For much of my life I put creative people in a box.
This box was a box that didn’t have any room for a guy like me.
I will even admit to you that in my naiveté I thought creatives to maybe be a little weird and “out there” wherever “there” might be.
I was a jock. Growing up I played whatever sport was in season. I didn’t have time for art or music of any kind, except of course for the piano lessons I was forced to take as a young boy.
“Someday you’ll regret you quit,” my mom used to tell me. “Not a chance,” I would mumble to myself so that she wouldn’t hear.
Of course she was right. Moms are right far more often than they are wrong. I regret it greatly! As I grew older and began to open my mind a just a little bit. I began to have a greater appreciation for the arts and artists and creativity and creatives. But I was not one of them. Over time I began to see them as special people. People blessed to see the world in ways that people like me simply didn’t see it.
Slowly, I began to see creativity around me more and more. As you probably already know, it was always there. I just failed to see it. During my corporate life I remember sitting in a meeting discussing how we were going to track sales for an incentive program we were going to be rolling out soon.
We continued to discuss ways to track the program. After about ten minutes one of my colleagues spoke up, “I’ve just created a spreadsheet for tracking the program and just e-mailed it to all of you. Why don’t you open it up and we can all look at it together.”
Wow! How did he do that in such a short period of time? He had all of the formulas in the right boxes and everything was done for us. End of discussion. Even in the creation of a spreadsheet I began to recognize creativity. He had created a little masterpiece for us in just a few minutes at which we all marveled.
For a while now I have been exploring, or at least attempting to explore, my own creative side. I’m finding there may be a spot in that creative box for me. Recently, I began taking a course titled “Mastering the Craft of Creativity.” It’s an online course put on by a guy named Bob Stromberg.
Bob is a guy I’ve gotten to know over the last couple of years but prior to that mostly appreciated him from afar sitting in the crowd watching him share his art and creativity with those in attendance. He is truly an amazing artist and creative and a man I have a great admiration and appreciation for on many levels!
Bob’s premise on creativity is that it is a craft and everyone can develop it through hard work. In the course he walks us through his processing of developing his craft.
In a course lesson I watched recently Bob interviewed Sara Groves. Sara is a Christian singer/songwriter and recording artist with powerful lyrics that listeners connect with on a deep emotional and spiritual level.
Two parts of Sara’s interview struck me deeply.
First, Sara talked about how in her creative process she captures how she feels when she is struck by something. She uses emotional language to describe the feeling. She pays attention to the tears and the joy and everything in between.
During a very traumatic experience when I was 14 I was told very clearly how I should feel and how I should emote. This didn’t come from a family member but from someone in authority who thought he was doing the right thing. Basically, he told me not to feel and not to emote, so I didn’t and, more often than not, still don’t.
The second thing Sara said that really struck a chord for me was to not edit yourself and your feelings when you are struck by something. As she said that, I realized that my self-editor has been working over time most of my life. I check my emotions as soon as I wake up in the morning and make sure they are in control and don’t show up to embarrass me or those around me.
She used the analogy of a deep-sea diver when describing feeling your emotions. All the good stuff, even if it’s hard, is well below the surface. If we keep the diver at or near the surface they will never get to experience the power of what might be hidden in the depths.
This course is challenging me to courageously go deep with my emotions. I don’t like that. I want to stay at the surface where it’s safe and comfortable.
Is your self-editor working overtime? Do you check your emotions when you get up in the morning? Do you not allow yourself to feel?
I challenge you to be willing to courageously dive below the surface and see what you might find.
I’m sure it won’t be easy but my guess is it will be worth the trip!
If you want to know more about this class you can check it out here: Mastering the Craft of Creativity.
This is a closed course so you can’t join right now but you can sign up to find out when it will open next! I highly encourage you to check this out!
Have a STRONG and COURAGEOUS day!
Do you need a speaker for an upcoming event? I’d love to be that guy. You can reach me at dave@cultivatecourage.com or 952-200-7499.
You can now buy the book “Cultivate Courage” on Amazon! https://amzn.to/2L4axey
This is a repost of a blog that originally ran on May 9, 2016
