Who You Were IS Who You Are

On March 16th I posted about Self Esteem, and as a result I got several great comments, and ideas. Eddie Jones, award winning Phoenix, AZ architect sent a great re-minder in his comment.

Eddie wrote, "If only adults would remember how fearless and creative they were in kindergarten. Everyone was a great artist with crayons, finger paints and dance." I agree. It is so true. We were born without the fear to create, express, and succeed.

Somewhere along the way we were "taught" to have fear. I'm not saying someone thought, "Now, I am going to teach my child or student to have fear of success." No. More than likely it was inadvertently modeled to us in a number of ways, from a number of well meaning people who weren't even totally aware of what they were doing or how great the impact of their words would be.

Eddie suggested I re-mind you of your "lost gifts and the nobility of returning to childlike ways even if (you) fingerpaint in private." I couldn't agree more. In fact, I would advocate that you find time to finger paint, and color and dance. If you can't bring yourself to do it with others (which is great fun) then by all means do it in private. The important thing is to get back to the part of you that wasn't afraid to just do it. That part of you is still in there somewhere. Who you were is who you ARE. Just purchasing a box of crayons, fingerpaints or a tutu might be enough to get you rolling.

If you need a little nudge or you just want to "play with friends," you might consider my upcoming Creative Discovering workshop in May of this year, which uses this concept to help you get in touch with the creativity that is innate within all of us. Stay tuned to this blog for date and location of this workshop.

And, as Judy re-minded us in my post on March 24th, do this with the children in your lives. Many of them are still fearless. If so, grab a box of crayons and learn from them. If they have already lost their fearlessness then grab a box of crayons and re-experience your fearlessness together. Even if they have lost it, they are closer to it than we are, and they are incredible teachers!

Today's journal prompt:

Put down the pen or pencil and grab some crayons or those cool smelly markers and draw in your journal today. Even better - put away the journal, too and grab a big piece of plain white paper and let loose!