The Three C's of Creating

You’re a kid looking down at your crayons. 

That’s Confronting. 

You imagine a picture you want to draw, pick up your crayons and go into the kitchen. 

You see a big blank white wall and get busy with your crayons. 

That’s Creating. 

You step back and marvel at your Creation. 

Then in walks Mom. 

Freeze Frame. 

Now we come to the 3rd “C.”

Consequence. 

Now, your mind might be racing ahead as to what Mom says when she sees her child’s art or wild scribbling on her nice clean kitchen wall. 

The fact is all creation has a consequence. 

Consequence simply means the effect that follows creation. 

Depending on where and how you grew up, the word consequence may (or may not) carry a negative connotation. 

The truth is it can be positive or negative. 

With wild abandon you run a red light, and in the mail, you receive an eye-popping speeding ticket.

The man you are in love with gets down on one knee and asks you to marry him.  

That’s all three C’s. 

Confront. Create. Consequence. 

Back to our 5-year Rembrandt…

Billy is all proud as can be about his masterpiece. 

He looks up beaming at his Mom. 

Mom’s expression of approval or disapproval in that singular moment of time, can influence the entire future of Billy’s three “C’s.”

If she looks at his art in wonder and says, “Billy...this incredible!" Billy’s beam fills the entire kitchen like a sunrise. 

If Mom scolds Billy for “doing that” all over her clean wall, Billy’s beam goes out like some sniper shot it out with a thundering crack. 

Chances are there are remnants of your own three C’s in your closet, attic, or garage. Dust and cobwebs on your inner da Vinci. 

They are often (but not always) the consequence of invalidation or criticism in some forgotten past. 

And today, when you imagine picking up your paintbrush, your sewing needle, your guitar, or lifting the hood of your piano, you often pause or feel tired.

This can bring back the censure of consequence. 

This hearkens back to the moment when the beam and triumph of a five-year old Rembrandt began to fade. 

Listen: You haven’t gotten “too old” or “too busy.”

You’ve just acquiesced to the last C. 

You want to know how to make the tiredness or lethargy disappear?

Recall a time you were creating and beaming. 

Now go find a kitchen wall and get busy.

For more of my articles, books, and videos, click on the link below.

www.daveworthen.com