Are You Brave Enough to Trust the Unknown?
Living a creative life requires more than talent—it demands courage, commitment, and consistency.
In this first edition of A Creative Life, I want to share with you what I see as the purpose of writing these newsletter editions. I'm inspired by the words of the mystical poet Rumi when he says, “Let the beauty that you are be the work that you do.”
Within these coming editions of A Creative Life is the invitation to unfold the “work” that is to be beautifully expressed through you. The word “work” does not refer to your job. The word “work” is to be understood as the work of opening the heart and allowing what is to be created through you to flow into manifestation for your highest good and the highest good of all.
Companioning Your Greatness
It's my work, as I see it, to companion your greatness – (Clouds about the Fallen Sun - W.B. Yeats). To clearly structure this companioning, I have identified what might be called the three pillars for living a creative life. These three pillars are:
• Courage
• Commitment
• Consistency
These are a kind of Holy Trinity. They go together.
Courage: Entering the Heart’s Path
Creativity takes courage.”– Henri Matisse
To be creative, to live a creative life, takes courage. It means that you consciously open to the experience of vulnerability. The word “courage” comes from the root of the French word cour, meaning “to enter the heart.” Notice here that the word does not focus on entering the head.
To live a creative life means to be true to that which created you, to express through you. This takes trust and faith in opening to the process. To quote Rumi once again, “Your heart knows the way. Run in that direction.” Unfortunately, most of our Western educational system does not train you in trusting your own unfoldment.
Education is not the filling of a pail but lighting a fire. – W.B. Yeats
My work is to encourage you to explore what creation desires to be expressed through you. In living in alignment with this creative intention, you are likely to find a greater degree of fulfilment and happiness.
Commitment: Trusting the Unknown
You do not need to know precisely what is happening, or exactly where it is all going. What you need is to recognize the possibilities and challenges offered by the present moment, and to embrace them with courage, faith, and hope. – Thomas Merton
It's not enough to be courageous. You have to be committed. Commitment and consistency go together. Commitment is staying with the process of creativity when you do not KNOW where you are being taken. It is the courage to enter the unknown.
Commitment begins with you, metaphorically speaking, taking the red pill and entering the Wonderland of your own creative potential. Creation is the unfolding of the unknown through you. You have to learn to develop a sense of trust and faith in that which is yet unknown, but which is to be KNOWN through you. Commitment develops confidence in being vulnerable to this unknown.
Consistency: The Path to Creative Flow
The more faithfully you listen to the voice within you, the better you will hear what is sounding outside of you. – Dag Hammarskjöld
The importance of consistency cannot be over emphasised The reality of the creative life is learning how to get into the zone whereby creativity begins to flow. You become one who is “a happening.” You become the beauty that you are here to express. It feels beautiful to be in flow, and consistency is the process of learning how to get out of your own way.
Are You Ready to Companion Your Greatness?
This is a free weekly newsletter that I will be sharing with you to invite you into trusting in the creative energy that is designed to be expressed through you. I will be sharing with you my personal experience as an unfolding creative during my seventh decade of life and the challenges and triumphs of this amazing journey of awakening the heart.
And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.– Anaïs Nin
In the lives of many people, there is an emphasis on physical fitness. Creativity allows you to exercise emotional, psychological, mental, and spiritual muscles that lead to greater integrity, meaning, and purpose. This requires a certain vulnerability. It requires courage, commitment, and consistency.
This is what A Creative Life will help you develop. Are you ready to companion your greatness?