I am grateful for various means of creative expression. A few weeks ago when I was struggling to find ways to write about gratitude in this blog, my sister suggested that I write a “grateful haiku.” When I told her I didn’t know how to write haiku, and she gave me very brief instruction on how to do it. (Being that she was an English-Theater double major she definitely knows her way around the written as well as spoken word…) So, I bravely ventured into the world of the haiku, committing to writing “a haiku a day for the month of May,” inspired by an online creativity group I belong to. Since May 1 I have faithfully written at least one per day (occasionally more than one if I am inspired by a fellow creator who’s taken on the challenge as well) and will continue to do so until May 31. My offering from a few days ago was about gratitude:
Sometimes gratitudeCan be the simplest answer
To questions not asked.
I am continuing to find ways of expressing my creativity, my voice. I am not forcing anything, but allowing it to come. I need to do more writing on topical matters, such as the diversity work I’ve been doing for over 25 years. I want to find more outlets for the writing I do on a daily basis and to keep working on creating new projects. I guess I am saying that I am grateful for creativity and the place it has in my life. When everything around me seems to be incredibly stressful, I find that even such small things as my haiku a day in May help keep the fires of creativity stoked. I long for the day when this creativity finds a greater audience and I am able to generate income from it. But if I never earned a dime from my created works, I would still be happy to have created and shared it even in the small circles around me.
I am a poet, a singer-songwriter, an published author of nonfiction, a children’s book author, a novelist, and at some point a chronicler of my family history. I look forward to expanding my creative voice, particularly once life gets a little less challenging than it currently is. In the meantime I am grateful for the pleasure it gives me on a regular–daily–basis. I also carve wood, create wire sculptures and even draw/sketch a little bit. I’m not very good, but who cares?
What do you do that brings you creative pleasure? Someone once said to me, “I love to sing, but can’t carry a tune in a bucket.” So what? Unless you harbor a secret desire to sing opera or perform before the Queen or appear on American Idol or some such thing, then you don’t harm anyone by singing your heart out. If anything, you might do more harm to yourself by keeping it bottled up. The same goes for any other form of creativity. Paint, draw, write haikus or short stories or limericks, create sculptures, carve wood, throw clay pots…whatever brings creative joy to you, find a way to do it, even on a small, humble scale. My haikus are not fine works of art–at least not by the standards by which some people measure such things. But they are fun for me and the people in the “creation” group that I’m a part of seem to appreciate and enjoy them, as well as appreciating the other forms of creativity offered by members of the group.
I am grateful for creativity, which I consider a gift from the Creator. No matter how it manifests, I believe each of us possess it in some form or another. Our joyful task is to discover what form it takes and to exercise it with our whole heart. I plan to continue growing that area of my life and celebrating it with gratitude!
