Leisure and Ink: Bridging Consciousness, Creativity, and Commerce
The Intersection of Art and Business
“Rest and activity are the steps of progress. ” — Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
As I stand at the intersection exploring consciousness studies, business management, creative writing, and ancient Vedic wisdom, I find myself pondering: what could a poet have to say about business? Perhaps a poet should stay in a poet’s place, just as musicians, painters, photographers, designers, sculptors, and artists in general should stick to their designated roles. It’s a disheartening notion that so many of us have been convinced to confine ourselves to tiny, crafted boxes and labels, forgetting that throughout history, artists, business persons, astronomers, and philosophers were often one and the same, and their flexibility of identity provided some of the main ingredients in the glue that holds what’s left of our world together.
What’s even more intriguing is that someone has convinced you — business people, entrepreneurs, and mom-and-pop shop owners — that you are not also artists! Sometimes we forget that we are more than just one thing. Entrepreneurs are artists, and artists are entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs have much to learn from reconnecting to the creative process, while artists have much to gain from understanding the bottom line of conscious enterprise.
A Journey Through Consciousness and Business
My path to this realization has been anything but conventional. It began with me as a wandering poet, failing out of many different universities on the East Coast, my mind scattered to the winds, focused only on surviving emotional and mental torment, with some spiritual bypassing on the side to warm my dark nights of the soul. An artist’s heart had nowhere to comfortably be in the narrative conditioned in my head.
My true academic journey began with a Bachelor’s degree in Maharishi Vedic Science at Maharishi International University, where I first encountered the profound connections between consciousness, creativity, and fulfillment. This foundation in understanding the nature of consciousness and its practical applications set the stage for everything that followed and enlivened my mind without overshadowing my artist’s heart. As I delved deeper into these concepts, I began to see the potential for bridging my artistic sensibilities with practical, real-world applications.
Seeking to bridge the gap between inner development and outer success, I pursued an MBA with a focus on Human Resource Management, Conflict Resolution, and Leadership. This experience gave me a bird’s-eye view of the intricacies of navigating the business world while maintaining a consciousness-based approach to management and problem-solving.
The Call to Creative Expression
My thirst for understanding the depths of the human condition led me to a Master’s degree in Consciousness and Human Potential. This program allowed me to delve deeper into the science of consciousness and its practical applications in personal life and come to terms with my inner world. Honestly, I only started it because I was grieving my mother’s death, traveling the world seeking pleasure over heartbreak, and needed to use the coursework to anchor me in a conversation that reenlived that tender connection of heart and mind.
Traveling the world while engaged in academia and Consciousness-based education really excited my creative spirit. I found myself drawn back to the world of words and imagination, my safe space when I was a child. At the encouragement and suggestion of my mentors and PhD committee, I pursued an MFA in Creative Writing and Poetry to inform my thesis. This experience taught me the power of expression and the art of weaving ideas into compelling narratives. Here, I learned how those narratives become worlds first in our minds and hearts, but then show up in real life. The old words and narratives faded away, and the new words and worlds became flesh.
Merging Poetry, Consciousness, and Enterprise
Currently, I’m circling back to my roots, working on a PhD in Maharishi Vedic Science, focusing on transcendence and poetic process. This advanced study is allowing me to integrate all my previous learning into a cohesive understanding of consciousness and its role in every aspect of life. I’ve come to realize that rest and activity, leisure and ink, intuition and execution, the artist’s creative process — they exist in all things. These elements form the fundamental rhythms of creation and innovation. And when leveraged consciously, they can manifest all things — from groundbreaking business strategies to profound works of art, and everything in between.
This realization is reminiscent of that verse in the Christian Bible that says “Write the vision and make it plain” (Habakkuk 2:2), or “The power of life and death is in the tongue” (Proverbs 18:21), or that “The Word became flesh” (John 1:14). All of these scriptures point to what I think may be a universal truth and birthright attached to the human condition and its potential. The concept of “The Word became flesh” particularly resonates with me, as it suggests that our thoughts and words have the power to materialize in the physical world — a process that lies at the heart of both artistic creation and innovative business strategies.
