Doodles of Inspiration: Maia Duerr

   
Maia Duerr is the voice behind The Liberated Life Project. She runs the Fall in Love with Your Work: A 30-Day Adventure course and is a huge HUGE source of inspiration for me and many others who chose the life of liberation in their work and in everything they do.  Her course was on of the biggest sources of change in my life and it is only after doing her course that I gained clarity in the way I wanted to steer my work life. WIthout much ado...I give you Maia's Interview. 




1. Your favorite doodle of all time?

I don't really draw or doodle much... I'm more of a word person than a visual person. But any time that I am making lists, I find myself doodling spirals like this one. I find it helps me to center my thoughts, in some way...

2. How do you stay creative and mindful in your day-to-day life?

I try to anchor myself every day in the practice of zazen, sitting meditation. That's fundamental for me! Sometimes I miss a day, but when I am consistent in my practice, it creates a kind of alchemy in my life that cultivates awareness and creativity. Without it, I'm lost : )

In addition to that, I take walks whenever I can in the beautiful area surrounding my home in Santa Fe, New Mexico. We're up at 7000 feet, in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristos mountain range, and I feel so blessed to be here. As I walk, I take in the changing light on the mountains and the incredibly expansive blue sky, as well as all the creatures who live here (rabbits, coyotes, lizards, birds of all kinds). This really helps to nourish my creativity as well.

I think the kinds of spaces that we create and designate for various activities is important too -- when I meditate, I'll go next door to Upaya Zen Center (how handy!) and sit in the temple there, or at home I have made a special corner of my home the 'meditation space.' And when I write or do other creative work, I've got a small studio to work in (with a view of the mountains) or else I'll head to a local coffee shop if I need a little more buzz and stimulus from people walking by.

3.       Your favorite quote

Well, it's hard to choose just one, but I'll go with this for now:

Every part of you has a secret language. 

Your hands and feet say what you've done. 

And every need brings in what is needed. 

Pain bears its cure like a child. Having nothing produces provisions. 

Ask a difficult question. And the marvelous answer appears.  

~Rumi

4. How do you deal with overwhelming emotions (intense joy, sorrow, anger, indignation, etc)?

Again, I'd say that the practice of zazen has helped me immensely in working with my emotions. It's not about suppressing them, but it's about not letting them overrule and overwhelm me. I think Tibetan Buddhist teachings are actually very helpful in this respect -- there's a big emphasis on emotions as simply being energy. Intense joy or anger or sorrow or any emotion really is basically an energy we get to work with, one that comes from our deepest wisdom (whether we know it or not) or can lead us to deeper wisdom. 

So I think of it as a process of learning how to surf with these emotions, like one would a powerful wave of water. This is not to say I am a master of this practice! I have days when some of those emotions do overwhelm me and practically sink me. But I try to keep returning to the still point inside.

Also, I find the practice of journal writing very helpful as well. Sometimes when I don't know what else to do I'll get my journal out and simply write "what is," as painful as it might be. That act of naming what I'm feeling, and also noticing how it shows up in my body, feels very healing.

I can be a very intellectually-oriented person, and one of my intentions for this year is to ground myself more in my body and take on body practices. (Zazen is actually a very physical practice though people don't often think of it that way.) So I've been enjoying going to the gym to workout and want to try NIA (a form of dance) as other ways of being in the physicality of my emotions and working with them.

5. Tips for readers to stay creative and mindful in the face of stress on one hand and boredom on the other

I believe that everyone has a unique way of expressing their creativity and mindfulness, and therefore there isn't a one-size-fits-all answer to this. I think the important thing is to find an awareness practice that speaks to you, personally, and to stay with it consistently and deepen it as you go. I wrote quite a bit about this in this post on my blog: http://liberatedlifeproject.com/2011/04/self-awareness-ii-how-to-start-or-deepen-a-spiritual-practice/

To summarize it here, an awareness practice is anything that you do on a daily basis that helps you to cultivate a sense of self-awareness, joy, equanimity, resilience, and compassion for yourself and others. For some folks, this might be sitting meditation. For others, it is a movement practice such as yoga. For others, it might be sculpture or gardening. So, my biggest tip would be to choose a practice that really resonates with you and commit yourself to it over the long-term. 

It's interesting you mention that dialectic between stress and boredom. I believe that the art of mindfulness goes right down the middle zone between those two polarities. The idea of mindfulness practice is to stay alert, to stay awake, to our lives in a way that transcends both stress and boredom. Not always easy, but that's why they call it practice!

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