resource we can connect to again and cultivate. Human
beings have been expressing through image since the begin-
ning of time. You know how to do this deep in your bones
and there is no way you can do it wrong.
So I offer this invitation. If you see yourself in between the
lines of this article, if you have an art wound, I invite you to
close your eyes and connect with your little child self.
Remember back to the first times that you colored with
crayons or cut out paper dolls or made paper airplanes.
Reconnect with that innocent, naturally creative part of
yourself. Take her or him on an art date and let him or her
pick out a few art supplies and give yourself the gift of
letting that part of you come out to play and explore.
What are your favorite colors? How do YOU like to move
the pen or pencil or crayon or paintbrush on the paper? Is it
OK just to feel the pleasure of paint squishing through your
fingers? Can it be fun to make a mess and be ooey-gooey?
But why do it now?
What if doing so made you feel good…more hope-
ful…more energetic? What if doing so gave you the space
for a wonderful idea to bubble about your business or a
problem to solve in a relationship? What if doing so made
the nervousness in your stomach settle for awhile? What if
doing so helped you feel connected to the source of all
creation, whatever that might mean to you?
What if you learned to meet your life with the same curiosi-
ty a child meets a table covered with containers of paint?
What if the way a child picks out crayons could be the same
way that you pick out the food for dinner or the clothes to
wear or the direction to go on your walk? What if your
imagination came to life again and your creativity expressed
itself in a way that involved no paper or pencil?
I'm not sure who first said this, but I'm going to keep saying
it. “Art leads to imagination; and imagination leads to
empathy.”
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We need your imagination and we need your empathy in all
areas of our li ves. So I invite you to reach back into your
memory and connect with that child part of yourself who
“knows.” I invite you to give him or her a hug and a kiss and
ask them to reveal their beautiful, magical imagination to
you. And then sit down and have a coloring date together.