There has been a lot of talk about “Mastering” lately. I have noticed there is so much focus on mastering this or that and people even have the Masterclass to offer to tell you how to master it too. It seems that everyone wants to be the Master of something these days; but, what if you already hold the tools to master the skills you seek? What if you are already the Master of your own ship and can sail wherever you want?
I believe that we are the Captains of our own ship and what we give we receive and what we expect is what will ultimately happen from day to day in our lives. We can steer the ship any way we choose into smooth sailing or rough waters. From my life experience, if we dread something then we shouldn’t be surprised when the dreadful thing happens, because it usually does. Coming from a spiritual family, my Mom used to always say that, “if you don’t want something bad to happen then don’t say it out loud because you don’t want to give the devil any ideas. He can’t hear what you’re thinking.” I think my Mom was right and I have seen it happen more than once when a spoken fear became a reality. On the flip side, I have seen when spoken dreams also become reality and good wishes come true.
There are forces out in the universe beyond our control, but we have the control of ourselves and what we put out into the universe. No matter what you believe in or worship or practice, we can all agree that there is a superpower over all creation. We as humans have been masterfully created and are the only creation known to have free will to make a conscious choice. We are truly Masters of our own emotions and our own realities. We are the Masters of our todays and tomorrows. For myself, I feel that today is a new day. It’s a new beginning for me. I sense a change and updated mindset for myself to stop living in fear and regret. This awakened sense of purpose for me has brought my life into context. I know that I am the Master Artist of my own life canvas.
I see it, I feel it, I know it. I own it.
Each day- up until this day- has brought me here. Every experience I have had, good and bad, I have gotten through… but I choose to no longer dwell in the past days, the past tense, or past regrets. I have spent so much time trying to “fix” things that I actually had no control over. I have spent so much energy on things that were not a part of my ship’s voyage. I tried so hard to prove myself worthy to people who would never see me the way I wished they would. Spent so much energy on people who I thought were my friends who did not return the favor to me. Spent so much money, time, and energy trying to make up for all of my quirks, my shortcomings, and misunderstandings. So, it’s time to move forward and live today with true intention to master my goals.
My discovered realization doesn’t stop me from wondering why though. Why have I had the experiences that I have had in my life and seen the things I’ve seen, been all the places I’ve been, and had the struggles that I have had why did I have to go through all of that? Why did I have to be basically homeless when I was just a teenager? Why did I have to worry about where my next meal was coming from at such a young age? Why did things have to happen the way the did with my family? Why was I blessed with talents and gifts that I couldn’t even use to help myself or even my children at one point? All I do know for certain is that everyone has hard times and goes through trials and difficulties in their lives at one point or another. Some people struggle from birth while others do not seem to have to struggle at all. Still we have to ask why is that? Do the ones who seemingly not have to suffer know the secret of mastery that everyone else is not aware of? Or perhaps do they suffer secretly and no one sees their pain and troubles? Only God knows for sure. My faith has been the one thing that has kept me going in my life. My belief in something greater and the feeling that I was born for a special purpose and have a mission to accomplish has given me hope and made me keep trying. Keep changing my perspective to see things from other points of view. Putting myself in other people’s shoes so to speak.
I always see both sides to everything and feel it so deeply. It’s hard for me to watch the news because of so much calamity and hardship that makes the headlines. I literally feel the pain of others and sense their struggle. Maybe that is why there are so many people I have met over the years that have come across my path that need help, or advice, or just needed someone to listen to them. People find it easy to tell me their life story and share what is bothering them. Maybe this is why I have endured my own trauma, felt it, got through it, fought it, hid it, analyzed it, hated it, then accepted it so I could be someone to help others. So, over the years I have learned to be a Master of giving advice and having creative ideas to solve problems. All of these experiences I’ve had and people I’ve met and stories I’ve heard and lives I have been a part of have made me who I am today. Made me be the understanding, compassionate, and empathetic human I am now. This has not come lightly. This has come with a responsibility on my part. This has been something that no matter where I was or what job I was doing at the time was necessary and happened over and over. That was one thing that I enjoyed most about working and traveling with my family at a young age. I got to see so many interesting places and meet interesting people. I made artwork and crafts that spoke to people and helped them heal. Only a very few people knew the struggles we were actually going through at the time.
