“If we were to abuse our children, Social Services would show up at our doors. If we were to abuse our pets, the Humane Society would come to take us away. But there is no Creativity Patrol or Soul Police to intervene if we insist on starving our own souls.”
(Women Who Run With Wolves, Clarissa Pinkola Estes, 318)
What are the things that most deeply nourish your soul? Do you allow yourself to indulge in this soul nourishment daily? If not, why not? What kind of citation would the Creativity Police write for you?
2 Responses
Greeting other Christine! :-)
Yes, yes, yes, I agree wholeheartedly that our greatest creative expression is the whole of our lives. When that creativity suffers it is usually because we have been suffocating some parts of ourselves. Contemplative prayer is a great doorway into greater creativity. Blessings to you!
I think our souls are our biggest responsibility~ I would say that lack of creative expression is just a symptom of a deeper spiritual mire, wouldn’t you?
In the past year or so, through a commitment to strengthen my own relationship with God (via contemplative prayer and practicing the presence of God), I’ve been able to express creativity through actual living, instead of through specific art forms, as I’ve always done before, and I find it very freeing!~ I didn’t realize that a whole life could be one constant creative expression lived out!
I was just starting to notice the transformation in my own life when I read about it. (Was it Keating or Meninger who wrote about it? I can’t remember at the moment, but the impact was enormous and relieving to have explained to me, just at a time when I was first noticing the integral changes in myself.)
I’ve been thinking that over, these last few days, and have been feeling very grateful that I’ve been guided to this unbounded creative freedom!