One of my favorite quotes comes from my good friends at lululemon is: creativity is maximized when you live in the moment.. When you are conscious of your breathing (i.e. taking long deep breaths), you are focused on the task at hand and you are out of your head, you are present. This usually also means you are attuned to a higher power - whatever that is for you - your spirituality.
What is this marriage of creativity and spirituality? Working with your creativity is working with your soul which is working with creativity. Working with and nurturing both will lead you to new places for outer and inner self-discovery. Today, we have a guest writer, Adrienne Carlson, who writes for Online Christian Colleges and who talks about the connection between creativity and spirituality...
How Spirituality Enhances Creativity
You would think the two are miles apart, but then, the mind has a way of playing tricks on us when it comes to vague and unquantifiable entities like spirituality and creativity. While one refers to your relationship with God, the other focuses on the ability of your mind to let go and think out of the box, in an unconventional and non-traditional manner. But, if you think harder and more deeply, you’re bound to see that a belief in a being that is higher than us leads to the profound realization that there are no barriers to thought or achievement, and this is when creativity soars.
Spirituality enhances creativity because:
* It teaches dedication: When you believe in God or a higher being, you are true to your conscience and believe in working hard and with the highest degree of dedication. This in turn boosts your creativity because the will to achieve is the biggest driver of this talent.
* It encourages honesty: When you are spiritually inclined, you are true to yourself and your religion, and therefore to your work too. This allows you to concentrate only on the job at hand and you’re able to achieve perfection because your mind is free from all other thoughts except the one that your creativity is focused on.
* It releases you from inhibitions: When you’re able to pray without inhibition, the same sense of abandon allows you to think without inhibition too. You know you can try anything, even if it seems atrocious and unconventional, because creativity has neither boundaries nor borders. And when you allow your mind to wander freely even as it remains focused on the job you must do, that’s when creativity is at its best.
* It prods you to go the extra mile: Spiritual guidance tells us that we must work hard in order to deserve and earn goodwill and riches, both the financial and emotional kind. And to do this, we must go the extra mile instead of shirking responsibility and trying to avoid honest work. When you strive hard to do your best, your creativity comes to the fore and dazzles with its brilliance.
* It teaches you to be grateful: When you’re spiritual, you don’t let success go to your head. Rather, you are grateful for the talent that God has blessed you with and you remain humble. You don’t let conceit and pride take over, and this helps creativity flourish even more.
Adrienne welcomes any comments and questions and can be reached here.
A very big thank you to Adrienne on such a wonderful topic.
Happy October everyone. One thing I miss about the East is seeing the changing colors of the leaves in fall. Don't take that precious sight for granted. Don't take anything for granted. Like Tim McGraw says in his song, "live life like you were dying".
Peace and Love to you all.
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