Anyways, my reflection this month is on creativity. Along with a friend, I've been doing this course online with Brene Brown, an awesome writer and researcher in the US. For over a decade, she has been researching shame and vulnerability (you can check out her TED talks on youtube.com).
The course is based on her book 'The Gifts of Imperfection.' It has 12 guideposts in order to live 'wholeheartedly.' Brene (I feel like I'm on first name basis after spending so much time reading and learning on this course) says that wholehearted living "is about engaging in our lives from a place of worthiness. It means cultivating the courage, compassion, and connection to wake up in the morning and think, No matter what gets done and how much is left undone, I am enough. It's going to bed at night thinking, Yes, I am imperfect and vulnerable and sometimes afraid, but that doesn't change the truth that I am also brave and worthy of love and belonging."
I know what you must be thinking, a bunch of self-help crap - I've heard it all before. Yeah...that's what I thought too...but seriously once I got over the cheesiness and uncomfortableness, it has been well worth it.
Anyways, back to the reason for the blog - creativity! One of the recent guideposts in the course was entitled 'Cultivating Creativity; letting go of comparison.'
If you get to know me well, you know that I often say "I'm not very creative" as a blanket statement. So hence the theme of cultivating creativity would normally have me running for the doors. Particularly anything in relation to painting and drawing which I really dislike doing!
However, recently one of my best friends had a baby (a lovely little girl called Sophia) and I really wanted to make something for Sophia when she was born. So I decided to crochet a baby blanket for her and with the help of my Mum and a friend, I managed to get it made by the time Sophia was born. It was a bit of a creative awakening for me. To my complete surprise, I really enjoyed making the baby blanket. I found it quite therapeutic and relaxing - and if I'm honest, I pretty much love being able to do two things at once - eg. talk and crochet, watch TV and crochet, talk, watch TV and crochet etc... - i think you get the picture.
Since then I've crocheted myself a hat, made a baby hat, and even made bunting! I am loving being creative and making things! Anyways, this is a really long winded way of saying, normally the concept of discussing and journaling about creativity would have freaked me out but when (as part of the course) creativity was the focus, I was stoked because of my new found way of engaging with creativity and seeing it in my life. In fact, I was so excited about it that I went around the house wearing my hat (check it out below, pretty awesome aye!!), declaring the intention for that week of the course over and over again which was "I am a creative being, I am a creative being..."
Now I see that I am creative in so many ways and that my definition of creativity was pretty narrow before! eg. painting and drawing are not the only ways to be creative. My creativity is expressed in my cooking, in decorating, in gardening (when I get to it!) and in the hospitality I give to others.
As a last thought, I'll leave you with a few of Brene's quotes on creativity:
"If we want to make meaning, we need to make art. As long as we're creating, we're cultivating meaning."
"The only unique contribution that we will ever make in this world will be born of our creativity."
I know what you must be thinking, a bunch of self-help crap - I've heard it all before. Yeah...that's what I thought too...but seriously once I got over the cheesiness and uncomfortableness, it has been well worth it.
Anyways, back to the reason for the blog - creativity! One of the recent guideposts in the course was entitled 'Cultivating Creativity; letting go of comparison.'
If you get to know me well, you know that I often say "I'm not very creative" as a blanket statement. So hence the theme of cultivating creativity would normally have me running for the doors. Particularly anything in relation to painting and drawing which I really dislike doing!
However, recently one of my best friends had a baby (a lovely little girl called Sophia) and I really wanted to make something for Sophia when she was born. So I decided to crochet a baby blanket for her and with the help of my Mum and a friend, I managed to get it made by the time Sophia was born. It was a bit of a creative awakening for me. To my complete surprise, I really enjoyed making the baby blanket. I found it quite therapeutic and relaxing - and if I'm honest, I pretty much love being able to do two things at once - eg. talk and crochet, watch TV and crochet, talk, watch TV and crochet etc... - i think you get the picture.
Since then I've crocheted myself a hat, made a baby hat, and even made bunting! I am loving being creative and making things! Anyways, this is a really long winded way of saying, normally the concept of discussing and journaling about creativity would have freaked me out but when (as part of the course) creativity was the focus, I was stoked because of my new found way of engaging with creativity and seeing it in my life. In fact, I was so excited about it that I went around the house wearing my hat (check it out below, pretty awesome aye!!), declaring the intention for that week of the course over and over again which was "I am a creative being, I am a creative being..."
Now I see that I am creative in so many ways and that my definition of creativity was pretty narrow before! eg. painting and drawing are not the only ways to be creative. My creativity is expressed in my cooking, in decorating, in gardening (when I get to it!) and in the hospitality I give to others.
As a last thought, I'll leave you with a few of Brene's quotes on creativity:
"If we want to make meaning, we need to make art. As long as we're creating, we're cultivating meaning."
"The only unique contribution that we will ever make in this world will be born of our creativity."
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