level of artistry after twenty years of uneventful practice. Our Edela, a retired school principal who fulfilled her lifelong dream of taking up the harp and performed in public regularly within a year of working with me, despite a seven-decade-long history of performance anxiety.
And Wendolyn, whom you met a few pages back at the height of her frustration? She reports on performing at her daughter’s wedding, an event of huge import and pressure for her: “An exuberantly joyful day for me today! After forty-five years of playing the harp and practicing in a way that no longer serves me, I found my own rhythm and joy. My connection to the harp has greater depth now, and I found an entryway into allowing myself to be with what was deeply congruent with the essence of me in the moment. I am grateful to have this place to share my joy. Thank you to any who have received this moment with me.”
BRIGHT WAY ACTIVITY
What Brought You Here?
Throughout this book you’ll find Bright Way Activities marking your way like beacons of light. For your initiatory activity, take a few minutes to consider where you are right now. What brought you to this book? What fears and stressors are holding you back from living creatively? Write down your reflections. Let’s get a baseline of where you are as we prepare to walk this path together. Know that change can happen anytime, anyplace, at any age. Let’s make it happen for you.
As Above, So Below: The Power of Changing Your Mindset
Before we start walking the Bright Way, I must share an essential truth with you. I have learned from decades of teaching and creating that mindset is everything. By mindset, I mean what you believe body-mind-spirit about yourself and about what’s possible for you.
Simply put, if you believe you can do something, you can. If you don’t believe you can do something, you can’t. If you place limitations of any sort on yourself, I have to tell you, they will play out. While this might sound scary, the opposite is also true: if you adopt a mindset of possibility, growth, and unlimited potential, your life will blossom in response. This is the mindset I invite you to adopt on our path.
As Above, So Below; the Bright Way will ask you to change your mindset on many things — always from a compassionate place of love, growth, and connection — so that your life reflects your innermost dreams. You’ll have the opportunity to let go of old ways of thinking and being that have held back your creativity — until now.
If our process begins to feel shocking or brings up fear, remember this: the Bright Way stands for life affirmation of the highest order: affirmation of your life. Furthermore, you are not alone on this path. I am here with you, along with the many other Bright Way practitioners spanning the globe, all in a fellowship of life celebration. We are excited you are here!
Changing your mindset is exhilarating, liberating, and, yes, rigorous. This is why part 1 of this book is called “Invitation and Initiation.” It prepares you to take the Five Bright Way Steps explored in part 2 by gently initiating you into the philosophy first. I hope you receive this invitation wholeheartedly and voluntarily. You are in charge on this path. There are no gatekeepers on the Bright Way, no bosses; it is your courage that urges you on. Propelled by your courage, you’ll self-initiate into the great secrets of creativity that have been known throughout the ages. You are here because you heeded the call.
Let’s begin your initiation with one of the most important Bright Way principles: creativity is connection.
Creativity Is Connection
When you create, you connect. As you engage with your chosen activity, you become one with it. We’ve learned from physics that when we interact with something, we change it. This interaction is connection made manifest, sparked by your direct engagement.
When we make our mark on something through creative engagement, we see our true selves reflected back. This mirroring gives us a deep sense of belonging and meaning. Our existence is affirmed. We know that we matter. Our confidence is restored. Your entry point to this way of life? It’s what you already possess: your creativity.
Your entry point to this way of life? It’s what you already possess: your creativity.
This is why creativity matters in and of itself: it is a reflection of you that literally makes you feel more, well, you. It confirms your place in the world. It acknowledges your dignity and your right to exist — and everyone else’s — simply because you’re alive. Creativity reminds you that you are worthy in and of yourself. Therefore, it is the act of being creative that matters most, not the products of your creativity, because creativity has no agenda beyond life affirmation through connection.
All tangible side effects such as glorious works of art, inspiring performances, and brilliant innovations are magnificent blessings and encouragements. Yet they all spring from same source: life affirmation. Keep focused on this primary matter, this first principle, and your creative process will flourish.
Disconnection is one of the most terrifying sensations we experience as human beings. Think of the immediate and intense distress babies feel when separated from their parents. When we get disconnected, we feel horribly unsafe. Disconnection doesn’t have to be dramatic to have an impact. Simply feeling set apart from others in everyday life can trigger extreme anxiety and depression. Disconnection from our true selves is perhaps the most frightening of all when, severed from source energy itself, we wonder if life has any meaning.
Creativity has no agenda beyond life affirmation through connection.
Our survival as human beings depends on being connected. The reality is, most of us wouldn’t last more than a few days alone in the forest. Surviving, let alone thriving, demands creativity. Humans are not endowed with protective fangs or formidable physical strength. We don’t even run very fast relative to other creatures! Our superpower is our spectacular creativity. It’s our adaptability rather than our strength or intellect alone that has allowed us to survive. Creativity is by its nature ever changing. Adapting to the present situation, creativity then elaborates on it, bringing forth ever more vital expressions of life force. The circle of life turns: creativity affirming life, life sparking creativity.
Our creativity has protected humanity through millennia of radical change. Creativity urged us to evolve. If we want to keep evolving — if we want to further our individual and collective life force — we must stay creative. All this points to creativity’s grandest message: life is worth affirming and amplifying, because it is the energy of connection — love — made manifest.
Life is worth affirming and amplifying, because it is the energy of connection — love — made manifest.
Many types of therapy aim to reconnect us to the world, to ourselves, to our source. Astounding breakthroughs can happen when we reestablish the connections in our lives, as neuroscientist Candace Pert affirms: “Love is an integrator and a healer, but you have to do the work to love yourself, and you can start by loving others. That’s the core of human health.”
I had a stunning revelation during deep meditation when I suddenly perceived how everything is interconnected. A wave of relief washed over me, and my life changed forever. While this may sound incredible, my direct experience tells me that when connection is restored, we are