This idea of manifestation through conscious creation isn’t limited to spiritual texts. You even hear new age social media gurus spouting similar concepts about the power of knowing your “why” and your big vision and writing it down. Orators from the 70s, 80s, and 90s like Les Brown, Zig Ziglar, and Tony Robbins also spoke about the power of writing your vision down. Not to mention the movies from the early 2000s like “The Secret”, and “What the Bleep Do You Know” echoed these same concepts, in fact those movies were how I found Maharishi International University.
My own journey has been a testament to this power of articulating and pursuing a vision. Even in my MFA, I wanted to travel and write poetry, craft and create pieces in different places around the world, and last year I was able to complete my thesis defense over Zoom on the Ganges River in Varanasi, India. Only a semester earlier had I written travel poetry down as a goal of mine, and things I had no idea were going to line up did line up to make that happen for me. There is a power in the creative process of words, writing, imagination, and speech, and according to other artists, in every other art form as well.
So throughout this academic odyssey, a question kept nagging at me: How could I bring all of these seemingly disparate fields of Consciousness, Creativity, and Commerce together in a way that was not only respectful of the creative process but also practically beneficial to others, and their bottom line?
The Birth of Leisure & Ink
The answer began to take shape as I ventured into the world of entrepreneurship, co-founding companies with friends who shared my vision of conscious business practices. It was during this time, while putting theory into practice, that I revisited a concept I had first encountered during my Bachelor’s studies — the intricate link between consciousness, creativity, and fulfillment.
This concept became the seed for what I now call “Leisure & Ink” — a philosophy and practice that explores the nexus point where consciousness studies, business acumen, creative expression, and ancient wisdom converge. It’s an exploration of how moments of leisure and transcendence (the space we create for consciousness to expand) and the act of creation (the “ink” of our ideas and actions) can come together to foster innovation, fulfillment, and positive transformation in the world of business, artistry and beyond.
The Leisure and Ink Philosophy
At its core, the Leisure and Ink philosophy recognizes that in the bustling world of business, we often overlook our most valuable asset: the vast reservoir of creativity within our consciousness. This wellspring of innovation isn’t just for artists; it’s the secret weapon of visionary entrepreneurs and business leaders.
Consider this: What if your next breakthrough product or game-changing strategy is already within you, waiting to be accessed?
In our age of constant connectivity, the ability to disconnect and tap into stillness isn’t just a luxury — it’s a competitive advantage. Visionary leaders understand that moments of quiet reflection often precede their most brilliant ideas.
Putting It Into Practice
- Structure workdays to include both intense focus (activity) and deliberate breaks (rest).
- Create designated areas for quiet reflection in the workplace and home.
- Design environments or travel to environments that incorporate natural elements.
- Regularly engage teams in artistic activities to stimulate innovative thinking, then execute.
- Offer mindfulness training to enhance focus and reduce stress.
- Allow employees to engage in creativity-fueling leisure activities.
- Encourage decisions from a place of restful and expanded awareness.
- Organize retreats blending strategic planning and execution of those plans with consciousness-expanding activities.
- Integrate reflection periods into product development cycles.
- Develop marketing strategies that resonate with deeper consumer needs and values.
- Engage in cross-cultural communication and travel.
Transforming Business Through Consciousness
Remember, in the Leisure and Ink philosophy, consciousness is not just a state of mind — it’s the foundation of a new paradigm in business and artistry. By recognizing the profound connection between inner development, creative process and outer success, we pave the way for enterprises that are not only profitable but also deeply fulfilling to one’s self and beneficial to society.
This approach transforms the very nature of commerce, aligning it with the natural rhythms of creativity and the deeper currents of human consciousness. In doing so, we create businesses that are not just economically successful, but that also contribute to the growth and evolution of human potential.
Join the Journey
As you embark on this journey of integrating Leisure and Ink principles into your business and life, remember that each moment of stillness, each creative pursuit, and each conscious decision is a step towards a more innovative, fulfilling, and impactful way of doing business, art, and life. The power to acknowledge creative process, and transform commerce and consciousness lies within us — are we ready to unlock it?
