Creative Living or Ways on How to Improve Your Quality of Life

Many ask why a theater artist like me is into giving motivational and inspirational talks like Creative Living or even into designing and conducting behavioral training programs that give a guide on How to Improve Your Quality of Life . My answer begins with a quote from William Shakespeare “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players”.

Every day of our lives we take on multiple roles. We can be a daughter, a son, a parent, a sibling, a relative, a servant, a trainer, a student, a pedestrian, a driver etc.. You get the picture. Each role we play requires a certain amount of expertise in order to carry out respective responsibilities effectively. In this case, there is not much difference in preparing for a role on stage.

Fortunately, I was exposed to an acting technique that transcended the limitations of an actor’s preparation making it possible for the players not only become better performers but become better individuals as well. The acting system is called BEING. New York acting coach Eric Morris developed the system and I have had the pleasure of working with him when the US Embassy brought him over to the Philippines.

“Being, is a way of life”, says Morris. “It is a state where truth resides, where one is in touch with everything he feels on a moment to moment basis. It is from this place that one may know where they are and proceed to map out where they want to be”.

Thus, began my journey of uncovering the wisdom, behind the words. For indeed, unless one is able to identify the reality with which they live by in the present moment, they can never move toward reaching the destination they so desire. Currently, I am the only artist in Cebu officially qualified to teach Moriss’ Instrumental Therapy workout which involves psychotherapeutic healing exercises.

In my journey, I realized that every thought, every word, every decision and every act one makes can go two ways – create an abundant life or create a desperate life. I chose to improve my quality of life by living creatively.

Many times we find ourselves stuck up in a situation, blaming anyone and everyone and even life itself as the culprit of our present condition. We think life happens to us. At worse, we may not even be aware that we think in this manner.

Some thoughts may run in the following way:

• Life is just unfair
• Of all people, why do these things happen to me
• No matter how hard I try things just don’t turn out right
• The world is out to get me

These thoughts come from Belief Systems programmed in us since we were in our mother’s womb. These belief systems come from:

• Religious beliefs
• Social Beliefs
• Self-Image beliefs
• Academic beliefs
• Money beliefs
• Life beliefs

According to cellular biologist and bestselling author of Biology of Belief, Bruce Lipton, these beliefs are engrained in our brains so that our emotions and bodies automatically respond to conditions based on what we believe in. In the end, Lipton says, “we see the world not as it is but as we are.”

Often times, Belief Systems compose of SELF SABOTAGING BELIEFS like:

• I’m not good enough
• No matter how hard I try, it’s never good enough
• The decisions I make usually turn out wrong
• If people knew the ‘real’ me, they wouldn’t like me
• My opinion doesn’t really matter.

Self Sabotaging Beliefs are usually driven by the FEAR or what Neale Donald Walsch “fondly” called as False Evidence Appearing Real.

Fear or False Evidence Appearing Real works in an intriguing way. A verbally abused person for instance, may interpret a professional correction as an act of personal attack. An insecure person may interpret honesty as haughtiness. In either case, the interpretation based on a perception of an act brings about a defensive stance. When one becomes defensive, one is in protection mode.

According to Lipton, “The cells of your body can either be in growth or protection. If your perceptions and beliefs are based enough on fear and protection, you can literally scare yourself to death in an instant. It has happened. Imagine what you could do if enough of your perception and beliefs were based in love and growth!”

In this context I would say: FEAR blocks CREATIVITY. LOVE breeds CREATIVITY

To illustrate my point allow me to share a short poem I wrote years ago published here on Hubpages. It was my take on a Hubmob Topic challenge which covered lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues. A topic many writers in the community, felt tense and fearful about. I thought it best to treat it in a "poetic" manner like so:

Time it was when being gay meant merriment and cheer
Quiet far from the dreadful word we now call fear
Homos simply meant any living or extinct member of the family Hominidae
Not exclusively pointed to those whose lifestyle many would disagree
With this, a thought comes to me today
Why not choose to simply be gay?

(Right Click here to open new window if you wish to read the rest of the poem and check the comments I received from this poetry)

Love can drive an ordinary person into super heroes when their loved ones are concerned. Love can melt the hardened hearts when given generously and unconditionally. Love can make people see beyond faults and notice only the goodness of their beloved.

In love, we remember that we were born with the natural ability to create. The choices we make create the scenario with which we find ourselves in. Life did not just happen to us. We created the life we now live.

The question is, “do we have enough love in ourselves to give to others generously?”

