See Everyone as a Creator
The central role of TED* (*The Empowerment Dynamic)® is that of a Creator. There are two primary actions of a Creator. The first is owning your power to choose your response to life’s challenges, regardless of the circumstances. The second is taking responsibility to create outcomes.
The Creator is your true essence that forms who and what you are as a human being. The rose knows it is a rose. It doesn’t have to think about it because it is in its DNA. Living as a Creator is in your DNA, as surely as the rose is a rose.
Many people have a hard time believing that, at the center of their life force, is their Creator essence. They may have had a difficult early childhood or other life experiences that have shamed or demeaned them. Thus, it may be easy to become self-critical and not believe in their core goodness and capabilities.
Your Creator essence is not a new concept. In fact, for most of history, the great religions—from Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, to Judaism, and more—have proclaimed a path for moving from self-centeredness to an understanding of your deeper, truer self. Ancient philosophy, as illustrated at the famous Greek temple Apollo at Delphi, is inscribed with “know thyself.” Your Creator essence, therefore, is consistent with the ancient principles that beckon forward a deeper knowledge of your true and best self.
But here’s the rub: The ego and the problem mindset are not interested in cultivating your Creator essence. It is more interested in control, judging others, focusing on the past, worrying about the future, and managing anxiety.
What if someone you encounter is playing one of the roles of Victim, Persecutor, or Rescuer, which make up the Dreaded Drama Triangle (DDT)? How do you continue to see others as Creators, even when they are not acting as one? As a Creator yourself, you can choose your response to them in that moment—and acknowledge to yourself that they, too, are a Creator.
Even if they act like a Victim, they are a Creator. Even if they act as a Rescuer, they are a Creator. Even if they act as a Persecutor, they are a Creator. The more you make this a conscious practice, the more you will find that they respond to you in kind—eventually!
This takes an ability to have empathy and compassion for those with whom you struggle to get along. Seeing everyone as a Creator, especially those who are different than you, can be a big leap for many.
We challenge you to this exercise: In the next week, pick a day on your calendar and declare it “A Creator Day.” For 24 hours, every time you see and/or interact with another person, greet them as a Creator in your own mind. If you are sitting in a meeting, look around the room or on a video call, silently acknowledge each person with “Creator” before their name (i.e. Creator Sophia or Creator Eduardo).
Do this for everyone, including the most difficult person in the room. Notice how it feels and what difference, if any, it makes in the way you interact with others.
You can practice this with everyone in your life, regardless of whether you verbally engage or not. If you are sitting in a traffic jam for example, glance at the person in the next car and say to yourself, “They are a Creator.”
Whether at work or at home, seeing and relating to yourself and others as Creators will contribute to building resourceful and empowered relationships in all aspects of your life. Enjoy your “Creator day” and here’s to the Creator essence in you!
