If you've been reading this blog for a while you'll have heard me say quite often that I truly believe that creativity is one of the cornerstones of well being. Today I wanted to share with you another cornerstone, Mastery. Mastery is exactly what it says on the tin. It's the capacity to “master” something. It's the exact reason that people come home from work and take up hobbies, or train relentlessly and invest in a lot of other behaviours where hours upon hours of practice are required. I think as human beings we need a sense of progression in our lives, without it we become easily frustrated and deflated. We also can't deny that human evolution has been primarily driven forward by our capacity to adapt and evolve through different situations so we need these elements in our day to day lives. I've re learned this within the last few months and I'm making sure that I'm making a more conscious effort next year to keep an eye on ensuring that mastery is a part of my routine.
I had a lot of goals for myself this year and in September, just as I was sorting things out to get ready for my holiday I realised that I hadn't achieved any of them. Not even one, not really. So, I threw myself head first at a tonne of creative challenges in order to get myself into the space of creating. So far I've managed to write a novel, create over 30 images ready to be painted up and I am about to embark on a music “challenge” to write the albums I had set my mind on at the beginning of the year. The books for my spiritual practice, the meditation CD's and the Tarot cards I was going to design have all fallen by the way side but I've discovered that these monthly, shorter-term goals are proving more effective in keeping me accountable, stopping me losing my concentration and are also providing a huge sense of progression. In fact for next year I am going to continue this month by month creative challenge idea to keep getting things done. It helps me to focus, prioritize and ensure that I do something practical and pragmatic every day to move my life forward.
We are imbued with the desire to learn it's just unfortunate that for so many of us that process stops being encouraged after school leaving age. I know full well that if degree's were free I'd probably do a few more and I imagine a few of you out there feel the same but these days with so much information at our finger tips over the internet it's just as easy to find whatever you need or want to learn at the click of a button. So, if you are reading this today and have come to the end of the year feeling a little flat or lack lustre look at what role mastery is playing in your life. What have you learned this year? I'm not just talking about spiritual lessons or emotional breakthroughs, in terms of information, education, what have you learned? If the answer is not much then therein may lay the answer to how you're feeling. We all need to learn, we're built for it and built out of it. We exist because our ancestors had no other choice but to learn in order to survive. These days we get a choice, a remarkable achievement of our society. So that begs the question, what is it that you want to learn? A new language? An instrument? To paint? Whatever you've always wanted to have a go at why not start? Don't wait for a new years resolution, this month have a go, what have you got to lose?
Thank you,
Big Love,
Ryan James x