The second day of the skirt! Creative Conference began with breakout sessions (that is after a delicious breakfast prepared by the wait staff at the W Hotel Midtown). I attended a session called Desperately Seeking Musings, in which, ironically, speaker Michelle Goss taught us it’s not very effective to desperately seek inspiration. And she has a point. Think about it: when you’re facing writer’s block and you’re sitting there staring at a blank page or blank screen, does it ever help to keep telling yourself, Try harder, try harder? Of course it doesn’t.

What Goss explained is that to truly unlock our creativity in a way that it becomes a way to live and not just a thing to do we must change our life perspective.

We have four choices:

1. The victim. She believes life is happening to her, that it’s a mystery over which she has no control.  She says things like “Why does this always happen to me?”

2. The champion. She believes life is a problem to solve. She’s constantly working to improve and manipulate her circumstances and fix the problems of others.

3. Spiritual Adult. She believes life is an ally that gives her feedback to grow and change. Life is a joy not a burden.

4. Soul. She believes life is a divine mystery and we are all interconnected. She knows she’s completely loved by the Source of all Love without having to do anything.

As soon as these were presented I instantly knew where I stood. I’m a champion. I wake up each morning and, in my head, immediately start rattling off a list of problems, my own and those of others, and what I will do that day in an attempt to solve them. The champion life perspective is popular and endorsed, but it’s exhausting. How on earth can I be creative when my brain is filled to the brim with problems? So I no longer want to be a champion, as crazy as that sounds. I want to be the kind of person who believes that all things that happen to me, both good and bad, can help me grow. With that type of perspective I can live at ease, setting my mind free to create.