Sitting on the back of a butterfly is a pair of wings in the shape of two loving hearts. They glow in flaming red, a-flutter in great excitement. The butterfly has been on a journey of dancing loops and circles, of wondrous adventures. It is joyous!! It finds itself drawn to a tiny planet called Earth. Earth is the place where it manages to experience who it really is. It is where its spirit comes alive!!

All on Earth is Energy, the butterfly realizes. All on Earth is connected. All on Earth is really One. (The depiction is a spherical planet energy of One). Through its wings-of-hearts, the butterfly also hopes to share its beauty, love and essence with all there-is in existence.

Jeff from My Supercharged Life, in his comments to my last post referred me to an awesome site that does logos; but by then, I have already spend hours reflecting over what I would like the design to be. Thanks also to Christopher for egging me on to put back my butterfly icon and to Robin who offered to help by giving me a few pointers about thesis via Skype.

In tandem with the renewal of my site, I thought I might as well ask for some creative inspiration on a new symbolic icon. The result from two late nights is what you see now sitting on the top of my site.

Caught in the Wind

The butterfly has flown in countless winds. It knows every breeze there-is. One particular breeze it has flown by quickly, breathes an air of mystic. A scatter of of olive green leaves rustles and swirls in its whistling trail.

(Photo by cygnus921)

Each leaf, in the scatter, tells a story. Each leaf bears a record. Each leaf has freed itself from a twig that springs from the page of an opened Book.

It is no ordinary book, by the way!

*Hush* A sacred one.

You can’t find it anywhere physically. For it exists only at the etheric level.

It is what many called – the Book of Life!

The story of the scattering leaves continues next week. Watch for it!!!

(A collage that I put together from photos taken by Endlisnis on flickr)

According to the Enneagram, we have one core Personality Type. It appears that we are either born with it or that it can be the result of early nurturing. This core is home base. It describes you the most. If you are a bird, which is free to roam and to explore all other Types, you always come flying home. You reside in this sector; as if it is a familiar nest.

Confusion In Assessing Which Profile Type

Diagram A: Enneagram By Energy Centers

Going by the feedback from my last post on How Would You Cross the River, some of you clearly do not face any difficulty in deciding which profile type you are. Yet, there are others who confessed to having problems in deciphering.

Using the breath of your life experiences to gauge can cloud your mind from making the right analysis. It may be that you have operated out from a different Enneagram Type for a period in time. Then, life may have presented different challenges, which require a different set of attributes that you have built upon.

Additionally, you may at some point in your life, decide to explore some other aspects of who you are. If this has been the case, you would have probably been exploring the sectors that are most within reach to your true Type. Such sectors correspond to your adjacent wings or lines that direct to your stress or security points, according to the Enneagram grid.

In trying to make an analysis, it is possible that you identify with strengths and weaknesses from each sector of the Enneagram Type; hence, throwing you into confusion. Finally, your friends may wrongly assess you, when they base their conclusions on the actions they perceive that you have been taking. (Summary from the various comments to my last post: Only three bloggers got my Profile Type rightly; Irene, Hunter and Rita. Kudos!! The rest had either not ventured a guess or guessed wrongly.)

Based on what I learned from Raj Revindran, in order to make the right assessment, it is important to separate the behavior from the underlying motivation of your actions. The question to ask is: What drives your strategy? What is the underlying life strategy of your various actions? Raj put me through a series of penetrating questions that kept me awake for two nights.

Diagram B: Enneagram By Life Strategy

Crossing The River In Style

I finally arrived at the answer of my Profile Type. Go over my previous post here and scroll all the way near the bottom of my article. At the part where I asked my readers to make a guess as to what profile type I am, I placed the picture of a lady next to my question. The clue is found in this very picture.

It depicted: Ballet plus Water. Put them together, it becomes Water Ballet.

If you read over the nine styles of river crossing carefully, the answer can be deduced: I am a Type Four. The Fours use a variety of fancy styles and even do a water ballet (see above collage).

Raj went on to ask me to consider the possibility that I have a strong influence from my wings (wing of three and wing of five). Having an influence of attributes from both these wings might had prevented me from making a quick deduction of my true Ennegram Type, he explained.

