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September/October 2002 Living Now
The Treasures of Creativity and Spirituality

by Dr. Jane Goldberg

How do we reach down inside and discover the beauty, joy and exhilaration of our lives? How do we draw deeply from the well-springs of our highest knowing? How do we become washed clean and new again?

How do we do it? It happens when we move, dance, paint, act, sing, create, experience the expressive arts… When we open our hearts, we enter the space of mystery and creation and we thrill in the delight and play of all the senses. We touch our tenderness and our loving nature. We find our compassion for others and for ourselves. This expression is deeply therapeutic, eliminating tension and stress and releasing blocks, tears and terrors. It allows us to return to the place of home inside of us. Treasures of the Spirit surface and if we’re blessed enough to be in a community of artists, healers, teachers ...and other treasure seekers we can share our jewels and feel seen and heard with love.

For me, as a psychologist and expressive artist, creativity and spirituality are about diving deep into the unknown with joy and abandon, trusting that the creative process will bring me closer to my soul’s path. It’s about diving for treasure, from the place of love and surfacing with the multi-colored jewels that represent new aspects of my core being. It is incredible to realize that when love is present and the Self is present there is also present a sense of the Divine. When I get to my essence I feel free, to live as Helen Keller did believing, "Life is a daring adventure or nothing." To go on this daring adventure of life, descending and ascending, with complete trust and daring to be free is what excites and nurtures me.

I wrote my doctoral dissertation on this process and I was amazed to realize that the healing journey parallels both the creative journey and the spiritual journey. All three follow a 5-step creative process downward into the unconscious and then back upward into a higher consciousness. My life and my work have been about taking myself and others through this change process, diving deeper and surfacing higher then ever before.

It is twenty years since my creative, healing and spiritual awakening began; I remain in awe and reverence of the magnificence of this Divine Truth. September sends us back to school, work and community. May the Harvest of the Fall Season remind you to freely express your own true creative nature. May you be blessed with warmth and abundance, great joy and lots of fun. Go forth and play! It’s good for you.

Dr. Jane Goldberg, Ph.D., M.F.T., R.E.A.T., C.E.T., is the Director of the Expressive Arts Training Institute which has offered Professional Training Programs in Expressive Arts Therapy since 1986. She developed the curriculum for the Master’s and Ph.D. Programs in Expressive Arts Therapy offered at the San Diego University of Integrative Studies and is a Distinguished Fellow of the National Expressive Arts Therapy Association. Dr. Goldberg is starting trainings in Portland, Oregon this fall. Contact her at 949-760-0115 or www.expressiveartstraining.com.