LifeGrid Magazine September 2017 | Page 37

Being Creative And Your Beliefs. by Nancy Mueller As an author, whose last two books made the best seller list, I sometimes find myself remembering a time when I was in grade school. We were given an assignment in art class; to take 3 circles and create a picture from them. During the time allotted, I sat there and could not come up with one idea. When the time was up, the teacher was holding up examples from the other children and they had come up with wonderful ideas such as snowmen, happy faces, and teddy bears. As I looked at their work, I kept asking myself, “those are great ideas, I must not be very creative since I couldn’t think of something like that!” A very talented artist who lives in my city told me about his love for art from a very young age. His passion for drawing had more than one teacher scolding him for “doodling” during class time and when he reached high school, his teachers told him that his “art” would never pay the bills when he got older. Luckily for all of us who enjoy his artwork, he chose not to listen to those well-meaning experts! If every adult allows a childhood experience to cause them to doubt their abilities and talents we would be robbing the world of its authors, poets, artists, chefs, painters, architects, scientists, philosophers, spiritual leaders and other influential people who draw on their creative mindset to empower, motivate and inspire others! We are just beginning to understand the power of our minds and how simple thought can create an avalanche of negativity or the pleasures of positive energy that can be experienced throughout the world. With the sales of adult coloring books reaching an all-time high; people are using them as tools to de-stress their lives, meditate, create an atmosphere of child-like abandon or simply as a way to get their creative juices flowing! For too long I allowed the experience of that grade school art class to dictate my beliefs about my creative abilities until I finally started asking myself, “what if?” “What if I could do more than I think I can? What if, all of these years I have been afraid to try because the fear of failing was more than I could take?” Once I opened my mind to the possibilities of stretching myself farther than I had ever done before, a new world of possibilities opened up for me. How about you? What creative talents are lying dormant within your mind because something in your past has dictated what you believe to be true? How long will you allow the avalanche of negativity to sabotage your thoughts and rob the world of your greatness? Let this article be your invitation to great- ness; it could be as easy as starting with 3 circles! facebook.com/lifegridlongbeach