What Lies Within Us The Transformational Power of Creativity

[Music]

what lies behind us

and what lies before us are small

matters

compared to what lies within us

emerson’s words are both timeless and

timely we have just passed a temporal

landmark

a year into our journey through a global

pandemic

so this is a natural time to pause and

reflect

think about what has gotten us through

this far

and what lies within us that can help us

emerge from the other side

creativity the ability to

imagine to be curious to

generate something new and unique this

is our

birthright creativity is what brings

into being the thoughts and ideas

that are unique to us as individuals

we’re creating when we

express dream or wonder

creative thinking enables us to

visualize

a future state when we are in the midst

of

immersed in a present state that feels

or may actually be intolerable

creativity allows us to see windows

where others see walls as adults

in our society we often impose a false

binary

around this concept of creativity and

the idea that you’re either creative or

you’re not

is not only reductive it is absolutely

untrue creativity is available to

all of us it’s an equal opportunity

asset

as a licensed creative arts therapist

and global leadership educator

i’ve had the pleasure of doing the work

that i love

in more than 30 countries and i’m not

done yet my passion

is helping people move through adversity

by connecting with the wellspring of

their own creativity

i’d like to take you on a trip we’re

going to make three stops

an orphanage in addis ababa ethiopia

a primary school in tusla bosnia

and a convention center in little rock

arkansas

our first stop is ethiopia

in 2007 i traveled there to work with

hiv-positive orphans

in children’s homes across addis ababa

and my role was to coordinate with the

medical teams and the staff

to ensure that the kids psychosocial

needs were getting met

one day when i arrived at a particular

orphanage in the dusty outskirts of the

capitol

i was greeted by shouts of joy and 46

pairs of feet

running to greet us in the courtyard

after playing soccer for about an hour

we all moved inside

for some refreshments and art activities

i handed out paper crayons and markers

which were accepted with tiny hands and

hushed reverence

i then told the children to

use the art materials to create a

picture of something that makes you

happy

my colleague then translated my words

into amharic

and quiet settled in the room and the

children

began to draw so

imagine my surprise when after five

minutes

the room is silent crayons down 46

children

sitting silently having all drawn

what amounted to be the exact same

picture and i turned to my colleague and

quietly

inquired as to how he had translated my

instructions

because how could it be that this one

flower

was the thing that made all of these

children happy

then he told me that someone had come to

the residence earlier in the year

and had taught the children the right

way the correct way to make

art so that is exactly what they had

tried to do

so that night when i returned to the

guest house

i raided my room and my suitcase for

any kind of object that had a unique

shape

that i could then put inside a bag

the next day when i showed up i pulled

some of the older kids off to the side

and i said we’re going to draw again i

gave them paper

crayons and markers but this time i said

before we draw

i want you to put your hand

inside this bag and reach around in

there until your hand finds a shape that

it likes

when you find that i want you to

imagine what that might look like

even though you haven’t seen it with

your eyes and then i want you

to draw it on your paper when they

finished their drawings

we all moved into a tight circle on the

floor

come on do you see the thing that you

drew

yes they said yes the item that had been

drawn the most

was my plastic toothbrush holder

so i modeled feeling its shape

exploring it looking at it from

different angles

and i passed it to the little boy beside

me

and said what do you think it could be

i don’t know he said quickly and passed

it off to the right

the next little girl took it and said

it’s blue yes i said

what else is it

it could be an airplane

yes i said it could be an airplane

what else could it be the next little

girl took it

and spying the seam around the middle

she pulled at both sides and

pop it opened a smile washed across her

face

as she said i could put some stones

inside

and shake it to make music

yes i said

yes our work

and our play reached a different level

after that day at the orphanage they had

unleashed their own creativity

and it was like a fire had been lit

inside their tiny frames

shedding a brighter light into their

world

at a very basic level

creativity is integral to life itself

the thoughts that we think that we

create

have a profound impact on the ways in

which we

interact with the world our thoughts

create our beliefs which inform our

behaviors and

color the meaning that we make from the

experiences that we have

so there’s a reciprocal relationship

between how we perceive the world

and how we act in it how we actively

explore or shy away from our own

agency it’s time for our second stop

several years after the war in former

yugoslavia

i had the pleasure of traveling to the

beautiful country

of bosnia for several consecutive

summers

i went there working with a team of

creative arts therapists and

psychologists

to help educators work through

post-war trauma in their classrooms with

their children

the first year we started in a town

called tusla

and on the second day it became apparent

that before we would

really coalesce as a group we needed to

work through

just a little bit of resistance

here’s what it looked like all right

so in art this morning you all chose

