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Melissa Dinwiddie | Create the Impossible™ | Innovation Keynote Speaker & Consultant

Empower your team to innovate on demand. Melissa Dinwiddie helps tech leaders Create the Impossible™ through playful, interactive workshops and keynotes. Unlock breakthrough creativity today.

LCN 047: Transformations, Revelations, & Lessons Learned on Retreat

LCN 047: Transformations, Revelations, & Lessons Learned on RetreatEvery year there are four getaway gatherings that I attend purely for the way they make me feel:

All four events have business benefits, but I go for me, first and foremost. In fact, these events have become sacred on my calendar. Nothing gets between me and these four gatherings.

They are like islands of time during the year that feed me and fuel me for the months in between.

Last week was the first of the bunch for 2016: the Friends of Calligraphy Spring Retreat. It’s five days (and actually six, because I always pay extra to come a night early) of unstructured time, where I get to do whatever I want.

The setting is beautiful and [Read more…]

Snapshot from My Studio: March 08, 2016 at 11:07AM


Another 15 minutes and a few more inches of doodleart.
This is a page I started weeks back and didn’t like at all. Rather than give up on it, I decided to start adding—no expectations, pure improvisation and “What would happen if..?”, crap 100% allowed, in full Creative Sandbox mode. Damned if I’m not starting to like the thing more!
This is so often what happens. When we release expectations, it opens us up to see what’s there, rather than only seeing what isn’t there, how it doesn’t match up.

This is also the space where your authentic voice gets to emerge and flourish.
The harder you pound away trying to find it, the more it hides. Your authentic voice is shy. It comes out when you’re NOT looking for it, when your attention is focused on “What if..?” and following your curiosity. When the ego drops away and you’re simply in the moment. That’s when your true voice creeps out, tiptoes over to you and twines around your ankle.

You don’t find your true voice; when you stop trying so hard, it finds you.

#workinprogress #originalart #organicart #intuitiveart #creativesandbox #pigmamicron #pittartistpen #blackandwhite #doodleart #abstractart #makestuff #goplay #gogetcreating

Snapshot from My Studio: March 07, 2016 at 10:28AM


Home from six days at an art retreat, where I got to spend as much time as I wanted making art. Heaven!

Now that I’m back in regular life mode, there are all sorts of other things tugging at me—things I want to do, things I feel compelled to do—so most days arting I s just 15 or 20 minutes in the morning, but hey, something is better than nothing. ?

A little arting each day keeps depression away. ? So go play!!! #20minutesinthemorning #doodling #doodleart #blackandwhite #abstractart #dailycreating #originalart #organicart #intuitiveart #pittartistpen #gogetcreating #goplay #makestuff #workinprogress

Spend 5 Days Creating with Me, and Walk Away Transformed - Come to Creative Sandbox Retreat

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