Design a Better Life Through Creativity - Part 4
Doctor Discovers the Priceless Secret Formula to Make Your Toes Curl and Your Life Go Boom
At one time I thought about going to med school. I used to watch ER back in the day. [For a time,] it got me thinking about going to med school. I liked biology, anatomy, and physiology. But I was always a bit squeamish about blood, guts and fluids. To this day, watching other people’s pain and injury still makes me squirm. And honestly, it all seemed really complicated. Complicated science and procedures, complicated math. Complicated loves, complicated lives. It was more than a small kid with a small brain was ready to take on.
[I guess] [I’m more of a wordy-art guy, than a mathy-science guy. Which is too bad since the world [is built on and needs more mathy-science].
[The law of compound interest.
The theory of__]
I guess I never was as comfortable grooving with numbers and formulas, like I was with the rhythms of words and pictures.
I can bust out some advanced alliteration {all around another artists] like an all-star pro… but that never seemed as useful as understanding the mathy-science formulas that govern the universe inside us and around us.
Of course, there are other not-as-mathy, but equally important formulas governing our existence [that this wordy-art guy thinks ]{that the world should know about].
[Creators know there are formulas for calculating the Value of Creativity?]
Do you know the formula for calculating the Value of Creativity?
Do you know what multiplied by you equals the Source of Happiness?
Creators do.
[If you’re a creator you do.}
There are {equations} other formulas: What’s the underlying catalyst governing the Creative Process? What multiplied by you equals the Source of Happiness? {So this is simple, easy to remember, and requires little math. [requires first grade math]] Luckily, there’s science to back it up.}
Before we break down the arithmetics [scientific value] of free-flowing creativity so that you walk away with the formula for making your toes curl and your life go boom, let’s talk about the opposite of that.
Let’s talk about what kills creativity.
Let’s talk about constipation.
Creative Constipation = Pain + Death
{Let’s get biological.} Let’s talk about a calculation a body can get behind. Let’s talk about how repressing, stifling, and blocking something that your/a body must release will cause [you] pain and straight up kill you if it’s not expressed].
That’s not the mathy-science explanation. {I don’t know the matthy-science behind it.] [There’s some medical jargon and astronomical medical bills in there…] but ultimately when you add up suppression and repression and then subtract a lot of personal satisfaction and happiness, it means that deep inside, shit don’t work right.]
Maybe you say, “Creative constipation isn’t going to cause me pain and death. That’s a bit of a reach, amigo.”
Is it though?
Let’s take a closer look. Let’s take something else, something less quantitative than physical toxicity. Let’s take something more esoteric, a little more touchy-feely-squishy on the insides kind of thing:
What about love? What about purpose and meaning? What about fulfillment? What about self-expression? What happens when those are stifled and repressed? Without those don’t we shrivel, die? [Maybe not medically, biologically, (hell I’m not a doctor).]
We don’t know the mathy-science behind it, but we all know that deep inside, shit don’t work right.
Creativity is a life amplifier. It’s as fundamental to our well-being as physical fitness, proper nutrition, and mindfulness…. You are a creator and your creativity is not an indulgence or a luxury; it’s required in order to thrive.
What is Creativity? {link to “What Is Creativity?”}
Creativity is a natural force. {Link to “Why Creativity Matters”}
It is inside you right now. It’s a force that you can direct into all areas of your life. And it is a source of power that cannot be depleted.
“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” - Maya Angelou
Stifling a natural force designed through evolution to help you thrive - both as a species and an individual - is a terrible idea. At the very least it is bleeding you of energy.
Turning an idea in your head into a tangible reality is one of life’s great satisfactions... the more you use its power, the more of it is available to you… It must be released through a regular creative practice... Unexpressed, your creativity can poison your life.2
Think about this:
Many of us have some serious distance between the lives we are living and the creative lives we want to be living. I imagine that floating around in that serious distance is an “uncreated work of personal expression”3: a book, a painting, a creative outlet long-forgotten and unrealized.
Uncreated works of personal expression are at the top of almost everyone’s bucket list. They’re also the item most frequently left unchecked when we do kick that bucket.”4
Why is it that the book, the painting, or the instrument we wish we’d learned shows up on the list of things we wished we’d done, or want to do one day?
“So many of us live our lives with a nagging sense that something important is missing… creative expression is the missing element in a life well lived.”5
Damn. Harsh. [#damnharsh]
It makes your toes curl and your life go boom.
Here’s another formula for you:
It’s the inverse corollary to the Law of Creative Constipation:
The Creative Process = a Source of Happiness
Let’s take all this one step further. On the surface we're talking about artwork and skills but we’re also talking about creating anything, and [ultimately, and] most importantly, we’re talking about [this is about] creating your life.
When you create, you’re not just creating art or a product or a business, you’re creating possibilities. You won’t be aware of all of them, but they’re there. It’s a virtuous cycle. Only by embracing your innate creativity will you begin to see the life you are truly capable of creating for yourself.7
{Creativity is} one of the true sources of abundance in life. Unleashing your creative capacity is, in fact, your highest calling, the key to shaping the arc of your life.”
The Value of the Creative Process = Meaning x Empowerment x Life AmplifierN1000
The creative process provides Meaning and Empowerment, two things that if you have them, will help you be happier, or at least find more fulfillment, which can lead to happiness.
The Creative Process Gives Us Meaning
The creative process—not the result—is the source of our happiness. We feel the joy of being so immersed and engaged in what we’re doing that we lose track of time. We experience moments of creative daring, beautiful magic, and the unexpected surprises that show up along the way. Fortunately, our commitment to and belief in the process is entirely in our control. We can decide to show up, sit down, and create. If we listen to the process of creativity and stay attentive, it can be our gateway to meaning.8
The Creative Process Provides Empowerment
One of the most important gifts of a creative practice is the sense of agency and empowerment it gives us over our lives as a whole. Being creative at a desk or a canvas shows us that we are capable of making the life of our dreams a reality as well.
Creativity is a Life Amplifier
[Fulfillment through] Meaning and empowerment are life amplifiers.
Life amplifiers add to that formula for happiness.
They make those toes curl.
They put the [silk in the stocking,] boom in the box, some shake in the rump, [and sugar in the tits] of life.
Creativity is a priceless, not-so-secret formula that can be used to enrich and design your life.
Amplify your life. Get Creative.
If you’re in, click here to get started.
But if want to learn how creative lives are designed, click here.
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