Day 251: The Dream Is Not an Interruption
We tend to look at creativity as artistry. Making something.
Writing, painting, cooking, decorating, gardening.
Or creating a business or solving a problem. A creative solution.
The most creative thing we will ever do is create a life that actually reflects who we are revealing ourselves to be.
That sounds beautiful, even luxurious or romantic. But it also requires us to listen in a different way.
Because a lot of the time, the life that wants to come through us does not arrive as a fully formed plan. It starts as a whisper. A little nudge. A feeling that something wants to be expressed.
A quiet longing that keeps coming back no matter how many times we try to talk ourselves out of it.
And for a long time, we may treat that whisper like an interruption.
When I'm busy, which is most of the time, or overwhelmed with all the interesting things I've gotten myself involved with, I'm guilty of not listening.
And I'd hate to think I missed an important cue from the Universe that would have given me more clarity or an idea, or made my life easier in some way.
We have a lot of things on our plates. We have responsibilities.
We have the life we already built, and it takes a lot of energy to keep that life running.
So when some deeper part of us starts wanting more, our first response may be to push it back down.
We don't realize it's trying to lead us to what we want. More creativity, more joy, more freedom, more meaning, or more fulfillment.
We tell ourselves this isn't the time. It's not practical.
We lie to ourselves and say we should just be grateful for what we have. Or we tell ourselves we don't even know what we would do with that desire anyway.
And we push it away.
But what if the dream is not an interruption?
What if it's information?
What if that longing is part of our guidance, showing us where our current life and our reason for living are no longer in balance?
That doesn't mean we have to blow everything up the minute we notice it.
We don't have to make a dramatic announcement that we're changing our life.
We also don't have to know what the whole future will look like. It will come in its own time once we take the first step.
But we do have to begin telling the truth about ourselves, to ourselves.
Something in me wants to be expressed.
Something in me wants to have fun again.
Something in me wants to feel deeply fulfilled.
Something in me is tired of being practical at the expense of being alive.
That kind of honesty is the beginning of a shift.
And then we get to choose how we hold the dream. Or if we choose to hold it.
We can worry over it and pick it apart before it ever has a chance to breathe. We can bury it under all the reasons it may not work, all the ways it could be inconvenient, and all the evidence from the past that says we shouldn't trust ourselves with something new.
I did that at first when I had the dream of spending more time at the motorhome. There was a chance it would blow up my local business. It could turn out to be a lot of driving back and forth. A lot of hours on the road.
I thought of all the reasons I couldn't do it. But my heart, and more importantly my soul, were saying to do it anyway.
If we're brave enough, we can let ourselves rejoice in it a little. Do a little happy dance inside our heads.
Even before we know how it will come together.
We can let the thought of it lift us instead of scare us.
We can let the possibility of it become a place of alignment instead of another place where we rehearse fear.
That alone changes the energy. And I know it can still be scary. New things can be.
It's been a few months since I listened to my soul and did it anyway.
I'm happy, my heart is lighter. People are telling me I look so much younger than my age. It's been a while since that happened and now it's happening all the time. Even on Zoom!
Are there still things to be worked out? Yes.
It's a big change and changes like this unfold over time.
That whisper in our heart is not there to torture us. It's there to guide us back into balance.
Back into creativity.
Back into joy.
Back into the life that has been trying to get our attention.
Today is simply a day to stop dismissing it.
Today, let yourself have a little fun with the idea that your creative expression matters.
Your fulfillment matters.
And the dream you keep trying to talk yourself out of may be part of the reason you are here.
Today's Gentle Practice
Think about one dream or creative desire you keep pushing aside.
Ask yourself:
What if this is not an interruption, but information?
You don't have to act on it all at once.
Just let yourself listen.
Let yourself feel what it might be trying to show you.
A dream that keeps returning may be asking for your attention, not your fear.
With you,
Lynn
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