The Conscious Creative

An actionable guide to mindfulness and practical ethics for any creative professional who wants to make a living without selling their soul. It can be difficult to live according to our values in a complicated world. At a time when capitalism seems most unforgiving but the need for paying work remains high, it is important to learn how we can be more mindful and intentional about our impact — personal, social, economic, and environmental. As designer and creative director Kelly Small had to do to navigate a crisis of ethics and burnout in their career in advertising, we can admit our complicity in problematic systems and take on the responsibility of letting our own conscience guide our decisions. Start with one or many of these 100+ rigorously researched, ultra-practical action steps: Co-create and collaborate Get obsessed with accessibility Demand diverse teams Commit to self-care Make ethics a competitive edge Be mindful of privilege Create for empowerment, not exploitation With a humorous and irreverent tone, Small reveals how when we release unnecessary judgement and become action-oriented, we can clarify the complicated business of achieving an ethical practice in the creative industries. Discover the power of incremental, positive changes in our daily work-lives and the fulfillment of purposeful work.

""Crammed with practical ideas, inspirational images & creative exercises, Conscious Creativity leads the reader through the process of establishing what kind of creative you are..." - Mslexia "The purpose of this book is to enable you to look at things in an alternative and more substantial way, so that you arrive at composition through genuine interest." - Juno magazine “Philippa Stanton is passionate about people connecting to their innate creativity and has distilled these incredible techniques and ideas on how we can tap into that. Philippa is a massively successful Instagramer at @5ftinf and yet she is only too aware how these little two dimensional squares can limit our experiences and restrict our creativity, so it’s not without a little irony that she’s written a book to encourage people to step away from their screens and connect more with the 3D world. It’s a fascinating subject and I wholeheartedly recommend the book for anyone who’s working in the creative industry or is curious about the world around them." - Sophie Robinson (DIY SOS, the Great British Interior Design Challenge, This Morning) How often do you notice the texture of a painted wall or the scent of a friend’s house and, importantly, how they make you feel? Connect your observations and your emotions and transform your creative practice with this essential toolbox packed full of exercises, tips, stunning images and personal experiences from dynamic artist Philippa Stanton. There is creativity in all of us, but it can easily be buried beneath our everyday concerns, or need a spark to bring it back to life. Whether you’ve lost your mojo or just need some fresh ideas, artist and photographer Philippa Stanton’s lively guide will stimulate your imagination and reinvigorate your creative life. Conscious Creativity will help you fully appreciate what is around you, opening all your senses to the beauty you may not notice every day, and showing you how to capture it. Simple, engaging exercises that encourage observation and experimentation will give you an insight into your own aesthetics as you take a conscious step to note the colours, shapes, shadows, sounds and textures that fill your world and how they make you feel. Bursting with practical ideas and inspirational images, Conscious Creativity shows you how to unlock your potential, learn to use your natural curiosity and take a leap into the most creative time of your life.

Conscious Creativity: The Workbook is an exciting, interactive journal to help readers connect with their creative impulses.

‘Conscious Writing is a truly wonderful book that will sit next toWriting Down the Bones and other classics on writing, and will be well-used by me!’ Robert Holden, author of Happiness NOW and Shift Happens! Conscious Writing is an original approach to creative awakening which leads you to discover your true self and express your true voice – on the page and in the world. It’s a journey of self-realization (conscious) and self-expression (creativity) which can be applied to any and all types of writing, and fluently blends soul with craft to reveal your richest insights and ideas. Whether you dream of writing but haven’t started yet or are an experienced author, Julia McCutchen will guide you through this tried and tested step-by-step process for releasing your fears and writing what you are truly here to write. Drawing on an inspiring mix of perennial wisdom, psychological research and modern neuroscience, she teaches how to: • Apply the 7 Core Principles for individual experience of transpersonal Truth, and emerge transformed and ready to write. • Align all aspects of yourself – body, emotions, mind and soul – to bring your whole self to the creative writing process. • Dive into deep creative flow and play with possibilities in the quantum realm of infinite potential. • Visit the Conscious Writing Sanctuary, a powerful inner space out of which timeless words flow freely. • Realize your full potential and effortlessly stand out from the crowd as you express yourself consciously and creatively as an author in the world.

