1. Do you have a sacred space in your life wherein you can relax and create undisturbed and without distractions? This space would include a physical location plus a given time that you could trust will be yours daily, to pursue your creative delights.

2. Do you feel free to express every part of yourself in your creative medium without fear, without holding back? We creatives need the freedom to be able to express ourselves fully. To hold anything back is lacking the integrity to create the entire work of art.

3. Do you feel that when you create, everything is expressed in the way it should be, or do you stress-out over ideas that you’re not creating your art good enough? Stress is a major mind-inhibiting factor and you may find that creative work that is not accepted by the artist with a leniency toward flaws may be too exacting to the point of being stilted and unnatural, by being too worked over or too perfected. Sometimes imperfection is perfection – and we humans live an imperfect existence.

4. Do you have a clear intention regarding what you’re working to create? Do you have a plan for your work of art or are you working in the dark, expecting that one feature will lead naturally to the next? Sometimes this kind of organic creative endeavor can BE the plan with which we work. But it helps to know where we’re going before we start or we may be confused about where the process is leading.

5. As you work do you pay attention to the signals your body is giving you? What emotions cross your field of endeavor? When we’re angry there’s a tightening in the chest. When afraid, our hairs literally can raise up. So what does your body tell you when you’re working on your creative art, and how are you feeling as you work? If you’re relaxed and feeling exuberantly happy and enthusiastic, that must mean things are going well with your creative pursuit. But what if your arms are tense, your neck aches, and you feel slow, lethargic, and bored? Could it mean you’re not on the right path? Should you take a short break and walk around outside, smelling the flowers and breathing fresh air? Explore your feelings and resolve them. Aim for optimum creative joy.

6. Do you love what you do? Do you love your art? Do you, really? That’s important because art created with love flows freely and with beauty. Suggestion: stop here, open your writer’s notebook, and list ten things you love about your art.

7. If you were to teach others something about your art, what would it be? Remember: you teach best what you most need to learn. This is a great topic for a page in your writer’s notebook.

8. Do you feel impatient with any aspect of your creative life? If impatience assails you, take a step back – away from your work station. Say to yourself: “My creative endeavors are coming to fruition at the appropriate speed. My joy and enthusiasm are the fuels that will drive this project to its destination.”

9. Are you nurturing your project to life with a a rain of steady love? Have you developed a harmonious rhythm of work, for example, editing one chapter daily? Do you give your project the love, time, and gratitude it needs to become a great and towering achievement you’ll be proud of? Love your project to life – a life that will blossom in ways you cannot now imagine.

10. Does your project bring you into greater harmony with Universal Consciousness? Does it connect you to the gentle underlying rhythm of the entire infinite universe? If so, you’re on the right track, and nothing anyone else says or writes should ever stop you.