Full Cup

Today I had some much needed alone time. Phew, time goes by too quick in between my times of solitude.

I felt like a brand new woman by the time I got home. I felt peace. I felt like I was where I needed to be in life. All I could think was that I wanted to sit in this peace for as long as I could. On the flip side, while I was in my solitude, I could only think of how important it was to me that my peace pours over into all the cups around me. I’m excited to have something to give. As human, we can get so depleted that our cup runs empty and we have barely enough left to take care of our loved one’s basic needs. Our own needs easily go unmet because of fatigue and limited time or resources. But I want to make sure I’m in a space where people have permission to feel at ease. I want to make sure my cup is full, so when the opportunity arises, I can fill someone else’s. I want to engage with others who have full cups and are also ready to overflow into other’s lives. I want to have a tribe who are ready to overflow into my cup when mine gets low. Or even better, they remind me to fill my own cup like giving myself solitude, silence, meditation, and taking the time to enjoy the healthy foods I love.

Goodness this post reminds me how important my circle is.

How do you fill your cup?

Free Should the Scholar Be

In self-trust all the virtues are comprehended. Free should the scholar be,—free and brave. Free even to the definition of freedom, “without any hindrance that does not arise out of his own constitution.”

The American Scholar lecture by Ralph Waldo Emerson
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/16643/16643-h/16643-h.htm#THE_AMERICAN_SCHOLAR

When I do projects I usually like to divide them up into different areas of study. I’d like to look at creative freedom from a few different perspectives; Psycho-social, Economical, spiritual, academic, and philosophical.

It should be fun to see which area piques my interest most and of course, I’m interested in what area of study you all find most interest in as well. Research starts out big and then I gotta slowly chop away at it.

Let’s see where creative freedom takes us.

Mama Your Mama

Sunday Rest Day

It was a church, dishes, laundry, and lay around type of day for me. It was nice.

I spent a lot of time on my phone in my room alone. It was nice.

I’ve been thinking about freedom but also I’ve been thinking about what an honor it would have been to raise my mama and give her a beautiful childhood. Do you ever wanna mama your mama better than she was mama’d with no disrespect to your gramma? Most people don’t want to see their mother in pain. I surely don’t and if I could I wouldn’t think twice about giving my mama a better life.

We Practice Freedom

“We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it.”

-William Faulkner

https://www.success.com/?p=29495 via @successmagazine

The Three Freedoms are your choice.

You can choose to grow.

You can choose to be heard.

You can choose to listen.

Not sure what the Three Freedoms are? Check out the links below.

Freedom to Grow
Freedom to Be Heard
Freedom to Listen

Creative Freedom and Purpose

Does your creative freedom have a purpose? What’s the focus of Three Freedoms?

If creative freedom is to obtain its fullest growth, its most complete development, it must have a great and worthy purpose. It must not be merely freedom for freedom’s sake.

Thomson, Charles A. “Creative Freedom and the World Crisis.” Music Educators Journal, vol. 28, no. 6, 1942, pp. 11–13. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/3385929. Accessed 27 May 2022.

Charles A. Thomson believes creative freedom should a have purpose. Creative freedom in this sense, is based on the four freedoms the FDR spoke about in his speech. Freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear.

 Culture is a part of life; cultural relations are a part of the whole complex of international relations. They must contribute, along with efforts in the political and economic field, toward building a world where the four freedoms flourish and where creative mind and spirit may be assured its right to live and serve.

He’s also speaking on gathering creative minds to bring global healing during world war two. His plan is to unite the global community through the arts.

An international order which will satisfy our hopes of peace is posited not only on political and economic cooperation, but also upon steps toward a greater cultural unity of mankind which may underlie the infinite variety of free individual expressions.

Thomson, Charles A. “Creative Freedom and the World Crisis.” Music Educators Journal, vol. 28, no. 6, 1942, pp. 11–13. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/3385929. Accessed 27 May 2022.

When I speak on creative freedom, I focus on the freedom inside ourselves that can’t be hindered by external limitations. Or some may call it, freedom of the mind. I do strongly believe in the four freedoms being basic human rights and that they should be accessible to all humans. I believe art can find its fullest growth when a human has their basic needs met. Not only do I think art reaches its fullest growth when basic needs are met, but I think humans in general reach their fullest growth when their basic needs are met. When I write about the three freedoms my intention is that these practices are accessible whether someone has these external freedoms or not. When we write as conscious writers using the three freedom, even our art for arts sake has a purpose because we write with the intention of knowing the deepest parts of ourselves.

Before I wrap this up, I want to address one more aspect of the external freedom. There are places in the world where media is controlled and people are jailed for speaking the truth, speaking up for the innocent. They are hindered from using their freedom the be heard. But to give hope to our free minds, I’d like to end with what I stumbled across.

