Creative Recovery III - Creating Meaning

I believe all humans have the need to create meaning in their lives.  But perhaps for the creative person this need is an imperative.

This leads to regular "meaning crises"; because no matter what you do, even if you are successful, you are only as good as your last book, movie, hit song, scientific discovery, etc..

Once one project is finished; what will the next project be? Where do I invest myself?  Why do I invest myself? Not every day is our creative work going to be fulfilling. There are going to be frustrations, road blocks. You will be thwarted in your expression.

Without genuinely meaningful activities to pursue, our aliveness turns to listlessness. We are also stymied with not knowing what meaning to make sometimes. Discouragement and depression sets in.

How we create meaning in our lives is, of course, unique to each of us.  What will be meaningful to you, may not be meaningful to me.

Tom Wujec, in his book Five Star Mind, suggests that creativity is composed of three aspects: novelty, value and passion.

For me, these three aspects also ascribe meaning to my life.  I am curious and constantly seek new ideas, knowledge.  I enjoy seeing things in a new way. That's why I enjoy looking at art.  Value.  I do think a lot of what gives us meaning in our lives are the things we value, or perceive as having value.  And finally, passion.  As someone in my life once said, "Without passion, we are as worms."

We all know what passion feels like in our work, in relationships--and we seek that feeling often in our lives.  It is being vitally involved with something or someone.  And when we can't find that or achieve it, some of us turn to substances to help fill the void.

Something I like about what Maisel and Raeburn have to say:  They warn the reader about the reality that on some days, we may not be able to find or ascribe meaning.  I'm certain we've all felt the sensation of meaning "leaking" out of a project or a relationship.  Meaning comes and goes.

Becoming aware of this and learning how to handle it is key.  Is it time to let a project or a relationship go?  Is there a way to inject new meaning?  Or revive the meaning once attached?  Is it time to give it a rest and come back to it later?

So often, when I've felt the meaning drain out of something, I've given up.  Discarded something or someone who once made me feel vital.  Felt discouraged and deeply depressed.

I didn't realize that this is the rhythm of life.  That I shouldn't give up.  That I'm not always going to feel passion every second of every day.  That meaning ebbs and flows.  That even the human body, mind, spirit, needs those times of rest from constant and continuous application.

It is learning how to stay steady, even keel, during those times that are flat, without meaning, knowing that it won't always be this way.  That meaning can and will return.  That, in fact, my creative spirit will find a way to achieve meaning, as that is what I most desire.  That is why I live.

Happiness & Goals

Before leaving the happiness that goal setting and achievement can add to our lives, Lyubmirsky has a few more points of empirical advice:

Commit with a passion.  Don't quit, don't give up; be persistent.

She suggests making one's commitment public, as it encourages consistency.

Own your goals.  Find ways to reward yourself and make the journey intrinsically satisfying.  The pursuit of a goal is as important as achieving it.

In the famous words of Nike: Just do it.  Just moving forward on something can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.  Someone once said: At the moment of commitment, the Universe conspires to assist us.
So, move...the road may rise to meet you.

And finally, as we've heard so often before, break your goals down into baby steps.  I often think people take on far too much in recovery and sooner than later, get overwhelmed and burnt out.  Learn to practice "turtle time".  Learn how to spend time with yourself without constantly running. Slow and steady finishes the program.

Remember the old adage: You can eat an elephant, one bite at a time.
                                                      
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Post script: There are many excellent books at the library and in the book stores on setting goals.  I'll take a look and see what I can recommend in the Resource Section of this blog.