Most of us grew up in a society where self-love meant being selfish. We could not see otherwise. We were trained to put others first and ourselves last. This is the ideal way of living we say, if, we wish to be a good person. Unknowingly, this kind of thinking produced feelings of deprivation, to say the least. When one comes from a place of deprivation one becomes hungry for what is deprived of, in this case, love. Often we hear stories of how demanding a partner is, or how married men have to have affairs, or how some single people cry out “what about me?”

These scenarios may possibly be caused by the feeling of one not being loved enough. One may say, “Let God fill you with His love”! Your conscious mind would say, “Yes, I will”. Your subconscious mind, however, may say, “Hey, isn’t God the one who taught us to be selfless and follow Him otherwise we be damned in hell?” This then becomes the inner battle that transpires within us, without our full awareness.

It is important to note that it was man who wrote the stories in the bible. Man who interpreted the words written on the bible. Man who communicated things based on their own personal perception of experiences. I, ask you now. Do you honestly think that God, who loves mankind unconditionally, would want His children to feel deprived of love? Isn’t God the source of boundless, abundant, infinite love?

Interpretation based on a perception plays a big part in understanding this discussion. At this point, we could say that it is our image of God that may need to be reprogrammed in our mind. I offer you now, a different image of God - A Loving Father God - through an excerpt of a message I wrote and published on our website www.lovingabundance.com called I Love You, A Father's Message.

• I love you. Never think for one moment that I am offended with things that you do or choices that you make. I gave you that freedom. You are to use the gift in the manner you believe is best. I see no mistakes only steps you take to further understand love and life.
• I love you. It doesn’t matter if you call me by different names or even if you call me names. I love you still. It doesn’t matter if you belong to different groups. It doesn’t matter if you come from different cultures and races. It doesn’t matter if you carry out different rituals to honor me. I respect all your ways. All of you are equally important to me in any way and in all ways.

I pose another question. Don’t the words above sound more like the God of unconditional love? Here you find no element of condition that brings about fear of any kind. There is simply love without boundaries. In this place of love we feel full. We feel abundant. I ask you then, if God could love us as we are, no matter how we are, isn’t it only natural that we give the same love to ourselves? After all, if we cannot love our selves how can we possibly love another? How can we give what we do not have? If we cannot know how to serve our selves, how can we possible serve another effectively?

Only in the place of fullness can we efficiently and effectively share generously and selflessly with others. In this perspective, we see how loving the self creates the setting for us to reach selflessness without restrain of any kind.

Here lies the essence of Selflessness in Self-Love.

When one is able to accept the fullness of love from our divine source, we also must accept our valuable role as co-creators in this world. We are gifted with the ability to create, invent, build, produce and give rise to things that make life better for all.

Creative Living is the conscious process by which an individual chooses to use his natural creative abilities for the purpose of helping uplift the lives of all of mankind nurturing the feeling of loving abundance.

LOVE becomes the acronym for the guideline on how to go about Creative Living.

Live Optimistically, Valuably, Eagerly.

Live! Don’t just survive in the past and in the future. Live in the present moment. Be aware of how you feel on a moment to moment basis so that you may choose that path which leads to growth and abundance. In this manner creating a win-win situation for all becomes easier. Initiate, lead, break the boundaries, take the risk and conquer fear with love.

Be Optimistic. Choose to see the endless possibilities that a situation brings. See things from outside the box. Choose to see the goodness in everyone, in everything, every time. See the minuteness of a problem and the magnitude of possible solutions.

Cherish the abundance that life offers. Use your senses to savor the goodness of life. Notice the majesty of cloud formations. Breathe in the sweet smelling aroma of a flower. Enjoy the delicious creamy bitter sweet chocolate cake melting in your mouth. Experience the pleasure of the wind caressing your cheeks and soothe yourself to the sound of the gentle rain. Beauty is abundant in life.

Add Value to all of life. Consciously add value to yourself and everyone, to experiences pleasant or otherwise, and to everything ever created by man. This is Appreciation -adding value to what is. In this plain, finding ways to improve the quality of your life is an endless adventure.

Be Eager, excited, enthusiastic about life. Wake up with gratitude acknowledging the presence of abundance surrounding you everywhere. Creative solutions, ideas, new concepts, new philosophies, new techniques abound in your being and they are FREE for your taking and usage. You are the instrument from which innovations can come from. After all, are you not a child of the greatest creator of all?

This is Creative Living improving the quality of your life.

Daisy Ba-ad