control – A Value Creating Life

what creativity means to you and you

May 23, 2015 Creative BuddhaLeave a comment

Last week I attended an art workshop. Using materials and techniques I would not otherwise use, I created couple of large drawings. Although my instinct is to go back to what I was doing before, yet by doing something different, I feel I have extended my creative limits. I was like a child at this workshop, trying colours such as black and white spray paint and stencils- which I have not used before. I used calligraphic pens and rulers too- some new things for me.

Perhaps these things are not new to you. The point that I am making is to try new things whenever you get a chance. Not only does it extend your repertoire but also tells you why you like what you do. So now I realise why I paint the way I do- for instance, I like telling stories through my work so I use found objects, newspaper cuttings, cards and photographs. This is one of my paintings below. It is called ‘Looking, Watching, Seeing’ about fear told through different events that happened in 1976-77.

Creativity is the only thing that is a relationship between you and you. Everything else is a relationship between you and someone else- and that relationship can be good or bad, depending upon you and another. However, the relationship between you and you is only dependent upon one person- you. It is the gift you give to yourself. Whether your work is liked or you became rich through it, depends upon the relationship between you and someone else (the viewer/patron) but that is not in your gift. It is beyond your control. Your creativity is your gift to yourself, regardless of external gifts. So always gift yourself!

10 things to give up

July 5, 2014 Creative BuddhaLeave a comment

This is not my writing but I wanted to share it with you because I love it. It is from Tamara Star, whose post I read in Huffington Post and have copied on to my computer screen since last year because I remind myself of these things often. Tamara Star is a coach, healer, speaker, writer, and businesswoman.

I hope you like it and benefit from it as much as I did- Thank you, Tamara!

1. Give up caring what other people think of you. I know it seems counter intuitive as we humans are primal pack animals that don’t want to be cast from the village, but spending time worrying what others think, is a waste of energy. You’ll never please everyone and it’s none of your business what others think of you.

2. Give up trying to please everyone. Unless you’re living life to the beat of your own drum, your tribe won’t be able to find you. Be the best version of you you can be, and you’ll naturally attract in the people that are supposed to surround you.

3. Give up participating in gossip. 100 percent of the time, those sharing gossip with you will gossip about you. Believing gossip is like gambling everything on a horse sight unseen. It’s naive.

4. Quit worrying. Where thoughts go, energy flows. Worry is investing time and energy in something you don’t want to have happen. Learn to let go and trust.

5. Let go of insecurity. When we take ourselves too seriously, we think everyone else does too. There is one version of you on the planet. Be it, own it and quit worrying about it. No one really cares or watches you that closely.

6. Stop taking everything personally. Truth is, most people are too consumed with their own life to really consider what you’re doing. As my first boss said so well: “The world doesn’t revolve around you. Most people’s reactions have nothing to do with you, so let it go.”

7. Give up the past. We’ve all been hurt, we all had parents that made mistakes and we’ve all been through hell. You didn’t listen to your parents when you were younger, so why are you still listening to their voices in your head now? Every experience in life has taught you something or made you stronger.

8. Give up spending money on what you don’t need in effort to buy happiness. Living simply allows the space for life to flow. We complicate our lives by spending too much money and filling our home with “things.” Less is truly more.

9. Give up anger. Anger burns a hole in the hand of the person still holding on to it. Move it out once and for all.

10. Give up control. Control is an illusion. We live in an out of control world. Learn to embrace the new and welcome change; otherwise you’ll grow old through your own rigidity. Learn to let go.

Finding daily Inspiration

October 12, 2013 Creative BuddhaLeave a comment

I have realised that I keep going back to certain quotes and so I thought it would be good to place them together. Hope you enjoy ( even identify with me) and get inspired by them too!

1. The quickest way to gain power is to do something we are afraid of doing. When we are afraid of doing something, we have given up our power to that. So to regain that power, we need to do whatever we stopped doing or never did.

Robin Sharma (I heard this in one of his videos so this is may not be the exact quote but it is the essence of what he said ).

2. The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.

Martin Luther King Jr. (I read this at a hotel in Birmingham when I was going through an extremely difficult time and this inspired me to carry on)

3. In your 20’s and 30’s, you worry about what other people think. In your 40’s and 50’s you stop worrying about what other people think. Finally in your 60’s and 70’s, you realize they were never thinking about you in the first place!

Anonymous (I can’t remember where exactly I read it but it struck me that I had I had spent a long time worrying about what others thought of me and consequently, I had put very little into nourishing my own soul and body. And this had been another way of giving up my power and individuality and so this has helped me)

Today, a Buddhist friend said that he spends the time before going to bed reflecting on three things that he did for others and how he could do them better next time. I thought this was an inspirational way to get ready for sleep in a positive frame of mind for the next day.

Finally I read this recently in Huffington Post written by Tamara Star (10/10/13) and I read this daily as an affirmation as I go around finally living my own life.