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This show isn’t just for people who know their direction in life. We are here to help everyone find their path and expand on it. Having the materials necessary to help you unleash your passion will rev your creative engine and get you ready to create! Find out how the right materials are like Halloween candy!
MM542- Gather the Necessary Materials
Hello, everybody, and welcome to this week’s episode of Motivate Me!
It’s Me! Time here on Motivate Me! and we are working on coming back from flat.
Before we start, let’s get into the right headspace. Let’s engage in the idea that this is time where YOU are the priority. Let’s take two slow, deep breaths to get us centered. Just follow me.
Today’s focus is: Gather the Necessary Materials
In my efforts to work myself out of being flat, I did the steps I have recommended so far, and next to having cleared the space in my brain for freedom of thought, and after declaring a physical space for freedom of action, I needed materials!
So often people teach us how to achieve a goal, but what if we’re in the place where we don’t know what’s meant for us? My challenge was that in this stage in my process, I was searching for a goal and I had no desires. This is what Coming Back from Flat is all about; it’s about going on a mission inside of yourself to find and free your self in a way that opens the world up to you in a new light.
At this point in my process, all I knew was that I liked to write, and that putting ideas on paper helped me make discoveries. I had been a high school English teacher and I have a Masters in Fine Arts in Creative Writing. I have two novels written that I have made some attempt at getting published, but to be honest, I let fear hold me back in this. I tell myself that my novels aren’t any good, my writing is weak, and no one will want to publish or read them.
My feelings on this are important to share with you, because over the past couple of years I have been denying my talent. Even though I knew I should have been writing a book about our “50 states in 90 days” tour, I allowed this negative talk to prevent me from doing it. I was avoiding writing; I was avoiding my talent.
Part of my job in reclaiming myself, though, was to be open and up for anything. And what happened was that I naturally fell into writing, and this time, I didn’t allow myself to resist it. Journaling in a little, yellow, one-subject notebook created an avalanche for me. Ideas began pouring out, and I needed more materials. I needed materials that would allow me to get my thoughts out of my head and on to a tangible space.
And I needed to not be stingy with my materials. I forced myself to use the paper, use the pencils, to value every word because every word was important. I allowed myself to put one idea on a single page, if that’s what I was feeling. I didn’t care if I crumpled a page up and ditched it, if I decided that what was on it wasn’t meaningful. Freedom of thought. Freedom of action. Freedom to create. I needed all the freedoms.
When ideas started to flow out of me, I was hopeful that I was on to something, but I was still tentative; I was looking to go deeper into this, but I wasn’t ready to fully commit, either. So, I dug more little one-subject notebooks out of my cabinet and with creative freedom gave myself license to fill the pages. These notebooks are where I began to find myself again, and they also gave me a place to jot down other writing or business ideas that came to me as I was working, this way, I wouldn’t get distracted.
Materials specific to your talent will rev up your creative engine, I’m sure you know which materials do this for you! I’m drawn to a fresh, blank notebook page and mechanical pencils in the way that painters may be drawn to colors and brushes and blank canvases. Singers might get excited by equipment, like microphones and speakers, and chefs have their ingredients and gadgets. How about auto mechanics with their machines and parts and tools. I would venture to say that we all have a connection somewhere to some kind of tangible items that light us up with the idea of creating with them.
I recommend keeping it simple at the start, but get some materials that speak to you! Pay attention to how they make you feel. How do they feel in your hand? How do they smell? What can they can create? What sounds do they make? How can you serve others with them? Why are these the materials for you? Do you have a connection with them? Do you have a history?
The thing about these materials is that they MUST be visible and easily accessible to you. Think about them as the opposite Halloween candy. This is the stuff you don’t want to hide so you stay away from it, it’s the stuff you WANT to snack on, and you want to do it as often as you can for as long as possible. So keep your creative tools out where you can see them. This plants the seed that you will engage with them again, and it sets the expectation that you will.
On a final note, respect this talent in yourself and understand that it’s a gift you are giving to others. Being creative is not a selfish act, it’s what you are here to do. So invest time and a little money in yourself, get a few materials that will help you explore this further, and understand that your talent is special.
You might have a voice in your head telling you that other people have your same talent, and you may even be telling yourself that these other people are better at this talent than you. Listen, even if this is true, your unique personality and personal experiences can never be duplicated, and THAT is what you bring to the table.
You could tell 25 talented artists to draw an elephant and not one would be the same. Yes, some people may have better technique than others, but your elephant could share a perspective that touches people. Maybe it’s a sweet picture of a mom elephant with her calf, or maybe it captures the courtship of a male and female elephant, or maybe it shows an entire matriarchal herd of elephants. Your perspective is unique and this is where people begin to get to know you.
One last point I feel is important to call to your attention: you may not see the value in your talent, but other people can. You may not see how having a beautiful singing voice or repairing cars or cutting hair is that big of a deal, but I promise you, you can have a profound effect on the life of someone else through singing a song, fixing a broken car, or giving someone a makeover. So please don’t discount the value of your talent. Even if you can’t see it, just know for now that it is valuable.
We’re human, we need each other, we have been given talents to help and connect with each other, so find yours, enjoy the process of discovering it or uncovering it. Don’t feel selfish about it, and get the right materials that will get you excited about doing it! About creating.
You can start slowly, just stick your toe in the water for now, but be committed to the process.
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I am going to leave you with some truth talk from me to you: Here is my personal definition of creativity: Creativity is the combining of freedom of thought (mental space) with a place to create (physical space) using the necessary materials in a form of play. So go out and get what you need to express who you are with no rules and no judgement and just play.
Enjoy, and let us know what you discover!
Remember, you Motivate Me!