Be Awake Create Mindful Practices To Spark Creativity – Rebekah Younger MFA (1)

In an age of personal branding and endless selfies, we are contantly asked to define “who am I?” Psychology and self-help books offer questionnaires designed to categorize and define you. We work with coaches to connect with our “inner child,” “higher self,” or “better self.” Let’s observe our actual experience of “self” beyond these concepts. When Buddha observed his experience of self, centuries ago, he questioned if there was a self at all. I encourage you to examine this for yourself with this activity. Write a description of yourself for someone you never met, such as for a dating app.

(Include physical attributes, personality traits, career, interests, and so on.) Ask a family member, colleague, or close friend to write one about you too. Look at both descriptions and consider the following questions: How are they the same? How do they differ? Are there traits you neglected to mention that were in the other person’s description? Were there any you disagree with? Were you surprised by anything they wrote? Notice what other qualities you want to add after further thought. Take one trait from your description.

How has it impacted your life and worldview? Write about it. How has it changed over the years? Does it shift in different contexts or with different people? Is this you? Make a collage of images based on this description of “you,” using images from your phone, the Internet, and magazines. Is this you? Take another look at the montage of images from the Ordinary Magic Photography exercise. Is this you? Contemplate both compositions. What did you learn about your “me” story from these constructions?

Notice how each piece of the exercise is constructing “me,” but none expresses the totality of “you.” The description is constantly in flux and what others see of “us” is through their filters too. Now take time to just gaze at yourself in the mirror. Who are you? Express that nonverbally with movement, sound, or imagery. Is this you? Which is your “true” self? Is there such a thing? If so, can its totality ever be communicated?

If you believe in a “higher” self, how is that different from who you are now? Is who you are now the same as who you were ten years ago? Can you expect to be the same ten years from now? You may realize at this point that the story of “me” is your own creation. Who you really are is not static and always an open question.

“Based on the popular meditation practice of mindfulness, Be, Awake, Create offers exercises and advice that introduce us to the wider view of ‘wakefulness,’ where we learn to stop rushing past our lives and instead open to a timeless moment that unleashes our natural, creative brilliance. Rebekah’s voice is wise; her advice, practical; her insights, profound.” —Michael Carroll, chief operating officer of Global Coaching Alliance; author of Awake at Work, The Mindful Leader, Fearless at Work, and Mindful Leadership Training; and authorized teacher in the Kagyu-Nyingma lineage of Vajrayana Buddhism “Be, Awake, Create is a useful and profound introduction to the dharma art teachings.

It offers a revelation of insight, teachings, and experiential activities. The exercises are contemplative, creative, and life transforming. This is a book about making palpable the compassion and potency of creative presence to heal our hearts and transform the world.” —Laura Simms, world-renowned storyteller, global educator, worldwide performer, and author of Our Secret Territory “Be, Awake, Create is full of inspiring exercises and motivating quotations.

Once you pick it up, you can’t put it down; and when you do put it down, you just want to rush off and do something creative! This is a unique book, which expands the boundaries of art and reveals the vital importance of being creative. It will be an indispensable resource of ideas and exercises for anyone interested in exploring the vast potential hidden within their being.”

—Seyed Alavi, MFA, artist “Be, Awake, Create is The Artist’s Way for the twenty-first century, a gentle and thorough guide to next steps on the journey. For the artist who longs to land in the work more deeply, for the contemplative whose creativity yearns to bloom, Younger’s book offers a beautifully designed combination of mindful and creative practices which embrace playfulness as well as discipline.

Accessible enough for beginners, the book could also be used as a template for depthful learning at the meeting place of presence and artistic process, and a springboard for those powerful transformations toward which all art beckons us. I’m excited to begin!” —Nancy Coleman, PhD, clinical psychologist and writer, facilitator of Wide Open Writing, and international writing and yoga teacher “Be, Awake, Create is sure to become a classic, for no other book presents meditation and mindfulness as the complete ground from which to access our creativity, while leading us through the whole experiential path.

Whether for a seasoned or new artist or meditator, this interactive practice journal will bring the magic of creating out of everyday life. With simplicity, lucidity, and wisdom, Younger reveals how being present naturally leads to the reawakening of not only our awareness and creativity, but also our true humanity—a view so needed in our world today. She is to be thanked for heralding the way!”

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

Book Information

• Unique ID: d6209bd08f0204ec
• File Extension: .pdf
• File Size: 7,930,509 bytes (7.563 MB)
• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• Pages: 248
• Language: English (en)

Reading & Word Statistics

• Estimated Reading Time: 180.47 minutes
• Total Words: 36,095
• Total Characters: 214,298
• Average Words per Page: 145.54
• Average Characters per Page: 864.1

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