“To be creative means to be in love with life.”
 ~Osho
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We all create, and the taste of creativity is sweet and deeply satisfying.

It might be a craft project, a piece of writing, a painting, music, a recipe, a new organization system for that messy bookcase, or any project in which you are fully immersed in what you are doing while you are doing it.

You might be so involved that you don’t notice the passage of time and look up to discover that an hour or two has passed without your awareness. You are in the flow and it feels great. That’s the creative process.

Did you know that you are channeling Source energy when you do this?

In the process of creating you are bringing the creative energy of Source through you and into whatever project you are working on. You are loving your creation into being.

The process of creating can be like eating the most delicious dessert imaginable.

Afterward, each time you think about, look at or utilize your creation you can re-experience that sweet delight because creativity is love expressed and expressing. The love continues to express and is shared with others through the energy you imbued into your creation.

“Creativity is contagious, pass it on.”
 ~Albert Einstein

When I love the process of cooking, taking my time and enjoying the chopping, the measuring, the stirring and mixing, usually the resulting meal is eaten with appreciation. Everybody seems to enjoys it more, even our pickiest grandchild will at least try what is on the plate. I believe that what they respond to without even realizing it, is the love that went into the creation.

There is a marvelous movie, Chocolat. It tells the fictional story of a woman who opens a small Chocolaterie in a  French village. She creates her chocolates lovingly, passionately, and the lives of the townspeople who eat them are affected in fascinating ways through the energy she imbues into her chocolate creations. 

“I think careful cooking is love, don't you? The loveliest thing you can cook for someone who's close to you is about as nice a valentine as you can give.”
-Julia Child

Then, there are those special cooking shows that are all about love - love of cooking, love of food, love of family and friends. The chefs actively appreciate and savor the ingredients, smelling them, admiring their texture, color and freshness. They love their dishes into being as they create them. Then they share that love with family, friends and community. I find them a delight to watch because the love is palpable.

Creating in this way isn't just about cooking. We can all create with this sweet focus and love, imbuing whatever we create with the energy of Source.  It doesn’t matter what it is that we are creating. It could be a dinner party for friends, or it could be a new morning routine. What matters is the energy and the love with which we create. 

When you feel gratitude, you are the closest to the natural state you were born to live in.”
Abraham - Hicks
 
How do we make inspired, guided choices in our lives in full alignment with our higher-selves? How best do we answer the questions in our lives, big and small?
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These are the questions I have been asking myself for several days now. I wanted a specific formula, a structure to work with for asking and getting answers from my higher-self and from my spiritual support team.

I knew that it began with asking the question. I knew the next step was to take it into meditation and wait for the answer. This is where I bogged down. My mind would keep worrying at the question, even as I tried to meditate. I’d see a fleeting visual image and wonder, is that my answer? Then I’d bring myself back to quiet and have a thought about something unrelated. Maybe that’s my answer, I’d think, and so on. Letting go and allowing was hard work.

The answers are all there for us, accompanied by such LOVE. You have only to ask and allow. But how do we allow?

Today, I began again. I asked my question out loud to focus my subconscious on my intention. I closed my eyes and quieted my mind, thinking ‘allow.’

But, how do I allow? 

A feeling of deep gratitude filled me. Gratitude for the love of Spirit. Gratitude for the asking and the answering. Gratitude for connection. I breathed deeply of that feeling of gratitude and said internally, “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.” Love filled me tingling right down my legs, tears filling my eyes. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.” Breathing in gratitude and love. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”

I got it. Gratitude opens the door to allowing. Gratitude is the magic, the path opener. Gratitude opens the floodgates of inspiration.

Imagine if you will an enormous spiral, a vortex of loving energy with the tip surrounding your whole body, and the wider part extending high above your head stretching upward into the heavens. This is YOU, in alignment with your higher self.

As you allow, through gratitude, all that is your higher self, all the energy, knowledge, inspiration and guidance funnels downward to and through you, allowing you to live in clarity, inspired action and the daily joy of gratitude.

Gratitude opens the door to allowing and guidance because it raises your vibration, to the level where you are able to connect with the energy of your higher self and your spiritual support team. They cannot come down in energy to you, you must raise your energy to meet theirs to receive guidance and the answers to your questions. Your higher-self and your spiritual support team are as delighted to communicate with you as you are to communicate with them, but you must make yourself energetically available.

Your higher self and spiritual support team are always with you, offering support and guidance, but as much as we want answers when we are feeling sad, angry, hurt, depressed or any of the negative emotions, the energy with which we are vibrating when we are feeling that way closes the door to receiving communication from loving Spirit.
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We must raise our energy first, and one way to do that is through gratitude. Gratitude for even the simplest things is a place to start. Then work your way up from there. Gratitude tunes your radio dial to receive guidance from loving Spirit through your higher self.  


Photo by Jacob Morch on Unsplash window door

“One thing about trains: It doesn't matter where they're goin'. What matters is deciding to get on.”
The Polar Express, directed by Robert Zemeckis, book by Chris VanAllsburg

What inspires you today?
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I’ve felt inspired by the bright, blue sky this morning, the sun shining off new fallen snow. I’ve felt inspired by the woodstove, fire crackling warmly within. I’ve felt inspired to create Christmas decorations, hanging our wreath and stockings, putting up the little tree in our front hall.  I’ve felt inspired listening to Christmas music,  and that magical Christmas movie, The Polar Express.

Inspiration follows the energy of the day. It is not always linked to the same activities or ideas. It comes and goes on its own schedule. If we’re lucky we get on for the ride and are carried along delighting in the flow.

Can we do this intentionally? Like waiting at the train station for the train and leaping aboard as it comes rumbling, steaming and puffing to a stop just long enough for us to get on?

I think we can. I think we are meant to allow our lives to follow our inspiration, that small, shining gem hidden within the layers of the every day sameness. Magic is found within our inspiration.

The Christmas season is all about magic. The magic of the twinkling lights, the mystery of the presents under the tree, the Spirit of Christmas, the time of year when love and giving is the theme, and everywhere you look there are representations of magical beings, beautiful decorations and sparkling colors.

No matter what holidays you celebrate, the child within us longs for magic, the magic that is Spirit. Feeling and following our inspiration from within is our connection to that magic. That’s where the real magic is in this 3D world we live in. The magic lives within each one of us.

The train of your inspiration is stopping at your station. All aboard! 

Photo by Bill Anderson on Unsplash