So often we are praised for ‘working hard’. So much so, that when we show symptoms of tiredness due to work, we get respect, acknowledging nods, understanding, acceptance and even love…
Basing our ‘doing’ on such external encouragement has resulted in us distrusting our own body, disrespecting our health, lack of fulfilment and in a tremendous guilt around ‘not achieving and not doing’.
Doing for the sake of achieving a goal that proves a point (which is always about external perspective : e.g. others will see that I am worthy, capable, etc.) is not the same as doing from the place of self-expression, exploration, contribution… the former arises from a place of lack, e.g. ‘I don’t have X, I lack X, I must achieve X’, the latter comes about from ‘I feel so excited by the possibility of experiencing X, X is a natural space I am moving into, X feels so exciting and interesting to explore and create!’.
Our mentality has been tarnished by our history of lack (survival), and so we train children that they ‘must achieve, work hard, never give up, strive and have some amount of suffering in order to have whatever it is we tell them is important to have’ – as though children are inherently inactive, barely moving, action-hating beings. The truth is strikingly opposite – most children’s level of activity is the envy of adults! No child is mostly idle, inactive or quiet – unless s/he is traumatised or ill.
This ‘training’ cuts off our natural ‘doing’ – which is creative… the term ‘Creativity’ is often used for what we classify as art, however, action derived from an inner impulse that is genuinely yours, is creative: e.g. nobody does the same thing in exactly the same way… even a simple action of sweeping the floor or painting a room is not done in an exactly the same way by two individuals…
Once we do anything – it comes through us, we own it – it is our own creation.
If we allow our natural creative potential to arise from ‘our being’ – then doing is effortless, just as we observe it in children…
We are born with a natural desire to experience and to express who we are in the greater world, any mother and teacher will confirm the endless energy-to-move-and-do that spills freely from all children. They do not need to be taught to ‘DO MORE and HARDER’ – they need to be allowed to do what naturally moves and inspires them, and to be gently guided in showing the many different ways/tools in which expression and creation can be done on this planet! Each child is an individual, hence respecting the uniqueness will also allow the child to invent and come up with new ways of creating.
Young children are essentially being themselves, naturally. As they are so filled up with their own ‘being’ – they are effortlessly flowing outward in action: expressing their unique energy in the form of drawings, singing, questions, aspirations, actions!
If you had been brought up in this way – ‘doing’ would just be an expression of who you are ‘being’. And no action coming from this place would seem like ‘hard work’!
If you hadn’t been brought up this way – the best place to start is to BE more, so you can replenish your being, so you have more energy to ‘do creatively’!
Start by noticing your needs, and observing what makes you happy – and then move towards doing THAT.
And then remember to take breaks from DOING, so you could BE-come even MORE!