So over the weekend, I borrowed a book that he recommended from the library, to explore the possibility. There on page 112 of Head Versus Heart–and Our Gut Reactions: The 21st Century Enneagram by Michael Hampson, it is said….

FOUR may be tempted to withdraw from the world – but waiting in the THREE wing are gifts for relating to and enriching the lives of others. FOUR can be tempted to look at the world with envy – but waiting in the FIVE wing is a more objective view of the lives that other people live. The gifts in the wings can even help develop the FOUR’s own gift of creativity – potentially a gift to inspire others, and containing seeds of wisdom. FOUR only needs to avoid having its temptation toward envy compounded instead by THREE’s temptation for making a false self-presentation to the world or FIVE’s temptation toward isolation and healing.

The paragraph hit home!

If you have been following my blog, you will note that my recent personal articles are mostly centered on dreams, visions, visualizations, design, images, photography, love, beauty, creating miracles, making mind movies, etc. Law of Attraction is something that sits very well with me.

Here is what I have gathered that is true of a Enneagram Type Four . I am at heart, a creative person, lover of beauty and highly aware of my inner life. Authenticity is what sits in the throne of my Being. My life plan is to convert pain, ugliness and illusions into beauty through creativity, inspiration, vision and compassion.

Diagram C: Enneagram By Gift

Raj pointed out to me that my search on this Earth is to know who I am. Fair enough. I have conducted this search both previously and even up to this day through engaging in a multitude of experiences.

Yet in recent times, I have come to know that the external journey can never be as enriching and fulfilling as the one that comes from within. Seeking seizes in the space that is free of all illusions. It marks an ending of my ego. In Stillness, I am my divine Self.

How To Determine The Profile Type You Are

Knowing my life plan and strategy has now definitely increased my conscious awareness.

Which brings me back to you.

What if you still do not know what profile type you are and hence, unable to determine the deeper meanings of your human existence?

I believe that most books or text on Enneagram would contain quizzes, such as this online test, for assistance. Even then, it may be hard for you to pick the answer in the format of a MCQ, if you have no clarity.

Well, I am a highly visual person. I prefer to work in pictures. So other than the pictures above, I have adapted and recreated images from the same book that I was reading over the weekend, for your easy analysis. Get a feel of which of the attributes that best describe you. You can use these, on top of quizzes and introspection, for a final deduction.

Diagram D: Enneagram By Animal

Diagram E: Enneagram By National Stereotype

Diagram F: Enneagram By Retail Road Vehicle

Kindly note that I did not come up with the descriptions that went along with each Enneagram Type. If you do not agree to your animal type or the vehicle that best describes your personality, please do not protest here! You can state whether or not you disagreed with the descriptions in the feedback below; but most certainly, write to the author of the book, with accompanying reasons.

Michael Hampson also did a nice job with other factors for comparison amongst the nine Enneagram Types; such as political alliances, temptations, temperature and people from the bible. While his book has a Christian slant to it, it is definitely an interesting read! For those of you who are interested, it also delves into the Seven Deadly Sins, biblical journeys, prayers and confessions that you can make, for spiritual growth.

Change Your Car; A Creative Challenge To You

Are you already driving the vehicle that best reflects your Enneagram Type? If it is not the case, will you consider changing your car?

What other factors do you think can be used to describe the 9 Enneagram Types? Pop stars? Food? Music? Please give examples, if you would like to take a creative stab at this challenge.

It happened in a flash.

An Enchanting Vision that came into my mind.

While deep in meditation, I saw a picture of a forest of wooded trees. There was nothing special about this still image. It was in monochrome; black and white and mostly greys. The forest was dense, filled with trees having slim trunks. The leaves of the trees covered the sky. There was no light.

However, right from the middle of the forest, soon came a flurry of butterflies. Against the dull background, their colors were magnificent; wings dipped in the colors of the rainbow. There were tons and tons of them flying out. It was amazing! The sound of their wings in motion broke the silence of the forest. They flew right to the front but to the side, so that I still could see the small opening of the light that now comes from the middle. I was awestruck!

