True confession… I’m quite the fan of Iron Chef America. Today, however, we’re playing a different game. Instead of lemonade or yummy little lemon bars or (better yet!) my fabulous lemon chess pie… we’re making room for the possibility that we can take lemons and build a bridge! Really!
But first, take just a moment to visualize a bridge. What comes to mind?
And old fashioned covered bridge? The Golden Gate Bridge? The Chain Bridge across the Danube in Budapest?
Any bridge will do, as long as it still does what bridges do! Hold that thought, please. Or sketch it out if you’re in a place where that works. We’ll come back to it in a bit.
I’ve been busy, since last fall, learning the tools of Intentional Creativity® Coaching. It starts in a place similar to where my paintings start… with an intention.
The coaching journey, however, takes way fewer tools and considerably less time which is good if you happen to be sitting around with a big load of figurative lemons.
The Corona virus crisis comes to mind.
First, the Legendary Husband and I are, personally, blessed to be fine.
Our friends from The Corner Pub are out of work for “a while.” Our church friends are scrambling for strategies not covered in the ordination exams. The girls are out of school for at least a month, leaving their dad sorting out how to work full time and be the primary home school teacher while their mama is busy trying to help people stay healthy. A dear friend is worried about her kid who has been diagnosed with the virus.
And you, no doubt, have examples of your own. Things that hurt. Things that are struggles. Things that feel stuck.
Well, thanks to Intentional Creativity® Coaching, I help people turn those things into art… and new possibilities.
I hear you… muttering that you’re not an artist! Trust me. It doesn’t matter whether you’ve found your inner artist or not. Here’s the secret… pain leads, if we let it, to creativity!
So, on Thursday, when I needed a new plan for an individual paint client after we decided that “in person” was probably not our best move just now, it was time to build bridges!
And, since the Zoom elves were busy doing their thing, we were in business!
We both needed a decent sized piece of paper (like a page from a sketch book, or even an old fashioned paper bag) and some tools to make marks with. A few colored markers are a good choice. Something handy that doesn’t smear. I had my building plans ready. She needed an intention or, in this case, an inquiry.
I’ll let my bridge buddy tell the next part of the story…
Sue, spending time with you – via Zoom – where you don’t always think creativity can breed between two people across a distance, it did!
Your new coaching process was a great mechanism for reminding me that shifting is possible and change CAN occur, through drawing, even when you start at a point where it seems like there are only two answers – YES or NO!
By drawing my voices – and then the contextual frame – I quickly realized that I was dealing with my Critic-project-manager and my Muse-project-creator. Ah-hah!!!
So, with the drawing, all of a sudden it wasn’t a face off. Instead, it was how to work together to come up with the third alternative – and that got me to a positive, hopeful, empowering way to move forward.
I’ve already made real progress – in just 48 hours!
So, in this moment, I’m looking for a few more people ready to build bridges in their lives while, at the same time, magically helping me finish the requirements for my certification in Intentional Creativity® Coaching.
You may be feeling skeptical about this. That’s okay! This is a time for careful choices.
You might be feeling curious. Curious is awesome. It’s our best mental state for learning.
You might even be feeling hopeful and wondering where to start, which is a very empowered place to be.
There’s just one action needed to learn more. Click here. It’s really, really, really okay!
And, if now’s not the time or you don’t have any lemons that want to be bridges, come on back and I’ll try really hard to hunt up the recipe for my lemon chess pie by Wednesday. (It’s full of antioxidants!)