Embracing Creativity and Why It’s Never Too Late to Try Something New to You

What if we dreamed a dream, only to have it end right there and then? What if we had the best idea ever, and it was destined to languish and fade forever? We'd be stuck, stagnant, and ultimately die off as unrealized potential. It's weird, even unfathomable, to think about a world without the “and then…” that puts our inspiration into motion. That's where creativity steps in. It's the bridge between our dreams and reality, and the secret sauce to an expansive life. 

We are all born to create, and it's through creation that the world continues to evolve into something new and better. Creativity has a habit of pulling humanity out of its cyclical dark ages. And creativity is getting a lot of attention now because, as many of our late-stage Capitalism structures disintegrate, it's worth considering what could grow in their places. What's more, who will be responsible for this building anew? Humanity is on the cusp of a golden opportunity to usher in a new, better world, and we each play a part as together we build a New Earth.

Honoring Curiosity Is Soul Work

Curiosity opens the door to creativity. It can start with noticing a want, need, or desire, followed by the question of how, why, or what if? Answers can come in the form of intuition, dreams, images, signs, or synchronicities. We act on them by following the path our soul puts in front of us, step by step. In that way, creation is a vessel for beauty, inspiration, and love to flow into the world. It brilliantly balances Divine Feminine aspects of inspiration and intuition, with Divine Masculine attributes of taking action and confidently forging ahead. 

For me, the creative journey has unleashed a new freedom to be curious and to question, wonder, and desire. I feel absolute delight when inspiration arrives in response. It's then up to me to learn the technical aspects, glean the know-how, and get the gumption to bring it all together. 

I was drawn to ceramics as a boomer-come-late-bloomer. I'd recently moved up the coast and was looking for a way to begin branching out. Then I felt a recurring nudge to revisit ceramics, something I'd dabbled in back in college. My art teacher daughter, Elice, helped me find a sweet, local place that offered wheel-throwing lessons. I took a class, then another, and another, fueling a flame of familiarity and fun. This past spring, I took things up a notch by enrolling in a Drawing and Composition class at the local college, then this past semester, I enrolled in more wheel throwing, this time with the big kids. 

It was there that our instructor Mark, a creative genius in his own right, said, "My goal is to teach you the skills so you can create whatever it is your soul desires." 

He was speaking my language. I was hooked. 

After a couple of months practicing skills and technique, I woke up one morning inspired to create a ceramic table lamp on the wheel—no small feat. I shared the idea with Mark, who, with his keen sense and can-do ways, offered a "Sure! Here's how." For this relative newbie, though, it quickly became a grind. Each step challenged me to get out of my own way. I saw and felt my inner critic sneak in when things weren't going as planned, and realized the need for self-compassion and grace to learn without the need to be perfect. 

I was stretched to a higher plane after which everything became easier. In the next class period, I threw a second lamp, applying all the lessons from the first. By the end, you could have pulled me from the ceiling, I was so high with happiness.

Types of Creativity

My ceramics journey led me to really appreciate the role creativity plays in shaping the life of my dreams. I've found it's the most natural thing to create from inspiration, then pour inspiration into what you create. Here are some easy examples:

1. Studio and language arts

This area is often what we first think of when we think of creativity. It includes various modalities, like drawing, painting, ceramics, and sculpture. Writing and poetry. Theatre, music, dance, and so on. Art is especially powerful and poignant in its resonance and in its ability to communicate on a deep, soul-to-soul level. The vibration it carries is an outward expression of what the artist feels on the inside. 

2. Kitchen exploits and gardening

At four years old, my daughter Elice was busy combining different ingredients she found in the kitchen cupboards into new culinary concoctions (particularly around chocolate). She was flexing her childhood curiosity and natural creativity. Delicious recipes and food combinations are innovative and life-sustaining. Planting gardens to grow food for the table or beautiful flowers is a natural extension. It honors an innate desire to live off the land and put your hands in the soil, creating from the earth as our ancestors have done for generations, going back to ancient times.

3. Community-building

We aren’t meant to go it alone! Creating communities in response to a need or void connects people for strength, support, and camaraderie. There's also power in numbers and through collaboration. Together, we make lasting change and address challenges by using the unique talents and skills of many acting as one, rather than separately and competitively. And it’s how movements are born.

4. Wellness

Our bodies have a big job to carry out what our souls desire on this big, beautiful planet. Our bodies are biological miracles that constantly rejuvenate, restore, and regenerate. Creative expression through movement, strength training, nutrition, and wellness practices is spiritually nourishing.

5. Problem-solving solutions 

There's a divine answer to any question. This becomes an important truth in this era of artificial intelligence, which is limited to what already exists. When you ask your Self, or soul, you're tapping into infinite intelligence coming from the universe itself—the ultimate source. It's the spark of innovation that allows us to expand as a civilization and as a world, as we continually reach for more and allow inner guidance to flow through us from a place of infinite knowledge, possibility, and newness.

I’m grateful beyond words for this rolling journey home to my inner artist. It’s brought me to a deep understanding of creativity as a soul's way of expressing itself. It’s also satisfying to be new at something and then realize the process of growth. My need to fix and control things has waned; I'm much more apt to lean into acceptance—allowing mistakes to happen and then rolling with them—opening space for the unexpected. Inspiration and passion flow like a river. Mindfulness has become much more practiced, especially as there's nothing like a spinning potter's wheel to bring you into the moment. And my appreciation for beauty in its infinite forms has blossomed like a poppy field in March. 

Life grows richer every day as dreams and visions come into reality. And honestly, this benefits all those around me, rippling out into the community and world. It's a journey that awaits each of us, as we are all born brilliant creators. 

Curiosity leads the way as you wonder, ask, discover, and grow. When you ask of your soul, an answer always comes. When it does, trust that you've tapped into the source of all creation. There's more on this powerful process in my book, Refine Your Magic: A Guided Practice, an elegant, effective—and inspired!—tool for getting in touch with Soul.