Creativity and Passion
Do you have the audacity to live your life with creativity and passion? Do you live with boldness and confidence? Do you dare to try new things and strive to be the person you were meant to be?
The Life-Force Within
Creativity and passion contain boundless energy. They provide all the components of a fulfilling, productive, and satisfying life. Let's imagine for a moment that the creative force that formed our world is the same force inside each one of us. Think about the formation of water and light; the infusion of organic material into the picture, and then the infusion of life itself into nature. You can understand that the very same nature is contained within the heart and mind of each of us. It is intrinsic—passed down in our genes, in our souls and spirits, in our very natures. It is an energy, a life-force that is capable of its own type of genesis. And creativity itself is infused and driven by passion. The two—creativity and passion—are inseparable in the creative person, as one drives the other.
Don't Subdue Your Driving Force
Passion is the driving force behind creativity. Passion is the fuel to the energy of creation. Passion has to be nurtured; it has to be understood as a tension within, a desire to use one's own life force to make something happen. Passion looks temperamental, but if directed into creative acts it can become a wildfire, an incredible expression of beauty. And like a wildfire, it can be spread to others by the intensity of its flames. Others can catch it from us, if we fan its flames and live it on our sleeves.
We are designed to be passionate and creative. Our rational minds are also powerful, and they can either override our creative natures and subdue and suppress them, or our minds can become expansive and open, allowing our passion and creativity to flourish. With the higher rationality of the mind, we have a built-in director to shape, focus, and define our creative acts.
Think for a moment about the daily occupations of people. When you focus on their individual occupations, you quickly see that each one has the capacity to use creativity to do something meaningful and beautiful with their work. The arts are an obvious area where humans express creativity to achieve beauty. But what about the scientist? The farmer? The architect? The cook? The doctor? What about those who serve? Let your mind think for a moment about any occupation, and you will see an avenue to creativity within each one.
What Went Wrong?
As children, we were naturally curious and creative. We role-played and used make-believe fluidly and with no holds on our imaginations. The adults around us even encouraged us in our play. What happened to us? Somewhere along the way we were
directed to "grow up." Forced, even, into concrete, rational modes of being that pushed free creativity aside. We were not encouraged to explore the things we might be good at. Our passion and creativity were strangled by the constraints of doing something rote with our lives, working hard to ensure our survival. This was not all bad, but the tragedy of it was that our creative natures were deemed of little value.
Some individuals rebelled against the quashing of their inborn natures and chased passion for its own sake, pendulums swinging to the far end of the arc, rejecting any rational, directing control from the higher mind. This did not lead to the flourishing of creativity, but rather to the self-destruction of the individual. There was no longer any balance whatsoever.
Balance and Moderation are Critical
Time and again I see that moderation in all things gives the benefits of health. If we do not strive for balance, we will be off-kilter and ineffective in all areas of our lives.
Writers Arise
For the writer, consider this quote by Margaret Hefernen: "A great deal of creativity is about pattern recognition; and what you need to discern patterns is tons of data. Your mind collects that data by taking note of random details and anomalies seen every day: quirks and changes that, eventually, add up to insights."
We have a strong drive for meaning and understanding, not only of who we are, but why we are, and this drives us to make associations between things, to bring meaning and understanding to our existence.
Writers, continue to foster your creativity and passion. Seek understanding. Embrace beauty. Love people and work hard at your art. There is no higher calling than to be a positive force for good, for change, for insight that betters humanity. Above all and at every opportunity, protect, nurture, and feed the life force within you, and never give in to complacency. Be everything you are meant to be; live and love without reservation. Be the light.
