THE WHEEL OF CREATIVITY

I am having trouble with my downstairs neighbor. He would say he is having trouble with me. He has complained that I am too noisy, primarily that he can’t take my walking back and forth in my apartment (which I do a lot, as I work at home). For the past few days, I have been unable to take a step without thinking of him, and wondering if…. My emotions vacillate between anger, worry and catastrophizing. But this morning I had a new thought.

The irony of all this is that I have been aware lately that I have been more nervous that usual, more anxious, more tense. I am aware that the disruption, destabilization and disasters around our world are disturbing me. What can I do? And I am left with a bundle of emotions inside, and very little sense of power to change anything.

So I have been working with my breath, trying to remember to keep breathing as I do other things. When I think… keep breathing. When I move my arm… keep breathing. When I read an email, keep breathing. It is amazing me how often I catch myself holding my breath.

In a way, it is not surprising, as I believe we are all doing a little breath-holding these days, waiting to see what transpires in the many vulnerable places in the world. But when it becomes a habit, as it has in me, the entire body is affected. My movements become less fluid, more abrupt. My thoughts and emotions get stuck. And I would imagine that my steps become heavier. So today, as I watch my breath throughout the day, I am watching my steps as well.

As individuals we may feel powerless, but we are not. To begin to perceive myself as powerful in the world begins with the simple reminder that my natural relationship to life is as a creator. This changes everything. It also shifts our perceptions of right and wrong, good and bad.

The process of dissolution is essential to the process of creation, because old forms must die to release the energy for new forms to be created. Then even those whose role in the world is destruction play a creative role. Even the neighbor downstairs, who has caused me to examine my everyday life, is part of my evolution.

Our relationship to the earth teaches us so much about ourselves. Just as other people offer us the opportunity to look at and amend things in ourselves that hold us back, so the world today is offering us this as a species.

Today I can see the plan and all our parts in it. And today, it makes me grateful. In losing touch with my breath, I had lost touch with body and with myself. I had fallen out of love with my life. And life is too sacred to not appreciate it. One day I will not be here. One day perhaps, this planet may too be gone, or may return to some dormant state that will not support life. Will we have regrets?

In the last months of my mother’s life, she was very ill. I knew that I wanted to do whatever was necessary not to have regrets when she was gone. So I left my home and my work and went to live with her. Her dying process lasted six months. It was difficult. She suffered a lot. But our relationship evolved farther in those six months than all the 40 years before. She needed me, and I was there. And through that experience she gave me her final gift; she showed me the kind of love I was capable of. That love is the most creative force in the world. We hold its power in our breath and in how we walk through our lives.

Every one of us, great and small, plays a part in creating this world. Just for today, let us take responsibility for our part. Let us breathe deeply to connect with the creative force of life in us. And let us, just for today, walk a little more softly on the Earth.

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I am writing in haste this morning, as we are preparing to get on a plane for Sri Lanka, the small island country south of India, once called Ceylon. I am going to Sri Lanka at the invitation of my husband, who was there a decade ago and has always wanted me to see it.

Usually, when I make a trip like this, I have done a great deal of research, and have an idea of the culture and history, with someone else’s guidance about what is worth seeing there. This time I have done very little research (have not even looked at the site in the link above). I am actually happy about that.

What I do know is that there are things there I have never seen: baby elephants, tea plantations, spotted leopards, lemur monkeys, Buddhist temples, and ritual dances, to name a few. I look forward to experiencing all these things, and to discovering all the things I do not know there. I like surprises when I travel. In truth, I like surprises in life.

I grew up in a culture where it was very important to know… important to be right… important to have the answers. Somehow it often feels safer to rest within the boundaries of what we know and understand. But this safety is an illusion, and will eventually be shattered when what we don’t know pierces our safety net. It always does. That day usually comes as a shock… and a blessing.

When I travel, I often think of Lawrence Kasdan’s film, “The Accidental Tourist,” in which travel writer Macon Leary always attempts to travel without leaving home, eating at McDonald’s and minimizing his contact with the unfamiliar. It seems ridiculous to us, but this is how many of us live. I did.

As we set off today on our 10-hour flight from Heathrow to Colombo, I have completed the basics. I have had shots for tetanus, typhoid and Hep-A. I have my daily pills for malaria and tropical zone mosquito lotion. We have booked our hotel and transport for a week. We know it is risky to travel north, for security reasons. We have taken precautions.

But today I am delighted to be leaving the world I know for a world I have never experienced, knowing there will be ecstasies and agonies along the way. I will see things, eat things, hear languages, meet people for the first time. There is so much diversity of life out there to discover and be enriched by, but only if we are willing to leave home.

The Wheel of Creativity describes the experience of life as a creative journey. The first step in that journey, from my experience and others’, is to listen to what you long for, to follow what attracts you, and then to let go. Getting on a plane is not required. The journey begins within your mind and heart. Whatever you’re doing today, this day can be an adventure or the same-ol’-same’ol’.  You can travel through your life accidentally or deliberately. Which would you prefer?

More from me in Sri Lanka in a week or so, whenever I can get online…

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In every project there comes a moment when you have to be willing to let it go. It is a vulnerable time, like the first time a young bird tries its wings. But it is crucial step in the life of any project, to test its ability to make it in the world.

Last night was such a moment for me, and The Wheel of Creativity.

Last night in Nice, I let my baby bird fly in a room of more than 30 people, who were there to participate in the first WHEEL OF CREATIVITY QuickStart. After more than 10 years’ work developing my concepts—talking to people from all over the world in all walks of life about their experience of creativity, and revealing it in small controlled steps (from a year-long workshop program to a TV pilot)—I had finally reached the point to release it into the hands and hearts of this group. Ready or not, perfect or imperfect, it was time to make the leap.

The view from my window here is a landscape of red tile roofs atop centuries-old villas. Right now, three of these rooftops are nests for families of seagulls nurturing babies to the point where they can fly. On three rooftops, I can see three developmental stages in a baby seagull’s life:  the baby birds who vulnerably await their parent’s return with breakfast; the demanding young birds who can’t yet fish for themselves; and the joyful adolescents who test their wings on brief but ecstatic excursions.

Flying lessons are not easy for seagulls.  Parents perch on distant points and call; babies cry in response, “No, I’m not ready.” Parents try a little something different; still fear in response.  But, eventually, a leap must be made. And therein lies the joy: “Yes, I can!” Perhaps there is a misstep or a fall. Perhaps a crisis of confidence. But there is flight. There is, I have also observed, an optimum moment for the maiden voyage. And if it is not taken, as the bird gets bigger and heavier that voyage becomes more and more difficult.

As a map of the creative journey, The Wheel of Creativity stops in 12 stations from Hunger to Harvest.  Each station is a necessary part of the journey, as it moves us full circle from a sense of longing, through isolation and crisis to breakthrough, and finally to the satisfaction of creating what we longed for at the start. I have experienced these stations myself throughout my life, and I have heard person after person recognize themselves within them

Last night’s QuickStart was an experience, designed not only to explain my concepts and ideas, but also to put the power of the principles into people’s hands. Knowing a process intellectually and taking your place in it are as different as knowing the aerodynamics of flying and jumping off the rooftop. There is a time to sit at your computer analyzing possibilities and perfecting techniques, and there is a time to let it fly and make its best contribution in the world. And there is no way to know if it will fly until you let it go.

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