Creator Mindset - Architect Your Life

I recently presented to a large group of women in Surrey (UK). The topic of the talk was ‘love’ because it was Valentine’s Day but, the substance of my argument was the power of creation. Creation is simply the ability to make something exist that did not exist previously. In that respect, it’s fairly broad but, I was focussed on creativity specifically – making something with functional and/or aesthetic value in particular. Things like music, painting, writing, flower arranging, gardening are what I’m talking about.

What power is there in creativity? It’s the power to have the life we want…to the extent that that is possible. I mean, it’s the power to realise your own potential. Most of us want to be happy – it’s vague but universal. What’s also pretty universal is the assumption that happiness is going to be delivered, perhaps, by some external force or circumstance. By someone, by some event, by some bank balance. And we wait.

In the talk I gave I described “the architecture of love” – the components and factors that contribute to love. And, in the end, I said that, “If there is an architecture of love, then there is an architect. And this architect is you.” There’s an architecture/shape/structure to everything: life, happiness, finances, relationships, etcetera. And thus, there is an architect for all these things. You. The trouble is, we don’t realise this or we don’t accept it. I’m not saying you can have anything you want, any way you want it – there are just too many variables in life that are beyond our control to promise that. I’m saying that you have control over a lot more variables that you think. Or, you could have, if you realised it and grasped them.

One way to approach this attitude toward life is creativity. It’s a practical way to prove to yourself that you have the power to create results. To create something is magic – the closest you’ll get to it. When you take raw materials and act upon them, move them, rearrange them, mix them, heat them, break them, sew them, cut them, glue them, grind them, combine them, and shine a light on them, you are powerful. You are changing matter. You make something exist that did not exist moments ago. If you are talented, or diligent, or creative, or inspired, or lucky, you make something exist that is useful and/or beautiful. That’s powerful.

We discount this power because it’s often done on a small scale. But you can scale up your creations if size matters. We discount this power because sometimes other people discount our creation. That is just a matter of finding the right audience. We discount this power because it doesn’t seem to change the world. But, nothing completely changes the world for everyone – some people don’t want a car – one of the most significant inventions of all time. And, we discount this power because it doesn’t solve some of the big problems in our life. But that’s just a matter of taking what we learned during one act of creation and creatively applying it to something else.

This is what I do in my painting class – Creative and Calm; Painting for Personal Growth – I teach people to paint and while they’re painting I ask them to reflect on what they’re learning, what they’re experiencing and what gets results. Then, I ask them if this applies to something else in their life. And it usually does.

First, make sure you are creating something; cook, garden, arrange flowers, paint, compose, turn wood. Then, while you’re doing it, ask yourself what is happening in that moment, what lesson there is going on. Then, ask yourself if this lesson will help you solve a bigger problem, if you could approach the bigger problem the way you are approaching the act of creation. After all, its quite likely you had a hand in creating the big problem anyway. If you are the architect of that problem, you could be the architect of the solution.

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