105. Creativity Means Creation

To be creative is to make something new. An idea forms in your imagination and then develops into a vision of a something real and tangible. You intuitively follow your vision, giving it structure and life. What was once imaginary becomes a real entity in the world.

The most familiar form of creative action is the making of artworks — paintings, songs, films, performances, stories, and so on. But creativity is present in all of our practices, regardless of whether we are baking bread, playing a sport, building a house, or simply choosing what to wear. Creativity is never limited to those who call themselves artists or to any one area of experience or expertise. It can exist everywhere and anywhere we can imagine, and it is open to all of life.

104. Systemically Flawed

When something goes wrong, we look around for someone to blame. There must be some person (or group of people) who is responsible. We want to hold that person accountable, just as we are held accountable for our actions. This basic reciprocity is the foundation of our social relationships, and helps to ensure they remain predictable and reliable.

When there is wrongdoing outside of our personal sphere, we tend to demand the same kind of accountability from the people involved. We believe that whoever was in charge must be held responsible. We are not wrong about this, but the situation is also more complex than it seems.

103. Maybe One Day

His loneliness has become intractable. He goes to social events but he always ends up feeling even more alone than before. The problem is that he doesn’t seem to fit in anywhere. He wonders if he is just too strange or awkward. Or perhaps it’s his intensity that makes him undesirable.

The people he meets don’t seem to understand him. When he tries to talk to them about his interests or his work, they seem to almost immediately become bored. They look at him like he’s speaking a language they cannot understand. They respond with platitudes and try to change the subject to literally anything else.

102. Shame Is Suffering

When I’ve done something that others think is inappropriate or wrong, I feel embarrassed. If I also sense I’ve acted wrongly then I feel guilt. These feelings are intuitive responses that arise immediately from my present situation and how it relates to my past experience.

If I’m sensitive to these feelings, I will quickly respond to them by taking action to rectify the underlying problem. If the situation is resolved or otherwise brought to an end, then my feelings of embarrassment or guilt will dissipate with time.

101. It Can Be Done

What most holds us back is the belief that it cannot be done. We discover a new way of doing things but we immediately decide it’s too risky or it requires too much sacrifice. Others have already found success in the usual ways, and the new way seems unnecessary. Why take the risk when there is already a proven method?

But by thinking like this, we emphasize the costs of the new while ignoring the costs of the old. While there is always risk in trying something new, there is also risk in doing the same thing over and over again. The risk is that by sticking with the usual ways, we impede our potential growth — the very growth that could make our lives better than they presently are.

100. Letting Everything Out

Out of a desire to be valued by others, we sometimes filter our lives to make ourselves look better than we are. We carefully sweep away anything that might suggest we are flawed or limited, while at the same time drawing attention to the parts of us others will like and enjoy.

We perform this kind of filtering not only for ourselves, but also for the artworks we create. We believe others will judge us harshly if we share a flawed creation. We think they will label us as unskilled or uninformed, or they might tell others our work is unattractive or unrefined. These outcomes are both possible and distressing, so we limit what we share to the best of the best.

99. Dangerous Distinctions

To use language is to create distinctions. We notice a group of objects that are alike and we create a category to hold them. We label our new category with a name that distinguishes it from other categories. We might then notice a pattern of change or repeated action and we create another category. Or we see a feature that is similar across many different objects and again we create a category. This process of endless categorization is how language develops and expands.

98. A Little More Compassionate

Every day she tries to be a little more compassionate than the last. She knows it won’t always happen and she accepts this. A misstep today won’t stop her from redoubling her efforts tomorrow. Beyond that, she doesn’t think too much about it. She tries to see what she must do. She pays attention to herself and her environment. She tries to absorb everything she sees, without trying to force herself. Forcing means control and she knows that control consumes energy. She can’t afford to waste energy because she needs it to take action. She tries to act from compassion towards everyone she encounters, herself included. Sometimes there are lapses, but she tries not to hold on to critical judgments. She makes mistakes, just like anyone else. She is sometimes harsh when she could be understanding. She is sometimes hostile when she could be empathetic. She is far from perfect. She certainly does not have all the answers. Still she tries to create as much compassion in the world as she possibly can. She tries to meet needs and reduce suffering, both for herself and the people around her. Sometimes people tell her that she must be tired from being so compassionate all the time, but this doesn’t make sense to her. Compassion is the source of her energy and the source of her joy. There is nothing else she would rather do, nothing else she even could do, really. When she sees terrible suffering she often feels pain, but she doesn’t fight it. She allows it to arise and depart, so that she doesn’t waste any energy. When people tell her about their “compassion fatigue” she just smiles. She tries to help them see more clearly, if she can. She tries to show them the sources of suffering, and how it can be brought to an end. This is quite difficult because everyone is caught up in their own lives, their worries and desires. Still she tries, for she can see it’s important to help others become more aware. It’s the only way they can start to be a little more compassionate, too.

97. Lost In The Details

You think the details are what’s most important. If you pay attention to the distinctions, to the nuances between this and that, then you’ll figure it all out. After sorting out the details, you’ll see how to arrange your knowledge of the world so that everything falls into place. And then you’ll finally obtain the things you’re looking for.

What is it that you’re looking for? You want to possess beauty, you want to feel goodness, and you want to know truth. All of these will be yours once you sort out the details. So you measure, and you analyze, and you reason. You do this over and over again, carefully refining your investigation without end.