And to go along with my last blog post, here’s a daily encouragement on creativity
“It is important that we have the inner richness to be able to look up at the stars or the moon and compose a poem once in a while. When we open wide our minds and fix our gaze on the universe, we fix our gaze on our own life.” -Daisaku Ikeda
“Don’t be satisfied with stories, how things have gone with others. Unfold your own myth.”
―Rumi
Two thoughts came to my mind this week. This is how they went.
I was having a conversation with my friend about imagination and kids who are born millenials. You know, those who are constantly inside playing video games instead of being outside in the fresh air. I started thinking about just toys today versus toys from when I grew up. I didn’t have electronic gadgets that lit up and spun around. I think the closest thing to that was like a bop-it or something. I began to wonder if kids still play dress up and house and school. I wonder what would happen if you gave them 7 toilet paper rolls. Would they stare at it confused? Or make swords out of them. Recreate something really cool. I seriously wonder if this technologically advanced society is killing creativity? Killing imagination? Isn’t it a little scary?
Fast forward to yesterday when I was in the garage painting decorations for our house. I was so at peace. I was in my element. Whenever I’m in a setting with a bottle of paint in front of me and a paintbrush in my hand, it brings me back to when I was a kid growing up, all the way to my senior year of high school. How much I loved to create new things. How much I loved to use my imagination.
At that point, I began to think about the importance of imagination and creativity. Everyone should take time and go be in their moment. Paint, cook, make music, think outside the box. Use your imagination, be creative. Make something amazing. And be happy.
We get so bogged down in real life all the time that we forget about the power of our brain and its ability to create amazing things. Where do you use your creativity? The opportunities are always surrounding us. TIred of the same dinner every night? Play around with different foods and spices and make something new. Even if it’s terrible and you end up ordering pizza, you used your mind and the power of creativity and imagination.
Are we killing our creativity? Are we killing our imagination?
I really like this quote by Rumi. And he’s so right. We shouldn’t be satisfied with stories. We should make our own. Otherwise life is going to be so boring.
Imagination and creativity is just the foundation for our abilities.
What will you create today?
I just spent the last 5 or so days in New York City. It has always been on my travel list to go to NYC and actually stay in the city. I’ve made many day trips, because I have a lot of family in the New Jersey/Philly area, so we would always take a day and spend it in the city. However, I have always been so entranced by everything that has to do with NYC, and have always wanted to spend time there. My cousin just moved to NYC this past Julyish for his residency. This ended up to be the perfect opportunity to cross NYC off of my travel list.
Well, I really did have one of the best weekends in a really long time. I got to sight see and be a complete tourist, as well as spend a ton of quality time with family. Surrounding yourself with people who you love and love you back is so important on your life journey. At least for me, these people, the people who love me, are my constants in my life, and they make life worth living.
I was really sad to leave New York City. The sights and the people and everything in the city was just unbelievable. When I was riding the subway yesterday to the airport, it was completely packed. I had to stand the entire 30 minute ride (I know, a complete first world problem) with what seemed like a billion people I didn’t even know. Being the paranoid person I am, I was guarding my bag and my backpack like a hawk, in case it got accidentally taken or knocked over or whatever. Anyways, I was standing there, literally hugging the pole because it was that tight, when I started to look around and be more observant of what was going on. The strangest notion came over me at that moment. I began to hear all the different music that the people surrounding me were listening to, and I just thought it was the coolest experience ever. All of these people were jamming out to their own music, not paying attention to anything else that was going on around them, except for what was coming out of their ear buds.
Why was this moment so important? Because it showed me how connected we really are to other people and things that are going on outside of our bubble. The odds of me running into these people again is slim to none. But, I made a connection with those people through the music they were listening to, because I was listening with them, and for that moment in time, we were attuned to the same thing at the same time. How often are you and another individual focused in, really really focused in, on the same exact thing at the same exact time? I can say that it doesn’t happen very often in my life.
We are affected so much by what we surround ourselves with and what surrounds us. But we don’t realize it. This is the issue with the grossness in our world. We aren’t taught to affix to the subtle things that are going on around us, our senses and our bodies and our actions don’t align with the subtle. And I realized that at that moment, just on that 30 minute subway ride to Laguardia.
It’s crazy once we realize the connection we have with other people, even people we don’t know, never met, or will never see again. But, this world is so tangled, and we are stuck in the web it weaves. So, instead of complaining about it all day, we need to learn to accept it and take advantage of it. We never really are ever alone. Maybe physically we might be alone in our house or apartment, but spiritually, our souls are always searching for the next connection it can make. It’s always searching for that subtle sensation to overwhelm you and teach you something. We just need to attune ourselves to what our mind and soul want.
This weekend just affirmed for me that I need to remain open to what is going on around me. I need to sharpen my senses, I need to sharpen my mind so that I can pick up on the nuances life throws at me.
Every day I am learning that life is a lot more harder than I thought the day before. And it’s incredible. There’s my incredible moment from this past weekend. All it took was a short subway ride in the Big Apple.
thoughts and experiences 