Then, in what seemed like a short few minutes, the vision disappeared.

I was in a state of gap when it happened on late Sunday morning. Was it a vision sent by angels or spirit guides? I have been trying to ask them for one for weeks but have not gotten any response. The vision felt so real that I’m inclined to believe that here was their reply!

Interestingly, my vision came at a time when I was engaged in a creative pursuit. I had spent the entire weekend trying to make a Mind Movie and was nurturing my soul so much that I just could not stop. My senses were stimulated. They received a constant flood of music, beautiful pictures and empowering affirmations, while I worked on my video. I ended sleeping very little and when Sunday finally came, I had to take short breaks every now and then to rest. It was during a meditative break that I had the enchanting vision.

After Sunday, I fretted for two days. I thought it would be nice to share the vision with my readers but felt that there was no way that I could closely depict my mental image. In the end, I decided to go ahead and create a Photoshop picture (see above) to accompany this post. Even after editing my picture a few times, it still pales in comparison to the actual vision. I may just have to do one in acrylic paint eventually; but for now, with my limited skills in the Photoshop software, I guess the above illustrated picture will just have to do!

Color Your World

I’ve been reading from various sources that art is often used as a channel for accessing intuitive awareness. So here’s the thing. If you are facing some blockages to being more intuitive or in connecting more closely with your Spirit guides and angels, how about using art to open up your channels? If my experience is anything to go by, it may just be the medium you need to bridge any missing link.

Don’t feel artistic? Read my article here on how to remove your blocks to creativity.

Exploring art may seem like taking a creative risk. It means having to leave your head and open your heart. Just think about it – does it really matter if you end up doing bad art? The idea is to have fun! You can doodle, scribble, make poetry, dance – anything! It is a way of nurturing your soul and raising your energy consciousness. It does not matter if you make a mess. You can color outside the lines if you want to. Make whimsical pictures. Write a poem, even if some of your lines do not rhyme. Choose to be honest and bold. Be prepared to explore an imaginary world outside your comfort zone.

Link Love

If you intend to explore your creativity, here are recent articles written by my friends from around the globe that you can read:
- Lance on Stimulate Creativity;
- Marelisa on 30 Ways to Increase Your Creativity.

Recent stabs at creativity by my online friends that made me laugh include:
- MonkMojo on his hilarious comics Awareness Over Mind Over Matter;
- Robin with her very clever comics on this Blogging life.

Share Your Beautiful Vision
I believe that my angels and guides must have sent a million visions down my way almost every other day. They probably sent a ton more, whenever I feel down, stressed and in difficulties. But there was no way I could see, sense or hear anything previously because I was not in touch intuitively or chose to be spiritually awakened.

I am therefore very grateful to have caught the vision on Sunday morning. After weeks of asking for a sign, I was finally in a creative space to receive one. The clarity and magnificence of my vision can only mean one thing to me: – Oh yes, my angels and spirit guides are near!

Now, over to you. Have you encountered a beautiful vision personally? Can you share about it in the comments below? Also, what did you do to improve your spiritual pathway, in order to receive a message from your angels?

(Photo Credit: Laffy4k at Flickr)

Most people, including yourself, may think about about creativity as doing well in art and music. So if you find that you are nowhere near producing great works in these areas, you may well declare that you are not creative. However, I would like to embrace a broader definition of what creativity is.

To begin with, you need not be a genius to be creative. Creativity is a surge – a burst of imaginative and new ideas or your own unique interpretation of your five senses – that arises within your inner Being and turning this surge into reality. It also involves the the translation of your unique gifts and talents into something new and useful.

Creativity can also be about problem solving. In fact, you do not need to have a big problem to solve, to be considered creative. If you can solve your everyday problems in an ingenious way or come up with solutions to plug gaps, you are creative.

Creativity is the working of your right hand brain. Unfortunately, many of us have not spent a great deal of time developing this part of the brain when we were younger. Blame it on formal school education, which tends to favor left-brain thinking rather than right brain ones. Left brain thinking involves analysis, logic and linearity. On the other hand, right brain thinking involves creativity, intuition, feeling and aesthetics.

