Creativity= granting permission to create.

“Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it.  Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.”

~Goethe and/or William Hutchinson Murray

I want to invite you to take a leap with me…

With the new year just around the corner, will you commit to having a 2010 that is juicy and audacious with creativity?

WARNING:

Side affects may include (but are not limited to):  wonder, curiosity, making mountains out of molehills, profound freedom, spontaneous wishing, sudden bouts of behaving like a child, finding magic in your mistakes, and uncontrollable joy.

I was sitting at a table with a group of folks a couple of months ago when one woman asked me how to overcome her fear of making art due to not wanting to get dirty…

“Oh, that’s easy,”  I said.  “Fingerpaints.”

For a split second, she looked at me with such horror in her eyes that I thought she might just clobber me right then and there…  but then her expression softened, and there was a somewhat mischievous light in her eyes that wasn’t there before.  It was as if in that moment, she was given permission to let loose, make a mess, fly off the handle.

I have talked to way too many folks who, upon my suggestion, would have rolled their eyes, insisted that they don’t have an artistic bone in their bodies, and left it at that.   Ah yes, we’ve been trained well, haven’t we?  We live in a society that values competition over inspiration and aesthetics over sacred process, so much so that there’s an overbearing distinction between winning and losing at creativity, leaving hardly any room for the in-between.   At the first rejection or sign of “failure” at painting or building a sculpture or writing a manuscript, many of us give up on it entirely, dubbing ourselves untalented and better off putting our focus toward more profitable work.

We are taught from a very early age that if we don’t color within the lines, we’re doing it all wrong, and if we don’t color the sky blue, we won’t get the encouragement needed in order for us to expand our creative confidence.   Over and over, we witness artists not getting funding and struggling to make ends meet;  and at the same time, we marvel at the single stroke of blue paint on a canvas that sells for thousands of dollars in a prestigious gallery, and think, “I could’ve done that,” oblivious to the fact we hadn’t ever given ourselves the chance to try.

Here I am talking about creating with our hands…  which, if nothing else,  is a beautiful way of embodying and expressing what we create with our hearts…  for our lives are beautiful landscapes and portraits that we create and refine every single day, with every single thought we think and every breath we take.

But still, many of us roll our eyes and insist that our cubicle jobs and white picket fence are enough.  If we risk stepping into our potential and honoring the possibilities, we may stir things up and make a mess.   If we step out of the box, we might be doing it all wrong.  If we don’t do what’s expected of us,  we might not  have the support  and encouragement to keep going.  If we screw up or fumble, we may get embarrassed.

So what?

It’s time to stop ignoring all of the little creative whispers from our spirits simply because our to-do list is that much louder.  It’s time to stop turning down all of our impulses and visions because they just seem so doggone absurd or unacceptable or unobtainable.

What would it take for you to give yourself permission to create?

I invite you (and double dare you) to…

Imagine yourself as a creative being.  Yes, you.  Artsy fartsy, powerful, playful, unique, and creative.

Stop worrying about what anybody else thinks.    Who you are and what you do is YOUR choice, and comes from within YOUR spirit.  Opinions and judgements belong to the person that offers them, not to you.

Treat your creative expression as an experiment or an adventure, rather than a “product.”   Create just to see what happens.  Play.  Be bold, be whimsical, be outrageous.

Try…  and then try again.  There is no such thing as failure, atleast not in my world.  When you fall down , pick yourself up again and keep moving forward.  There is much to learn from our creative “mistakes” if you allow them to happen.

Establish your own creative culture…  let go of those people who keep trying to tell you what they think you should do or seem threatened by your joy or your desire to create,  and surround yourself with like-hearted folks who support, encourage and inspire you.

Saturate your life with creative thinkers…  Read books about artists that intrigue you, or about creativity.  Take workshops or hire a creativity coach.  Cover your walls with children’s art.  Write your own creative manifesto and keep it posted on your refridgerator.

And lastly, if you’re afraid of making a mess, try fingerpainting…

Categories: Creativity, Living Mindfully, gratitude, inside out, life purpose   |   Tags: authenticity, dreamwheels, Lisa Rough, risk, trust, truth  |  4 Comments »

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