GreenSage E-zine 05/2008

The Courage to Create and the Willingness to Change
by Elaine Ireland

I agree with Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, author of Flow and Creativity, that most of the things that are interesting, important, and human are the results of creativity. Without it we likely wouldn't have language, visual expression, the arts, scientific understanding or technology. We wouldn't have much progress.

Creativity is the ability to think up and design new inventions, solutions and products, produce works of art, solve problems in new ways, or develop an idea based on an original, unique, or unconventional approach. But creating something new takes courage.

According to Rollo May, there are four types of courage.

      1) Physical courage can mean being a warrior or, on the flip side, cultivating empathy and compassion.

      2) Moral courage usually means taking a stand for or against an issue.

      3) Social courage means taking a chance and investing one's time, emotions and energy to develop relationships of all kinds, withstanding any fears and other uncomfortable emotions involved with relating to one another.

      4) Creative courage includes the discovery and the appreciation of new forms, ideas, patterns and symbols.

Creative courage means cultivating our curiosity and adapting a mindset of experimentation within a society that has a love/hate relationship with change and new ways of being. Without the courage to make the changes and create something new, we could not progress or transform our culture into something more sustainable.

Our culture is currently in the beginnings of enormous change. One of the largest shifts most of us have ever seen. But change causes many to experience a lot of discomfort. We have a few choices of how to respond: either adamantly reject, simply withdraw or take this opportunity and develop the courage it will take to create a better, more sustainable society.

It takes the willingness to be curious, to experiment, and the readiness to change our thoughts and actions toward a better way. Our ability to cultivate the attitude of perseverance, listening, trusting and expressing the deepest levels of our psyche are being called upon. The key is in cultivating a tolerance for ambiguity and accepting that perfection may be in the eye of the beholder. After all, it is a process.

Moral, Social and Creative courage usually means letting go of the collective beliefs of much of society, their whims, comfort zones, and desire for perfection. Sometimes it means having a vision and reaching for it. Sometimes it means letting the process take you where it may.

No matter where you are on the Creativity scale, from visionary to habit changer — and we are all important in this effort, creativity isn't just within you; it is in the actions you choose to take.

With a little awareness we can fairly easily take those actions of change — most of which are just changing habits. If we define 'habits' as recurrent, often unconscious patterns of behavior acquired through frequent repetition, then changing our habits — especially when we have a higher calling like saving the planet — isn't really that difficult. 90% of our behavior is habitual but it only takes 30 days of daily practice to change them into new habits.

We recommend choosing to take on one major habit at a time each month. Every month we offer our GreenSage Guide on a topic that effects you and the environment. These Guides are meant to help you understand the issues and how they effect your life so that you can change your habits and raise the quality of your green life, the environment — or both. This month, for example, we have focused on the issues around plastic, whats in it, whos doing what, how you can more safely use, reuse, and dispose of it in many of its forms.

Creating change takes your participation. It takes courage to have an open minded willingness in order to move forward as part of the process, not necessarily knowing the end result, particularly when support doesn't seem available or when things appear hopeless or obstacles are put in the way.

It does seem from my perspective that the wellspring of courage is indeed now meeting our willingness to change in order to create a better world environment for ourselves and each other. In our e-news stories, I hope you too will be inspired by some of the creative actions people are taking.

We're doing it. Thank you. Carry on.