Meeting the Muse after Midlife is out now on Amazon or at your bookshop! 

Cultivate the space for creativity

 

You know the adage: “The past is the past,” often spoken as if the past is over and no longer a dynamic force in our lives.

But is that so? Doesn’t the past still act upon us? And if that’s true, can’t we be a partner in the exchange and shape the story that we make about our experiences?

This weekend, wanting a dose of inspiration, I listened to a marvelous interview between author-educator Parker Palmer and journalist Steve Paulson, exploring the topic, “Creativity and Aging.” I transcribed it so I could offer a few highlights for you to use, regardless of your age.

Parker defined creativity broadly as anything you do that is life-giving. He offers this caveat:

“You can’t live a creative elder life if you’re still tangled up in regrets about the past.”

Our relationship with our regrets and our pasts is something we can make more conscious and possibly transform. To develop this idea, Parker shared a poem by David Ray, titled, Thanks, Robert Frost

The poem begins:

Do you have hope for the future?
someone asked Robert Frost, toward the end.
Yes, and even for the past, he replied,
that it will turn out to have been all right
for what it was, something we can accept,
mistakes made by the selves we had to be,
not able to be, perhaps, what we wished,
or what looking back half the time it seems
we could so easily have been, or ought…
The future, yes, and even for the past,
that it will become something we can bear…

Read the full poem here. 

How beautiful. To hope that the past will turn out to be all right–something we can bear–something that need not limit us from living our most creative life now.

By letting go of regrets and allowing yourself ‘hope for the past,’ Parker says you “clear the deck for creativity–which always requires freedom.”

“Nothing creative comes out of trying to prove something to anyone.”

If only I had known this years ago.

He gives us a stunning quote by Florida Scott Maxwell from her book The Measure of My Days.

“You need only claim the events of your life to make yourself yours.  When you truly possess all you have been and done you are fierce with reality.”

You can’t rewrite your past, but you can shape its story. By claiming your past as an amazing experiment, you transform regret into something you own, a fertile compost from which to create something new, something bold, something that is indeed fierce with reality.

2 Responses

  1. (FYI- I could not get the link to your blog in the email to work. But, I did successfully track you down!)

    So uncanny how similar our life paths are right now. Thought you would like to know about a spiritual practice Bill handed me early this year: I was beside myself trying to recover from Hillary’s loss which I took very personally. I felt kicked to the curb and 40 years of organizational work had been wiped out in a single blow. The book speaks to your theme today, and I love the title because it describes the process so well: “Healing through the Akashic Records: Using the Power of Your Sacred Wounds to Discover Your Soul’s Perfection,” Linda Howe. The process enables us to look at our past, identify the wounds, and then look for their raison d’être as we move closer to comprehending our Soul’s strengths and gives clarity to our purpose: why this body? Why these circumstances? A wonderful reframe and honoring of everything in our past, each element uncovering the mystery that is our unique soul. 8-9 months later I am refreshed and ready to roll again. Lots of pruning was required to make way for the new. I am reconnected with horses: I have been invited into a herd of 4 horses who have agreed to teach me more about how to play and dance with them at liberty. And I am honoring the pull to paint horses with soft pastels. Both of these tugs have been in my peripheral vision for quite some time: now, and once I began some letting go, they almost instantly manifested and my days are gifts with being both grounded and being inspired by Spirit. So, yes, friend, your offering is timely, meaningful and has great heart and soul. Well done, and happy journeying!

    1. Thanks so much for your thoughts, Sandra. I think we need help to heal our sacred wounds. I am so glad that some of the post-election trauma has lifted, and you’ve been invited into the magic of the herd!

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