“The inner narrator (critic), through a lifetime of going unchecked, becomes a default setting that is hard wired into how our brain works. This isn’t just a concept or a function of personality, this is how we have often unconsciously designed ourselves.
The good news is we can be at cause for an increased capacity to use and access our brain to re-assign how the voice of the critic manifests…
~Shiloh Sophia
This isn’t just about making art, this is about being in a new relationship with how your brain works –
A 2014 study “found that making visual art can improve connections throughout the brain known as the default mode network…This system is associated with the brain’s state during wakeful rest, like daydreaming, but it’s also active when we’re focusing on internal thoughts or future plans.”
Sean Kane, Business Insider Article
Meet Me Off The Map
The keys you have been looking for
are in the hands of your hidden self.
The riddle is, you have to know
where to find that self
and how to request the keys.
If it was that easy, you would have
already found your way in.
The locked doors, boarded-up windows and
cages without hinges that hold you tight
may litter the landscape
of your everyday experience
and clutter up the clarity
of your truest voice and vision.
That’s why seeking the keys
of the hidden self is essential soul work.
That is why you keep looking,
YOU KNOW THERE IS SOMETHING MORE
to you…
After all, you are mostly stardust,
surely that means you are meant to shine…
The adventure to discovering
your hidden self can be quite dangerous
to your default settings and comfort levels.
The critic stands at the gate, proclaiming:
“There is no way in, there are no keys to find,
You, my dear are wasting your time and your mind!”
Let me be bold in saying – You are the curator of your own consciousness. You are. We all are. Yet most of us don’t know that we are or act consistent with the idea that we can be at cause in this way.
Revelation: We curate our own consciousness
Problem: We don’t know that. Even if we do, we don’t know what or how to gain access to that level of function.
Reality: The brain is hardwired to work in such a way that access may seem difficult, or locked, due to the default mode network.
Fact: We can be at cause for rewiring.
Are you willing?
This story starts further back with the kind of messaging we have been receiving for most of our lives. The messaging which collaborated to create the wiring. We didn’t know. We know now. And we know that this is how the critic begins to work within us and is built up over many years.
Chances are someone told you: ‘don’t get too big for your britches’, or, not to be ‘all that’ or asked you – ‘just who do you think you are’? Based on this negative reinforcement to not show yourself as who you are – parts of us begin to shut down. The critic takes over our inner narrative – without us even knowing it is happening.
And…regardless of what others say, somewhere inside, you know you have incredible wisdom and insight within – your own juicy mojo. You may not know how to look for it on command – but you know it’s there. My work in the world through Intentional Creativity is to provide you with keys to open that insight and point you in the direction of the locked door (seemingly locked, but that is an illusion).
While I don’t have a magic trick or crystal ball, contrary to what some believe (lol), I am inviting you to a gathering. Some of my students and their children say I am the Art Teacher at Hogwarts hahahaaa. This gathering to have tea with the great mystery is to discover new seeing and new being. An experience designed to give you on command access to the Voice and Vision of Your Soul in a 7 Step process. If the critic is raging, you can’t hear that clear true voice. The channel is covered over and what you are here to cause and created does not take form. This lack of ‘making form’ leads to a lot of unnecessary discontent.
This way of living and loving all started with a drawing I made at the age of 24. A moment in my life that changed everything as I knew it. Those drawings are in my first book, Color of Woman. And yet this is my first time to ‘teach’ this kind of drawing, what I call, Metacognitive Drawing. Which is just simply, thinking about thinking with a pen in hand. This practice has similar results than meditation does – and research shows that stress is reduced in 5-7 minutes of drawing and that learning retention increases!
You’re invited to join me for my 7-week online Course starting February 14th, Valentines Day, The Dance of the Critic & The Muse. Together, we’ll discover how to access your muse and alchemize your critic, using sacred technology I’ve never shared before that is at the core of all I teach. It is a combination of videos recorded in my studio and live ‘Muse Salons’ with me.
There is an essential key missing in most teachings around the idea of ‘healing the critic’ and setting your true voice free. You can’t kill, shut off or block the voice of the critic – it has to be transformed. And that is where the riddle of the Muse dwells.
In our time together we will:
· Experience flow state moving beyond limiting beliefs
· Access the brain, body, field and heart
· Understand your capacity for visionary seeing
· Work in profound ways with your imagination
· Offer the brain access to new pathways
· Integrate your voice with your soul’s voice
· Play with creativity in a child-like state
· Discover the missing clue to self expression (hint: It’s in the body)
· Go on a date with your Muse – adventure awaits!
· Empower yourself gaining access to the voice and vision of your soul!
You don’t need to have talent or experience in drawing or creativity of any kind. There will be a little trip to the office store for some simple supplies, which can be FUN! You will be asked to wield colored pens on paper – will you dare? If just this thought scares you – what story is behind that fear? Go there, there is a message waiting for you. This isn’t about talent – this is about causing your own transformation through including your whole self.
Awakening to the Muse will light the FUSE on unbridling your self expression. Let’s open the portal of imagination and be the one at cause for our own mythic transformation. Shall we?
signed with BRIGHT RED,
“The earliest scholars who explored the brain lateralization in relation to creativity emphasized the importance of both hemispheres. Indeed this is what was held to be unique about creativity compared to other highly lateralized psychological functions.”
The Neuroscience of Creativity: A Q&A with Anna Abraham – 2019
EVENTS with the Critic and the Muse!
The Dance of the Critic & the Muse
Starts February 14 Online
Taught by Shiloh Sophia.
Hosted by The Shift Network
An invitation to dive into the WILD TERRITORY of your Critic and your Muse. Will you DARE!
You’re invite to come play with us, be surprised, and engage in unravelling the riddles that have kept you and your story held captive. The combination of neuroscience, creativity, poetry, ritual, embodied actions, and dares to bring this to life in your own experience is super HOT, if I do say so myself!
You will be invited on adventures you have never taken before….and have a good time doing it! YAHOOO! Let’s go on an adventure!
Earlier this week, The Shift Network held a FB LIVE Q&A where I answered many questions about the upcoming class, the critic and muse, and more!
A Conversation With Shiloh Sophia and Lissa Rankin, MD
Shiloh and Lissa have been playing in the healing sand box together – hearts, healing hands, and paintbrushes co-mingled on and off for many years. It delights them to alchemize the intersections of their work into medicine intended to serve those who can benefit from their co-creative service work. For those of you on a healing journey, Lissa and Shiloh are sharing this unique conversation to explore the link between healing, art, and how to relax your inner critic and perfectionist parts so the muse can reveal to you what is needed to pave the way to physical, emotional, and spiritual liberation.
