Awaken Your Inner Genius

by Bill Turner                                            Printer-friendly Version

It happens every day, and it’s not confined to poets, artists and musicians. Creativity is the birthright of every human. We are artists of life and creators of dreams. Pablo Picasso said, “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.” Creativity is the oxygen of the soul and until we are authentically creating, we will remain gasping for life.

What is creativity? Creativity involves generating new and unique concepts and delivering them to the world. The ideas vary widely and come from every field of endeavor. Creativity increases as we acknowledge our creative nature. Each of us must be open, and give ourselves permission to be creative. As we recognize that we have access to the same genius field as Picasso and Shakespeare, our lives will take on new color and tone. Creativity is all about how we handle the ideas that come to us each given day.

Ideas come and go, and we often dismiss them as being without significance. When the seed of a creative idea appears, it must be treated with reverence and respect. Arthur VanGundy stated, “Throwing away ideas too soon is like opening a package of flower seeds and then throwing them away because they’re not pretty.” Honor your seed ideas as they come to you. Treat the idea as you would a tiny newborn – feed it, embrace it, caress it and love it. Your creative future depends on how you handle the seed thought. Honor each idea that is broadcast into your mind and allow it the opportunity to grow.

After nurturing, testing of your idea ensures that you are not committing your time simply to an expression of your ego. As you access your full creative heart you will test the caliber of your ideas with questions – not questions that weaken: what will this idea cost? how will this work? what will my friends think? Instead, ask questions that flow from your internal genius state: does this idea inspire? does this idea lift? does this idea transform? is this idea beautiful? The answers will become your compass – guiding you beyond doubts and fears.

Third, once proven, you are ready to commit to your idea. Commitment means you focus all of your energy on your idea. You close all doors except the one to your chosen passage. Incubation gives birth to a new child – an idea that will bless the world. Whether it is a painting, a song, a book or a new computer design – something new is emerging through you. You commit your heart and soul in order to bring it forth. If you assumed that creativity required no labor, you assumed incorrectly. All artistic achievement flows from inspiration and is accompanied by perspiration. Creativity is not just tankthinking. The true creator imagines, dreams and ACTS. Inventors and artists are action-takers.

Finally, creating is incomplete without the joy of work-play. Run the lake and listen to songs of the birds. Play in the dark and swing like a child again to welcome the melody of creation into your soul. Fill your inner well and search until you find your infinite reservoir. Each breath of play will expand your artistic heart. There is no try in art, there is only doing. Find your river and then float down the stream. The Talmud makes clear, “If not you, who? If not now, when?” Now is creation at its finest moment. The artistic journey is eternal, and the desire to create is your very nature. Howard Thurman reminds us, “Don’t ask what the world needs. Rather ask – what makes you come alive? Then go and do it. What the world needs is people who have come alive.”

© 2008 Bill Turner. All rights reserved.