I’ve been working a lot with trying to balance the perceived need for money with what I really want to create in my life. In working with this I’m seeing how the process of creating has been reversed at least relative to the way I am choosing to do it now. The way I would do it before would be to focus on money first. I would need to make money usually by getting a job or doing some kind of work. The amount of money I was able to make which was always limited would then determine what resources I had access to which would also be limited. I’m seeing more clearly now the way this process is dysfunctional why it has involved struggle and lack.
The problem is characterized by the focus on money as the source or the necessary requirement for resources. Money was never what I really wanted, what I want is what I can buy with money – food, shelter, clothing, travel, entertainment, teaching etc. Money is in many ways symbolic of the way of lack and struggle because it is inherently limited and in limited supply. Money takes the limitless abundance of the universe and condenses it into a limited controlled form. Money has the energy of struggle and lack associated with it. So by focusing on it primarily in order to acquire the other things in our life we are immediately engaging the process of lack and limitation.
The way I am working on creating now feels much more powerful, more limitless and more natural (and of course more edgy). This approach does not negate the need for money but it puts it into a more appropriate place in the creative process, as one of many means to acquire what we need. Instead of focusing on money first we instead focus directly on what we actually want. If our desire for something is genuine and not just an ego desire we will be able to access joy and enthusiasm when working on creating it. This joy and enthusiasm is the power of creation itself. Putting money first often cuts us off from that creative power because what we want is now filtered through the limitation of money.
For me the creative process first starts by grounding myself in the present moment, the now, which is where creativity emerges from and where my power and clarity lie. In order to engage the now however first requires surrender and acceptance of what is. If I don’t like whats happening right now or the way I feel right now there is no way I can be present. I must first accept and be ok with things as they are. Then in the stillness of the now I can be in touch with what I want to create and why and can feel joy in imagining it. From that still joyous place I can then take action to bring my vision into manifested form while all the while remembering to let go and not be attached to an outcome because that also limits the creative process, the universe needs enough space to determine how best something can be brought into form. In the now I can also feel that I am whole and complete as I am so I don’t need to seek or chase after what I want, I can truly create it from that place of wholeness.
I find that the symbol of a tree particularly speaks to me. By surrendering to what is and becoming present I cultivate the fertile soil in which to plant the seed of my vision which will grow into the many branches of manifested forms in my life. I nurture the seed with acceptance and feeling the reality of what I’m creating and bring it into form through joyous effort that emerges out of stillness. The tree grows and the branches become the many forms of my creative vision each of which must be nurtured and cared for with presence and joyous effort. Another example for me is from Yoga practice where we practice a posture called tree pose. In tree pose you start by standing on two feet and firmly grounding yourself, then you shift your weight to one foot and raise the other one placing it up against your thigh while bringing your hands together at your heart. To maintain balance you must stay grounded and to stay grounded you need to be fully present. From that grounded present place you can then extend your arms as branches above and out. If you lose your grounding the pose comes apart much like life.
I believe that a key part of the transformative process we are undergoing as a collective involves taking back our creative power and fully realizing that lack and limitation are not the natural state. They are instead created by conditioning, beliefs and patterns of behavior which we have the power to illuminate, let go of and replace with healthier more whole ways of being. In so doing we become manifestations of a new society which has a ripple effect on the greater field and helps usher in a real paradigm shift. From where I stand we are on the verge of something incredibly remarkable and powerful………
OMMANIPADMEHUM
HRI