What goes into creative work is incredibly empowering.
Artists are not the only creators. Everyone, really, is a creator. Some creations just stand out more than others, or are seen from unique perspectives.
This is part of why one person’s art is another person’s trash. One person’s idea of incredible beauty is another person’s notion of ugliness. It is here that the phrase “the eye of the beholder” comes into being.
The reason why opinions about creations vary is that people vary. Every single person on the planet, all 8 billion of us, has a unique, singular perspective. While there are elements that tie all of our perceptions of reality together, beneath it all, our perceptions of reality are individual.
Creative work comes in lots and lots of forms. From the artistic – paintings, books, music – to the practical – gardens, food, clothing – and also intangibles – deities, morals, habits – creative work is ongoing. Every person on the planet is a creator in one form or another.
Unfortunately, we live in a world where celebrating our differences and embracing new ideas has become increasingly challenging. Creative endeavors are seen as “hobbies” and “fantasy” rather than sustenance. Yet, creative work, in and of itself, can be a form of therapy.
Who lives in your head, heart, and soul?
The primary reason that every single person on Earth, all 8,000,000,000 of us, has a unique perspective on reality is this: You are the only one inside your head, heart, and soul. No matter how much you open yourself to others, you’re alone in there.
This terrifies people more than it doesn’t. Why? Because vast swaths of society suggest or state outright that alone is lonely and something to be avoided. Get out of your head and go into the world. Never mind that everything you experience is absorbed into your subconscious, which nobody but you can access.
Who lives in your head, heart, and soul? You. Only you. All other residents in your subconscious are manifestations of beliefs, values, memories, moral codes, and habits. In the end, you’re the architect of your life.
Can you build the façade of a home and live inside if there’s nothing past that visual structure? No, because there are no rooms within. You need to start from the foundation to build anything at all, tangible or intangible.
Your inner being is your subconscious mind, and that’s your foundation. Other people and things can show you paths and give you ideas, but you alone can use your head, heart, and soul to act on them.
This is where active conscious awareness – mindfulness – allows you to take any control of your life experience. Mindfulness is how you work, here and now, to get into your subconscious for more awareness of both the world within and without. That’s where the desired change you seek to control begins.
One of the key ways that people consciously access their subconscious is via creative work.
Creative work can be a form of therapy
The conscious act of creation happens outside of time. That’s because creating is an act of accessing the subconscious via the conscious and making something manifest.
Manifestation is often taken as a big, grand, glorious thing. Notions like the Law of Attraction being employed to manifest millions of dollars or a home or whatever, without any effort, make manifestation seem out of reach. But it can be as simple as turning an idea into a tangible thing.
The canvas doesn’t paint itself. The words start within but don’t reach the page or screen without writing, typing, or speaking them. That pastry you enjoy was just flour, water, yeast, and sugar before it got mixed together and baked. That’s manifestation in the everyday.
You, when you create, are drawing your inner self outside. Creative work can turn a bad day better, a sad thought calmer, and rough seas smoother. The action of creative work empowers you because you are doing something.
Ideas, feelings, and intentions do nothing, make nothing, and go nowhere without action. Taking action – such as doing creative work – employs those thoughts, feelings, and intentions to make something manifest. Then you have something without that reflects your inner being.
Taking action gives focus, perspective, and calm. All of which therapy tends to seek out. That’s because empowerment is the reality of control most of us truly desire for our lives.
Creative work can be incomplete and imperfect
Many people don’t do creative work because of two myths: Success is only recognized by completion, and perfection is the pinnacle of achievement.
Completion doesn’t lead to overnight success, but neither is it necessary to succeed. For example, many people don’t start a creation because they feel they will only succeed if they finish. But success is a movable bar, and the only true judge of it is you. “I got a sentence written today!” is just as much a success as “I finished writing my book!”
Similarly, all creative work is striving for perfection. That’s bullshit. Perfection, like beauty, is utterly in the eye of the beholder. Nothing is truly perfect because not everyone will ever agree on what perfection is. Why else has George Lucas redone parts of Star Wars multiple times, often to the chagrin of its fans? Because he keeps striving for his version of perfection.
Creative work, in and of itself, is hugely empowering. That’s because it’s a channel between the world without and the world within. It opens the way for you to better see and understand who, what, where, how, and why you are. That’s why creative work can be a form of therapy. Because it’s a force of order and good that you can employ to experience more of life’s potential and possibilities.
Thanks for reading. As I share my creative journey with you every week, please consider this: How are you inspired and empowered to be your own creator, whatever form that takes?
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