NOW, we have the Winter Olympics to watch.  During the last summer Olympics there was a perfect example of a Right Brain Performance. I want to share it with you and then ask you to look for the next one in these Olympic games.

During the summer Olympics of 2008 it was Phelps and co. that provided the Breakout Performance during the men’s 400 free relay.  The Americans were seated 2nd against the French and the U.S. announcer must have repeated five times that he had done the math backward and forwards and that there was NO WAY THE AMERICANS COULD BEAT THE FRENCH.  As I listened to him say this over and over I got more and more excited about the potential to witness a true right brain performance. The US swimmers knew all those stats.  They knew that even if they each swam their best times ever and the French each swam their worst times ever that they still could not win.  So what did they do?

They TUNED OUT THAT LEFT BRAIN-LOGICAL side and tapped into the voice that simply said, “We are going to win this race–no matter what!” And they did! Watch it on YouTube!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rg9lCvAvBdg The announceer just kept saying, “I don’t think they can do it.”  Lucky for us, this is not what the swimmers were thinking….

Where do you need a right brain performance.  Where do you need to suspend the inner-critic and logic to achieve something you truly desire? Watch the youtube video and tune in to the Winter Olympics in Vancouver for the next Right Brain Performance! Create the life you desire! ~Whitney

You are probably going to have to do SOMETHING different….

I love the term “go with the flow”.  I am really good at it.

Then, there is the element that to truly CREATE the change you desire in your life you have to “turn the tide”.  This may mean going against the flow, initially.  It is certainly going to require that you do something different. It may not even be comfortable or familiar.  You may have to stretch your mind in new directions, learn something new, or reach out a different direction for help.

In our professional and personal lives there is consistently opportunity to keep going the same direction or to take a turn, a verve, a side-step.

What is it for you today?

My book, The Artist Within, A Guide to Becoming Creatively Fit, provides you with the opportunity to stretch your mind in a different direction, to “change your color” so that you can create change. I am so passionate about giving my readers and clients HOPE that they can CREATE the change that they desire. I just had a glass of wine with a student last night and had the privelege of listening to her as she gleefully told me of her new online natural medicine course whe was taking and how she was “all about change”–even choosing to explore more seafood in her daily meals (you never know….). What I heard?  She was happy.  She was excited.  She had become “Creatively Fit” and had taken her rightful place as the artist in front of the canvas that is her life.

I hope this gives you a sense of excitement about what is around the corner for you.  Comment and share the change you want to create so you can check back in a month or so and let us know about it. You can do it! Explore your “Artist Within”.  ~Whitney

http://www.ted.com/talks/isabel_allende_tells_tales_of_passion.html

I just had a lovely evening after the kids went to bed. I watched two women speak at TED.com about creativity and passion while I created a “dream collage” in my Artist Within Journal (ok, there was a glass of wine involved as well…). I really recommend watching the TED.com talk by Isabel Allende (link above).

Creatively Fit is partnering with the Women for Women foundation to help CREATE change in the lives of abused and neglected women in war torn countries. Where else could our creative, feminine spirit be more desperaely needed? This Isabel Allende talk is from a TED in 2007. She speaks passionately about the plight of so many women on this planet and urges us to make it end, to put our energies in that direction.

