When You Stop Creating, You Stop The Flow Of Life - Grasshopper
Ask yourself: "Am I creating or existing on creations?" Your answer will clearly demonstrate whether you're fulfilling your life's purpose or drifting between circumstances.
For many years of our lives we create out of the role we play - mother, father, breadwinner, job description, etc.
This is sort of like structured play time. We culturally find ourselves in a situation with a preconceived notion of what we must create. "Today children, we will assemble the self portrait we drew on cardboard and connect it with clasps."
There is not a lot of individual expression in this type of creation. It leans towards the cookie-cutter approach. Our cultural role, for a large part of life, determines what we create.
When that role ends (think soccer mom after the kids have left the nest), we believe we have lost our creativity. No, we have just lost the familiarity of that environment. Our creativity remains whole, although our lives seem fractured past the point of creativity.
As long as you are breathing, you have the innate ability to create.
When roles change or disappear, a tendency for laziness can set in. If it does, we either look back for the return of the good old days, or we look forward to a perpetual , exciting ride on the creative coattails of others. Neither fulfills us.
When you stop creating, you begin dying. It may take you 20 or 30 years to complete this process, but in the interim you are the walking dead.
The stereotypical movie socialite with too much time and money on their hands, who slips into some form of addiction, is the poster child for lethargy towards creativity.
They depend on other peoples' creations to sustain them and feel the emptiness when they cannot absorb another's creativity as their own. This leads to a downward spiral of chasing the horizon, continually looking outside of themselves for the sustenance that personal creativity brings.
Add to this, the group of people who start and stop creative project after creative project and rarely finish any of them. They know they have creativity, but own the core belief that it's in limited supply. This causes them to think that what they have to offer isn't good enough. This thinking causes them to stop and look for something more creative to do, only to stop again.
The lack of creativity stems from the belief that we don't have access to it, enough of it, or the attitude of indolence that we can exist without it. All those beliefs lead to pain.
The main purpose I see in life is to co-create with the life force that lives you. This creative force is with you your whole life. It doesn't sleep, take sick days or vacations. The only way to stop its flow is to believe it's not necessary, not in abundant supply, or not available to you.
Creativity begins with letting it flow. This means to disassemble your self-constructed dam and let the creative waters cascade over you, washing away the limiting beliefs that hold you in place.
This flow begins when we drop the rules and expectations we have for creativity. Reminds me of a story I've told before . . .
My mother wanted my sister to go into business so that she could sell her arts and crafts. It was more than mother's pride. My sister truly has an artistic gift. My mother never understood my sister's rationale for not doing so. My sister summed it up like this: "Mom, I only want to paint when I want to paint."
My mother had an expectation for creativity to show up on a predictable schedule.
The rules about creativity are the beliefs we carry about it. Many believe that creativity is something special and is only available to a chosen few. The truth is, it is something special, ever present, and it's nearer than your next thought.
There is no way to force creativity, but you can grease the skids. Here are two methods to consider: One is consciously deliberate and the other is more meditative.
The deliberate method comes from an interview I heard with Robert Parker, author of the Spenser private detective books. He said he sets aside a specific time each day for writing. He does it like clockwork. Either creativity comes or it doesn't. He finds that more creativity shows up when he sets aside the time than when he doesn't.
The less deliberate method is to contemplate creativity. That means to practice some form of mind quieting with the stated intention of unleashing your creativity. This could be as simple as setting the intention to be creative and then noticing your breathing for a few minutes.
Just the quieting of your internal voice, even for a few moments, often creates the space for something new and creative to enter your mind.
Creativity is anything that contributes to your or another's life. It needn't be lofty, just useful.
Many religions teach that we are created in the image of God. That means we are all creators.
Set aside time for creativity to arrive today, or quiet your mind and bypass your limiting beliefs so that creativity can break through the dam. Then act on that feeling and create something today. Be sure to notice how wonderful it feels to be in the flow of life by contributing something worthwhile - a special piece of you.
All the best,
John
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