I asked Nicola to be a part of the Wisdom Series because... well, because I love her. Nicola has been a part of my online life since the very beginning. She literally welcomed me to Twitter, made it engaging, friendly and fun to be there. (I'll bet there are many others who'd say the same thing.)The encouragement Nicola offers is instinctive -enthusiastically exploring what she calls the 'creative divine,' as she calls, "Hey, look at this!" over her shoulder. That enthusiasm enriches all of her work - from her beautiful blog, The Whole Self, to the many online projects she produces: one example, this gorgeous ebook:  Loss, love, life,One visit to her online world tells you, this the home of a generous journeywoman, moving toward wholeness while offering a hand should you wish to come along - and, frankly, her enthusiasm is so contagious, how could anyone resist?For me, Nicola's is the wisdom of full-out engagement, curiosity about every inch of this beautiful world - and genuine interest in each soul she encounters along the way: it's the wisdom of a beautiful woman blooming into creativity, divinely. I am pleased and proud to introduce her to you:- - - - -My favorite flower is the peony.  I love the way it starts life as just a tiny round bud yet opens into an amazingly beautiful and lusciously big flower.   I constantly wonder how it manages to fit all those petals into such a small space.  I watch closely as it emerges, almost in the space of a day, from its tiny cocoon, so large and frilly and gorgeous.  I love the bigness of it.Blossoming for the peony seems to be so easy.  It does what it has to do.  It knows that its destiny is to emerge from a small ball so that it can unleash all of its glory on to the world.I imagine the peony doesn't sit there in the soil wondering, "am I good enough to be a glorious peony?", "what if that bud over there is better at being a peony than I am?" or "what if I have a bad petal day?".The peony is connected to its own force of nature.  It's grounded in it.  Literally!  Its blueprint is clear.  It knows what it has to do and that's just to be a peony.  It knows that it can be a peony better than, say, a daffodil or a tulip.   It knows because it's always connected to its Source, it's always in flow with life and it spends its time just being.  The peony embraces its bigness and positively glories in it.We human beings have a harder time of embracing our bigness.  We make it so difficult for ourselves sometimes.  Our blossoming is usually not as elegant or as easy as that of the peony.  It's often a stop/start process.  We dip a toe into our blossoming and then draw it back again.  We look at others who are blossoming around us and wonder what their secret is!The peony has everything it needs to blossom.  Within its cellular structure are all the instructions it needs to grow.  It just looks within and, with the help of some nourishment from the earth and some water, it does what it came here to do.I believe we are no different.  We need nourishment and water to help us grow.  After that, the rest is within us.  We just need to excavate it and remember our own divine blueprint that we came to fulfil.We need to remember that we are connected to the same Source as the peony, the exact same source.  We often seem to forget that connection though.  We stray from our Source and gradually become small again.  To blossom we need to renew that connection until it becomes a daily practice, until we live in Flow with everything that is.  When we move with the Flow, the Flow moves with us and life becomes easy, joyful and exactly as it's supposed to be.  We become exactly who we are supposed to be.I suspect that the journey to Source or Creative Divine, as I call it, is a life long voyage of discovery.  With each layer we peel back there is inevitably another one but I believe there are a few fundamental principles that guide us on our way.Be creative in whatever way has meaning for you.  Somewhere in the process of being creative, we connect with our divine spark.Practice letting go.  Declutter when the spirit moves you.Spend time in nature.  There you can breathe in the atoms of Source and reconnect to your own.Do those things that bring you joy.Remember that every answer you need is within.Repeat the above daily.

Anais Nin: And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.

- - - - -Nicola Warwick loves photography, metaphysics and creativity.  Nicola writes about Creative Divine on her blog, the whole self (http://www.thewholeself.co.uk).  She continues to explore and experience the ongoing journey of embracing her own wholeness and helps others do the same through her coaching work, workshops and discussion groups.Blog: http://www.thewholeself.co.ukTwitter: http://www.twitter.com/twscoukFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/thewholeself