Building Up Versus Tearing Down
Morning Ramble (3)
Before I started putting words to page, I never considered myself to be creative. Creative people were famous and did great things — like design buildings, practice an instrument until their fingers bled, or wrote novels. Me? I followed rules to the letter and believed I was a doer, not a maker. What led me to those beliefs? I cannot say for sure, but I imagine it came from what my mind did with all of the input from the world outside of me.
Writing has woken me not only to my creativity, but also to the creativity I see in everybody else. We are all creative to some degree. It’s not just the kids in art and band and drama. The kids solving math problems and studying history are creative, too. How did I miss that?
So, one of the things I’ve become super aware of over the last year is the messages that creatives send through their work. There is a lot of moral and cultural stuff that is hidden inside of entertainment. I’ve begun to realize how much philosophy writers and entertainers throw out for consumption in their work. I suppose I knew on some level, but now I really see it.
Two examples come to mind.
First, Jenji Cohen — hope I spelled that right, is a master at weaving messages into her shows. I watched the entire series of Weeds on Netflix. I was entertained. I heard the song Little Boxes on the Hillside…and They All Look Just the Same — over and over and over. It wasn’t until I began to write that I saw the power behind the entertainment. (Gotta say — in the beginning, before she went too far, Nancy Botwin was an inspiration.)
Second, in the movie Pretty Woman, there’s a scene. Richard Gere — Edward has an aha! moment. He realizes that the business he has become rich from, buying companies at a discount and selling off the pieces for a profit, no longer suits him. He sees that he can live a better life — be a better person, by building struggling companies back up. Over-simplified business maybe, but I find there is a powerful message there.
I wonder how many people’s subconscious have worked on these messages, like mine has — churned them under the surface of knowing.
I’ve taken the message of building up versus tearing down to heart — woven it into the fabric of who I am. It is particularly effective when dealing with children — people of any age really. If you can find the good and emphasize that, the bad starts to fall away.
Never underestimate the power of a story. Stories nurture us — for better or worse, in ways we might never recognize.
We are all creative. That is the space in which flow and joy reside.
OK, time’s up — over by five minutes actually. This part doesn’t count. I’ve always known I’m a morning person. What I find fascinating though — is that with this challenge, I’ve been up well before my alarm all three days so far. I am ready to get up and get going.
The lessons?
If you have a job that means something to you — you really do spring up with excitement to do your work.
Setting the idea before I go to bed is effective. I wake up with direction and am able to get straight to business.
Happy Wednesday! (Roy-Have a crappy day, enjoy your crappy job. :))
