Beginner's Mind: Creative Meditation Put Into Practice III

Join artist, author, and international instructor Patricia Baldwin Seggebruch as she guides you through this live-recorded Creative Meditation around returning to the beginner's mind. Using a non-dominant hand we explore creative expression through paint and crayon or pencil on the surface of choice. This is day three of five days of Quick Shot exercises recorded live.

Transcript

Welcome to Before the Brush.

This is day three in our five-day Returning to the Beginning,

Childlike Wonder Quick Shots.

It's all about the non-dominant hand because I have found personally that when I need to return to my creativity to that intuitive responsiveness to the delight,

The wonder,

Awe of creativity that comes from the pure expression of color and replication and pattern making the best way I can do that after 30 years of messing with this stuff It's either to try a brand new material Because you know it's always wonky at first when you start with the new material you're unfamiliar with how it will behave so you've got that beginner's mindset or To use my non-dominant hand and that's what we're here all week doing We're using our non-dominant hand to create and express so that we open those channels of Newfound wonder that kind of no longer exists because we have become so practiced So that's the intention.

Let's see how we go grid pattern to me is a way of I'm going to use the word controlling,

But that's not quite right,

But I'll it's best I've got at the moment and It's a way of controlling my environment that I'm creating on this paper,

So I've got a more organized.

How's that a more organized?

Statement going down as I begin this process and make this first expression onto the palette so that's the intention today is to Organize the thoughts perhaps is where I'm at But first we start with a thought bubble and as Was the case Monday and Tuesday today Wednesday the third day of five we continue with Frederick Buckner as as my source For thought bubbles,

And if you weren't here Monday or Tuesday thought of orb ever before thought bubbles are given as a way of Engaging that thinking brain that judgmental and critical brain that wants to tell you you're doing something right or wrong left or right Kind of gives it something to chew on while our body our hearts and our intuition Do the work before us?

It's necessary to turn off that brain sometimes In fact I think more often than not once we're done accumulating our well We're never done so forgive me that but once we are to a certain point in our life's trajectory of Assimilating information into our system.

How's that?

It's a really good thing to then train ourselves To turn off that brain and let ourselves return to That beginning place that intuition that core of self-knowledge Self-expression and self-discovery that is always there and sometimes gets a wash in all of that intellectual intake so Here we are Frederick Buckner My unique and ordinary circumstances are where I meet God My unique and ordinary circumstances are where I meet God I Read this line a few weeks ago,

And I'm sure I've read it before but a few weeks ago when I read it it hit me You know square between the eyes kind of thing it Made me see everything I do on a daily basis that sometimes I want to do a deep sigh Oh,

I gotta do this again sort of thing it made me Pause and appreciate Everything I get to do a little bit more just a little bit more So that if I'm taking that sigh if I find find myself Unconsciously taking that sigh again.

I think I can stop myself now and think oh my goodness.

No This dusting the house this watering the plants This letting the dog out Is just another opportunity is a beautiful opportunity to realize that these circumstances and these situations that I face every day are Every one of them an opportunity to grow richer deeper wider more alive and in touch with not only my world,

But God so My unique and ordinary circumstances are where I meet God I chew on that for a while and turn my screen over my palette so in case you don't have materials don't feel pressured to gather them or Or disengage stay engaged stay here See what it's all about and you can have materials ready tomorrow and Friday if you'd like.

This is my surface This is my watercolor paper I have taped down to a rigid support that just allows me to move it more easily while it might be still wet Got my rulers that are gonna help me make that straightedge that grid pattern You don't need it.

You can make a wobbly grid and grids can happen.

However,

You'd like fact I may end up moving the straight edge away And I have my graphite pencil In addition,

These are going to be my colors my fluids that come in After we've used the dry materials You can have whatever you would like before you perhaps you have acrylics or crayons Watercolors squash whatever it may be inks food coloring Bring it on You're able to stand let's stand today I personally need this perspective To put my grid down over the path over the paper a little more easily So I'm gonna stand before my space And remind yourself of the generous gift These materials being in your present day These materials being in your possession is Can you recall if you're standing firmly Comfortably close your eyes and ask yourself in your mind's eye search back through time Can you recall When the beautiful materials before you were nothing you had Or even were aware of being able to possess and create with It was probably a time when some other joy some other all some other beauty Was capably held in your hands and being developed For me the lives of my children A business their father and I owned the house I raised them in But as these things those pre pre-existing things in my life Again To move and breathe on their own These new materials started calling to me These new beautiful Undiscovered by me materials found their way into my life You too have that touch point Where this new expression This new creativity called to you and began to manifest into your life until now It's very nearly routine It's become your life and your breath Or part of it What a gift destined perhaps to be together the way we are this paper This graphite These colors Not of my world 30 years ago But of my life And I'm not of my world This graphite these colors not of my world 30 years ago In every part of my world now So good Shall we begin Let your non-dominant hand guide your grid its width its depth It's straight or narrow It's wobbly Let your non-dominant hand guide this expression Even if you have as I do a guideline As if for you like me the guideline doesn't help all that much with non-dominant Wonky is a very good word to use In relation to expression with my non-dominant hand So I'm going to use this This is my non-dominant hand expression with my non-dominant hand This is notably much more difficult than I imagined My dominant hand wants to take over so very much I don't know about you I would say my dominant hand is used to control Used to being in control And as I try to create a controlled pattern here It wants to take over as if it knows what it's doing Better Than my playful Non-dominant As you reach the end It's time to fill in the squares Pick up your paints Fill the space as you see fit Does it have to stick with the grid pattern?

Not necessarily This is your intuitive response to this newly created surface That has information on it As a guideline But is not something that has to be rigidly adhered to I have an idea in mind And we'll see how far it takes me And you,

Perhaps,

Have formed an idea as well So keep see how far it takes you Fill in the squares,

If you will Or fill in the square,

If you will Individual squares Or the large entire canvas square Woah Let this be a meditation Let your body just relax into it And see where it can go I'll be quiet As long as it takes to fill my grid the way I'm choosing If you finish before me,

Just hang out Hold the space for all of us still working I'll be quiet Woah.

David Gee is one of the instructors on Insight Timer and he's very fond of meta meda-meditations.

And I have always thought,

As I call it a tapestry,

Of creativity covering the world.

I've always thought of our time here as that sort of meta meditation.

Whereas his teaching and leading on it are energetically based,

Imagination based,

We are physically based and energetically expressed.

All of us working together in this way,

Sending out this beauty as far as we can make it reach.

Beauty is in the expression,

In the process,

Already existing.

It's a bonus if it also exists as the end result.

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