Kim Hermanson's Blog, page 7
October 3, 2023
We need art because to change our world, we need what is alive.
When I work with clients, it’s so apparent that deep creativity is not of the head or thinking mind. It’s coming from an entirely different place.
Their creative visions are coming from a place that’s ALIVE.
We need art because to change our world, we need what is alive.
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Read the full blog post, “For meaningful change, we need the potency of the creative”:
https://www.kimhermanson.com/2022/04/14/for-meaningful-change-we-need-the-potency-of-the-creative/
September 26, 2023
The desire to create certain outcomes hampers transformation
The desire to create certain outcomes hampers transformation.
No matter how much we push, intend and effort, it’s clear that we don’t often have all the answers that we seek.
But Something else does.
We humans are brilliant when we align with Something greater than ourselves.
When we loosen our fixation on what we think, a deeper way of knowing has the space to emerge.
September 19, 2023
There’s a reason bank buildings are square
There’s a reason bank buildings are square. There’s a reason that when we need rest we go to a large body of water… or the desert. There’s a reason web designers use lots of white space. (Space allows readers’ eyes — and brains! — to stay calm so they can absorb the material.) There’s a reason why group facilitators seat people in a circle (rather than lines of chairs) when they want to create a sense of cohesiveness and group bonding.
Underneath the surface of your conscious mind lies a common language that’s universal among all cultures— the language of aesthetic form.
Corporate advertisers consciously and strategically use shapes in their buildings, products, and advertising because different shapes appeal to and awaken different parts of our brain. But the power of shape isn’t just for savvy marketers.
Every one of us can tap their potent power.
Read The Power of Thinking in Shapes article on Medium:
https://medium.com/@kim-hermanson/the-power-of-thinking-in-shapes-fbb3b917a2b
September 12, 2023
You don’t need to find your words, you need to find your image. Images help us find our depth.
During the many years that I led creative writing workshops, I noticed something interesting about the thing invited deep writing.
Some writing prompts–often involving words or newspaper headlines–kept people entrenched in analytical thinking and… their subsequent writing was heady and dry. Their writing might have been slick and witty, but it was rarely deep or soulful, not moving the group emotionally.
But when I brought in images, it opened up a whole other space.
Images helped writers access their depth. It was as if they didn’t need to find their words, they needed to find their image.
Once they did, their writing was rich and often profound. Images bring depth–they bring us into our hearts and deeper knowing.
September 5, 2023
Six ways to break your creative blocks
Six Ways to Break Your Creative Blocks.
Give yourself both internal and external space. Creativity needs space.Pursue what’s important to YOU. Creativity is intrinsically motivated.Embrace your full vision. For your creativity to flourish, it wants your biggest vision.Weed out the things and situations that you find draining or dull, and instead feed yourself with things that are beautiful and nourishing.Give yourself freedom from what others might think, create your own world. Creativity is inherently subversive.Be a beginner. “Not knowing” is the starting point for the creative.To read the full article in Greater Good Magazine:
https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/six_ways_to_break_your_creative_blocks#thank-influence
August 29, 2023
When we prioritize creativity, we prioritize our life force energy and vitality
When we prioritize creativity, we prioritize our life force energy and vitality. When we prioritize vitality, we invigorate and renew every aspect of our lives.
On that note, love this quote from Carl Jung:
“All the greatest and most important problems of life are fundamentally insoluble. Some higher or wider interest appeared on the person’s horizon and through this broadening of his or her outlook the indissoluble problem lost its urgency. It was not solved logically in its own terms but faced when confronted with a new and stronger life urge.”
August 22, 2023
Writing a fairy tale will uncover what lies beyond your ordinary ways of looking
Creative breakthroughs happen when we perceive what lies beyond our ordinary ways of looking…. writing a fairy tale will give you that shift of perception.
Fairy tales offer insightful, surprising answers that we can’t get any other way. 
In this youtube video, I guide you in writing your own fairy tale…a quick way to easily tap the wisdom from a source far deeper than your thinking mind.
Write a fairy tale will uncover what lies beyond your ordinary ways of looking
Creative breakthroughs happen when we perceive what lies beyond our ordinary ways of looking…. writing a fairy tale will give you that shift of perception.
Fairy tales offer insightful, surprising answers that we can’t get any other way.
In this youtube video, I guide you in writing your own fairy tale…a quick way to easily tap the wisdom from a source far deeper than your thinking mind.
August 17, 2023
my new article in Spirituality + Health magazine
“Most of us typically associate metaphor with the flowery language that poets use or with things that are made up: ‘That’s just a metaphor.’ In other words, we typically treat metaphors as outside of ourselves, when in fact they are the deep, sensory, intuitive language of the feeling center of our brain. To say that metaphor is “the sea we swim in” is not so much a metaphor as an observation of reality.
When we’re confused, uncertain, or going through change, we draw on metaphor to help us understand what’s happening: “I’m in over my head.” “That job feels too small for me.” “I’m on a new path now.” “He’s putting pressure on me.”
Metaphor is both an image AND a feeling. When someone says, “I’m on fire with my work right now,” we can imagine an image of fire, but we can also feel fire. We can feel what this person is experiencing.
When someone says they’re under pressure, that something is too small, that they’re on cloud nine, or that they’re depressed, we can feel what they’re saying. We understand their experience in a way that’s more than just cognitive. Thus, metaphor is a language that’s both compassionate and intimate.
Metaphor is also directly connected to our intuition and higher knowing. We may leave a conversation with someone and feel “lit up” or “down.” We might walk into a building and notice that it feels “heavy” or “light.” A project may feel “stuck” or “flowing.” That’s REAL energy…. it’s real intelligence from the Deep Creative.
article link in Spirituality + Health magazine: https://www.spiritualityhealth.com/its-not-just-a-metaphor
Don’t tell me there isn’t a Spirit world. 🔥
Yesterday was a rough day. My elderly 19-year-old dog peed AND pooped in my car. 
In a fit of exasperation–having too much to do, it was terribly hot out, and I needed to pack for a trip–when I cleaned up the poop I threw out the feathers that I’d found in the days after my mother died last year. Since then, the three clients I’ve worked with have all had feather images come up in their sessions.
Don’t tell me there isn’t a Spirit world. 