"I believe that life is meant to be conquered, and that a creative, intelligent psyche - a self-aware, self-directed thinker - is an unconquerable force." To see this force in action however, to grasp this creative strength and wield its power in actual life, requires one to both think and act in a disciplined way: to both see one's world through a disciplined frame of mind and construct one's goals through a disciplined style of behavior. The strength to conquer one's creative potential, therefore, first begins with the strength to conquer one's self." ~ from pg. 1 of How to Conquer Yourself What is willpower? What is discipline? Productivity? Self-motivation? How can we internalize these traits, making them our habitual style of behavior and natural process of thought, rather than the exception, both in the short-term and over the long range? Why do some of the most creative, intelligent, consciously aware and sophisticated thinkers we know still have trouble making constructive use of their talents and skills? What would your life be like - what would your drive and ambition unfold into - if there were no impediments to their authority or expression...if you were constantly at your prime, indefinitely? These are the questions this book answers, amongst many more. These are the solutions it provides and the new dimensions it'll open up for you, once you take the step to check it out. CHAPTERS INCLUDE: How to OVERCOME PROCRASTINATION How to Attain Discipline How to Build Motivation How to Raise Productivity How to Develop Systems How to Cultivate Willpower How to Conquer Yourself: Discipline and Willpower for the Conscious, Creative Thinker is specifically about how artists, musicians, graphic designers, film-makers, writers and other creative professionals can best refine their behavior and discipline themselves for success in their respective crafts. It's specifically written to serve as a strategic blueprint helping you to cultivate the motivation and willpower your goals necessitate and demand of you. Because let's face it: if you're a conscious, creative person, just as the work you prefer to create is free-formed, liberal and self-expressive, the path to success you need to pursue is likewise undefined. That's the catch-22, the "negative side," to having artistic talent...you can never be too sure that it'll become something significant (in the material sense) and that anxiety will continue to undermine and sabotage your focus until you put a framework in place. Remember this: if you don't develop a science and a methodology to sustain both your artistic skill and your ambition, you're going to end up neglecting and sacrificing both, which'll lead you to, eventually, neglect and sacrifice a central element to your identity; to lose sight of who you are as a person. But again, when you're creative, just as the work you prefer to produce is freeform and self-expressive, the path you need to pursue is likewise freeform and undefined, so as a conscious, creative person, you need a lot more discipline than the average bear - you need, in fact, more willpower than the average person is even capable of envisioning. If this person is you, if this subject interest you at all, this book was written for you. Check out How to Conquer Yourself: Discipline & Willpower for the Conscious, Creative Thinker now...

From journalist, fashionista, and clothing resale expert Elizabeth L. Cline, “the Michael Pollan of fashion,”* comes the definitive guide to building an ethical, sustainable wardrobe you'll love. Clothing is one of the most personal expressions of who we are. In her landmark investigation Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion, Elizabeth L. Cline first revealed fast fashion’s hidden toll on the environment, garment workers, and even our own satisfaction with our clothes. The Conscious Closet shows exactly what we can do about it. Whether your goal is to build an effortless capsule wardrobe, keep up with trends without harming the environment, buy better quality, seek out ethical brands, or all of the above, The Conscious Closet is packed with the vital tools you need. Elizabeth delves into fresh research on fashion’s impacts and shows how we can leverage our everyday fashion choices to change the world through style. Inspired by her own revelatory journey getting off the fast-fashion treadmill, Elizabeth shares exactly how to build a more ethical wardrobe, starting with a mindful closet clean-out and donating, swapping, or selling the clothes you don't love to make way for the closet of your dreams. The Conscious Closet is not just a style guide. It is a call to action to transform one of the most polluting industries on earth—fashion—into a force for good. Readers will learn where our clothes are made and how they’re made, before connecting to a global and impassioned community of stylish fashion revolutionaries. In The Conscious Closet, Elizabeth shows us how we can start to truly love and understand our clothes again—without sacrificing the environment, our morals, or our style in the process. *Michelle Goldberg, Newsweek/The Daily Beast

Do you feel that you often do not get what you desire? The key to changing what no longer satisfies you is to change what no longer works for you. Every thought is an intention that sets a process of energies into motion. That’s when the creative process starts. Understanding that we create continuously on small and large levels is the first step in realizing that when something no longer works for us, it is the consequence of a disruption in the creative process and the way we think. This book describes the different types of creative processes. The elemental (fire, water, air, and earth) powers are the basis of all creation. Understanding the different aspects of these creative powers will help you to become a conscious creator. Guardians are connected with every aspect of the elemental powers. They are known as dragons; however, different traditions use different names for them, such as angels or nature spirits. These dragons are not the scary type often depicted in stories. They are among the strongest allies we can ask for. They belong to the subtle realms and therefore are invisible to most people. This book offers information to help you reconnect with these creative powers and their guardian dragons. Through this connection, you will become a conscious creator and change your life in ways that lead to success, joy, happiness, and abundance. Thereby, you will contribute optimally to the creation of a new world. Are you ready for this exhilarating journey?

Learning from Ancient Worlds Mystics about power of mind & subconscious patens. When East meets West in Platonism, Neo-Platonism, Pythagoras, Ancient Greek Philosophers, or Ancient Egyptian symbolism through the art and mysticism of saints, scientists and sages, the likes of Leonardo da Vinci, Plato, Jung, or Patamjali.