At what point do we decide it is okay to be creative or start a creative process? When where how do we find the permission to climb onto a creative launchpad, ignite booster rockets in preparation for take off and say, "Okay, now!"

Some would argue that the environment and timing must be just right before conscious journeying. In extreme cases, others resign themselves to believing that stage and timing will never happen because they missed key components way back when.

For instance, how many people, when discussing careers, will say things like, "...If only my parents had been more supportive and pushed me...If only I had been afforded the opportunity to go to school...If only..."

Or how about those who say that they'll pursue something only after a set of environmental variables have changed, like "...When my family grows up...When I move to a bigger house...When I graduate...When I retire..."

The environmental excuses are endless as to why someone couldn't, didn't, or won't pursue a course of creative action. Certainly nurturing conditions can provide fertile opportunities for growth and, yes, it is perhaps easier when we are supported along creative paths we choose to traverse (enter cheerleading).

Yet the process of evolution shows that, on the plains of life, "the strong survive," especially those hardy types with deep roots.

When starting a creative journey we are like young vulnerable seeds, trying to grow roots in a winter darkness, with little or no above-ground evidence to support our paths. Many of whom are not only not fertilized by their environments, but are actually criticized, dismissed, and thoroughly dogged with rebuke.

It is these creative professionals who pursue their passions, despite obstacles of their environments, who impress me the most.

While in Hawaii, I had the opportunity to interview a brilliant cubist painter, a single mother in her twenties with no formal art education. When I asked her about how and when she gave herself permission to pursue her craft she recounted a telling story:

"When I was in elementary school, one of our teachers had us close our eyes and asked us to paint scissors with our eyes closed. When she saw my painting, she accused me of cheating...I kept thinking to myself, now why would I ever want to do something like that, ..."

She went on to discuss how today she paints for herself, mixing fragmented images in her mind with the emotional feelings residing in her body. Her technique was developed through discovery, trial and error. No one around her understood her; and even her mother, who helped form a small studio, confessed that she looks at her daughter's works and still doesn't get it. Yet there are hundreds of works by this woman, many of which have sold for thousands of dollars and have landed in museums around the world.

I remember another female artist, a very famous Canadian woman of color, who discussed the hardships presented by her environment. My heart sunk when she asked me to explain, "Why is it that when a white man like Picasso expresses his art it's considered fine art, but when an indigenous person does so it is called folk art, somehow suggesting my creative expression is less worthy than another's."

When I asked her, "Having been through all that you have and achieved all that you have, what one message would you deliver to all the women of the world if you could?"

Without hesitation, and with a hearty belly laugh and giant smile, she nodded her head and said, "Believe in Yourself." I applauded then asked her what would she say to all the men of the world, and she said, "The same thing."

The world is full of superb stories that tickle the soul of how, despite the odds, greatness was achieved. Artists and scientists from Helen Keller to Thomas Edison and beyond are those hardy, creative types, who one day made the personal decision to give themselves permission and let their creative roots take hold.

But giving oneself permission to push creative wheels from the trenches of life into the vastness of the unknown is just the beginning. Consider the story about a concert pianist who was signing autographs after a concert. An older woman approached him and said, "You are amazing. I would give my whole life to play the way you did." His response, "Why not, that's what I did."

Certainly nobody said it was going to be easy. The only ones I know who are promised rose gardens are those ticket holders to botanical gardens.

Which brings us to the legendary speech made by Winston Churchill to grade school children. He got up on stage and forcefully stated: "NEVER! NEVER! NEVER GIVE UP!" and then sat down.

Once started, the process of creativity doesn't end, until we decide to quit.

If you haven't already done so, give yourself permission NOW and get started. It's worth it. Besides, as Wayne Dyer suggests, even the stinkiest manure can be converted into great fertilizer. So convert the manure into creative fertilizer and get going.   top