The Uncensored Library

Here’s a little bit about it

In other countries websites, social media and blogs are controlled by oppressive leaders. Young people, in particular, are forced to grow up in systems where their opinion is heavily manipulated by governmental disinformation campaigns.

But even where almost all media is blocked or controlled, the world’s most successful computer game is still accessible. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) uses this loophole to bypass internet censorship to bring back the truth – within Minecraft. #truthfindsaway

We should always be looking for ways to give voice to the voiceless.

So to sum it all up, external freedoms absolutely aid in our fullest growth as human beings. I think every human should have their basic needs met. The Three Freedoms that lead to creative freedom is focused on freedom of the mind. It’s focused on finding freedom regardless of your external limitations.

A Home for Creativity

“…; in what kind of social climate, a cultural milieu can human creativity be developed optimally?

Conditions of Freedom to Encourage Creativity

If one were to ask the question, what kind of nature? one might answer that it is and can be found in a free universe. To continue this questioning; what kind of human nature? The free man. What of society? The free society. What kind of consciousness? The free mind. What kind of education? The freedom to grow. What kind of philosophy? The freedom to create.”

PHILLIPS, GENE D. “Freedom through Creativity.” Educational Horizons, vol. 39, no. 4, 1961, pp. 121–24. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/42923412. Accessed 26 May 2022.

If we’re going to nurture our creative freedom as writers, this is the home in which we must nurture our creativity. Most of us are privileged to have access to these freedoms but not all of us are. One gifts that comes with creativity is giving a voice to the voiceless.

https://jayne.press/2022/05/24/freedom-to-listen/

Freedom to Listen

A dangerous book will always be in danger from those it threatens with the demand that they question their assumptions. They’d rather hang on to the assumptions and ban the book.”

― Ursula K. Le Guin, The Wave in the Mind: Talks and Essays on the Writer, the Reader and the Imagination

Having the freedom to listen to stories that are not (yet) accepted socially, that aren’t in line with my country’s political system or culture, that aren’t in line with my own moral obligations, allows me to really think about what our options are or could be especially in the time of crisis. It gives me more perspectives. Gives more power to my choices. I can respectfully disagree and then show the world why through my writing.

Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Pexels.com

I’d like to start by sharing a piece of my life. I’ve been blessed to live on both sides of the coin. I have both been deprived of literature and shown what it’s like to have the freedom to read what feels like an unlimited amount of books. The freedom was and is so exciting for me. I was brought up in a Christian home and attended a private Christian school so I did not have the freedom to read anything and everything I wanted. It always felt like something was missing in my life. Thankfully, we had Charlette’s Web and a few X-men comics which lit up my whole brain. We had more books but they were all Christian based. And let me be clear, I’m grateful I was raised learning the stories in the bible. I think they are rich in symbolism, thought provoking, and gave me a firm foundation for the writer I’ve become today. But there truly is freedom in reading things outside of my own beliefs and culture. Esoteric reads, Rimbaud, Plath, journal articles all light my fire and were not accessible to me until college. They all pique my curiosity, push me to keep learning and connecting with others who share my curiosity.

THE MIND THAT OPENS TO A NEW IDEA NEVER RETURNS TO ITS ORIGINAL SIZE.

Albert Einstein

If I had access as a youth to more literature that opposed my beliefs, I could have said, I’ve read the literature for these other religions and I still choose Christianity. I feel it gives my choice more weight because I made the choice on my own among all the other options. I also feel it would have made me more understanding to those who hold different religious beliefs.

Today, I know how important is to hear stories from all over the world. It is vital to expanding our minds and stepping into new perspectives. I don’t believe in banned books. I think we should have access to them all. “Won’t it overwhelm us?” some might ask. This is a perfectly logical question. Especially with this being the information age, it can feel like we’re drowning in answers. I must say, as conscious writers, we don’t have to drown ourselves in information. We can gather resources and execute at our own pace. We can get through one piece of literature at a time.

This like any other freedom comes down to you. It requires, setting aside time to not only read but search for literature, art, and music that is outside of your norm that you can critically think about. This new you that comes from searching, is your freedom to listen. The choice is always yours.

I challenge you this week to search for something outside of your belief and culture and write about it.

Freedom to Be Heard
Freedom to Grow
What is Creative Freedom?

The Final Part

Tomorrow, I’ll share my the final part of three titled Freedom to Listen. What to look forward to? I’ll be sharing the blog post and some brief quotes and thoughts from the blog post on IG, Twitter, and my Facebook page. You can find the links below

So tomorrow: Freedom to Listen blogpost

Keep the conversation going on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.

Sidenote: I follow writers back.

If you need to catch up on this 3 part series here’s some links.

What is Creative Freedom?
Freedom to Grow
Freedom to Be Heard