One of the most fundamental truths is that our purpose during our time on earth is to create. I believe that GOD instills in each of us a special purpose and within that purpose is a dynamic and awesome creativity and ability to have original thought and original creativity. To be sure, we also are blessed with a "will" to choose whether we "tap into" or develop our creative skills or talents...but the important thing is that we are meant to create. The creative process may be developed over time, honed by experience or circumstance or simply fueled by inspiration, timing or the "forces" around us. Most people are most happy when they are creating.....and in creating they find that their natural skills, talents, abilities, desires all converge in the creative process. Creation comes in all shapes and forms. A mother or father, a worker, a teacher or student all create. Often the person who appears to be the "teacher" is the student and vice versa. I believe it is important to recognize and be conscious of our purpose to create because awareness and knowledge helps us to remove obstacles, most namely ourselves, in "tapping" into the source of our creativity. Magic occurs and miracles appear when someone discovers their creative purpose. Sometimes, in life, we get bogged down, reacting to our circumstance, problems, processes and the "daily grind" of life......and yet when we connect with our creativity.......we are energized and our passion to create can't be held back. We each have a responsibility to reach out a hand and to help others to find their creative purpose......sometimes by simply giving an encouraging word, by seeing others as they can be, not as they have been or as they are at this moment. We each also, have a responsibility to encourage ourselves, every day, to create something new........and to give of ourselves in a way that makes our life, and the lives of others more meaningful. Creating doesn't have to be anything that appears big in life......It doesn't have to be carving a statue of "David" or writing a hit song. It can simply be writing a few words in a journal or saying a kind word to someone in need........Invest in your life and in your world by living your purpose - Create!
1 comment:
This is one of my favorite posts! The adorable photo reminds me of the infinite possibilities presented to us by youth. It taps into my fondest impulses as a mother and reminds me that at all ages we are well served to encourage our unique creativity. It also brings to mind a very satisfying and unexpectedly worthwhile movie I recently stumbled across thanks to my daughter who needed to view it for scenes of Indiana University’s architecture. “Breaking Away” had both of us laughing and tugging at our heart with its depiction of the beauty of allowing our children to embrace their attempts at creativity. Not only did we get to drink in frames & frames of Dennis Quaid in his own hottie youth, but it reminded me of my own personal odyssey in upstate New York as I found my very first passion. My personal experience was not unlike the character in this movie as I discovered, to the utter confusion of my parents, the French language. Despite our European roots, we were decidedly American and I am, to this day, still viewed as the wayward daughter who insisted on embarking on another path. That I insisted on attending an out of state university (Georgetown), living in NYC, marrying outside my culture and speaking French with my daughters – all these efforts at self expression – upset their world view and took them out of their comfort zone. To this day, their lack of understanding still has the power to hurt and I was determined, as a mother, to make the ultimate effort to allow my daughters the freedom to be whom they choose to be. What is redemptive in this movie (as it comes to us from Hollywood) is the illustration of your very insightful comment that, if we open ourselves to it, an exchange can occur between people who then evolve too. In the end, I believe that my parents did evolve, just not willingly nor in a cinematically satisfying manner.
Reliving the past, however painful, helps us make better choices in the present and future. As I contemplate my two daughters and their life arcs, I often have the desire to share the fruit of my reflections with them. This attempt to give understanding where I got little is most usually greeted by their indifference. It’s instructive to remember that we can’t impose how our gifts will be received. Both chose very different paths as a reaction to their rigid French schooling; Justine, an even more demanding course of study in architecture at Cornell; Janine, attendance at the most liberal Ivy she could find at Brown. In the end, my most enduring hope for my progeny is that whatever they choose to do, they do it with enthusiasm.
A very recent fear of mine was that I had lost my deep and committed sense of personal enthusiasm for life. It was far sadder to me that losing all the materials goods of the past few years. In the end, by letting go of my fear of what the future held, I regained my enthusiasm for life and take joy in making my personal choices each day. Now in the midst of my personal renaissance, I reconnect with my enduring passions of language and dance with no more expectation than simply following my bliss.
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