Imagine buying a tree - a seedling from the nursery and you take it home and plant it. You don't know what type of tree it is but you believe that it is a fruit tree and if you take care of it, it will produce fruit. You look after it as best you can. You water it and make sure the soil is fertile. It's all a bit hit and miss because you don't really know what tree it is and what it likes, but as you take care of it you get to know it. If you see it wilting you know it needs more water. If you see the leaves change colour you know it needs more or less fertiliser. Some of your friends raise their eyebrows at how much time and energy you are putting into this tree - and for what? It doesn't show any sign of being anything special or useful. But then one day a bud forms and the bees to come check it out. They like it. Slowly but surely fruit begins to form and finally you can see what it was you were nurturing all those many months - aha, it's a ___ tree! and the fruit is delicious!
It doesn't matter what you call it - dream, vision, core purpose, calling or the 'hero within' - we all have an essential character, an in-built nature that, if we pay it any attention, drives us forward, challenging us to pay heed to a greater purpose.
Marie Forleo describes it as: "...that special something that only you can bring!"
The more that you align yourself with this inner-truth, the more you are positioning yourself to achieve 'flow' or peak state performance, which also happens to be the place of happiness, contentment and mind-blowing levels of achievement.
So why isn't everybody doing this?
One reason is that your sense of self exists in a part of your brain called the limbic system and this part of the brain has no capacity for rational thinking or language. This part of the brain gives us our sense of belief and identity but because it is 'deeper' than our rational/analytical brain we find it really hard to articulate our 'why'. It's hard to know what is our essence and even tempting to believe that there is nothing special there at all... We end up using words like 'sense' or 'feeling' or 'belief' and it is easy for our inner-critic (and other people) to raise eyebrows and say "Really?" This undermines confidence and you might begin to wonder if this 'thing' that you have felt and imagined but you can't even articulate is actually real...
It is real.
Not only is it real - it is YOUR source code to the life you were born to live.
Flow leads to Creativity
Most of the time we trip over the flow state by accident - but when we do, our brain is inundated by a cocktail of neuro-chemicals that, not only give us a powerful sense that we are in the right place and the right moment in time. It also super-charges our senses. You get a heightened awareness and the ability to process extra information that you otherwise might ignore. Your focus gets clear. You can think more laterally AND simultaneously your pattern recognition is enhanced so you can connect ideas and synthesis new solutions to problems.
You are living out your best self.
Now, here's the really cool part - creativity is not only the result of flow, but it is also the gateway!
Just as flow leads to enhanced creativity, creativity is also the gateway to flow!
How to get clearer on your purpose
When I first started this blog its original title was "3 ways to get closer to your dream" but as I began laying it out I could see that less is more. One fun, easy action step is better than a long list that no one is actually going to do.
So I'm going to start with the easy one!
There are more creative strategies I will share and I'll come back later and add links in the coming weeks, but for now, just like I would do in my life-coaching sessions, I'll ask, what is the quickest, easiest way to move yourself just one step forward to get the result you are after?
#creativestrategy1 - Watch a movie.
(Yep.)
OK, not just any movie but something inspirational.
For me, it's movies about teachers or coaches - usually in sports.
Here are my top 10 picks:
The Blind Side*
Remember the Titans
Coach Carter*
Chasing the Giants
Glory Road
Dangerous Minds
Invictus
Soul Surfer
Rudy
Good Will Hunting
(Go on! Watch one tonight!)
The word 'inspire' literally means "to breathe life into" - that's what these movies can do. They 'resonate' with our core and agitate the dream inside of us. They echo the hero's journey that we are all called to live.
Movies are our most contemporary form of art and one of the easiest ways to ignite your creative mind about what is possible in life.
I'd love to hear about your experience, did the movie you chose ignite something fresh and uplifting in you? Or are you still feeling stuck and need something else?
Please share in the comments section below.
My movies marked * are on Netflix at the moment
