Thoughts, reflections, and musings on living creatively
by Doug Smith

The Creative Life Stops Surrendering
No more putting off until everything else is done to get creative. Creativity starts now, in the moment. Carry it with you. Bring it to the table. Make it your contrbution, your companion, your calling card.

Will creativity get in the way? Will it prevent you from meeting your other responsibilities? Will it interfre with your relationships? Will it force you to make new choices?

Since I've begun a journey (maybe re-engaged, re-launched, or restarted is a better more accurate way of saying it) of ramping up my creativity, of getting back on track, of traveling in artistic possibility, I now find myself more capable of meeting my commitments and more able to achieve my goals. Creativity empowers. Yes, I have had to renegotiate energetically to move forward on several key projects but that is due to inertia suffered before I climbed back on the creativity train.

Yes, my relationships are changing: getting deedper and more authentic and closer than ever before. Yes, new and big decisions emerge every day -- some I can't be sure at first how to navigate. Life (God bless life everybody!) is emerging, developing, flowering every second of every day. It's downright cretive, that's what it is.

The Creative Life celebrates living

It's all new every moment. It's all God's gift to us. It's all up to us to create the living we find filled with treasure and joy. Credit any imperfections to yet another draft. We are still (and always) perfeting ourselfes becaue not only are we constantly changing -- so is everyone and everything else! And that's good!

The creative life embraces your God-given gifts. It says, loud and proud, "this is what I do...this is my gift to you."

Sharing your talents, especially in the service of others, can be our greatest joy. We fly on the wings God wants us to exercise. We sing with the voices that God wants to hear. We create in the spirit of God's own creation. God's own creativity hums in us and through us (the Ultimate Creative, God).

The creative life bands us together. Sharing our gifts makes us complete. Witnessing and experiencing others ahre their gifts provides respect, love, joy, and awe at the sweet and wonderful diverse talents we can share and enjoy. Our shared creativity supported with courage and compassion, floats and soars around us and thru us: a tight yet flowing jam session with our collective instruments all in rare form.

The creative life keeps us energized, active, moving, and ever-so-adaptable. We roll with change; we create more change because creativity is change. We evolve and emerge and create and celebrate that creativity with the bright inner light of passion.

The creative life melts problems into promises. It steels our dancing eyes for strength and power. It makes us bold! We control, or ininfluence, or adapt any situation that knocks on our door as our next splended and welcome creative opportunity. It's all good and it's all ours.

Your next creative moment is right there in front of you. Your next great masterpiece is ready for you to begin!

The Creative Life bonds us together

Sharing our gifts makes us complete. Witnessing and experiencing others share their gifts provides respect love, joy and awe at the sweet and wonderful pallette of diverse talents we can share and enjoy. Our shared creativity -- supported with courage and compassion, floats and soars around us and thru us: a tight yet flowing jam session with our collective instruments all in rare form.

Tune up and join in the band!

The Creative Life keeps us energized

Fully engaged with our own creativity; fully using our gifts we are active, moving, and ever-so-adaptable. We roll with change, we create more change because creativity is change with a grin. We evolve and emerge and create and celebrate that creativity with the biright inner light of passion.

Think about your most recent creative act. How did it make you feel? Did you feel more alive than usual? Did you feel charged up and ready to keep going? Did you feel like all was right with the world and you had something to do with that feeling?

That's your body telling you that your creativity is keeping you energized. It sparkles your life. It sings your favorite song. It shines your shoes. (Well, maybe it won't shine your shoes...)

Plug in to your own creative life and feel the energy.

The Creative Life melts problems into promises

Creativity strengthens our dancing eyes for steel-like power. It makes us bold! It rustproofs our perspective. We control, or influence, or adapt any situation that knocks on our door as one suited to be our next splendid and welcome creative opportunity. It's all good and it's all ours.

Your next creative moment is right there in front of you.

Your next great masterpiece is ready for you to begin.

The creative universe counts you in.

The creative life shakes hands with your better self, your happy self, your complete yet untapped potential self -- a quick and colorful and powerful entitiy of sensational art. Living, walking, breathing creativity in this moment, in all moments, for ourselves and for everyone.

The creative life shuffles its feet, ruffles your feathers, and connects together forever the pulse, the rhythm, the dance of creation.

The Creative Life is for all ages

The creative life is not just for young people (although young people know it well). We all can play. The young do often enjoy a creative edge being less fearful and more exploring. Young people are plenty creative. And, while many may feel a fading of creativity as time takes their spark and verve and one pair of socks each laundry cycle (well, some cycles anyway) time can't really take what is yours to keep: the creative life (if you want it)!

For while your body may stop growing (except for some odd reason the nose and ears, which never stop growing) you need never stop growing creatively. You can keep growing creatively as long as breath fills your lungs and the world keeps spinning.

Your sense of creativity, your source of creativity, your use of creativity continues your whole life and you only need to invite it in, take it for a walk, and produce all the creativity you need to laugh, to play, and so switch those problems into possibilities.

If you haven't sung in a while, sing something new today.

If you haven't painted a picture in a while, paint something simple and elegant today.

If you haven't ever made a collage, get cutting and pasting today.

The creative life is for your now and for someday you're older than today.

The Creative Life wants your full attention

Wake up! Attend to your muse immediately, because the creative life wants your full attention. It wants my full attention. That's good -- thats effective -- because everthing you do, everything you touch, everywhere you go and every one you meete benefits from increasing your creativity. Let's make it better. Let's keep on making it better. Let's give the creative life our full attention. Every sense engaged in experiencing new ways to use our gifts, our talents and our skills. Sustain a sense of constantly developing, constantly growing, constantly adding to the positve mix creatively.

Wake up!

The Creative Life is a choice that you make

A wave forms in the back of your mind and you think it over. What is this all about? How far can I take this? What does it mean?

What does it all mean?

You look and see that there is a precipace to cross. Camus' leap. Sarte's jump. Dali's grin urges you on and as you near the edge you think, "what if this doesn't go anywhere?" and then you either leap -- headlong arms flailing, legs bouncing about -- into the wild, or you do not.

What will it be?

Make a choice. Pause. Read the feedback. Make another choice.

Here's a tip. You usually do get more than one choice, and one wrong choice doesn't dump the game. If it's the creative life you want, that's a choice you make, when you make it. Even if it wasn't your first choice.

It's your game. Try a few new rules.