Traditionally, the majority of jobs that involve more left brain thinking skills such as being an accountant or lawyer, tend to pay higher. You often hear of the term “struggling” used for an artist but it is seldom the case for one in the professional and corporate arena. In fact, jobs in accountancy, banking and engineering, are often said to be more stable.

Why You Should Explore Creativity

Creativity is A Way To Self Discovery

Creativity offers you the opportunity to finding out things about yourself, your inner Being. It is about connecting with your natural affinity. It is about going into a space where you can “escape” and experience joy and security. This has been my experience. There have been countless times when I have felt so connected with my inner Being while painting or doing a craft work. More recently, I have been exploring creativity through writing. I enjoy putting a unique spin to old tired themes and drawing on my knowledge from diverse areas to churn out new ideas for thought.

Then again, creativity is not so much about being able to produce great ideas successfully. It is more about the process and the thinking that went behind it. It is about the aspects of spontaniety, imagination, sensitivity and fluency of ideas. It is the fertile soil, out of which seeds of translating ideas from imagination to reality can take root.

“Conditions for creativity are to be puzzled; to concentrate; to accept conflict and tension; to be born everyday; to feel a sense of self.”
— Quote by Erich Fromm (German born American social Philosopher and Psychoanalyst, 1900-1980)

Creativity Brings About Fulfillment

In fact, you will find that those who make use of their creative abilities in their jobs tend to be happier as compared to those who don’t. Creativity is a form of self expression and in that, represents fulfillment. All areas of learning can be potentially creative experiences. Because creativity brings out the very best in ideas, it is possible that those who can incorporate their abilities and imagination into their job, outperform those who don’t.

I know all too well how it feels like if creativity is left buried. One of my biggest grouses is that I never took the opportunity to develop creativity when I was younger. I was an accountant by training and chose banking as my career – both scopes that never quite stoke the fire in me. If anything, I felt bored most of the time. With a new realisation of how creativity fulfills me, I now seek to express myself in a variety of ways.

“It is better to create than to be learned, creating is the true essence of life”
— Quote by Barthold Georg Niebuhr

Creativity Helps You To Problem Solve And Be More Adaptable

For problem solving in difficult and challenging situations, a dose of creativity can be helpful. Here is where out-of-the-box thinking can help generate fresh solutions and also encourage risk taking. Brain storming exercises are useful in this respect.

Being creative also helps you to be flexible and to adapt quickly to changing environments. If you do not nurture creativity from young, you can find it harder to respond to changes especially when they fail to happen as expected. While you may have led a sheltered life when you were younger, as a adult, you will come to know that life is indeed unpredictable. Being stubborn with a refusal to let go of ideas that are out-dated, is a sure creativity killer!

10 Blocks To Creativity

Blocks to creativity exist when you find yourself not having a creative space that you can escape to. Your life feels dull and you do not feel inspired. You experience little joy in what you do. It is more like going through the motions!!

Blocks to creativity also exist if you find yourself falling short of your potential. Your inner knowing tells you that you are capable of much more; yet when you try, it seems hard to have a major breakthrough. It is possible that you are stifling the genius within, when you do not allow adequate self expression.

1. Fear of Criticism. Perhaps one of the biggest blocks to exploring creativity lay in the fears that your ideas will be criticized. You are afraid that you will not receive support. After all, if your ideas are new and have never been explored before, you put yourself at risk of being ridiculed for them. You perceive that the more your ideas deviate from current norms and trends, the greater the chance of receiving a poor response to them. In seeking to protect your fragile ego, you prefer not to voice your ideas. You would rather not even indulge in your creative daydreams to begin with!

2. Fear of Making Mistakes. Then, there is also the fear that you are setting yourself up for more failures by coming up with new ideas. While creativity gives you a chance for innovation, your ideas may turn out to be a success or a complete flop. “Wouldn’t it be safer to stick to conventions or to old and tested ways?” you reasoned. Fear of making mistakes can be a huge obstacle, preventing you from exploring creativity freely.

“Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties.” — Quote by Erich Fromm

2. Too Much Clutter. Too much clutter can block the flow of creativity. Clutter can be both mental or physical clutter. In terms of mental clutter, creative ideas cannot flow freely if you are limited by thoughts of negativity like fear, blame, worry or shame. It will be quite impossible for ideas to come round, if your mind is constantly busy with thoughts; such as making arrangements for your schedule, how to make ends meet or whether or not to join the MLM program that your friend is promoting.

In terms of physical clutter, too much paper and things lying around, as well as too many possessions, can be distracting. They are productive suckers, occupying your mind with little or no space left to explore creativity.

3. Low Self Confidence. If you suffer from low confidence, you may believe that you are not capable. Hence, you choose to believe that you are not able to come up with creative ideas. You think that creativity is the domain of only geniuses or those who are smarter than you. Limiting thoughts make great blocks to creativity!

4. Not Enough Time To Relax. A brain that is overworked, with no time set aside for relaxation, will find it hard to produce creative ideas. It is too busy with thoughts on activities and tasks. When you are relaxed, great ideas will flow like gushing water from a tap that is fully turned on.

5. Inadequate Sleep. Inadequate sleep can hinder you in coming up with creative ideas the next day. Your physical body needs to feel good first before you can develop and explore your mental creative faculties.

In fact, it is said that many successful people have received their greatest revelations while in a dream-like state and transformed their own lives or even the world around them. One good example was Thomas Edison, who was awarded 1368 distinct patents and invented, including the incandescent light bulb, the phonograph, the film projector, and the first motion picture. Edison was known to have said, “Ideas come from space”. Edison purportedly took frequent naps in the afternoons and woke up with solutions to the most perplexing problems.

6. Lack of Priority. If you do not attach any importance to being creative, guess what? You are not going to enjoy the benefits of being creative either. You will be like how you are now – dull and listless. Consider setting aside time for developing creativity. It will be a good idea to also start keeping an idea journal, to facilitate this process.

7. Stubborness. A refusal to let go of your existing beliefs and thoughts can limit you in thinking of new possibilities. The more you identify yourself with specific values, meanings, beliefs and symbols, the more you will stifle creativity. On the other hand, the more you focus on how values, meanings, beliefs and symbols are formed and interrelated, the more you can explore creativity.

8. Seriousness. Not allowing yourself the sense of playfulness can be a huge block to creativity. You may associate playfulness as being childish. And hence, you do not give yourself the permission to explore things with a child-like wonder. Yet, it is being playful that allows avenues for relaxation and hence, fresh perspectives.

9. Poverty Thinking. You tend to associate those in the creative arts as poor and struggling. Hence, you may feel that it is not important to explore creativity since it cannot help you pay your bills. Why bother to waste time developing right brain thinking when you can rely adequately on your left brain to feed you?

10. Inappropriate Comparisons. If you think that only special, talented people are creative and that geniuses are born and not made, then you may have no wish to develop your creative abilities. You protest that you can barely draw, sing or dance. You are definite that you are tone-deaf or color-blind. You consider people like Shakespeare, Picasso and Mozart as “gifted”.

Here is an exciting piece of information for you: When researchers examined outstanding performances in the arts, mathematics and sports, to determine if “the widespread belief that to reach high levels of ability, a person must possess an innate potential called talent”, they discovered the opposite. It is also important to highlight, for instance, that Mozart trained for 16 years before he produced a masterpiece.

While it is true that it is best to develop your innate abilities, the strict definitions of creativity to areas in arts, should not apply. Creativity is also an essential part of innovation and invention and is important in almost every profession. It can be explored, developed and trained in many ways.

Creativity Resonates With Abundance

In conclusion, let me end off this article by explaining why I am discussing about creativity on this blog…..

It is in you to naturally want to create. As a human being, you are drawn to the process of creation. Creativity is the doorway to your Expanding and co-Creating in this Universe.

Creativity brings about the flow of pure energy in your inner Being. Escaping into the space of self discovery offers you the opportunity to use your faculties of imagination and play. When you are creative, you become open to possibilities in ideas. With no blocks to the flow of ideas, you experience no limits to what you think is possible.

