The 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women
A Portable Mentor
Designed to be a companion and mentor to women who seek to recognize, honor and free their creativity, The 12 Secrets of Highly Successful Women is a distillation of wisdom gathered from a wide-ranging sample of some of the most creative and successful women in the United States. McMeekin, M.S.W., has brought more than twenty years of experience as a licensed psychotherapist, career coach and human resources consultant to the creation of this guidebook to the creative life.
Presenting the creative path as a journey of self-discovery, McMeekin presents three “gateways” that give entrance to the various levels of development of one’s creative gift: “Engaging Your Creativity”; “Mastering Your Challenges as a Creative Woman”; and “Actualizing Your Results: the Power of Positive Priorities.” Upon entering each gateway, the reader is introduced to the “secrets” that are needed in order to arrive at the next stage of the journey together with the “keys” necessary to open and utilize the wisdom of each secret. Tools provided enable the reader to recognize and deal with the ever-present internal and external “saboteurs” and “serenity stealers” that threaten to stifle creativity.
The author explains the natural cycles of creativity, which, if misunderstood, can have a negative effect on one’s self-perception to the extent that unnecessary and painful blocks and doubt can arise. An understanding of these cycles can actually increase the fruitfulness of one’s efforts and prevent unnecessary struggle and burnout.
Together with a personal notebook to record one’s responses to the challenges the author presents and the support groups the reader is encouraged to develop, this book not only provides a self-paced, encouraging guide to a journey many women fear to take, but offers what many women need most: companions for the trip. All too often, one’s creative efforts may be brought to a standstill by negative responses (or no response at all) from family, friends or the greater public. It is the author’s hope that her book will help each reader to fashion for herself a nurturing, sacred space in which to realize her full creative potential.
Reviewed by
Kristine Morris
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
