We all have a source of creativity living within us that we can learn to tap into and communicate with.
As children, connection to this source is usually wide open until it is impinged or shut down by outside forces. Those outside forces can be simple and unexpected, yet powerful due to our developing little spirit selves so new to being in physical form on the planet.
All sorts of people will come into our lives with their “messages” that may impact us. It is up to us, to use our own internal voice and intuition to measure if this information rings true with our Soul’s Purpose.
Too often, we can be led off our path by listening to outside influences. Regardless of when these various messages came into our lives, we can revisit them and release them, reprogramming the place they held with new material in alignment with our highest soul vibrational essence.
I recall one of my first days in Kindergarten. The teacher gave us a box of brand new crayons. These crayons were unlike the ones I had at home which were the big multi-pack that featured smaller crayons. This box at “school” had way less color choices but were big, fat delicious crayons. We were also given a picture to color and I loved coloring.
I got down to work and colored big and bold, bearing down on my crayons til the points wore down in a way I could not do with smaller crayons.
I delighted in the process and was totally caught up in the moment.
When the time was up and we were asked to share, the girl sitting next to me showed my a faintly colored picture, barely shaded in. Then she showed me her barely used crayons. In a sweet, but judgmental voice she said, “oh look your crayons are ruined by the way you colored your picture and mine are still like brand new”. Then she compared her crayons to mine.
In that moment, I went from viewing my bright and bold, alive picture with joy to wondering if I had done something “wrong”. Privately, I thought her picture looked dim and barely colored, incomplete, but still I felt my first experience of external pressure to conform.
Internally, I struggled with myself over which was more important: choosing to create a bright picture I enjoyed or to restrict my expression in order to maintain outside expectations of what is a perfect crayon.
Luckily for me when I relayed this story with dismay to my mother, she had come from a line of practicing artists (my grandfather was a woodworker and my great grandfather a trained fine arts painter) so she quickly pointed out how beautiful my picture was because of how I choose to color it in. I still had an internal struggle to work through over the use of my crayons but my mother had given me some ammunition to question the “information” delivered by some little girl with a different agenda on expression.
If we can remember to take in outside information delivered to us from the perspective of being grateful for the feedback, but also take the time to process it through our self alignment filter of the Soul, we can work through the material with more of an open mind.
While it is important to be open to hearing constructive criticism, it is also important to sift the wheat from the chaff.
Ah, but how do we do that? By taking time to develop the authentic voice of the our Soul. And yes, this is a practice.
In every moment we have to choose how to exercise our own power.
By developing an understanding of our Soul’s language, how it speaks to us, we take steps towards increasing our spiritual well being. By seeking to understand the roles of others in our lives, both for better and for worse, we gain valuable insight to our Soul’s divine mission. By expanding in this way, we can source our creative flow more readily.
Perhaps my story from kindergarten can be viewed as a moment when I was “shut down” to my own creative expression by a misguided statement. But perhaps, it can viewed as a moment where I was offered the chance to stand in my truth over how I decided to express myself. The struggle in itself is a gift if I learn what it offered.
(this was originally posted 10/4/2011)