Drawing Your Own Path

"Drawing Your Own Path is a smart, subtle, sophisticated, compassionate, radically eye-opening and mind-altering guide to creative and artistic liberation. Thank you, John Simon!"—Ruth Ozeki, A Tale for the Time Being "John F. Simon, Jr., widely recognized as an early pioneer in the use of computer-generated imagery in contemporary art, has turned his attention to the act mark-making as a doorway into self-awareness and the essential touchstone of visual creativity. He leads us through a sequence of meditative drawing exercises, and shares insightful, touching anecdotes of his many years of experience as a practicing artist."—Peter Halley, Artist "The mysteries of the mind and universe are coupled with a very practical guide to drawing. It is an unlikely but wonderfully fruitful combination, a step-by-step approach to awareness and art."—Lawrence Rinder, Director, UC Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive "John’s marvelous artwork emerges from a deeply inspired and intuitive unfolding. His gift of finding one’s own creative process is beautifully transmitted in this delightful guide."—Jon Bernie, Ordinary Freedom "Drawing Your Own Path is an invitation to those who have never drawn before and a warm, informative, intelligent and lovely book to read. It offers refreshing, new ways to look at and experience the steps to make drawings today."—Sharon Louden, Artist, Editor of Living and Sustaining a Creative Life Drawing Your Own Path is an account of how multi–media artist John Simon’s daily drawing discipline became a meditation practice, and how that meditation illuminated his creative source. A practical guidebook full of Simon's own art, Drawing Your Own Path offers meditators an alternative path to ‘just sitting’ and offers artists a way to mindfully examine and deepen the source of their creative ideas. Readers are guided through thirty–three meditation and drawing exercises, exploring concentrated looking, mindful sketching, and improvisational awareness, all designed to help practitioners discover the vast creativity within themselves and in their daily lives.

"With its gentle affirmations, inspirational quotes, fill-in-the-blank lists and tasks — write yourself a thank-you letter, describe yourself at 80, for example — The Artist’s Way proposes an egalitarian view of creativity: Everyone’s got it."—The New York Times "Morning Pages have become a household name, a shorthand for unlocking your creative potential"—Vogue Over four million copies sold! Since its first publication, The Artist's Way phenomena has inspired the genius of Elizabeth Gilbert and millions of readers to embark on a creative journey and find a deeper connection to process and purpose. Julia Cameron's novel approach guides readers in uncovering problems areas and pressure points that may be restricting their creative flow and offers techniques to free up any areas where they might be stuck, opening up opportunities for self-growth and self-discovery. The program begins with Cameron’s most vital tools for creative recovery – The Morning Pages, a daily writing ritual of three pages of stream-of-conscious, and The Artist Date, a dedicated block of time to nurture your inner artist. From there, she shares hundreds of exercises, activities, and prompts to help readers thoroughly explore each chapter. She also offers guidance on starting a “Creative Cluster” of fellow artists who will support you in your creative endeavors. A revolutionary program for personal renewal, The Artist's Way will help get you back on track, rediscover your passions, and take the steps you need to change your life.

You have heard tales of a place…a passage hidden away in the ruins of a forgotten castle, full of terrible dangers, and, for those who dare to face them, endless reward… Provisions are gathered, blades sharpened, and, trying to shake the feeling of dread, you set out to find your way…Into the Dungeon. Into the Dungeon is a 100+ page choose-your-own-path game-in-a-book, where all you need to play is a pencil. The reader gets to decide which way to go and how to explore, with hundreds of different paths through the story. On some paths you'll find untold riches, ancient artifacts, strange creatures or secret passages, on others, you'll barely make it out alive (or die horribly.)

