by Tara Joyce | Jun 18, 2014 | Self/Business Growth
Creative. Intuitive. Wise. Beautiful. And all the other qualities we (sometimes) believe only the special possess.
The possession of these gifts, however, is not a special thing. For we each possess them, with varying degrees of visibility.
The special thing, the thing stands out, is not the qualities themselves but the empowered use and the deliberate practice of them.
For to practice and harness your creativity, your intuition, your wisdom, your beauty takes patience, dedication, and optimism. It takes developing less visible qualities in pursuit of your more visible ones, and it takes focusing your time and energy on your goals, while accepting that the immediate satisfaction of these needs can not be met.
This is what makes these people special. Not the qualities themselves, but their dedication and persistence in nurturing and sharing what’s inside of them.
photo credit: Pink Sherbet Photography
by Tara Joyce | Jun 11, 2014 | Cultural Creativity
What if our words were thought of as a resource to be conserved and used wisely?
What if we saw the misuse of our words as a waste of precious resources, similar to the misuse of our oceans or another limited resource?
What if we saved our words? Saved them from carelessness, from thoughtless expressions, saved them from being used to harm people and the planet?
What if we learned to respect all our resources? Not just the one’s from the earth and that other posses, but the one’s that are personally our own?
What if we knew our expression as our most valuable resource? How would we change things if we knew the true cost of wasting it carelessly?
photo credit: quinnanya
by Tara Joyce | Jun 4, 2014 | Cultural Creativity
Logically speaking, when I deny my emotions as a factor my conclusions can’t help but be faulty, can they?
When I deny my emotions, I can’t be rational, logical nor true, can I?
If anything, I’m being highly illogical. Emotional even.
I’m certainly not acting from a place of wholeness.
To not recognize that my emotions exist, and/or the emotions of others, is an imbalance in perception that will not benefit me.
To be neutral and balanced, to honour the existence and validity of my emotions and yours, while not attaching to them, is my only way to be wholly logical.
Because logically speaking, the whole of me must be relevant, as must be the whole of you, right?
photo credit: MattysFlicks
by Tara Joyce | May 28, 2014 | Cultural Creativity
I’ve got this tendency in communication, maybe you have it too… I sometimes take on more responsibility than is rightfully mine.
You see, I am good at communicating. It comes naturally. I like it and because of this, I sometimes take on the job of doing it, even when it’s not mine to have.
Sometimes, I take on the job of valuing your words and expressions when you are not. Sometimes, I choose an unequal exchange.
An equal exchange
But here’s the thing, the truth about empowered communication and empowering myself through communication — sometimes, it’s best if I don’t listen. Sometimes, it’s best if I don’t acknowledge what’s being communicated.
If you’re communicating in a constructive way, then listening and recognizing you is my priority. But, if you’re not holding up your end of the communication bargain and being responsible for your role in the relationship, then your words lose their value. For you are no longer valuing them.
Your carelessness with your communication is not my responsibility.
Shared responsibility
What’s mine is my responsibility towards empowered communication and my need for co-creative communication.
What’s mine are maintaining my boundaries around what is our shared responsibility in our exchange.
valuing my words & expressions = valuing your words & expressions
Both are my job. And both are yours. That’s how we co-create communication together.
photo credit: Stephen – 10on12
by Tara Joyce | May 21, 2014 | Cultural Creativity
Each day that I am blessed with, I’m faced with a variety of choices. Some are small, others are not. The choices I make define me and my world.
Each day I work on my resistance to creating and to sharing. For creating and sharing are choices I make that, ultimately, I am not comfortable with, though I consistently work to choose them.
To create exposes me to my own judgements, and to share exposes me to yours. And for me, both are equally terrifying.
My history had taught me that to create was not only a waste of myself, but a sure way to ensure — internal and external — criticism. The expression of me was not safe. History’s lesson, it seemed, was that my wisest choice was to hide me, to bury it by pushing it down deep and out of site.
Yet despite these learned efforts at hiding, I just can’t deny my need to create or to share. I’ve tried and I’ve failed. I’ve tried to be who I thought I needed to be, a quieter version of myself, but I can’t keep it up. I can’t be what I’m not.
No matter how I’ve tried to fight it, my need to create and my fearful choice not to affects my entire world.
With time and practice, I’ve reached a new place with my fear. I’ve now accepted it. I no longer pretend that I am bravely ignoring it, or that I can sleuth-ily avoid it, or that it’s unreasonable and untrue. My fears about creating and sharing are neither true nor false. They simply are what they are. Attaching to them won’t help or protect me.
What I need to do with my fear is use it, to allow it to support me and my heroic heart in choosing to practice the art I am so afraid of creating, and sharing.
I could do one without the other — share without creating, or create without sharing — but I know they both need to live in harmony and balance within me if I truly want to thrive.
photo credit: Funkyah
