The 12 Days of Creativity… Day 2

Posted on Dec 15, 2011

“On the second day of Creativity…”

“If only I knew what I wanted.” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard people say this through the years… and how many times I’ve said it myself along the way. Discovering what you’re called to – what you want to do, be, have, or create – seems like the first step in the creative process. In fact, it is the second.

Knowing what you want is a response to knowing what you don’t want.

Station 2 of the Wheel of Creativity is Appetite. Telling the truth about your Hunger – the vague sense of emptiness in Station 1 – brings you awareness of what you’re hungry for in Station 2. Paying attention to your Hunger tells you what you what you long for; it reveals your desire. And that gives direction to your life.

In late 2001, I reached a major turning point… the convergence of three endings: a two-year relationship, an all-consuming work project and the lease on my home. I knew I needed to leave where I was… but I had no idea where to go next. “This isn’t it” became my mantra. As months of restlessness passed, and I finally stopped fighting, a deeply buried longing became clear: “I need to lie on my back in the sun with my eyes closed.” That’s all I knew. But that knowing, which came from my deepest Self, gave me direction for my next step: a six-week “walkabout” in Europe.

Most of us, myself included, get stuck in the NOT of it all, resisting our longing because it is uncomfortable. We are conditioned by the pessimism around us to believe that we cannot have what we want, or that we need the latest XYZ to have it. Eventually we stop wanting what we want, stop knowing what we know, and stop feeling what we feel. We must regain our inner senses in order to truly live our own lives.

Station 1 asks you to tell the truth about your hunger. Station 2 asks you to pay attention to it until you know what you need. The gnawing in the spiritual belly reveals the empty places in your life; what will nourish you becomes clear in the space there. This can apply to:

  • Your work
  • Your health
  • Your marriage
  • Your art
  • Any area of your life

Station 2 is where you translate what you don’t want into what you do want.

Yesterday, you chose one area of your life you’d like to change. Today, I invite you to pay attention to your hunger until you know what you need and want there.

  • What do you wish for in this area?
  • How would you like things to be?
  • What do you dream of here?

Come out into the sunshine and witness your own Vision.

 

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The 12 Days of Creativity… Day 3