Creativity YES! Spirituality? What does that have to do with Creativity? What does spirituality even mean?
For me, it’s my inner life, my relationship with myself, and my “highest power,” whom I call God. It’s connecting to the deepest part of myself and my relationship to time in the eternal sense.
But you get to choose. You define what spirituality means to you. And truth be told, our definition and understanding of our spirituality morphs, changes, and expands as we mature. It’s supposed to be that way. If yours is constantly evolving, you are on the right track.
“Make your own Bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all your readings have been to you like the blast of a trumpet.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
And why am I talking about spirituality when seedbop is about creativity? Because I know innovation, creativity, inspired problem-solving, and spirituality, when operating at your peak, your most brilliant level, are all deeply rooted in the same principles.
Just using your head may only get you so far. When you start consistently practicing creative e principles with a commitment to become more open to your exceptional brilliance and genius and gifts (you already have them but maybe have been afraid to claim them?), all aspects of your life will transform. Flow will happen. The practices leading to innovative genius, creative sparks, inspired problem-solving, and deeper spirituality is – at their core – the same.
“All artists [and innovators, problem solvers, humans!] have to relearn innovation, creativity, inspired problem-solving, and spirituality these truths. All artists have to let go of the modern world’s silly, and reductionist notions that art is for art’s sale or art is for venting’s sake, or art is for fame’s sake, and start serving the heart of [insert the term you use for your higher power or highest self] once again. Artists need an inner life just like everyone else. They also need an outer life, that is to say, a cosmology, an awareness of how we got here and what “here” constitutes in its holy vastness and its unimaginable diversity and creativity. A return to our origins is long overdue for all professionals… [you – don’t limit yourself by your negative beliefs about the genius you are!], because their task is to lead the rest of us in moving through perilous times of cynicism, boredom, and despair.” – the Reverand Matthew Fox [w/my bracketed comments!]
The mystics all explored creativity. They were highly creative and productive people. Hildegard of Bingen, by example, was a German Benedictine abbess and polymath who was a highly accomplished writer, composer, philosopher, mystic, visionary, medical writer, and practitioner and considered by scholars to be the founder of scientific natural history in Germany—just saying!
We all need to become modern-day mystics to better access the flow of ideas and creative sparks that will solve our problems, to make creative works that deeply touch and inspire others, and to innovate at work to serve people better. We can change the world for the better just by being ourselves and opening up to the creative flow all around us.
The practices of creativity are our YES to a richer and fuller life, a better future. They are the practices of hope. Hope is not magic; it’s a choice. We choose to be hopeful, open to hopeful options, and to see how hope plays out in our experience, especially when it shows up in unexpected ways.
“Your opponents [which include your negative beliefs about yourself] would love you to believe that it’s hopeless, that you have no power, that there’s no reason to act, that you can’t win. Hope is a gift you don’t have to surrender, a power you don’t have to throw away. And though hope can be an act of defiance, defiance isn’t enough reason to hope. … Hope Is not the belief that everything was, is, or will be fine. …
“Hope locates itself in the premises that we don’t know what will happen and that in the spaciousness of uncertainty is the room to act. When you recognize uncertainty, you recognize that you may be able to influence the outcomes. .. Hope is an embrace of the unknown and unknowable, an alternative to the certainty of both optimists and pessimists.”
-Rebecca Solnit, Hope in the Dark: Untold Histories, Wild Possibilities
I would suggest that the word trust is also essential in innovation, creativity, inspired problem-solving, and spirituality.
You encounter a challenge. You may feel overwhelmed. You want to turn back. But instead, you choose hope and trust that you will get there by embarking on the journey. Nurturing your inner life, consistently practicing the approaches and practices that will let you sink deep into yourself, believing your challenge is a journey, and approaching it with curiosity and trust; you will not only experience frequent seedbops and cultivate brilliant ideas and solutions, but you will also open up a whole new world of possibilities for the life you never dreamed were possible.
Question posed to legendary psychologist Carl Jung: “Will we make it?”
CJ’s answer: “If enough people do their inner work.”
Download my primer on creative practices, the “Seedbop Navigator,” by clicking here: https://seedbop.com/the-seedbop-navigator/. Message me for a free initial coaching session.
