What Does ‘It’ Look Like?
I’m sure you’ve played the Genie game with your friends: If you could have one wish granted, what would it be?
Today, I’m going to ask you a slightly different version of this famous question: What would your creative life look like if there were no obstacles to overcome? What if you had all the time, energy and resources you needed for success? What if anything that was standing in your way has
magically disappeared?
I bet the world you are imagining is pretty wonderful. Now what if I told you: if you can dream it, you can have it. But the first step in creating this scenario is for you to imagine it. Sounds simple but many people have a hard time even getting to this point.
If you are having a hard time thinking of things that rock your world, then you need to work on your powers of observation and when you look at things, really see them. Live fully in the moment without other distractions. If you believe that you already know how something is going to turn out before it even happens, you aren’t present to what is. Everything is always shifting. There are no two moments alike. Observe the subtle changes that go on around you every day – from a flower that just bloomed to a friend’s new fragrance.
If you don’t know what your vision is, then take yourself on an adventure. Take an excursion without a plan except to go to a place you have never been before. Or do an activity that you’ve never done before. Or spend several hours at the book store just to browsing the stacks on topics of interest to you. Take a note pad along write down things that excite you and get your imagination flowing – things you have to call up a friend and tell them about.
It takes courage and a willingness to live in the unknown and to embrace it. Humans over the centuries have been programmed to live in fear and struggle. We have been programmed to want security. But if it’s only when you dare to try new things that you will create new things and change your life.
As you open yourself up to your vision, try the exercise again. And keep adding to your list daily. When you look at the things that spark your interest and get you energized from a deeper place within yourself, you’ll start to see a pattern forming. What do they have in common? When you realize what makes you happy and you focus in on it, you’ll come to see that these are the things you need to incorporate and add into your every day creative life. And from there, you can build and have the life that you only thought existed in your dreams.
But to get there, you have to know what it is. So what are you waiting
for? Take that first step now.