Your Mojo

Is this you?…

You always wanted to write, paint or create something unique “one day”, but life intervened and now all your creativity is going into keeping your kids, spouse or boss happy.

Perhaps these people don’t appreciate the sacrifices you made and you feel resentful.

Maybe you’ve decided to fess up to the fact that you used these commitments as your best excuse to crush your fledgling creative talent.

Or perhaps your kids have flown the nest, your spouse has become obsessed with golf or your company has suddenly decided to value “creative thinkers”.

What happened to your mojo… now that you need it more than ever?

Before we answer that, let’s take a look at how we got here…

We are all born with a fully operational creative spirit. We have a relentlessly curious mind and a passionate heart, which provides all the fuel necessary to create an interesting and enjoyable experience during our time on this planet.

Then we get scared…

We don’t have a fully functioning body yet, so we’re dependent on the people around us. We start to formulate beliefs – things like “if other people don’t take care of my needs, I won’t survive”. We start to carefully monitor the feedback we get from the world around us. If we do things that get a positive response, we do more of them. Things that get no reaction (or a negative reaction) we do less of.

This is the start of our compromise.

We become a product of our external environment, rather than the manifestation of our inner one. The world most of us grew up in valued logic, intellect and winning. We focused more on these.

This meant we focused less (if at all) on dreaming, taking risks and creating. Thus began the supremacy of the left hemisphere of the brain, and the slow atrophy of the right one.

We learnt to conform and follow rules. These rules became roles – the good mother, the competitive businessman. The roles became duties. “I’d love to…(fill in the blank) but that would be irresponsible”. In other words “it doesn’t fit with the role that defines who I am”.

People nowadays are waking up in their thousands and demanding to know who they are… really.

The wind of change is blowing. The world no longer rewards conformity or playing by the rules. Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg are all college drop-outs. Creativity is in high demand, not only as a valuable asset in the workplace, but also as a pre requisite for joy, happiness and fulfillment in life.

What happened to your mojo?

Start getting curious. It’s never too late to get it back.

A tip from Dolly Parton…

“Figure out who you are, and then do it on purpose”

A warning from Rita Mae Brown…

“The reward for conformity is that everyone likes you except yourself”