Where Are You Creating From?

A couple of years ago, I signed up for singing lessons. And the reason was simple: I was terrified of singing.

I had already decided that I couldn’t sing, and the idea of singing in front of someone made me incredibly uncomfortable. Taking lessons became a personal challenge. Could I allow myself to be a beginner? Could I be awkward, make mistakes, and stay with it?

I quickly learned that fear has a very convincing voice. It can sound like the truth.

"You can’t do that. You’re going to embarrass yourself. What’s the point?”

When we constantly hear those messages, we stop questioning them. They become agreements, and those agreements begin making choices for us.

That experience became part of the inspiration behind Life as Art and one of the questions at the center of the program:

Where am I creating from?

We are always creating something through our attention, our words, our choices, and the things we repeat. Even the things we keep avoiding create something.

“I’m not good at that” creates one kind of life.

“I have to know what I’m doing” creates another.

“I shouldn’t be too much” creates another.

Some circumstances are outside our control, but our creative power is in how we participate in the present moment. We can begin to notice what has been directing our choices and decide whether we still connect to that.

How do we start? With awareness by seeing what’s already there.

What keeps repeating? What do you keep postponing? Where do you edit yourself? Where do you feel most alive?

One practice we use in Life as Art is this:

At the end of the day, complete this sentence:

Today, I created __________.

Maybe you created connection, tension, rest, distance, laughter, or another excuse.

Then ask yourself:

Where might I have been creating from?

There’s no need to judge the answer or fix anything immediately. You’re collecting information.

From there, we listen. Fear has a voice. The Judge has a voice. Our families, culture, and expectations all have voices too. Listening helps us recognize which voice has been guiding us and what else may be true.

Then we practice expressing what we hear. That expression can be a conversation, a paragraph, an outfit, a boundary, a song, or an honest answer. It can stay private because sometimes we need to let something belong to us before sharing it with anyone else.

Then we try something, perhaps something new or small. We see it as an experiment instead of a life-changing decision.

Singing lessons were one of those experiments for me. I didn’t know where they would lead. I knew I was tired of letting fear make that choice for me.

I still get nervous when I sing. Now I know the fear can come along without making the decision.

That’s what this practice is really about: paying attention to what’s shaping our choices, getting honest about what we want, and trying something small.

So this is the question I’ve been sitting with lately:

Where am I creating from today?