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Today's
Meditation:
Can we
become so caught up in our day-to-day lives that we
neglect our own creativity and uniqueness? Can we
get so caught up in our routines that we forget that we're
extremely creative individuals who have a tremendous
amount of potential to do tons of good in the world in
truly unique ways? You bet we can, and most of us
actually do so, unfortunately. Most of us live our
lives in what Thoreau called "quiet
desperation," wishing for that creativity to catch a
spark, but not doing anything with the book of matches in
our pocket.
It's
generally not a matter of choice, it seems to me, but a
matter of neglect, of distraction. We become so
distracted by those things that we think are important
that we don't allow ourselves to search out other things
that may allow us to express ourselves in our own unique
ways. Sometimes, of course, our situations simply
don't allow for certain things-- when I'm teaching high
school, for example, I find that it's impossible to work
on a novel, no matter how hard I try. Novels have to
be put on the back burner, though I am able to do other
types of writing.
Does
this mean that we can't be creative when life gets in the
way? Certainly not. We are creative beings,
and our creativity is an incredibly important part of who
we are. It's important that we prioritize our
creativity, though, and possibly trade time we spend doing
other things for time spent on creative pursuits. Do
we really need to spend two or three hours on social media
or watching videos each day? Perhaps that time would be better spent on
something creative rather than passive. While time
spent being passively entertained can be valuable, the time spent being
creative can be infinitely more so.
I was
born to be creative, and so were you. It's a shame
that life often seems to get in the way of our creativity,
but it's not a situation that we have to accept
completely. Perhaps we won't make a living painting,
but thirty minutes or an hour a day with a brush in our
hands can lead to some pretty amazing things.
Finding time to express ourselves creatively can be one of
the most important things that we ever do for ourselves.
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