Kim Hermanson's Blog, page 13
September 9, 2022
Starts September 22! Entering Visionary Space Shamanic Pilgrimage
Online shamanic pilgrimage for artists, visionaries, healers, social change agents, mystics & scholars of the non-ordinary.
Thursdays September 22nd, 29th, and October 6th
11 am – 1 pm PDT / 2 – 4 pm EDT / 7 – 9 pm UK / 4 am – 6 am (Friday) AEST
$217 includes recordings, ebook, handouts, and the opportunity to work individually with Kim
NOTE: We’ll be meeting on Zoom, so you can live anywhere in the world and still participate. Recordings and handouts will be sent to all registrants.
This 3-week seminar is a deep dive into the mysteries and divine intelligence of visionary space. Behind our thinking mind lies a field of intelligent energy—a non-cognitive realm where we can tap Divine wisdom, receive guidance and answers, meet our spirit animals and teachers, shift into our highest selves, and co-create with Something Greater than us.
Visionary space is a potent realm of non-ordinary intelligence that is not OF us…its wisdom lies beyond our ordinary, everyday rational intellectual capacities. In this field of Divine wisdom, each of you will receive the gifts, clarity, and direction that you most need. You’ll be able to viscerally feel its vibrational intelligence moving through you.
Each week, we’ll explore visionary space from a different lens:
Personal: during week one, you’ll experience a significant shift of being as you energetically align with your true Divine path.
Relational: during week two, you’ll explore personal relationships, as well as your relationship with the Divine. You’ll understand ‘right alignment’ and what throws you off-kilter.
Planetary: the final session will be devoted to looking at our gifts and talents on an even broader scale. Even if you’re not a social activist, issues such as climate change, the rise of extremism, the threat of nuclear war, and other international crises are energetically distracting and disorienting. What is happening below the surface? And what is your role to play?
In addition to mystics, artists, and pilgrims of the non-ordinary, anyone who is interested in taking a deep dive into their own experiential process and inner world is warmly welcome.
You will:
Own your deep knowing.Open new channels of non-cognitive wisdom.Expand your range of creative possibilities and potentials.Experience a breakthrough and shift in your sense of ‘being’This is deep work—it’s not about floating on the surface of spirituality and creativity. We humans need a strong connection with Spirit to open visionary spaces and pioneer new work. Please join us.
“Kim’s work is pioneering.” ~ Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, New York Times bestselling author of Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience
“I got more out of one group session with you than YEARS of therapy.” ~ Maria M., writer
“I’ve attended many prestigious programs over the last 20 years, but you are the real deal. With you, I receive images that are profound and life-changing. My life and sense of ‘being’ are shifted. My world is awake in a completely different way.” ~ Sheila R., coach and therapist
September 7, 2022
We humans have three ways of knowing.
“The experience of Nirvana exists in the consciousness of our right hemisphere, and at any moment, we can choose to hook into that part of our brain.” ~ Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, Neuroanatomist
With the exception of the arts, our culture largely neglects and dismisses metaphoric and symbolic knowing. The field of depth psychology has attempted to rectify this, along with all those who champion the arts.
Physics has demonstrated that we are not mere isolated bodies in the world. We operate within a field of creative energy. Our brain has different parts. Because of the way it is designed, the left hemisphere of our brain can’t detect these fields of creative energy. Aesthetic feeling can only be known through right brain processes.
In other words, deep intelligence lies beyond our thinking minds but we can’t access it through rational or purely physically sensory ways of knowing.
We must engage the language of the right hemisphere which is metaphor.
from Deep Knowing: Entering the Realm of Non-Ordinary Intelligence by Kim Hermanson
August 31, 2022
Deep creativity is intrinsically motivated.
Great work happens when we’re intrinsically motivated… when our hearts are moved and inspired.
We could call de Saint Exupery’s statement the difference between intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation:
“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.” ~ Antoine de Saint Exupery
For more on the importance of intrinsic motivation for the creative process, check out my new article in Greater Good Magazine, 6 Ways to Break Your Creative Blocks
August 24, 2022
Imagination is the capacity to form images that go beyond reality.
Albert Einstein said that imagination is the “highest form of research.”
We humans are blessed with the ability to imagine a world beyond the ordinary. Let’s make good use of this gift.
Australian animal pathologist William Ian Beardmore Beveridge (1908-2006),
said: “Facts and ideas are dead in themselves. It is the imagination that gives them life.”
August 17, 2022
When you don’t fit in it means you’re creating something bigger than the norm.
“The place in which I’ll fit will not exist until I make it.” ~ James Baldwin (1924-1987)
Frank Zappa said, Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible.”
Let’s make places where the oddballs fit. And change the world.
August 10, 2022
Making room for the creative
The creative process is innate to human life. We don’t need to make complicated plans to search for ideas. We simply need to make room for them to visit.
The times I’ve been most unhappy with my teaching were the times that I didn’t allow enough of a pause. Instead, I rushed on to the next thing without properly giving the topic at hand the time that it deserved.
When we give something–a project, a seminar, a relationship, a dilemma–space, a solution (or the next right action) naturally presents itself.
August 9, 2022
Having the courage to speak up
I grew up in an ordinary, middle-class family in Iowa where I attended public schools. Through a stroke of fate, I was critically injured in a head-on collision in my 20s and received insurance money that allowed me to attend the Ph.D. program at the University of Chicago. My fellow classmates were very different from me.
They came from wealthy and privileged families.
During my time at the University, I sat in on many conferences about educational policy, but there was one conference in particular that changed my view of the world.
It was a conference about school choice in public education. I didn’t have a strong opinion about this topic, but I soon discovered that people in the educational community DID hold strong positions about it. In this case, the people in the room were against it.