This is the intention of Creatively Fit and this is not the intention I had just a year ago. But now I see that it has all been leading to helping to mobilize the Western woman to CREATE the change we need in this world. If you think you could not make a dent, could not help anyone, or have no way to help, please watch Isabel speak.  Please explore your creative potential that I know is within you because it is what makes us human. Accepting our power to CREATE change in the world is what is going to create the tipping point–a point within which women will not be beaten, abused, neglected, raped, enslaved, ignored or supressed. Let’s CREATE that change, shall we? Go to www.womenforwomen.org to learn how you can be part of an amazing group of women working to CREATE a better life for so many women around the world. Creatively yours, Whitney

~~~~

I have never shied away from attaching my business/mission to terms that may confuse or challenge others because the exact reason it does so is the exact reason it needs to be presented that way.  For example, The Creative Fitness Center used to get a lot of calls asking if we offered yoga classes.  I knew the name would confuse people, but I felt a stronger loyalty to my mission of creating the awareness of our need to WORK OUT or develop our right brain/creative muscle. I envisioned Katie Couric’s interview and her asking me, “Whitney, how does it make you feel that today most corporate businesses have a ‘creative fitness’ program for their employees and many Americans are conscious of how often they have ‘worked out’ their right brain?!” I believe that when that vision comes to fruition that our entire socio-economic status and personal/spiritual well-being will all have evolved to a higher, more holistic, compassionate and susatainable level.

So yesterday, as I looked out the window of my car to the snow glazed corn fields of Indiana,  I pictured my Friday night wine tasting audience and thought, “the word artist is going to instantly have some of them thinking, ‘well, this is not me.’” So, why is embracing your OWN artist within so valuable?

When we think, “I am not artistic,” or “I am no artist,” we are looking at it through the lens of our ego, our left brain. For us Americans, our first association with the term “artist” is a person that is so highly skilled at their craft that they are able to sell their work in galleries and the such. THOSE are professional visual artists, and they have my utmost respect, but for the rest of us our own Artist Within manifests itself in our everyday lives as we interact with others, solve problems, nurture our families, maintain and grow our businesses–we are CONSTANTLY creating.

The ARTIST mentality, combined with the left brain/logical mentality, will lead to scenarios within business, government, education and social sectors that takes ALL sides into perspective, that can make short-term sacrifice for long-term gains, that can innovate change (whether in healthcare, energy production, education, science, health, etc.) and produce results that defy “logic” and what is “feasible”. The “NEW” Economy is just that.  We have a lot of innovating/creating to do.

When you shift your thinking from the left brain/ego centered perspective to the right brain/holistic perspective, the term “artist” takes on an entirely new meaning. Take personal gain and individual performance out of the picture entirely and let the word ‘artist’ conjure images of an almost magical being who can defy the odds, create results never before imagined, and delight us with visions of a brighter future.

My Mother took this pic in her woods.

SO, WHAT YOU CAN DO TODAY…to engage your Artist Within, simply look at the light as it shines on the trees, or the colors in the sky.  Ask your team at work to suspend logic for 10 minutes and imagine/brainstorm as many ideas as possible without considering probabilities, budgets, or logic.  Look through a magazine and pick out the images that speak to you, to which you are attracted.  Tear them out and put them in a journal or envelope to use in a “dream collage” or “vision board”.

One of my own Dream Collages

Tonight, I will be taking approximately 30 people through a wine tasting that illustrates the connection between the creative process of wine making, the creative process of painting, and the creative process in general! So fun!  I was interested to see that Michael Gelb has a book called Wine Drinking for Inspired Thinking. THAT is the subject of another blog entry!

So, my point today?  Let me know what the word “artist” does to you.  Can you make the shift from the left to right brain version? Let me know. Check out the Creativity Workouts section of this blog and get more ideas about how to engage YOUR Artist Within.

Creative wishes, Whitney

http://tinyurl.com/mluw5k

Ken is a mogul in the world of CREATIVITY, which happens to be my favorite of all the worlds!!!

For those of you who have been following my blog and learning about what I call “Right Brain Land”, here is some interesting background.

I met another mogul in the creativity world, John Cimino (www.creativeleaps.org), who is currently collaboration with Ken Robinson on some ideas for a new creative education paradigm. I met John through Sarah Caldicott Miller who co-wrote the book How to Innovate Like Edison with Michael Gelb (author of How to Think Like Leonardo daVinci).

Now, where this all gets fun, is that on January 4th I got an email from Christine Ranck, author of Ignite the Genius Within (which she co-authored with Michael Gelb), who has been following these blog entries and who somehow got to know my work from Michael Gelb.  NOW Michael Gelb has endorsed MY book that is coming out in March 2010, 33 Things to Know About Raising Creative Kids, AND Christine is ALSO sorking with Ken Robinson on his mission to elevate creativity education.