As I’m writing this blog post about my life and my own experiences, it is my hope that I can help someone out there in some way to better understand themselves, their journey, and their own creative side to give them peace. It is my hope that by sharing my own trials that maybe someone can learn a skill to help them better cope with their own difficulties. Because I believe that creativity is the key and learning to master your own creativity means that you can literally do anything you want and be able to get through any circumstance in life. It’s all about perspective and how you look at things. Tapping into your creative side helps you see things from different perspectives. This then makes it possible for you to think of more than one way to do things, more than one way to solve a problem, and understand that not everyone is the same as you are or understands things the same way you do.
To be the master of your own creativity is to know that you can be certain of your own ability to make things happen. Do not confuse this with being arrogant or prideful or putting yourself in place of a higher power. There is still only one master over all things. My own faith tells me that there is a God and I believe that He is the creator of all things, all energy, and all time. So God is everywhere, everything, and timeless. You may attribute your own belief in the superpower of your life. There is no reason to limit creativity to one belief or religion or way of thinking. Creativity is limitless. You have this limitless power within you already to be the creator of your own life. Yes, there are predetermined variables for all of us… but even if we build the ship and are the Captain of that ship, there is still a big ocean out there to navigate, and we are provided a portion of that ocean to make our own way. So even if we weren’t given the best part of the ocean, or the best materials to make our ship with, or had the best crew with us to work on getting where we need to go… we are the Captain and we still can steer the ship any way we choose. There are sunny days, cool nights, and sometimes rainy months or even hurricanes we have to get through, but what is most important is how we get through them. How do we get through? We get through with our creativity. With thinking and planning and reacting on our knowledge and experiences.
We are all born with talents. Everyone is given a skill to help them make their way in life. Every single human being is talented. When I am teaching a class I always hear people comment that they don’t think they’re talented and they always compare themselves with others. That’s not the point. We cannot compare our talent with others. It’s ours. We are all good at something. Just not the same things and not in the same way. Each human being is an individual. Therefore each talent is uniquely different according to the person because it was tailor made for them. My talent is not the same as yours. Your talent is not the same as mine- even if we are similar. It’s still not the same. So when it comes to being creative, people assume that it has to be a talent that makes them creative. In one way it is true that you need to use creativity when you use your talent and having a talent can make you more creative. But they do not define each other. They compliment each other. They inspire each other just like each human being should be doing with each other. Creativity inspires talent to do more, be more, do better, be better. So when everyone is using their own creativity, we are then inspired to use our talents, and that leads to happiness, contentment, fulfillment, and brings peace of mind and heart. Using creativity to solve problems is one of the best ways to get it solved because we see things from another perspective. If we get stuck only thinking one way and doing things one way and trying to only solve problems one way, this leads to complacency and only a part of the problem is solved. So, always seeing things from different views can give you the big picture so you can see the whole ocean in front of you. If you only look through the binoculars you can see the task up close, but you cannot see what is beside you or behind you. So, we have to use our creativity to be able to see all around us to know where we need to go in life. To do anything in school, work, friendships, relationships, hobbies, and world matters as a whole. When we can become the masters of our own creativity, we can master peace.
In conclusion, being creative is a necessity in life and there are many ways to use our creativity. No matter where we are from, what background we have, how much money we have, or what we do as a career… we need to use the creativity and skills we are born with. We know this instinctively as children. We just think we’re playing, but we are actually learning to be creative thinkers. That is why it is so important to teach our children to keep using their creativity as they get older, because as we age our responsibilities take over and we forget to be creative. We forget to use our gifts and talents because maybe it doesn’t pay the bills. Perhaps the school you attended stopped the music program or art classes were not available to you due to budget cuts. Most have forgotten the importance of creativity and how much it impacts our lives. Being creative is more than playing music or drawing or painting or making something with our hands. It’s using our minds to create possibilities and opportunities. Music and Art only assist bringing out the creativity in you and that’s why it doesn’t matter if you think it’s good or sounds good. It’s the process that is most important. The process of being creative and using our minds to realize our potential is the most cherished gift we do not currently treasure enough. We put it on a shelf for later. We bury it in a box along with all of our other fond memories. My advice to you is to dust off that treasure and embrace it because your creativity is just waiting for you to master it! I am here to help you when you’re ready to start steering your ship!
Purposefully Creative with April 