a symbol to represent yourself and then

you drew it on paper

then we wrote a three sentence story

about the symbol

where the first sentence was a statement

about the symbol

in the second sentence something happens

and in the third sentence something is

changed

so now we’re going to build on that

activity

and we’re going to act these stories out

excuse me we can’t act these stories out

they’re about symbols yes

they’re about symbols but what do the

symbols represent

well they represent us but you still

can’t act the story out

let me read mine to prove it to you

there was a candle by a window darkness

came suddenly

and tried to blow the flame out but the

candle’s flame didn’t go out

instead it grew stronger

you see thank you for that

beautiful story and beautiful metaphor

so let me ask the group is there anyone

here who thinks

that maybe just maybe

it can be acted out

okay great yes

yes come on

would it be all right with you if these

four tried to act out your story

sure they can try okay

let’s watch

am a candle burning in a window

a great wind blows in and tries to

extinguish my flame

but instead i grow stronger

shining a light for everyone to see

i am a candle and my flame brings warmth

to

all those around me

i am a candle and even as i grow

smaller my light shines strong

for everyone to see

so we acted out the stories in fact

we went on to collaborate with this

group of educators

to build a creative arts based

curriculum

to heal trauma that was ultimately

rolled out across the country

and in developing this curriculum we

accidentally stumbled on

a huge realization while the initial

intent

had been to help children heal from

trauma

we realized that the adults who were

teaching

and parenting the children had their own

traumas

that had been compartmentalized and

never expressed

so a delicate parallel process emerged

where the teachers were able to safely

explore

and contain these feelings that they

would be guiding the children through

now it’s time for our third stop

little rock arkansas after hurricanes

katrina

and rita devastated the city of new

orleans

a large group of educators and students

were evacuated to little rock

so i traveled there once again with a

group of creative arts therapists

to design a curriculum that would help

both the teachers

and the students begin to process the

loss

and move toward healing a few days

before i started my work with the

teachers

i chanced upon a public fountain

that had been drained of its water

underneath the layer of grit in the

basin there were all of these

coins mostly pennies and some other

objects that had been tossed into the

fountain

so i immediately filled my pockets with

these coins

knowing that they would somehow be

integral

to the work that i was going to do with

the teachers i didn’t know how yet

but i knew that they would the first day

of our work with the teachers was very

somber

very sad their stories of loss

were heart wrenching so i knew that our

second day

we needed to begin with a little bit

more structure they needed to have an

activity

that would allow them to have emotional

distance from the trauma

that they had just left behind in new

orleans

so when they entered the room on the

second day

i invited them to sit with me in a

circle

on the floor in the center of the circle

there was a bowl that i had filled

with the coins and one discarded ring

and i told them every coin

in this bowl was someone’s wish

as we pass the bowl around i invite you

to touch the coins

hold them in your hand find one that

speaks to you

and when you find your coin listen to it

what story does it tell you

whose wish does it hold and did that

wish come true

or not once you have your answers

write them down in the form of a short

fictional story

so they all wrote stories and we shared

them

in circles of four then we chose one

story to dramatize as a large group

and the one that was selected was

actually the story about the discarded

ring

the heroine of the story was named becky

and the ring had been given to becky by

her fiance

who had promised her the world and then

left her right before the wedding

becky was devastated

and as she stood by the fountain

holding the ring she was deciding

whether to give up on life

altogether or to let go of the past

and try to move forward

in casting the ring into the fountain

becky made her choice she decided

that she would move away from the life

that she had planned

and step into with cautious

optimism the life that was

awaiting her stories

connect fantasy and reality

they’re the gatekeepers between inner

and outer worlds

and in working within a fictional frame

this gives us a degree of psychological

safety

we can explore feelings and situations

that might be too

overwhelming to confront directly

in telling becky’s story and acting it

out

the teachers were able to explore their

own stories

of loss and despair but with

a degree of separation they were able to

tread alongside becky

as she made the choice to take the

vulnerable journey

towards renewal and hope

well i’m afraid our trip together

is coming to an end but i hope that your

journey with your own creativity

is just beginning so as we live our way

into the coming months and years

remember your creativity is a

vital source of rejuvenation that is

always with you

and tapping into your creativity will

help you

move through adversity find answers to

your questions and

questions for your answers

so think of each day

as a blank canvas and know that

you are creating when you are

imagining moving singing

dancing writing gardening cooking

connecting with people that you love

creativity lies within you

so use it to discover and express who

you

are fully and deeply for all of the days

that you are privileged

to walk on this earth

you