When I first learned how to write, I constantly asked my teacher to show me how to write new words, sentences, whole paragraphs. I always carried a piece of paper, notebook or journal to write things down. I do so to this day. I always love(d) to write letters. By age seven, I was the nerd when it came to spelling (math was never my thing though; my brother would want me to add this). English, German, language, linguistics were the subjects I was really good at and took pride in this fact. The borderline obsession with writing continued through high school. I notoriously wrote in my diary, was involved with the school newspaper and journalism. I simply loved writing because it helped me connect with people around me, but also to myself and to emotions I couldn’t express any other way.
At college, I did really well on anything that required creative writing or presentations. I was the editor of group assignments and my peers often came to me to review their stuff. Why am I telling you all this? Because I am very analytical and can zero in on details. I am also telling you this because I have a lot of evidence that I have always been creative and live(d) a creative life – personally and professionally. When I go too long without creating something I feel completely off, depleted and itchy.
I believe and teach my son that, as humans, we are all creators. We are the creation and the creators. It is our natural state. What we create is specific to the person but we are all meant to be creating new things. A problem I feel a lot is that our modern life caters to consumption. We constantly watch, listen to, read, and are bombarded with new information. Visual or otherwise. Aren’t we almost always in consumption mode? Something needs to balance out.
I practice Yoga for many years and love to connect to my body this way. In Yoga, balance is called prana (life force energy) which connects with the apana (regulates the outward flow of prana). This yogic concept has taught me a lot about the importance of becoming aware of how much we consume. Not just information on a daily basis but also energies. By becoming aware and taking notice of how much I take in throughout the day and how much I clear out, I started to feel more balanced.
These days, I have a lot of time to blog and read but I know (very soon) there will be a time when this will change. However, I know that I won’t fall into the false narrative that I don’t have time to write. To sit and write, not for work and money, just for me is important because it balances me. Sometimes it is easier said than done but when times get rough, I do not forget to tap into the things that provide me with sustained energy and joy. I don’t fall into the trap to believe that we are being sold an idea of where our energy should come from and what it looks like to recharge.
Social media tells us what to do: watch TV, consume more, work more to purchase more and so on. The message is so strong that we tend to forget that we actually don’t get energy from watching TV, from working more or accumulating more stuff. The older I get, the more I learn how my body works and what is good and healthy for me. I get energy from creating. I get it from spending quality time with people and nurturing relationships. I get energy from moving my body. I get energy from learning new things. I get energy from being in nature. Nature is the ultimate creation and it teaches me how to accept our gifts and embrace what I do. Do you think nature questions its creativity? It is the creation.
Our creative capacity as a human species is limitless. Part of me believes if we all put our creative minds together, we could solve many of the world’s problems. We need to release our conditional beliefs that we are limited, that we aren’t creative and shift it to that we are capable of so much more. That we are able to do anything we want.
