At this time of year, a lot of us are thinking about what to create in 2022.
What to create next.
Whether that’s a new role or a new company.
I find it’s incredibly helpful to look at where our creativity comes from. Because many of us, mistakenly, think that creativity is a gift that only a few of us have.
We all have it. We are made of it. It is part of our human essence.
Don’t believe me? Maybe an experiment will help you see your own, infinite creative energy.
It’s helpful to look at a distinction that many spiritual teachers make. In fact, one of my own teachers, Peter Fenner, makes this distinction in his book, Radiant Mind, a westernized version of esoteric Buddhist teachings.
The distinction is between awareness, and objects of awareness.
Awareness is that which is looking, tasting, touching, thinking. That which is formless, and both looking through your eyes and thinking your thoughts.
Objects of awareness are whatever we are looking at, or tasting, or touching.
Or thinking.
The things that we think of as outside of us—the world outside—appears to be relatively stable. That tree and that rock do not change, at least not quickly.
The things that we think of as inside of us—our thoughts, the stories that comprise our world, even the thoughts that we consider to be our identity—are constantly changing.
But they are still objects of awareness.
Because we—the formless—are aware of them.
And, more fundamentally, these thoughts emerge, moment by moment, from nothing.
Try this and see. Allow your thoughts to settle, so that you can see a little bit of space between them.
What is the next thought? Where did it come from?
That’s right. Nothing.
You had no idea what was coming, and yet there is was.
It’s a mystery. The mystery. And we all participate equally in that mystery.
Whether your next thought is about breakfast, or your dad never approving of you, or a great new product or even company, that thought is emerging from the same energy that creates everything.
And when you see this, when you really get this, everything changes.
You may not be able to control what you think about. But, at least my experience is that I have some power of choice. Some power to choose which thoughts to pay attention to, and which to ignore.
In other words you can’t choose whether to be creative or not. You are made to be creative.
What you can choose is what you allow to flow, and what you resist.
What will you choose for 2022?
“Hello. I wanted to let you know that my Mom was killed in the Waukesha parade yesterday.”
My aunt. My late father’s last surviving sibling. She was one of three Dancing Grannies (and three others) who were killed by a driver in a holiday parade in Wisconsin on November 21.
Death can come at any moment. I am grateful she didn’t suffer. I am grateful that she died doing something she loved with people she loved. I am grateful that I was able to reconnect and spend time with her a few years ago.
And I am devastated.
I was always going to take my family to see her in Wisconsin. I was always going to be better about staying in touch.
And now I am heading to a funeral.
Relationships are the most important thing we have in this life. Stay close to the people you care about. Let them know every chance you get.
Aunt Lee, I love you.