Showing titles in Creativity

Everyone has a story, and helping people tell their stories has been Nancy Slonim Aronie’s life mission. Building on her acclaimed Memoir as Medicine, this new guide tackles the short personal essay. With warmth and humor, Nancy provides prompts, inspiration, and hard-won wisdom to empower you to write an unforgettable narrative. You’ll learn to begin with an irresistible hook (“kill ’em with the first line”) and employ compelling direct quotes, drama, vulnerability, universal themes, and self-reflection to get readers into your corner.

In the tradition of A Whole New Mind and The War of Art, graffiti artist and corporate thought leader Erik Wahl explores the power of creativity to achieve superior performance. Somehow we've come to believe that creativity is reserved for the chosen few: the poets, the painters, the writers. The truth is creativity is in all of us and re-discovering it is the key to unlocking your fullest potential.

Anyone who has ever picked up a creativity or self-help guide has likely been advised to keep to a daily schedule, daily pages, or other everyday ritual. But "just do it" usually just doesn't work. Longtime creativity coach and therapist Eric Maisel has found an approach that does work: giving clients, and now listeners, a clear understanding of what makes them personally blocked or stuck and unable to start or finish.

In this bold and exhilarating mix of memoir and master class, Melissa Febos tackles the emotional, psychological, and physical work of writing intimately while offering an utterly fresh examination of the storyteller's life and the questions which run through it.

Mary Gauthier was 12 years old when she was given her Aunt Jenny’s old guitar and taught herself to play with a Mel Bay basic guitar workbook. Music offered her a window to a world where others felt the way she did. Songs became lifelines to her, and she longed to write her own, one day. Then, for a decade, while struggling with addiction, Gauthier put her dream away and her call to songwriting faded. It wasn’t until she got sober and went to an open mic with a friend did she realize that she not only still wanted to write songs, she needed to.

Researchers have found that the accelerated pace of modern office life is taking its toll on productivity, employee engagement, creativity and wellbeing. Faced with a relentless flood of information and distractions, our brains try to process everything at once, increasing our stress, decreasing our effectiveness and negatively impacting our performance.

Top 10 Games You Can Play in Your Head, by Yourself is a collection of visionary author J. Theophrastus Bartholomew's most cherished mind games, edited and updated by filmmaker and storyteller Sam Gorski and author D.F. Lovett. No peripherals needed. No controllers. No pens. No dice or boards. Everything you need to experience the forefront of game design is right here in this audiobook!

Leonardo da Vinci was searching for a way out of poverty when he started designing, tinkering, thinking, and training himself. He still sets the example hundreds of years later for how to be a genius. How to be the thinker that can excel in any environment. Leonardo da Vinci's Mental Models is a book about the various tools da Vinci used to help fuel the Italian Renaissance. He had a hand in everything, from weapons design, engineering, anatomy and physiology, art, and of course painting. Learn about this paragon of the brain and how to harness the techniques he used daily.

"In the middle of the road of my life I awoke in a dark wood, where the true way was wholly lost." When you find yourself suddenly without bearings, as Dante Alighieri voiced so well centuries ago, where will you look for guidance? Throughout the ages, teaches David Whyte, the language of poetry has held a special power to hazard ourselves boldly at the "fierce edges" of our lives. On Midlife and the Great Unknown, you will engage with poetic imagination as it was meant to be experienced.

Fifteen weeks and 25 ways to unleash your inner Brando, Einstein, and Shakespeare. The most successful and creative people in the world don't possess anything different than you. They have no magic formula or special secret. They've simply prevented the left hemisphere of their brain - the "logical", analytical side - from sabotaging their life. Whether you're a ballerina or banker, accountant or actor, At Left Brain Turn Right shows you how to silence the noise of your left brain, ignite your creative side, and live the life you've always imagined.

Renowned designer and professional hell-raiser James Victore wants to drag you off your couch and throw you headfirst into a life of bold creativity. He'll guide you through all the twists, trials, and triumphs of starting your creative career, from finding your voice to picking the right moment to start a project (hint: It's now).

Inner growth and healing through art Why artists get stuck Finding yourself through art Traps that artists fall into Art and sex The three stages of art In this highly original work, John Ruskan explores the intricacies of feeling-oriented art. He presents radical insights about the nature of the art process that explain exactly what it is that artists do, how they can do it better, and how to make art an essential route to enlightenment through revealing and integrating the personal subconscious. This book is not just a rehash of old art therapy principles, but breaks new ground in the ...

Identity. It’s an abstract term. But it starts with realizing where you came from, in order to know where you should be going. And that’s the difference between fulfillment and going through the motions day after day. Find clarity and direction, the true foundations of happiness. How to Find Yourself provides a thorough and scientific approach to understanding yourself and why you do the things you do. You will discover your values, the roots of your behaviors, and what makes you tick. And then you can use this information to your advantage.

Think creatively like a human. Analyze and solve problems efficiently like a computer. Our everyday lives are filled with inefficient and ineffective decisions and solutions. Being overwhelmed by the magnitude of our problems makes it hard to think clearly. We procrastinate and overthink. Our thoughts are tainted with biases. If only there was a way to simplify our decision-making and problem-solving process and get satisfying, consistent results! The good news is, there is! Apply computer algorithms to your everyday problems.

When Harvard-trained physician Dr. Annie Brewster was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2001, she realized firsthand that the medical system to which she’d devoted her entire career was failing patients. The experience was dehumanizing. Her doctors weren’t listening. And the confusion, fear, and shame she felt around her diagnosis was preventing her from truly healing, claiming her story, and living her fullest, richest life. Here, Dr. Brewster and journalist Rachel Zimmerman each share their own personal stories, acting as expert guides as you move forward on your healing journey.

Writer, poet, and teacher Natalie Goldberg shows you how to unleash your "wild mind" - the true source of your creative power. In this crisp mix of memoir, teaching guide, nonfiction and poetry, Goldberg strips creativity to the essential mind that is "raw, full of energy, alive, and hungry." Natalie is compassionate, practical, and humorous. "Even if it's just a leg hanging out the window, she says, "write it down." Highlights include: provocative "try this" exercises to compel you into action, advice on how to find time to write, how to discover your personal style, how to make sentences come alive, and how to overcome procrastination and writer's block. She'll also explore the larger vision of the writer's task: knowing when to take risks as a writer and a person, learning self-acceptance in life and art.

An expanded edition of the classic on creativity by Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes guides you through the dark labryinths of the psyche in search of la chispa - the ember that is the elemental source of all creative work. Dr. Estes teaches about the hidden aspects of creativity, including the negative complexes that prey upon creative energy.

In Catching the Big Fish, internationally acclaimed filmmaker David Lynch provides a rare window into his methods as an artist, his personal working style, and the immense creative benefits he has experienced from the practice of meditation. Lynch describes the experience of "diving within" and "catching" ideas like fish and then preparing them for television or movie screens, and other mediums in which he works, such as painting, music, and design.

What exactly is a work of art? Within the context of this guided trip inside the artist's psyche, Author traces the development of transcendent books, paintings, jokes, movies, songs, and other forms of artistic expression. Together with the diary entries, napkin doodles, and sketches that were their tools, Moss lays down the work—the tortuous roads and creative decisions—that lead to outstanding art. He does this by weaving together conversations with some of the most renowned artists of our time.

Legendary movie producer Larry Kasanoff knows firsthand that massive success requires taking big risks—it paid off for him with blockbusters Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Dirty Dancing, and other feature films. Now, he's sharing behind-the-scenes stories and hard-won wisdom to help creatives thrive in any industry.