What's on Your Canvas?

We are all creative.  We are all filled with unlimited creativeness.  Creativity is one of our best human traits; right up there with compassion and empathy.  I’ve had so many conversations with people about being creative.  I can’t tell you how many people tell me they just aren’t creative.  How they don’t have a creative bone in their bodies.  Well I can tell you what I think of that, it is a big pile of bull poo poo.  

Every human being is born to be creative.  Let’s face it, if we weren’t supposed to create, than why do we have an imagination?  If we weren’t meant to be creative than we wouldn’t long to see art, listen to music or read stories.  I think people who say they aren’t creative, consciously or not, decide to call it something different.  They might call their creativity— parenthood, employment, exercise or even dinner.  Let’s face it; we are creating all the time.  Whether we are rearing children, earning a living or feeding our families, we are being creative.  We are designed that way; it is in our makeup, our DNA.

Now that we are all on the same page, let’s take it a step further. 

We are the creators of our experiences.  (Just hang with me here)  We need to think of our lives like a blank canvas and we are the painters/creators. 

It is our hand that clutches the brush and presses it against the canvas.  What are we going to paint?  What are we going to create?  What are we going to put out into the world?  Are the lines and shadows going to tell people about whom we are, what we want, how we see the world?  Are they sharp or more obscure?  Did we splatter the colors or meticulously place each one.   Did we use primary or bright colors?  Is there texture and depth?  Ultimately, did we tell the story we wanted?  Even a blank canvas is art designed to tell us infinite stories.  

  

The greatest thing about a blank canvas is we can decide what we want to paint on it.  If what came out the first time isn’t what we wanted, guess what?  We can paint over it.  Even if we keep painting over it again and again, and never find the right angle, shades or colors— don’t sweat it; because when we get tired of using the same old techniques, we can get a new canvas and try over again.  Maybe we will take a class, learn from someone who has succeeded in creating a masterpiece.  Maybe the colors we started with aren’t the colors we wanted to end with.  Maybe we just needed to step away for a moment to see our true inspiration.  Or maybe— we just needed to give up that canvas and start with a new one.    

It is when we uninhibitedly let our creativity flow from our heart, through our hands, and into the paintbrush we press against the canvas that we create the most magnificent story of our lives. 

When we let go of old methods and ideas that just aren’t working for us anymore, it is at that point we create new ones that do. 

The time is now, when we are the most open and vulnerable, to grab the paintbrush of our lives and let the inspiration cover the canvas.  It is time to create the most wonderful piece of art in the universe— your life!