Get ready for the ultimate crash course in communicating and solving problems through simple pictures. Thirty-two thousand years ago, your many-times-great-grandparents Oog and Aag drew pictures on the wall of a cave. They had an innate need to communicate, but no written language. So they found an easy and natural way to share their thoughts and stories. Today, after so many years when speaking and writing dominated, we're back in another highly visual age. About 90 percent of everything shared online is now visual—selfies, GIFs, smartphone videos, and more. This explosion of communication through pictures isn't a millenial-driven fad; it's as natural as those lines first drawn by Oog and Aag. Just turbo-charged by the latest technology. And yet over the past twenty years, as I've taught people from Fortune 500 CE0s to White House staffers how to harness the power of imagery, the biggest objection I've always heard is, "But I can't draw!" Trust me, you can. You don't need to be da Vinci to be an outstanding visual thinker and communicator. The most effective drawings are the simplest, and you can get good at those in three minutes. In this little book, I'll teach you how to use seven basic shapes to explain just about anything to just about anyone. If you've read my previous books, you'll see one or two familiar tools here, along with a bunch of new tools you can start using right away. If you're new to my approach—welcome! Get ready to work smarter, communicate more clearly, and get better at whatever you do, just by picking up a pen. Get ready to draw to win.

An innovative, creative approach to help you break free from the fear and uncertainty that stand in the way of genuine happiness. When you look at your life, do you feel it’s working just the way it is? Or do you feel overwhelmed, stressed, depressed, and uneasy? So many of us are stuck in a pattern of living reactively rather than proactively, and feel exhausted and uncreative as a result. Fortunately, there is another way. It requires stepping off the fast track, and no longer going through your days on “autopilot.” It requires slowing down and tuning in to the present moment and seeing things as they really are. Mindfulness-based self-expression (MBSE), offers a way off the fast track. Drawing on mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), MBSE fuses art exploration—including drawing, mark-making, and creative self-expression—with meditations, gentle yoga, breathwork, and body scans. These daily practices are designed to help you cultivate a mindset of awareness, patience, trust, acceptance, and vulnerability. This unique workbook invites you to draw, tear, mark, play, and take risks. There is no plan, no goal, and no preconceived idea to follow. The process is simply communicating to yourself who you are in this moment, following the thread one mark at a time. The book also serves as a journal for recording your curiosity, vulnerability, and creativity. When completed, it becomes an artistic expression of life as you celebrate the profound gift that is now. Tapping into our creative self-expression empowers us to be who we are in the world, to come into deeper contact with our authentic selves, and build the self-confidence needed to take risks. The Artful Path to Mindfulness will help you find your own creative heart, and use it as a tool for living a joyful and fulfilling life.

This sketchbook tool is an introduction to the practice of Attentive Drawing, a brain management technique that you can do anywhere. It trains you to improve focus and access your creative insight. Attentive Drawing is a movement meditation done by repeatedly following along the lines of the included artistic line designs with any pen or pencil. It is a fun concentration practice that not only improves your ability to focus, it occupies part of your brain providing a pathway for creative ideas to emerge from your subconscious mind. Some benefits take a little practice but immediate ones include: -More efficient transitioning between tasks -Letting go of mental blocks or interfering thoughts -Releasing stress There are 49 pages of designs, each with a companion page to immediately record your thoughts, insights, notes and sketches that emerge from your creative unconscious. The books quickly become treasured idea journals that you revisit time and again. Everyone develops their own way of using Attentive Drawing. Find out how it works for you.

Get up to speed on the latest features and enhancements to InDesign CS5 As the industry standard in professional layout and design, InDesign delivers powerful publishing solutions for magazine, newspaper, and other publishing fields. This introductory book is an easy-to-understand reference for anyone migrating from another software application or those with little-to-no desktop publishing experience. You’ll explore InDesign basics and examine the enhancements to InDesign CS5, while you also discover how pages work, build templates, create frames and shapes, manage styles, and much more. InDesign is proving to be an increasingly popular layout and design application; InDesign CS5 includes new functionality and enhanced tools Teaches all the basics for first-time users, including how to open and save your work, arrange objects, work with color, edit text, manage styles, finesse character details, add special type, import and size graphics, set paths, work with tabs, create indices, and more Demonstrates how to calibrate colors, export PDF files, fine-tune paragraph details, create frames and shapes, manipulate objects, and work with automated text InDesign CS5 For Dummies offers a straightforward but fun approach to discovering how to get the most from your desktop publishing experience when using InDesign.

