091: Don't Bury Your Creativity

I'm a creative.

I make no apologies or unnecessary explanations for that.

Could be why my career-shift in 2006 has me writing professionally to this day - and likely the remainder of my days.

It's also why I see my life, the world, people, and opportunities through a creative-lens.

Rick Rubin's book, "The Creative Act: A Way of Being" has become a muse of sorts for my creativity-bent.

"Creativity doesn't exclusively relate to making art. We all engage in this act on a daily basis. To create is to bring something into existence that wasn't there before. It could be a conversation, the solution to a problem, a note to friend, the rearrangement of furniture in a room, a new route home to avoid a traffic jam."1

He's spot-on: you have more creativity in you than you may realize!

Why waste it, or worse, bury it?

If I may be so blunt: the day will come when you occupy a grave.

I deeply hope you don't allow what could be among your life's creative endeavors to be buried with you.

Entrepreneur and content creator, Todd Brison, challenges,

"Many people will go to their graves without your ideas. Your ideas have enormous power. They contain life lessons, moments of enormous creativity, strategies, and helpful inspiration that can get someone out of a dark place.

When your ideas die so do the people who they could have helped. That scares the crap out of me. It should scare you too."2

The conviction that you, yes you, have ideas, lessons, creativity, strategies, and inspiration that could benefit others but that also could go untested or untried and eventually die with you is indeed a scary thought.

A creative act or pursuit could become a substantial piece of your legacy - now's the time to do something that outlives you

• Live in color (not everything is black-and-white)
• Love without judgement (not everyone requires your opinion)
• Linger long enough to discover (nothing truly creative happens fast)

Live life with a full color-palette

If your world is black-and-white, devoid of color, how compelling is that?

I realize you might be one who likes everything cut-and-dried without much wiggle room.

I'm color-blind to an extent.

Certain color shades keep me from picking out my clothes without assistance (well, not really, but my wife does have to stop me at the door on occasion).

My color-shade blindness could be why I'm sometimes drawn to the brighter colors.

Thinking about it, that's why I step out of the box, away from the mundane and sometimes confusing color schemes, and mix things up a bit.

And frankly, it fits my creative vibe.

• See, really see, the beauty and vibrancy of life around you.
• Welcome new, fresh, untested insights or perspectives instead of following the status-quo, axe-to-grind crowd.
• Throw some color into your conversations, your thought-processes, and your beliefs and values.

Live without judgement and feeling the need to (always) have an opinion

In my creative zone of life I've discovered the value of suspending judgement.

That doesn't mean I'm a total "whatever-suits-you" kind of guy (although I am quite open minded about many things).

But I am open to the possibility that how I see or perceive someone, a circumstance, or an opportunity isn't the final edition.

Books, newsfeeds, music each have updated or remastered editions.

Why?

Because not all initial judgements, thoughts, opinions, or melodies have an evergreen shelf-life.

Living without judgement requires, on occasion, that you keep your opinions to yourself.

I have an outlet to voice my opinion about many things but I choose not to mainly because I don't want to unnecessarily stir up judgement.

• Bite your tongue when you're tempted to pass judgement.
• Build rapport by seeking to understand opinions and perspectives contrary to your own.
• Become more open-minded by listening to contrary opinions without having to voice your own as a rebuttal.

Linger in discovery and let creativity happen

Much of life and its creative wonders will pass you by if you rush things.

The pace of life can be set for you but you don't have to run according to its timeframe.

Pace yourself to allow for more discovery.

Pause, ponder, be perplexed by what you see and experience.

Life's too short to rush (or jump) to conclusions.

• Sit in silence without being intimidated by it and listen...really listen.
• Look beneath the surface of encounters with people, nature, and information.
• Believe that there's more than one answer to the questions being asked or solutions to the problem at hand.

Tap into your creativity - it would be a shame for yourself or others to miss out on what you and you alone could create

• Live life with a full color-palette
• Live without judgement and feeling the need to (always) have an opinion
• Linger in discovery and let creativity happen

Press on...

Eddie

Sources:

1-Rick Rubin, The Creative Act: A Way of Being, pp. 1-2.

2-https://timdenning.com/its-time-to-build-something-that-will-change-your-life-stop-wasting-time/