As my daughter and I were just watching Ken Robinson’s TED talk (she is still home sick) she asked me, “Do you know him?”  I said, “No, not yet.”  “Well, when are you going to meet him?”  I answered, “Sometime before this summer.”  Do I know that for sure?  No, not in a left brain sort of way.  But I do know that our paths will cross and I think we will become great friends. When you are tapped in to creative thinking, you can create the things you desire.  You become the “artist” and each day your “blank canvas”.

Watching Ken Robinson speak today (which, by the way, made me laugh so hard–thanks, Ken) sent a rush of energy through my body and a even more renewed conviction–if that is possible (!!!)–about the significance of getting CREATIVELY FIT!  We are launching new online programs in March 2010! It will be like the “jenny craig” for the right brain. I am so excited.  My passion is helping people to wake up to the wonderfully creative, inspired, and innovative person that lies within them. It is the ARTIST WITHIN and it deserves the platform.

Thank you, Ken, for all you do!  Thank you, John, Christine, Sarah, and so many others, for ALL that you do to help our global family adapt and move into our unknown future.

Here are some of my favorite points from Ken’s talk.  Go watch it now!

http://tinyurl.com/mluw5k

“I would contend that in education today creativity is as important as literacy.”

“Kids:  If they don’t know, they’ll have a go.”

~As adults we have lost that.  We are frightened of being wrong.  In educ. today mistakes are the worst things you can make. We are squandering the skill we desperately need as we move into this unknown future.~

“The arts are at the bottom of every educational system on the planet.”

“We move from the ground up as we educate our children until we are just concerned with their heads—and, then, just ONE SIDE!”

“The whole world is engulfed in a revolution.”

“We need to radically rethink our view of intelligence.”

Thank you for visiting with us today! ~Whitney

p.s. I just reached out to Lisa Nichols and her team to see if we could explore collaborative efforts in the future.  So, stay tuned to see what evolves there.  What do you want to create today?  Where do you desire change?  Reach out and connect with someone.  Ask for help….

p.p.s. Ken, can I email you a transcript of my new book to review?  ~Whitney

Then she added her own scribble.  Of course, the adult in me asked, “Are we doing abstract or a real picture?” My first instinct was to draw something “real”.  But I went with it, and we added to eachother’s scribbles.  Then, we took another picture….

As we looked at the picture on the screen, we saw an indian chief praying!  Wow!  We liked him, so we added to his costume and headdress.  Do you see him? Why did we see an indian chief praying?  It must be a message from our “Artist Within”/right brain. 

Look at him now!  He is strong, proud, yet humble.  Hmmmmmm.  We had fun with his headdress and his animal skin cloak (?).  Riley added the fun, little adornment at the front of his headdress and I elaborated on the feathers towards the back.  Here he is all finished-in all of his glory!

I added light blue fingernails, Riley added war paint under his eyes, veins in the feathers and adornment to the back of his cloak brought him to life.  Now, I ask Riley (sitting next to me right now), “What does he make you think of?”  She says, “The indian times.”  Me, “What else? What do they make you think of? Like, what words come to mind when you think of an indian chief?” She answers, “A tee-pee and animals.”  Me, “What is it about the tee-pee and the animals that we need to think about today? If the indian chief was to say something to us, teach us something from the paper, what would he say?”  What I think is that he is reminding us to stay strong, pray, and connect to the earth and the animals around us.  “Riley, what do you think about that?”  Riley, “I think about when people had to get their own food and there was not a store that provided it.”

Well, there you go.  Deep thoughts provided by our scribbles.  Have fun scribbling with your kids!  ~Whitney & Riley

Created by James Hampton

This is incredible! Took James Hampton 14 yrs to finish! It was his only creation! Made entirely of tin foil and cardboard.

Made entirely of tin foil and cardboard by James Hampton

Image is made entirely of tin foil and cardboard by James Hampton. This took him 14 years to finish. It was his only project.  This is from the Folk Art Wing.

Navaho Figures by Charlie Willeto

Navaho Figures by Charlie Willeto

Adam &Eve by Tm Lewis in sandstone 1998 “Primitive”

Howard Finster “…I’m not here to live a normal life. I’m sent here on a mission as a man of visions.” tap into yours…

“the Lord will deliver is people across the Jordan” Howard Finster

Can you have your cake and eat it too?! I think so if you are aligned properly.

What would you build an altar to? Visualize it. This one by Charles Carillo

Where am I?  Where do you want to be? Incredible painting by Albert Bierstadt

Look at these four bad boys…wish we had learned more from the native Americans…by George Catlin

Life was simpler…harder, but more simple. “Water Carriers, Venice” by Frank Duveneck

Sculpture by Hiram Powers…can you imagine sculpting this detail?

Eastman Johnson had a story for this woman…she’s so real &communicates so much! The red…

by Everett Shinn. There is hope …create it.

But, WOW! The 3rd floor is incredible! I’m going to find an outlet to recharge

Amazmg sculpture of brass/bronze symbolizes “world’s communication in Atomic Age” made in 1959

What is it?!? Ellsworth Kelly said, “to he’ll with pictures.”

“Electronic Superhwy” each state represented by images on tv and neon! I’ll give an example…

Oklahoma!

Hawaii

Mississippi!

“Mumbo Jumbo” by Julie Mehretu Life feels like this sometimes… Artist born in Ethiopia

So you sit in a pitch black room with this David Hockney installation & the lights change…wow

Here it is in blues…thx David Hockney. Very calming.

A cube adorned with old tin… I like it. Makes me want to buy tin objects at antique malls…

The Luce Gallery w/in the American Art Museum! nevr seen anything lk it! Signing off 4 now.Thx 4 sharing!