I have always been an activist- political, social and environmental.  There is much I have been involved in and very proud to have done so.  But at what cost?  Activism has taken up a lot of my creative time.  I know when I am writing those emails and letters about some global issue, I am not doing creative work.  After all these years, I now realise that one can be a creative activist, i.e. someone who changes the world by ‘creative doing’.  Creative  doing is about leaving a lasting legacy,  a visible mark and making something that speaks without shouting.  I had been shouting too much and now my throat was hoarse, I could not sing.  So here is my plan-

1. Listen more, speak less- this is so difficult for me as I tend to speak so much, volumes of it because I love to communicate.  Now I am going to choose my words carefully.  Like Confucius who would bind and unbind his hair nine times before speaking, I must restrain myself and only give the best.

2. Spend 90% of my day doing something creative or useful- like writing this blog which I love instead of writing those complaint letters or campaigns.  Can I speak through my creativity?  I need to trust that I will change the world for the better by my creativity, not through confrontation.  Sometimes of course we need to complain but often our entire time can get sucked in by that negativity instead of changing the world through our positive energy.

3. Write a 30 second summary of something I read or heard today that touched me- I got this idea from a Linkedin article.  Whereas that article referred only to speeches, I have added written materials as well because we don’t hear speeches every day.  This will help to do the above two things- communicate wisely and better and get inspiration for more creativity.