How We Create an Experience of Life in Each Moment
"We shall continue to use story in all walks of life, and the more conscious we become of how we use story and why we do this to narrate our lives, the more we shall be able to cultivate honest speech in impossible times."
Jack Zipes - eminent fairy-tale scholar
What if our creativity extends far beyond what we might consider 'creative activities' and into the realm of 'who we think we are'.
Taking a fresh look at what creativity is and where it comes from can change a personal story of, "I'm not creative", to, "Oh I see, creativity is my nature and I'm using it all the time, telling stories as I go.”
WHAT IF YOU DON'T NEED TO BELIEVE ANY STORY YOU'RE TELLING YOURSELF - GOOD OR BAD.
What if the content of your story-maker-upper left brain wasn't the issue? What if it was about whether you always believed what it was telling you?
If you look back over your life, can you notice its constantly changing nature? How it tells you you can sometimes, and other times that you can't. Having clocked this, wouldn't it make sense to not take so much notice of it and choose put pen to paper or brush to canvas, just like getting dressed in a morning?
There might be days when you think, "I should have worn something else", but you know it's no big deal. And that's when you notice that 'making something a big deal' (i.e. the outcome HAS to be a certain way) is often the only thing between not doing something and taking the first step, and the next, and the next.
Maybe ask yourself if it doesn't come out the way you want it to, would the consequences be, practically, really dire? If not, grin, laugh and take the next small step. And after a few moments, when you find you're stuck in your endeavour, just notice what that voice is saying. Is it saying, "You see, you see, you can't do it." Or is it saying "This is what 'real artists' do - they feel their way, they stop and start", or whatever it might be saying! And then, can you see that neither story is 'truer' than the other?! And so neither/none need have any relevance to what you do next?
You've noticed the thought, the story you're making up in the moment. As Jack Zipes says, we are narrating our lives, whether in our spoken word or in our internal narrative, as we go.
If you’d like to download a free 12 page pdf that explores further how the stories we tell ourselves determine what we ‘see’ and how to change them, you can find: “The Cinderella Experiment: Story, Life and Magic” HERE