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Daily Voice Dialogue - Issue 17
----- DAILY VOICE DIALOGUE -----
a free newsletter about using Voice Dialogue in your daily life
written by Astra Niedra, edited by Mark Belfanti
Welcome to the seventeenth edition of Daily Voice Dialogue. This newsletter covers various
aspects of Voice Dialogue and gives you ways to use Voice Dialogue in your life on a
day-to-day basis.
Best wishes,
Astra Niedra
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
TOPIC OF THE MONTH
THE MAGICAL CHILD AND CREATIVITY
Many people say they would like to be more creative than they are, yet when they try to be
so, they find it difficult. One reason for this is that they are trying to be creative
through a non-creative, rational self. If you are usually rational and logical and you try
to be creative from this primary self, you will just become frustrated.
The Magical Child is a part of us that when we integrate into our psyche can make us more
creative. This Magical Child is around quite a lot when we are children but when we start
to identify with the rational adult selves, it starts to disappear. The Magical Child is
very imaginative, it often doesn't make sense, and it sees magic in our environment. You
can see it in children when they make up fantasy worlds and sing non-rational rhymes and
songs.
I believe that the recent extraordinary success of books like the Harry Potter series
(fantasy books written for children but bought and read by as many adults) is due to the
widespread disowning of the Magical Child and our yearning to have some of it back in our
lives.
Creative adults normally have access to their Magical Child. However, the Magical Child
isn't the only creative self there is - there are the artistic selves, the musician
selves, the writer selves and many more. What the Magical Child does is see solutions and
opportunities that the rational mind cannot see. People sometimes describe receiving
answers to problems as coming from 'nowhere' or from 'left field' - this is often the
Magical Child contributing. Inventors and business entrepreneurs, who will see something
others just can't perceive, often have strong Magical Children.
The Magical Child is disowned in many people because the more adult, rational selves
become primary and can't understand this child and so see no need for it. It can seem
quite silly to them - and if you are identified with a very rational and reasonable self,
you might also see this child as quite irrelevant.
If you feel that you are lacking creativity or are always concerned with the more mundane
or practical aspects of life, all you need to do is reclaim your Magical Child and bring
some of its energy into your life. If you are a creative person anyway, the Magical Child
can bring you fresh new perspectives and add another dimension to your work. If you are
mainly logical and rational, the Magical Child can literally add magic to your life and,
as stated above, can give you new ideas with your usual activities.
The following exercises will help to access your Magical Child.
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EXERCISES
1. Set out to write a poem, but don't try to make it 'intelligent' and fit in with a
particular poetic style. Instead just allow yourself to write whatever comes to you. Pick
a topic to begin with such as 'eggs'. Write a line about eggs and then another one, and so
on. For example: Eggs are best when scrambled up, they roll and dance around a lot, eggs
can smile like humpty dumpty, who is very fumpty lumpty.
Keep going and don't censor yourself with your more rational side. What you write doesn't
have to make sense. If you allow yourself to do this, no matter how silly your poem is,
you will soon be able to draw on the immense reserves of creativity coming from your
Magical Child and use them in many areas of your life.
2. Get some coloured pencils, crayons or paints and some paper, and have some fun drawing
with these. Allow yourself to draw or paint whatever you feel like. Don't worry if you
think you can't draw. Abstract art is all you need here. Just allow yourself to experiment
with mixing colours, with drawing shapes and squiggles - much like a young child would.
3. Buy or borrow some good "children's" fantasy books and read them. For
example, the Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling, the Narnia books by C.S. Lewis, or
Tolkien's The Hobbit. Such books will delight your Magical Child, and reading them will
serve to honour it and to make it more a part of your life.
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RELATIONSHIPS
It can be difficult living with an adult who has as a primary self the Magical Child. Many
very creative people are like this and they often end up in relationships with their
opposites: more rational, practical people. The Magical Child may be able to help create
beautiful poetry and art but is not very good at housework, business or generally
organising a family. The fascination at the beginning of such a relationship can be
awesome but can soon turn to irritation and judgement.
So what do you do? If you are the practical one in the union, it would help if you could
get in touch with your own creative, magical self - the self your partner is identified
with. You would then be able to understand them better and how they view the world.
If you are the creative one, you would need to get in touch with your own practical,
logical self - the self your partner expresses.
You would both then be able to understand each other and even though you might not use
much of the opposite energy in your own life, you could see where your partner was coming
from and would be able to live more harmoniously together.
For more information on relationships, how we attract our opposites, and how we relate
through bonding patterns, see issues 5-8.
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BABY DIALOGUE
Examples from my experiences with my 2 year old daughter (who's favourite word since her
recent birthday party is "presents") to illustrate how I try(!) to use Voice
Dialogue in my life.
You can see the Magical Child in Athena and in the other children at her day care centre
when they are playing. They'll be playing with some toys and then one child will state
that a particular toy is something else and make it do a different action. Another child
will then contribute to the game, and then another, until they have created a whole new
fantasy world. The ideas just seem to keep flowing from them and they can come up with
some very clever concepts.
I've also noticed that when Athena sings nursery rhymes she's started to mix and match words
and lines to create her own songs. Some of these substitutions are quite simple such as
'Baa Baa green sheep' but others have surprised me with their creativity (I can't think of
an example right now).
Another example of the Magical Child's influence is at the day care centre when the
children decorate the rooms in themes. Last month they hung from the ceiling in the
bathrooms a whole lot of sea creatures - fish, sea horses, dolphins - which they had
painted and cut out, and painted the walls in ocean colours. It really looked quite
amazing, as though you were walking through the ocean. And I'm sure it made washing their
hands before meals and toilet training a whole lot more interesting!
This Magical Child's contributions to my life, through Athena, are quite a delight. It would
be very easy though to lose this as Athena grows up and learns more of how the rational
world works. I can see this in myself when I read to her: I'll be reading and explaining
what's in the pictures and Athena will notice something completely different to what I have
seen. My tendency is to show her what is there (which is also valuable to her) but she
will notice something else in a picture, something which requires a bit of magic and
imagination.
If I didn't have my own Magical Child available to me at all, I would just dismiss her
observations as I wouldn't be able to see them myself. Over time she would stop telling me
and maybe not notice these things herself. Or she might become completely identified with
this magical part of her in response to my disowning of it, and eventually her and I would
not see eye-to-eye -- which often happens with parents and their children.
My belief is that a parent should honour and embrace everything their child expresses
(while teaching and showing them how to get along in this world and with others) and the
Magical Child is one self which isn't honoured much as children get older - instead they
are told to grow up and be reasonable. The rewards for your child to stay in touch with
their magic are delightful indeed.
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COMING UP IN FUTURE ISSUES
Instinctual Energies
Aphrodite - the Goddess of Sensuality
The Business Selves
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IMPORTANT NOTE
This newsletter is not to be taken as psychological or medical advice. If you require such
advice you should seek it from an appropriate health care professional. This newsletter is
also not intended for you to use in making life-altering decisions without communication
between you and the appropriate health care professional.
Copyright 2000-2001 - Astra Niedra. ISSN 1444-6022. PO Box 979, Glebe NSW 2037, Australia.
No part of Daily Voice Dialogue may be reproduced, in any form, without the written
permission of the author, Astra Niedra, except for forwarding an issue, in its entirety
and complete with copyright information, to a friend.
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