The earth is a wondrous place—from the colors of the changing seasons to the way the sunlight shines at various angles during the year. The numerous varieties of flowers and plants to the diversity of insects, bugs, and animals is astounding. Beauty and wonder is all around
I feel driven to create every day. However, I do not always have the ideas, energy, or momentum to follow through with a creative project on a daily basis. I often tell myself I don’t have time or that other things are more important. My inner voice tells me that if I don’t have hours to devote to creativity then I may as well not be creative at all.
Often I get too caught up in work I have to do, work I want to do, and thinking about work I should be doing. Sometimes, to relax and get away from the grind, I simply turn on the TV and enjoy turning off the part of my brain that tells me to work.
Make something that did not exist before you created it. Make some art: compose music, write a poem, draw, or, live as only you can. You are the only one living right now, in this moment, with your experiences, with your dreams, with your abilities, and with your unique perspectives. The world needs your art. You need your art.
I want to be creative, feel confident in who I am, and have inner calm. I want to accept failures, learn from them, and then move ahead. Finding the path to do this and finding inner peace began, for me, with saying, “I am letting go.”
I drove to Nashville on Thursday, March 29, 2007 for the NSAI Songwriter Symposium. The night before I left, I read my pastor’s sermon from the previous Sunday about providence. It convinced me to be on the lookout for providence during my trip—and assume that everything that happened and everyone I met was providential. That idea changed how I perceived the people and events around me.
Every day can be a day of creativity. Many people say they feel more alive and are happier when they are creating. We need to create every day to build our creative muscles. It would be good to just simply dive into some project, but what doubt or fear keeps us from being creative?
Being creative is difficult. I have trouble settling on creative projects, working on projects, and finishing projects. My mind often becomes like tangled train tracks not knowing which direction to go or what track to follow.
Staring at a blank canvas or page can be intimidating. Can you make tangible the images, words, or notes in your head? In your mind’s eye? In your imagination? It takes courage to believe in yourself and let your true inner voice be heard.
The idea behind the phrase is to take small steps with an eye toward a bigger goal. I like the phrase because simply taking one small step seems easy. The problem usually occurs in actually continuing to take baby steps. I tend to want everything now.
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