Don’t Cheat Us Of Your Contribution

I’ve been thinking about creativity a lot lately. I don’t mean getting messy with paints and crayons, although that’s cool too.

Rather, I’ve been thinking about the idea (which was new to me until the last few years) that each one of us was put on earth to create something unique and important. Creativity is not just the assignment of famous writers, talented artists, even genius entrepreneurs and inventors.

Creativity is inherent in each one of us as human beings. And it is our obligation to tap into that creativity to do what we were put here to do. As (my hero) Steven Pressfield, author of The War of Art, wrote:

“If you were meant to cure cancer or write a symphony or crack cold fusion and you don’t do it, you not only hurt yourself, even destroy yourself. You hurt your children. You hurt me. You hurt the planet. You shame the angels who watch over you and you spite the Almighty, who created you and only you with your unique gifts, for the sole purpose of nudging the human race one millimeter farther along its path back to God. Creative work is not a selfish act or a bid for attention on the part of the actor. It’s a gift to the world and every being in it. Don’t cheat us of your contribution. Give us what you’ve got.”

Have you ever watched someone do something and felt that they were so incredibly suited to what they were doing that you were witnessing the work of an angel?

I know this sounds crazy, but I saw this with my son’s basketball coach recently. With two active boys I’ve seen lots of coaches in my time (some better than others). But I had never witnessed such complete grace and flow. Normally he’s just an average guy, but when this coach enters the basketball court you instantly can tell that he was put on this earth to inspire children to give the sport their all. His beautiful mix of tough love, endless support, helpful critiques, and raw passion for the sport turned a rag-tag team of kids who had never played before into a sight to behold.

And it makes you think, what if for some reason this coach had never become a coach? What if he, or some other force, got in his way? What would this world be like if he wasn’t allowed to be a coach? What would his life be like if he had to stifle his obvious gift?

But we do, all of us, sometimes (or perhaps a lot of times) get in our own way. We hinder ourselves from figuring out what our unique contribution is. When that happens we need inspiration to spur us to find our creative voice.

As Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Big Magic, explains, that when you are stuck:

“Find something to do — anything, even a different sort of creative work altogether — just to take your mind off your anxiety and pressure. Once, when I was struggling with a book, I signed up for a drawing class, just to open up some other kind of creative channel within my mind. I can’t draw very well, but that didn’t matter…I was fiddling with my own dials, trying to reach inspiration in any way possible…Einstein called this tactic ‘combinatory play’ — the act of opening up one mental channel by dabbling in another. This is why he would often play the violin when he was having difficulty solving a mathematical puzzle; after a few hours of sonatas, he could usually find the answer he needed.”

When I’m lost and can’t get back into my creative flow, I turn to another form of creativity to inspire me, sometimes art, sometimes writing, sometimes dance or music.

Something that has inspired my creativity lately is Walter Martin’s video for his song Down by the Singing Sea. His ethereal song paired with images of Russian ballroom dancers utterly in their own flow is completely captivating. It’s goofy and awkward and beautiful and thrilling all at the same time. For me, this is witnessing grace. So I listen and watch (and, yes, dance!) and their creativity spurs my creativity.

Maybe Walter will work for you as he does for me. Or maybe he won’t.

But you must find your creativity. Because when you are creating what you were put here to create, you are “nudging the human race one millimeter farther along its path back to God.”

So don’t cheat us of your contribution. Give us what you’ve got.

Photo Credit: Barry Goyette