Creativity as higher connection
There’s a lot swirling around on the blogs and socials of the wellness industry right now, which feels both aligned and in conflict with itself. The importance of self-care, the concept of personal freedom... doesn’t it all feel rather individualistic? And isn’t that what’s wrong with the world right now? Where does community, kindness, and caring for others fit into this self-first world?
But at the same time, when we think about it, it’s easy to understand—particularly for those who tend to self-sacrifice—that looking after ourselves is paramountly important. Making sure we feel good, fulfilled, and open makes us better people for ourselves and all those around us. Being able to love freely, engage with our communities, and let go of judgment.
So how does it all fit together? Can we make our peace with two seemingly diametrically opposed ideas existing peacefully concurrently? Can we get over our reliance on binaries?
I’ve long been a lover of fractals since I first saw them in various forms at university. The self-reflective nature of them makes so much sense to me. I think there’s something about the concept of something working on a micro level and extrapolating that out onto a macro level, which appeals to me across all forms of being. And I can see how this works—I can feel within myself that when I’m aligned, when I feel good and fulfilled, the way I interact with others is of a higher quality. I’m less stressed, less snappy. The interactions and the energy I’m putting out are higher. And that means there’s more consciousness on my part, but it also impacts the people around me. And so the other way around. Surrounding myself with stimulating sparky people, brings out these traits in me.
Much like a piece of a non-hierarchical structure, a network structure, I become a node—a little node of fulfillment and joy. And this comes from caring for myself. Not from bubble baths and candles, although honestly, I do like these, but from something much deeper, or much higher than this, depending on how you want to look at it.
If we consider that we are all energy, and everything is energy, and we are vibrating at various energy frequencies, then when we are vibrating in a higher state—or perhaps a broader, more open state—we put that out. And that has an impact on the people around us. When we have several of us impacted by that high-frequency energy, it lifts the energy of the group. So it can be argued successfully that caring for yourself enables you to vibrate at a higher frequency and this rubs off on those around you. And the more of us there are vibrating at high frequencies, the more you get a critical mass, and others join in - much like a dance floor, and we all know what magic lies there.
The confusion can start because from the outside (and sometimes from the inside) it’s actually very difficult to see the difference between someone who is coming at self care from a place of lack, and someone who is coming from a place of abundance. They can look very similar but are, in fact, very different. I used to have an issue with the word abundance. I thought of it as overindulgent, wasteful and unnecessary. But that was essentially because I was coming at it from a place of lack! Abundance doesn’t mean money or stuff, or bucket lists or tick boxes of achievements, it is born out of security, deep roots, experience, and self-understanding. A sense of fun and a joy in being alive. Caring for yourself in this way is about being in flow, knowing what fulfils you and how to live in this. It almost always includes connection and community (although I don’t necessarily mean being sociable) as these are rooted parts of the essence of being human. Self care from a place of lack can be how we are conditioned. To look out for number one, be fearful of others, jealous, suspicious. To step over others to better ourselves - missing the very point of being human - and certainly the point of self care.
To a large extent, that conditioning essentially starts pre-birth. Everyone is born within a context—where you’re born, into what religion, ethnicity, gender, what type of household, liberal or conservative, rich or poor, what country, what belief system, what experiences your parents have had - all this forms the cornerstones of how we grow up in those formative early years. Everyone is born within a context, and as we all know, we are hugely shaped in infancy. We’re almost unconsciously consuming our birth context because we’re brand new in this world and have no frame of reference. So it can be a challenge to even realize that we are contextualized. But once we do (through, books, travel, other people, the internet or any other way), to unpick our own personal context can still be challenging.
If we are able to understand the concept of “us” - who we are at this point in space and time - as part of the wider network and part of an interconnected web of life; then we start to be able to see ourselves in a different way. So rather than as an individual to potentially dominate or lead, we actually see ourselves as a beautiful, unique, integral and essential part of a stunningly glorious network. But not as anything more or less than that - and equal to all the other beautiful unique parts of the network. Other parts of the network support and lift us up and we respond accordingly. So when we are vibrating at a high frequency by recognising and revelling in our beautiful uniqueness, then we are able to understand the concept of putting ourselves first as something that benefits the individual node, and the network as a whole.
But how do we get here? How do we access this state of being, together?
One of the doorways into this higher state of consciousness is creativity. And I don’t mean creativity just in terms of being able to play a musical instrument, paint well or be a sculptor - although it absolutely can be this. But not just this. There are so many people who do not (often for one conditioned reason or another) consider themselves to be creative. And that cuts them off from the ability to use this doorway into this higher state of consciousness.
People are creative in different ways in their lives every day without ever acknowledging this fact. And when they are coming from a place of abundance, this grows. Let's look at relationships. When people give themselves permission to be creative with their relationships they effectively reappropriate some of the conditioning that has been put into them around how we should structure our love. The act of creating relationships with others however you and they want is a highly creative act and taps into this idea of abundance and high consciousness energy, which looks after the individual and the group.
Part of the beauty of this creation is that you intrinsically do it with others. Engaging with this imagination-based high consciousness energy with other people is when you are able to reach beauty and love in a different kind of way—to not merely consume it, but to be an active participant in creating it as well as an observer of it. And when you do this, you cannot help but be a live part of that stunningly glorious network.
My belief—and the point I’m trying to make—is that the act of creativity (in a different form to the way we often package it) plugs you into the mainframe of this networked collection of beings that we are. This very act allows the network to access a higher level of consciousness and broadens the experience for all involved. We are all part of something much bigger than any single one of us and if there was a time in human history for us to realise this, it is now.