Are You Ready to Rebuild Your Life? Did nothing happen the way you wanted in your life? No matter what I did, I could not achieve the result I wanted. Current  I deserve better than the life I'm living. My father who opened my way, my uncle who held my arm, my support  I don't have an uncle who gives, I don't have a mother who protects me, I don't have an older brother who guides me. In a poor and uneducated family in the village  I was born. We do not have as many opportunities as those living in the city.   I could not study in private schools, my wife does not support me. I bankrupted. People are bad, life is bad for me  He acted cruelly, nothing happens in this country. I've always been a loser because I'm good. They are bad in the world  is winning. This is how we came, this is how we go, who am I? People deceived me a lot. My wife left me  did. I couldn't hold on to life. I have no luck, my luck is bad, Life is cruel, the person who sees the talent in me  I don't have any network, I don't have money, I don't have capital, that's why I couldn't succeed. Ah!. If I were lucky like this  What a successful person I would be if I were born into an educated and rich family. Saying arabesque life  Am I one of those who accept it or do I want to be successful? But I don't know what to do and how to be happier,  Are you wondering what you need to do to live a rich and desired life? Then be ready. New  to look for a way and method, to understand that the life he is living is not the life he wants and to live the life he wants.  researching, thinking, reading, questioning and trying to learn for a living, spending nights to achieve their goals.  If you are someone who loses sleep, worries about the future, and whose thoughts chase each other, you may have a mental birth.  It means you are ready. If you really want to be successful and live the life you want, all the impossibilities and  You have to rebuild your life despite the difficulties.   Or, like 90 percent of people, living as they are, not as they want to be,  poor loser, poor, coward, living for others, gossiping, troubled, who are part of their purpose,  said, dissatisfied, born like people, studying, acquiring a profession, finding a job, working in the village or in the factory  working, doing a job he doesn't like, getting married, spending his life on a house and a car, tired, frustrated, bored, troubled.  While he considered it a success in his time, he ensured that his children followed the same path and after his death, his last grandchildren were  You will be among the people living in captivity remembered by. The choice is yours!  Success and failure are in your hands! Life never turns out the way you want it to.  It happens as you do. When I usually say in his seminars that you are good people and therefore losers.  There are many people who say it's true. You're the only one responsible for the life you're living right now and what's happening to you.  I saw that there were many people who said it was wrong when I said it was your responsibility. But that doesn't change the fact  Because only 10% of people are successful people who live the life they want. And life is successful  He gives people the other 90% unsuccessful people as a gift and tells them to take them to achieve their own goals.  Let this be my gift to you, founded for you. If you don't have a dream, you want it to come true, you believe in it and  striving and working for the dreams of others that you strive for and complaining about this situation day by day,  You become dissatisfied, unsuccessful, unhappy.  Or to be successful, all the impossibilities and struggles to achieve one's goals in life  Brave, determined and self-improving despite the impossible, taking advantage of all the opportunities that change oneself.  Respect for people who run the life they want by running from success to success with determination, benefiting society and their country, meaningful, free and self-confident, leader, exemplary, willful, intelligent, hardworking, wise.  You become a seeing person.  This book is about gender, education and opportunities for people between the ages of 25 and 45 who want to rebuild their lives.  mentally, regardless of whether he is just trying to be successful and live the life he wants.  People who want to restructure themselves by giving birth or who want to prepare their children for the future  Written for.  It is not possible to change the past, but it is up to you to shape the future. The life you live today is 3 to 5  It depended on what you thought and did years ago.  Future; Prepare for tomorrow today without fear, with the lessons, mistakes, experiences and things you have learned in the past.  Creating a strategy, improving oneself, planning, preparation with developments and new information by making  is to do. If you don't prepare today, your future won't be bright! .   Abit Gulistan  December 8, 2020

A stimulating, art-as-spirituality guide that integrates personal healing and renewal in a context of multi-cultural awareness, spiritual depth, and creative meditation--for artists and non-artists alike. Richly interwoven with art exercises, meditations, and multi-cultural ceremonies and rituals. Four-color insert.