Identifying Context

Tomorrow night marks the beginning of ReIMAGINE's Awakening Creativity learning lab.
Here's snippet of some the curriculum I wrote for tomorrow nights session:

Identyfing Context
The 30 mph wind turned the cool air into a savage force set out to rob me of all my comfort as a human being. At 3 am the cold air is expected, but the howling wind was an unpleasant surprise from a fictional winter torture-land. This wasn't exactly what I was hoping for as the temperature setting for my first 50 mile ultra-marathon. I, and all the others racers for that matter, hoped the wind would die down and give our bodies a more enjoyable temperament to run our 50 miles. As it was, we were already going to ascend over 10,000 feet during those 50 miles so any help the weather could give, the better. And it did. The wind gave way at around 4:45 am, just before the start of the race. Fifteen minutes later the 196 of us ran into the morning black abyss; our paths lit only by our LED headlamps. The day and the miles passed like a tapestry of adventure tales and some 9 hours and 45 minutes later I finished what was one of my most enjoyable race experiences yet.
I'm often asked: "Why do it?" Usually that simple question is accompanied by some of the most puzzling facial expressions I've seen on a human face. Why indeed. I have many reasons that I've discovered along the way. However the quintessential reason is: it's inside of me. Long before I ran 50 miles for the first time there was a small whisper that said one day I want to run an ultra-marathon. All I did was listen to that voice and make intentional choices to ensure that it could come to fruition. It was the same for my first Ironman. I can remember, at 16, swimming across a lake with my brother and girlfriend at the time and commenting that one day I'd like to participate in an Ironman. Eight years later that utterance became a reality. I believe that within each of us there are small inclinations of things we would like to do. The execution of those small voices is what I call creative living.
Embracing the voice we have inside and allowing it to express itself is our creative life's work. Think through the implications of that statement. If you began to view life as your canvas and time your brush and paint, how would that reorient your view of living?
This is what I hear Jesus saying when he declares "Time's up! God's kingdom is here. Change your life and believe the Message." (MSG)
He is telling us, life is different than we imagined. God is present, active and wants to work through us to bring about the goodness of the Maker's vision. I see two things coming out this:
1) Recognizing the voice of God within us. Jesus is recorded as saying "the kingdom of God is within you." Part of our waking up to the reality of love is to cultivate that seed, that original Gensis vision within us. One of our tasks is allowing it to take root within our soul. Depending on where we are at in the process this could take years. We have wounds to get over, shadows to wrestle with, misconceptions to root out. We start that essential understanding though that there is a good voice within us leading forward.
2) Expressing the whispers of the Spirit. Once we recognize the Spirits movement within us we need to figure out a way to express it. God has granted each of us with an imagination for what our life could look like and how we could impact the world around us. Here is where creativity really begins to take shape. How we express the voice within is unique to us for two reasons: 1) someone with our DNA and personality has never heard God's voice before 2) the path we choose to express that voice noone will have done before. Even if it is similar in manifestation the creation process, which changes us and those around us, will be different and our sharing of that experience will be different.
These are the 3 great creative tasks at hand. 1) Figuring out ways to remove the layers of clutter and shadows that hinder us from hearing the voice of God and 2) Learning to see our own life, with our unique personality, family tree, gifts, time, geographic and sociographic place as a unique sacred gift, 3) developing ways to express the creativity that lies within.
Suddenly, now our life is a creative expression. We've discovered a voice within, began to understand it's origin, what skills it might take to express it and have started the process of expressing it. For instance, my experience of the world is very visceral. I had/have this sense that much of life is tied to how we live in our bodies. And I mean beyond eating right, and mild exercise. There's something found outside our limits. This started off as a hunch (imagination), and as I dove in deeper (cultivating skills) I was able to push myself further and further into the boundaries of bodily existence (expressing). This is one voice of the many voices I have inside that I've chosen to indulge. While many people consider it crazy, I do have conversations that allow me reveal the deep meaning and revelations I've had along the way. Trying to fit all the training in while running my consulting company, a non-profit organization and participating in a faith community has been a process and passion of mine.
Organizing our lives in order to express our complete selves takes a lot of time to work out and often a lot of creativity. This is the beautiful task of artful living. Forging new paths in life that allow us to express the image of God we carry is a creative endeavor that we must embark on.
This workshop is an introductory course to this very idea of artful living. We look forward to journey ahead.