In this space, you may decide what you want and do not want. You choose to focus your thoughts eventually on what you desire. As you focus your thoughts intently, then what you focused on can turn into reality. Remember the famous saying by Napolean Hill? – “Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve”.

By virtue of the law of attraction, you can attract the outcomes, of the same vibrational match to the energy of your thoughts, that will bring your ideas into fruition. In short, it is possible to experience life in abundance, as you can use your creative imagination to visualize possibilities and bring them into reality through focused thought and pure intent.

“Creativity brings about a flow of focused energy that resonates with abundance and possibilities.” — Quote by Evelyn Lim, attractionmindmap.com

If you are experiencing blocks to creativity, then it is time to do something. Look for ways to remove them. It is possible to enjoy all there is that lies in your imaginative mind!

Still stuck? Can’t seem to get ideas flowing? Marelisa Fábrega comes to your rescue! She has just launched a new ebook: How to Be Creative – A Handbook for Alchemists. In her book, she included many practical exercises that we can use to stimulate our creative juices. Apparently, you can’t go wrong if you have tried them out. They are proven techniques! Check out her ebook here!

Do you find that your best ideas always come from “out of nowhere”?

Well, the good news is that it need not be a case of mere coincidence that you get struck by a bright idea.

Napoleon Hill, the best-selling author of “Think and Grow Rich” believed that the human mind was capable of tapping into universal fields of intelligence to access ideas and inspiration.

Napoleon Hill observed that….

The great artists, writers, musicians and poets became great because they acquire the habit of relying upon the still, small voice that speaks from within, through the faculty of creative imagination. It is a fact well known to people who have keen imaginations that their best ideas come through so-called “hunches”.

Napolean Hill shared about how one inventor from Maryland, the late Dr. Elmer R. Gates, came up with over 200 patents. Gates would sit in his soundproof laboratory holding a pad of writing paper and shut off the lights. In the dark, he would ponder on the known factors of the invention on which he was working for hours. He remained in the same position until ideas began to “flash” into his mind.

On one occasion, ideas came so fast to Gates that he was forced to write for almost three hours. When the thoughts stopped flowing, he proceeded to examine what he has written. He realised that they contained a minute description of principles, with no parallel among the known data of the scientific world. What was amazing was that the answer to his problem was intelligently presented in those notes.

Naaaaahhh? Don’t believe? Think that he is an exception?

Let me quote you another two examples.

The greatest inventor of our time, Thomas Alva Edison, used a similar technique and he apparantly did it through sleeping. Edison was awarded 1368 distinct patents and invented, the incandescent light bulb, the phonograph, the film projector, and the first motion picture. Edison had a secret – he would always take frequent naps in the middle of the day. Edison was known to have said, “Ideas come from space. Well, it is likely that he came up with several ideas while at the alpha state.

Then, there is Richard Bach, the author to the best selling book, Jonathan Livingston Seagull. He revealed in an interview in 1972, that he wrote two-thirds of the book in a dream-like state.

And there are plenty more testimonials provided by graduates from The Silva Method. In the Silva Method program, you are also taught how to use dreams to get answers to the problem that you are seeking for. At the alpha and theta level, you are tapping into sources of knowledge not available at the waking level. Ideas won’t just be coming to you by mere coincidences but because you programmed for them.

Knowing that the answers can possibly come from within has been a helpful insight to me. Previously, I have always tried to analyse problems logically. However, there have been times when I got frustrated because I could not come up with something viable. I would then try my best to force out a solution and hope for the best.

I am no genius yet – unlike Thomas Edison, Dr Gates or Richard Bach. However, through their examples, I have learnt that there is another way of getting ideas and inspiration and definitely a far better one. I learnt now that it is best not to hold on too tightly to a problem. The best ideas come from the creative or subconscious mind, which I am learning to tap more from.

I’m also hoping to teach these concepts to my kids. Min, in particular, has been producing beautiful art work. It is highly apparent that she is creative. I hope to be able to teach her to access her creative mind not just for doing art but for a whole range of practical life issues.