April 2006

Ray of the month:  Creative Expression

As I look out my office window, signs of spring abound.  The tulips and daffodils are sporting their bold colors and the peach and plum trees are budding, giving an enticing foreshadowing of the fruits they will bear in the coming months.

As I see these signs of spring so plentiful in the natural world, I reflect upon them in my personal world.  Where do I find boldness and the promise of juiciness? 

Creative Expression offers both.  When I am expressing my creativity, I am in touch with an aliveness and an empowerment that uplifts me, nurtures me, and connects me to my essence.  I am creating something that only I can create, as an expression of my true self.

In daily life, I am all too often adjusting to the situation.  Children, clients, friends, media, catalogues, phone calls and emails pull me in a hundred directions at once.  Now please don't get me wrong--flexibility is a wonderful trait and a skill to be developed.  But when I am so flexible that I lose touch with my authenticity, I lose the strength of the uniqueness of me.

During the process of creative expression, I craft my unique contribution to the world.  When I follow a recipe to make oatmeal cookies, I am in "executive expression," meaning that I am executing someone else's vision for the cookies.  When, on a whim, I am moved to add some dried cranberries or ground macadamia nuts, the process takes on a whole new meaning—one that includes forming a vision and experimentation.  Thus the cookie baking becomes creative expression.

For many years, I believed that creative expression was about drawing and painting.  Unfortunately, I also believed that I was unskilled in those areas.  My main outlet for creative expression was composing music, but when I no longer had a big band at my disposal to execute my creative visions, I was left in a void. 

Since that time, I have come to appreciate the infinite number of avenues for creative expression we all have.  I now enjoy crafting new soups, fashioning different pieces of clothing into a colorful outfit, creating curricula for Nonviolent Communication classes, and even writing this newsletter as ways to express my creativity.  And, yes, I have even begun to draw and paint (thank you, Monart!).

Rahima Baldwin, in You Are Your Child's First Teacher, lists creative expression in the top three necessities for happiness in motherhood.  In my own experience, when I am in a creative flow, many other areas of my life also seem to flow—interpersonal relationships, housekeeping, finances, etc.  Could it be that when I am experiencing obstacles in any area of my life, creative expression can hold a key to unlocking an abundance of solutions?

Questions for Reflection:
1.  In what ways have you previously met your need for creative expression?
2.  How is it manifesting currently?
3.  How do you feel about the amount of creative expression in your life?  Acknowledge and embrace that feeling.
4.  If you are experiencing a satisfactory amount of creative expression in your life, celebrate!  Connect with the gifts it is bringing to you.
5.  If you would like more creative expression, what kind of support do you need to enter the creative flow?  Time to yourself, one-on-one connection with a friend or coach, paper and paint, a class on technique in your area of interest, music to listen to while you work, an empty table?