Sunrise on the farm in Cooran - Nichola Burton © 2006
On my morning walks across the bridge to South Bank I marvel at the changing cityscape of Brisbane. In every direction there are projects in various stages of commencement or completion – almost done, half finished, just started, in need of repair or freshly completed and basking in its new magnificence. I wonder at the years invested in architectural projects such as the highly criticized Kurilpa Bridge where its inception quite possibly began a decade ago. I can imagine the passion, energy, blood, sweat and tears expressed by the creator and shake my head in amazement at the commitment it would take to hold the tension of this project and manage it right through to its completion.
Standing beside the river looking up at the half completed bridge project, it reminds me of the fundamental principles involved in any creative process and how we humans – funny little creatures that we are – employ this process every day in every single thing that we do. Glancing up at this unfinished bridge through the soft pink haze of a Brisbane spring sunrise, I begin to consider the thousands of tiny steps that were taken to get it to this point.
The birth of Kurilpa Bridge began before the vision. There was one moment for the creator – one moment where they stood in their flow – their path of least resistance. Like water running downhill pulled by gravity, the creator was flowing, floating, relaxed and at ease with themselves and the world around them. They were without a care in the world. Instead of solving the problems in their world, (as we do at work, at home, in our family, our society) their focus was fixed on having fun and pleasure instead of working, resolving, sorting or fixing. Their compass was pointed towards creation instead of solution. In this one moment, an image, word, sound or feeling popped into their minds and hearts which found form and expression as a vision – an idea – a dream.
Every single day, visions and dreams germinate in our minds and hearts. While drifting off to sleep, driving in traffic, hanging the washing, gardening, walking outside in nature, writing, singing, dancing, listening to music, we all experience what some people call inspiration – we breathe in and catch a glimpse of our own divinity. It is in these very visions where we remind ourselves that we’re not just here to slog and work and hurry – we remember that we also have a fun, creative nature.
We carry these dreams around with us and compare and contrast with what we perceive is the reality of our life. We regurgitate our stories – you know them well – the “reality channel” – “I’m so busy”, “There is no time”, “Life is hard”, “I do not have enough money” etc and consequently shelve these pockets of inspiration in our unlimited virtual library of ideas.
Yet if you look closely at your day to day life, you will see just how much you DO employ a creative process and proceed with the manifestation of your ideas – whatever they may be. There is a delicate juggling act that you have mastered where you are able to hold the tension of your dreams while activating and managing the various creative projects that you call your life experience.
How do we do this? Each one of us weaves an intricate maze of behavioural patterns. In a software program, a design pattern is a reusable solution to a commonly asked question or repetitive activity. Similarly, in the program of human behaviour, we take a series of steps in response to the creation or solution of an external influence – relationship, work, social. Take a look and identify your own personal creative cycle and see how, where, when and why you activate it. Examine the history of your experiences – what you have created and what you have not. For some, a great infatuation ignites a flame of creation, for others the drama of emotion, pain and challenge! If you stand back from both infatuation and drama, as if they were magnificent works of art hanging in a gallery, and observe them, you can see the beauty, power and effectiveness of both as creative strategies.
Once the flame is ignited, your creative cycle typically begins with you analysing the opportunity. “Can I do this? Is this viable? Will it work? Do I really want to do this?” You define the goal or project objective and explore all options until you decide if it holds the most value for you.
We are dealing with layers of perceptions, beliefs and stories which drive the various character expressions of us – both internally in our traits and externally in our holographic relationship experiences. Seriously, when you think about it, this process is not unlike being a film maker. Utilizing a huge range of economic, social, and political contexts, and using a variety of technologies and techniques, a film maker engages a creative process via scriptwriting, shooting, editing and distribution, in order to share his story with an audience. The characters in each story have long term, mid range and short term standards that need to be satisfied within a fundamental storyline (structure). This means that there may be primary, secondary or even tertiary steps that are taken to activate the creative process.
E.g. If I wish to lose weight, and I begin my focus on food instead of exercise, one tertiary step would be to research various aspects about food and how it impacts on weight. A secondary step is to go shopping, find it, compare it and finally purchase it. A primary step is to learn how to prepare it in a certain way and finally eat it within a structured program to support its benefits to me in my weight loss quest. While taking these steps, the various stories of mine that I experience in the diverse range of characters of me, have their own standard of how they expect this experience will look and these standards will influence the steps that I choose to take to achieve my goal.
See what I mean?
Ok – so let’s imagine for now our film maker has written the intricate stories and character sub plots, our cycle recognized and plotted, our standards clear, goals established, step structure in place so we can then generate the many various ways to achieve this dream – this project. We invariably check these ways against several external benchmarks as well as internal milestones – all the while aware that the countless little stories of you will tug at your logic and emotions endlessly saying things like: “This doesn’t feel right.” “It doesn’t resonate with me.”
Work with me here – this whole film maker experience is assessed and evaluated, you’ve made a selection of the better option and you are headed into the planning stage. Depending on the film maker, professional or personal project, detailing and evaluating potential impact and risk will probably require expert professional guidance (external power source) – confirmed by legislative bodies before the plan can be implemented, produced, benchmarked and checked against the various value standards until eventual completion.
Phew! We certainly made a production out of that – but look what you created!
Standing back to view the project – marvelling at your creation – the next phase commences where you review your experience, examine the results, appreciate the lessons learned and create a system that links the various patterns in the project in order to establish a structure for future such projects.
Imagine if you viewed every single one of your daily experiences as a project and examined the creative process you already use? Seeing the Kurilpa Bridge project broken down into a decade worth of Flow, Orientation, Tension, Strategy, Vision, Creative Cycle, Seeding, Choices, Steps, Completion, Review, Structure and System, you certainly appreciate the commitment to vision required to hold the tension of a project from inception to completion.
Imagine if you appreciated the decades that you as a master creator have already invested in initiating major creative projects?
Imagine valuing where you are already amassing a vast inventory of resources and materials, expanding in the knowledge you need, fine tuning skills and beta testing your very own creative process?
What could you create knowing you have all you need already?
