Email Leslie Back to Homepage Copyright and Usage A little Inspiration About Leslie Professional  Links Best Picks - Books and Videos   Creativity Index   Curriculum Index   Sample Lesson Plans   Models of Teaching   Reflective Teacher Index   Newer Views in Learning Index   Graduate Exam Questions   creativity: Caring for the inner muse Beginnings       copyright Leslie Owen Wilson Learning is finding out you already know. Doing in demonstrating that you know it. Teaching is reminding others that they know it just as well as you. You are all learners, doers, teachers. You teach best what you most need to learn. Richard Back, Illusions Contents: Introduction   Beginnings   The Other Side of the Coin -- Using negative emotions and experiences to care and feed the muse   Identifying and caring for your muse - reflective questions   Techniques and suggestions for finding and nurturing the voice of your muse   Breathing exercises   Acupressure points   Resources -- a bibliography for the care and feeding of ideas       "It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." --- Albus Dumbledore in Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets   Beginnings: Potentially, each of us have sources of genius or inspiration. The tricks are first finding them and then honoring them. Some of us have found our well-springs or touchstones -- places, activities, rituals, people, or things --- which in some way support the attainment of inner peace, joy, creativity, or well-being. The secret here is in maintaining these sources. These elements, these sources, are our muses. They may be living or nonliving. They may be pursuits or activities, active or reflective, but they are important to us because they have the potential to heal, inspire, motivate, uplift, and reveal. In our fast paced world, these things often become islands of solace and they become a very necessary part of our inner growth and the evolution of humans as a species. We may have stumbled upon our muses accidentally, or through intentional or very deliberate processes, or simply by elimination or maturation. Many of us find sources of inspiration and solace through great searching and dogged determination, or even through experiencing personal tragedy. Our journeys toward places of inner knowledge are often as important as the fact that we do eventually arrive. And once we do arrive, what is also important is that there be a continuance with which we return to our muses and experience the inspiration, joy, peace, and creativity that they offer. It is the frequency with which we return to our sources, as well as the caliber of these experiences, that become important to the quality of joyful, productive, and happy lives. I believe that searching for ones muses is part of ones life script. I also believe that it is a form of modern questing. In this adventure, I do not pretend to have any definitive answers, magic formulas or award-winning cookbooks. I am simply a fellow wanderer who is also looking, but who is willing to share parts of my discoveries and tales of my travels. Thus, the focus of this series of pages and discussions is not only on caring for the "muse," but looking for her. In this context this portion of my site is simply a discussion and brief participatory investigation into some of the resources and techniques that are available to help nurture both our inner and outer beings. The suggestions offered during this electronic dialogue are but samples of things that I have found that have worked for me or for others. Ultimately, each participant will have to create their own personalized concoction, formulate their own sequences, and develop their special forms of inner self-knowledge.      To Do: In essence, it is time to search for, discover and make friends with your muse. Best wishes to you on your journey. And please, remember to share what you find with others.

est.1997, updated 2005