W1 Creativity & Self Development

Week 1 Creativity and Self Development with Cheryl Roth

We tend to think of self development as something we work out in our heads. We read, we reflect, we try to think our way toward a better version of ourselves. But there is an older path, and it runs through the hands as much as the mind.

Creativity is our birthright, artist or not. It is what the soul strives toward because it is how we grow, and we are engaged in it every single day whether we notice or not. We create our lives through our beliefs, our thoughts, and our actions. To make something with intention is simply to bring that quiet, constant process into the open where we can see it.

This first session turns attention toward the self, but not the sealed off, private self we usually imagine. When we make something, we let go and become receptive again. We express what the thinking mind cannot reach, in ways that are not linear and not always verbal. Something in the subconscious moves into the light. The maker is changed by the making. That is where the real work happens, and it is gentler than you might expect.

You do not need a creative background. You do not need to believe anything in particular. You just need to be willing to show up and pay attention to what is actually happening in you. For some this begins as stillness, or relief, or a clearer sense of what matters. For others it opens into something larger. We do not prescribe the journey. We hold the space for it, and how far you go is up to you.

This is the ground the whole term is built on. Over the coming weeks we will follow creativity outward, into how it connects us to each other and to the larger whole we are always already part of. But it starts here, with you, coming back to yourself.

A note on prices and sustainability of the program

Our commitment is to make this program accessible to everyone in our community regardless of an individual's financial situation. However we don't want payments to be a barrier to participation in the program, if you are in financial hardship please reach out to Mowana and arrangements can be made.
We also strongly believe that our facilitators who dedicate their lives to their crafts should be fairly compensated for their services. If you can afford more than the minimum ticket price, your generosity will contribute to the program's ongoing sustainability.