Customer Reviews

Stoking the Creative Fires: 9 Ways to Rekindle Passion and Imagination

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I confess to being a big fan of Phil Cousineau and his books. I find his warm, conversational style and his universal insights appealing. Stoking the Creative Fires: 9 Ways to Rekindle Passion and Imagination offers the engaged reader the timely "flint" and the mighty "strike" that can light the fire of his / her own journeys into self expression. Cousineau issues the direct challenge for the reader to get going--now--with his / her own project: "Your task in life is to express yourself--to make a mark, as boldly, honestly, and as often as you can. You have to stoke your creative fire, keep it alive long enough to make something that expresses you and then learn to pass it on to others who are reaching out for the torch" (19) and "Give us something the world's never seen before: you" (37). The following pages in the book serve as encouraging guides, reality checks, and comforts for the dynamic, sometimes consuming process of creation in the life that seeks to live creatively.

Enhancing the book's teachings are quotable quotes from great writers / thinkers / artists and cleverly selected, black / white images of places, objects, and human expressions from around the world. Here are some examples of the photographs: Stepping Stones--Kyoto Rock Garden; Irish Knot of Eternity Tombstone; Fire Within, Self-Portrait by Laila Carlson; Casa Grande Ruins; Faded Angel; The Liquid Hour; Dancer in Bliss; The Thinker. Another great feature of the book is the "Recommended Reading and Viewing" list at the back. All these written and visual tidbits are well placed to underscore the messages of the given section or chapter as well as to provoke individual thinking...to put the person who wishes to create in touch with the creative, with the pulses of the Humanities, which ultimately flow through everyone... whether they realize it or not...

For me, Chapters Four through Seven were worth the price of the book for the wealth of wisdom included. These sections discuss mentors, inspiration / muses, creative spaces, focus-concentration, and burn-out. These were much needed lessons as I am currently re-thinking and re-organizing my own creative efforts and work spaces. This book gives me permission to be expressive and to value my expression.

Whatever your self-expression ---writing, painting, sculpting, scrapbooking, sewing, movie making, music, folk crafts, metal works, jewelry, fiber arts, needle felting, gardening, pottery, etc.--this book can be an enlightening bridge to your artistic self. Come! Enter the creative life...

Its been over a year since I've read this book, and I recently moved... in the process of re-organizing my shelf, Stoking my Creative Fires began to flicker. I remember picking it up in a Spiritual Bookstore in the New York City and what I most enjoyed about the author was his rich experiences that came through the pages. How taking simple day to day events and looking at them from multiple angles, turning them upside down and inside out enabled us to increase our inner joy. I love mythology and story-telling, even though I've never studied it to any great degree. One of my favorite chapters is 5, about Creative Space. He describes the process and importance of having a space in your home where you can work, meditate, and create. Reading this book sparked a warm, luminescent flame in my heart...this allowed me to connect to the ancient aspect of what it is that makes us human, that makes us united, that makes us one. Pick it up.

I read this book on vacation and was inspired to start my next book. The book helped me focus on living the artistic life I desire. The exercises made me feel that this life is possible.

"I also, wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for the wonderful book you gave me -"Stoking the Creative Fires". The book has been so inspirational to me. Ever since I read it, I can't stop painting. I've learned so much from it. This was just what I needed to open up my horizons."
- Isabel Roberts, Rio de Janiero, Brazil

Cousineau, a prolific author with an encyclopedic knowledge of other writers and artists, puts forth a roadmap to help guide you on your creative journey. A large portion of the book deals with the establishing the value of art in our lives. "At the core of this book is the passionate conviction that, if you long to live a life of purpose and meaning, you must have a creative vision." Once you agree that the pursuit is worthy, you will be eager to know more about the nine steps towards igniting your imagination that will take you to your "real work." He suggests that the creative work that you care about deeply is the work that you were meant to do. A friend of Joseph Campbell, and author of The Hero's Journey, Cousineau is grounded in the mythic implications of story. I used this model for the journey of my protagonist in my historic novel, Wai-nani, High Chiefess of Hawaii, in hopes of achieving a universal connection with readers. I am pleased that Cousineau is picking up where Campbell left off with the message that art is not just a pastime. It has been an essential expression of cultures though out history. What is more important is that art gives deeper meaning to the lives of individuals who dare to take the creative journey.

I got this book for an Expressive Arts Training course and really loved it both to get oneself into the creative mindset as well as being a strong pull for creativity in a really short time. I have done The Artist's Way book by Julia Cameron which has the same intention (and I also love and recommend), of bringing out creativity and I found Stoking the Creative Fires a faster access to getting right to your art.

Loved it!