You Cannot Not Create
Creating is in the basic nature of being human. It is not reserved only for those who call themselves artists, musicians, and writers. Everyone creates.
You engage in the act of creating every day when you bring something into existence that wasn’t there before. Whether it’s preparing a meal, starting a new conversation, or figuring out a new travel route to avoid a traffic jam, you are taking in information, sorting, filtering, deciding, and creating.
This phenomenon is why the foundational role in TED* (*The Empowerment Dynamic)® is named “Creator.” Your Creator essence is the part of you that has unlimited and wise intelligence. It is your innate goodness and, when nurtured and supported, it becomes an internal guidance system that draws your focus towards what you most care about—what you choose to create.
That Creator essence is the positive antidote to the Victim, which is the primary role of the Dreaded Drama Triangle (DDT). When in the Victim role (and we all feel like Victims from time-to-time!) you may feel powerless and think you are unable to create anything. Your internal talk may be demeaning and critical, making you feel even more certain that you cannot create the life for which you yearn.
The movement out of the Victim role begins with knowing and believing in your Creator essence as the foundation of who you naturally are. It guides your bigger decisions in life, as well as the practical daily choices, such as which email to answer or what you want for lunch.
Every minute of every day, you are choosing which thought to notice and which feeling to pay attention to. You may put your head in the sand and take the easy way out, thinking you are not choosing, but even that is a choice!
Which choices you make will determine what you create.
Here is the paradox: choosing not to choose… is choosing. Choosing to avoid a decision or believing you don’t possess the power to create, is in fact, choosing.
So, if you cannot not choose, then the question becomes where are you placing the focus of your choice? What you focus on will guide what you choose to create. Are you focusing on what’s wrong with yourself, with others, or the situation? Is your focus on what you don’t like or don’t want? If this is your focus, you will be operating from the problem-focused, anxiety-based, and reactive Victim Orientation. It is understandable that you might not think you can be creative if you place your focus on these thoughts.
The irony is that it takes a lot of energy to choose to live contrary to your true nature and not embrace who you really are. Our good friend Bob Anderson and colleague often says, “You cannot invest your soul in a compromise.”
Choose to believe in your Creator essence because it is the truth of who you are. Yes, it takes courage, commitment, and sometimes a heck of a lot of tenacity to embrace your Creator essence when life is really challenging.
When you own and believe in the reality of you, as your true self, you come to understand that everyone else is a Creator (whether they act like it or whether they know it). Together, we’re all part of something much larger—a world of immense and unlimited possibilities—choosing to create one step at a time.
Creators consciously choose choice and know they cannot not create. The only question is, what do you choose to create in your wild and amazing life?
