Joy Diet Week 4: Creativity

Ooooh, my favorite chapter! At least that’s what I was thinking when I turned to page 66, item #4. I’m all about creativity. In fact, I took O magazine’s quiz, “Who am I meant to be?” and scored highest in the category: Striving to be Creative. So forget nothing (chap 1), truth (2) and desire (3), now I would go straight to the head of the class. Creativity? Easy-peasy!

Could someone hit me over the head please? I forgot that I’m reading, “The Joy DIET.” I’m forgetting that bringing in joy means delving deep into your psyche, going past superficiality and shallow happiness, into the real meat that is true, authentic and raw emotion-real joy. Pass the tissue please.

If I had a temporary jolt of insanity, I was quickly reminded that Beck is a genius. Genius because she’s able to twist, shatter and turn my mind upside down. This week isn’t about buddying up with Martha Stewart and creating a spring floral arrangement, it’s about creativity in the sense of bringing life to our desires. Desires (in case you missed week 3) like writing a book, helping inspire others, etc. Or it could be less grand like, “I want to buy a bunny or take a trip to the beach.”

Ms. Beck says to first get past our long-held belief that talent and creativity are inborn, easy feats, that we are 100% responsible for and oftentimes doesn’t work. I L-O-V-E the part where she says this,” I’ve noticed that the biggest difference between wildly successful people and total failures is that the successful people fail more.” Then I think I’ve got a head start!

The next part asks us to ask ourselves how to get there. For example, “How can I write a self-help book?” Then, go crazy writing as much answers that come to mind, the nuttier the better, which is good because I have a mind filled with nutty answers. There were a few jewels in there too though like take a class and ask other authors.

When you’ve reached your limit, Beck says to dig in deeper and gives a bunch of creative (here’s where the mind-boggling started) ways to find more solutions. My all-time favorite is when she asks readers to think of an enemy, list their obnoxious traits and then (to get to your dreams) adopt them. Her thinking is that the reason why certain people really bug us is that they are mirrors reflecting what we haven’t accepted in ourselves. It could be a behavior that we were taught was bad or unacceptable and denying that part of us may be keeping us from getting to our dreams. Wild isn’t it?

At first, I just kind of scratched my head and sat there, mind-boggled and trying to let it all sink in. Then, I thought of someone who drives me crazy and had my ah-ha moment when I realized that selfish people were my pet peeve. And had a even bigger ah-ha when I suddenly got it! My whole life I’ve been taught to be selfless, but what’s been preventing me from following my dreams is a focus on not being selfish. I realized that being selfish isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In fact, according to Dictionary.com it means, “devoted to or caring only for one’s self.” I think there are times when we all need to be selfish. I realized that how else would I get everything I desire if I’m not a little selfish. Funny how that works huh?

There are tons of gems in this chapter, but I wouldn’t want to ruin it for you. I hope you’ll pick up a book and join me. It’s not all hard gut-wrenching parts, there’s a ton of insight, wisdom and fun too!