The Nine Modern Day Muses (and a Bodyguard)

Jill Badonsky's book, The Nine Modern Day Muses (and a Bodyguard), calls to creative energy. It's an invitation to come out and play.

I mentioned this in the interview of Jill Badonsky. and I want to say it here also. If you have a chance to see Jill in person please don't miss it! Jill absolutely shines (literally!) on-stage.

I usually think of this book as a creativity booster - and it is that. But the deeper, fuller message of the book is about how to "Live a Dazzling Existence", which is why the subtitle is: "10 Guides to Creative Inspiration for Artists, Poets, Lovers, and Other Mortals Wanting to Live a Dazzling Existence".

Another great thing about this book is how Jill uses the Muses to talk about different part of ourselves. I love looking inside (of myself and other people) to see the many and varied people we all are.

The inner child, the inner brat, the critic, the parent, the student, the class clown, the party-girl, the teetotaler, etc. We've all got an inner family of wildly differing parts of ourselves.

Jill captures so many of those parts, or ways of being, in her descriptions of the Muses. And she offers so many ways to get them all to work together - ways to honor the whole "family" - and ways to get us to know more about ourselves.

I feel like I know Shadow ("Gifts of the dark side") who is all about "Releasing all repressed and hidden parts of ourselves to deepen creativity" and Lull ("Pause, diversion, & gratitude") who is about "Honoring the cycle of creativity where letting go works best, adding the power of gratitude" pretty well.

But I need to learn more about my own Marge ("Okay-now-let's-get-started", the "Knowing that just getting to the work will get it done" person) and Arnold (who is "...the bodyguard between you and both your internal and external predators.")

Each of the chapters describing the nine Muses (and the Bodyguard) have practices designed to help you access and strengthen the energy they possess.

Jill's exercises help me get perspective - an easier feeling - when relating to a problem, distraction or resistance I'm dealing with.

One of the deceptively simple practices that help me look at things differently - and the one I keep coming back to - is to change a "I have to..." sentence to a "I get to..." sentence.

Like this: "I have to sand ALL these darn kitchen cabinets" (my current woe) changes to "I GET to sand all these kitchen cabinets", which helps me remember that the end of that sentence is actually "... so that then I can paint my cabinets and have a bright, new look in my kitchen."

Wow! I feel different already! Try that with some task you are not thrilled about doing and see if your perspective changes.

In The Nine Modern Day Muses (and a Bodyguard) Jill says: "Quotes are soul medicine." And she generously sprinkles inspiring quotes from different people through the book to encourage us on our path to creating a more "dazzling existence."

Here are some of Jill's own words - from the book - that I believe are strong, healing medicine:

That's how we shine.

If you'd like to bring the Muses into your life to help you find and honor what shines in your life you can order The Nine Modern Day Muses (and a Bodyguard) through the link below.