Synopses & Reviews
From renowned writer and poet Oriah Mountain Dreamer, author of the bestselling
The Invitation,
The Dance and
The Call, comes a practical and inspiring book that explores creativity as a way of accessing and cultivating a spiritually rich life.
"The creative process," Oriah Mountain Dreamer says, "is essential to human nature." It is as essential as spirituality and sexuality, and in fact all three are deeply intertwined. What We Ache For (taken from the second line of the poem, The Invitation) is a practical book allowing readers to embrace the urgency and necessity of their creativity whether their medium is painting, sculpture, dance, or music. Oriah's passion is writing, and it is that talent which informs the book and its exercises but the exercises provide readers with a new way to approach their own passions. Following Oriah through this journey, readers learn how to fully embrace their artistic selves as well as forging a new spiritual path. What We Ache For is the practical thread that ties together all of Oriah's previous work and allows the reader to fully participate in an inspiring and revelatory way.
Review
“Mountain Dreamers deceptively simple writing style makes major creativity aids accessible to a wide variety of readers.” Booklist
Review
“Those looking to...revive their creativity or merely get to know themselves better should spend time with this book. ” Publishers Weekly
Synopsis
In her previous books, Oriah Mountain Dreamer has challenged readers to live with passion and honesty, to embrace the true, fallible, human self.
What We Ache For is a moving and eloquent call to delve deeply into our creative selves, to do our creative work, and offer it to the world.
The creative process is essential to human nature. It is as essential as spirituality and sexuality, and in fact all three are deeply intertwined. What We Ache For is a practical book allowing readers to embrace the urgency and necessity of their creativity, whatever their medium writing, painting, sculpture, dance, music, or film. As Oriah says, "Doing creative work allows us to follow the thread of what we ache for into a deeper life, offering us a way to cultivate a life of making love to the world."
Following Oriah through this journey in such chapters as "The Seduction of the Artist," "Learning to See," and "Risk and Sacrifice," What We Ache For challenges and inspires readers to fully embrace their artistic selves as a way of forging a path of spiritual unfolding.
Description
From the renowned writer and bestselling author of The Invitation comes a guide to cultivating a spiritually rich life through creativity.
About the Author
Oriah is the author of the inspirational prose poem and international bestselling book The Invitation as well as the bestsellers The Dance and The Call. Her writing sets forth in detail how we can follow the thread of our heart's longing into a life of meaning and purpose. Her latest book, What We Ache For: Creativity and the Unfolding of Your Soul, explores creativity as a way of accessing and cultivating a spiritually rich life. Oriah is the mother of two grown sons. She lives with her husband, Jeff, several hours north of Toronto in a home surrounded by forest stillness.