Of Love and Other Demons

Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.
~Rumi

I swiped the above quote from friend’s Facebook post on this Valentine’s Day. It seemed appropriate to think of love in a way that is out of the ordinary for how we, and by this I mean me and perhaps you, think about love. I happen to enjoy Rumi quite a bit, especially because his writing has the habit of shaking up my perception and my perspective–good things to have happen to a photographer.

This quote, and Rumi’s ability, got me thinking: if we put up barriers to that which we often are seeking (Love), what kind of barriers have we placed in the way of our creative potential?

Sometimes it is helpful to write down, to make a list, of those negative things we believe about ourselves. Be it, “I’m not good enough,” or “I’m just an average artist,” or, “I’m just an amateur photographer,” and then to write down the opposite in an attempt to eliminate the negative belief. Whatever you might discover about your negative beliefs, about your creative self, the chances are you are mistaken. Creativity spills from each of our lives much the way flowers creatively express their inevitability.

To be creative we must be much like the flower in its expression. That is to say we must do so simply because it is what we must do; we need not, indeed perhaps must not, await another’s praise in our effort or copy what others have done before. Gavin Gough, professional travel photographer, explains and encourages this beautifully in his post today entitled “Setting Sail on Your Own Course.”

So on this Valentine’s Day, day of love and friendship, as you seek to eliminate the barriers you have placed in love’s way, why not also strive to identify and eliminate the barriers you may have placed in the way of your creativity. I imagine–no, I am sure–that both love and creativity will flow more freely from you as a result.