The Creative Carousel

When you choose to live your life as a creative person, you become very guarded about the type of energy and stimulation you allow to come within your “creative space” — i.e., your head. When you are creative, your entire life is about energy and inspiration.

I produce the best work when I am inspired. The issue with creative inspiration, however, it that it comes and it goes. In any given moment, I may have what feels like a brilliant idea! However, if I do not act upon it immediately, that great idea would seemingly disappear. I would then have to wait until the next wave of inspiration came around.

I refer to it as a “creative carousel.” If I do not do something to bring my creative ideas to life, they would keep spinning around and around in the endless loop of creative thoughts constantly flowing thorough my mind.

Notwithstanding any perceived brilliance, unless you manage to make your creative thoughts a reality, that brilliant thought might as well be lost indefinitely in their head, forever spinning on the creative carousel in your mind.

I finally realized that, if I wanted to bring my creative ideas to life, then I needed to make a connection between the thought/idea in my head and the physical reality before me. Unless I was able to collaborate with my physical self, then the thought/idea would be meaningless. Thoughts/ideas remain just that — possibilities — in the absence of a physical person who can make those thoughts/ideas a reality.

If I want to “live” in this creative space, I had to somehow find a way to anchor my creative self (spirit) to this physical vessel attached to me (ego).

Finally, after months months of grappling with what seemed like an endless flow of creative thoughts and ideas I realized one very important rule: when have an idea, make it a reality right now.

That body attached to you is the only way you can get your creative ideas out there. You will need to work through her if you want any of your creative ideas to be brought forth into this 3D reality. You can have all the ideas you want, but she is the only one who can actually make them happen. In this 3D game (sometimes referred to as “The Matrix”), that physical body you are attached to is the only designated means by which “you” can live. If you want to get anything done, you better wake her up and let her know you are here and ready and willing to work in collaboration with her.

Now, my approach is very different. When I think of something that feels like a great idea, I act upon it immediately. To minimize the possibility of good thoughts and ideas getting lost, I just start putting all ideas out there as quickly as possible. I express myself creatively through writing.

As it turns out, part of the journey in working in the creative space is relinquishing any ego-based attachment to the outcome. Sometimes, for example, I would have a great idea. I would then think about what would happen if the idea became wildly successful. Fear would then set in and I would actually get afraid of any fame or notoriety that would come from this imagined success. I would allow myself to feel embarrassed by the possible exposure of past mistakes and decisions.

It finally occurred to me that anyone who has achieved a high level of success is not afraid to put themselves “out there.” Part of the reward, and quite possibly the curse, of being an artist or creative person, is that the artist and the art are inextricably connected. True artists and creatives must be willing to subject themselves to a degree of self-exposure in order to disseminate the message in the art to as many people as possible.

Overcoming the fear of any possible backlash to me personally was a huge obstacle for me to overcome. I had always been a very private person. I was always reluctant to share personal details of my life due primarily being embarrassed and ashamed of past mistakes and decisions.

In the end, however, I realized that I had to make a choice: (1) I could continue to allow my current life to be limited and dictated by my past; or (2) I could accept my past as a learning experience and fully embrace the opportunities available to me in the present moment.

Thank God I chose the later. Writing on Medium is my first step towards living my best, creative life.