In particular, a fellow in my graduate cohort stood up and waxed on about how TERRIBLE school choice was–adamantly, insistently, and angrily voicing his displeasure.
And here’s the thing that twisted me: This particular guy had never set foot inside a public school, nor would he ever send his children to public school. He grew up ultra-wealthy and attended exclusive boarding schools. In fact, he made fun of my college degree from a large midwestern state university.
He called it a “Midwest factory.”
This was the first moment I realized that the scope of policy in our country is defined by a select, chosen few. Maybe I was naive, but for me at that moment, I was blown away by the arrogance and hypocrisy. The privileged–the well-educated and wealthy–not only make policy decisions but believe they have the right to do so.
Years ago, I heard a story about a Cesar Chavez farm worker meeting in the 1950s. The room was packed with men who were arguing loudly. And then an old woman who’d been sitting silently in the back of the room for the past hour rose to speak. Apparently, you could hear a pin drop. I don’t remember now what she said, but I do remember how important her voice was.
Her courage to stand up and speak changed the energy and direction of the entire conversation. In a machismo culture, in a roomful of men, her voice had an impact.
May we all have the courage to use our voices.
August 6, 2022
Check out my new article in Greater Good magazine: 6 ways to break your creative block.
“Creativity is an intelligence. When we respect its needs—for freedom, not knowing, beauty, a big vision, intrinsic motivation, and space—it will flourish.”
1. Creativity needs space, both internal and external
– How can you give yourself internal space? If something is on your mind, take care of it before diving into new creative work.
– How can you give yourself external space? How can you give yourself the physical space to create?
2. Creativity is intrinsically motivated
– In this moment, what feels important to you? What does your heart have to say? Do you have a long-standing desire that won’t go away? That’s a directional pointer.
– Many creativity experts have suggested automatic stream-of-consciousness writing as a way to tap inspired ideas.
3. For your creativity to flourish, it wants your biggest vision
– Big visions are just that—they’re bigger than you. They’re bigger than your mind knows how to immediately solve. Be honest with yourself: What is your full vision? Don’t make the mistake of leaping too soon to the practical questions of how it can happen. Let yourself dream big, and then look for the next little action step or inquiry to take you deeper.
4. Creativity is nourished and fed by beauty
– What in your environment, situation, or relationships feels draining, ugly, or dull? Weed those things out.
– Make a list of five things you can do this week that would feel beautiful or celebrate beauty. Then do one of them. (Better yet, invite a friend to do this exercise with you and then share what you each discovered.)
5. Creativity is subversive
– How can you create your own “world”? Is there a medium or terrain that intrigues you? Take a little action step to create a make-believe world for yourself.
– Where (or how) do you need to allow yourself freedom from what others think? Close your eyes for a moment, take a few gentle breaths, and let your heart tell you. What pops in? This is your creative edge. It’s yours alone to traverse.
6. Not knowing is the starting point for the creative
– How can you work on your project from a state of not knowing? How can you set aside what you know and look at it with fresh eyes?
– How can you let yourself flow like a river? How can you let yourself flow and not know?’
Read the full article here: https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/six_ways_to_break_your_creative_blocks
Check out my new article in Greater Good magazine: 6 ways to break your creative block!!!!
“Creativity is an intelligence. When we respect its needs—for freedom, not knowing, beauty, a big vision, intrinsic motivation, and space—it will flourish.”
1. Creativity needs space, both internal and external
– How can you give yourself internal space? If something is on your mind, take care of it before diving into new creative work.
– How can you give yourself external space? How can you give yourself the physical space to create?
2. Creativity is intrinsically motivated
– In this moment, what feels important to you? What does your heart have to say? Do you have a long-standing desire that won’t go away? That’s a directional pointer.
– Many creativity experts have suggested automatic stream-of-consciousness writing as a way to tap inspired ideas.
3. For your creativity to flourish, it wants your biggest vision
– Big visions are just that—they’re bigger than you. They’re bigger than your mind knows how to immediately solve. Be honest with yourself: What is your full vision? Don’t make the mistake of leaping too soon to the practical questions of how it can happen. Let yourself dream big, and then look for the next little action step or inquiry to take you deeper.
4. Creativity is nourished and fed by beauty
– What in your environment, situation, or relationships feels draining, ugly, or dull? Weed those things out.
– Make a list of five things you can do this week that would feel beautiful or celebrate beauty. Then do one of them. (Better yet, invite a friend to do this exercise with you and then share what you each discovered.)
5. Creativity is subversive
– How can you create your own “world”? Is there a medium or terrain that intrigues you? Take a little action step to create a make-believe world for yourself.
– Where (or how) do you need to allow yourself freedom from what others think? Close your eyes for a moment, take a few gentle breaths, and let your heart tell you. What pops in? This is your creative edge. It’s yours alone to traverse.
6. Not knowing is the starting point for the creative
– How can you work on your project from a state of not knowing? How can you set aside what you know and look at it with fresh eyes?
– How can you let yourself flow like a river? How can you let yourself flow and not know?’
Read the full article here: https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/six_ways_to_break_your_creative_blocks
August 4, 2022
What art teaches us
ART….
1. TEACHES US HOW TO RESIST FORCES THAT MUTE OUR LIGHT. Art shows us how to resist forces that teach passivity and acquiescence.
2. EXPRESSES IDEAS that can’t be expressed any other way.
3. TAKES US SOMEWHERE. We’re moved beyond where we were a moment before.
4. CREATES NEW WORLDS. Art allows us to enter places that can’t be known on the surfaces of life.
5. INSPIRES AND RENEWS. When we see beauty in a work of art, we see hope.
