Get Creative!

I have had several opportunities these past few months that have FORCED me to get CREATIVE.

• My building’s power goes out for the 24 hours before my last performance of 2013
• I forget my iPad for my Christmas vacation
• I cannot read for a week
• I don’t have an internet connection for a night

Yes, I choose to see all of these experiences as opportunities. That just seemed like the most positive and healthy way to handle what could be and were challenging situations in those moments of experience.  Taking this mindset, turned these experiences into enlightening opportunities which allowed me to learn, grow and produce some awesome creativity.

Interestingly enough, the toughest one was not being able to read for a week. This was a task/challenge assigned in The Artist’s Way, a program and book by Julia Cameron to help people find the love, find the creativity in their daily lives and to unblock the creativity bubbling just below the surface. I have not yet finished the program/book but so far it has been totally transformative.

During this week of no reading, I absolutely and totally and completely thought I was going insane on multiple occasions! But, then I took a step back into love and saw this experience as an opportunity.  I got creative and made a lot of wonderful things happen during that week.

For the other three things on my list, there was nothing I could do but let go and give in. Yes, I contacted my landlord, the city of NY, made sure my iPad was safe wherever it was, and checked into fixing my internet… But, the no reading task was different because it started with a choice, the choice to participate.  I wasn’t just going with the flow and staying positive when an outside force forced experience on me. Sure there was an outside force (the author) telling me to not read for a week, but really it was all me to go through with it, to accept the challenge and stick it out for the full week. This is especially apparent given the fact I am going through The Artist’s Way program completely by myself.

Sitting at my favorite coffee shop, I remember reading the part of the weekly chapter that said to not read for a whole week. I remember thinking, “okay, WOW, okay, okay, I can do that”. Then walking down the street to the subway to go home, I thought, “can I do that? “.  I then answered, “yes”, so the game was on.

Alright now that I have introduced this juicy, creative idea, I am going to make you wait for my next few blog post publications to find out how I creativity conquered each of these opportunities and what I learned.

So stay tuned! xoxo