What is Your Soul Seeking to Create? (THIS YEAR?)

What is your soul longing to create?

 Personally, I’ve yet another form of writing to embrace. Although I’ve written 40 non-fiction books, it’s time to poke the bear and finish up my fiction manuscript, and children’s books, and..

 Every soul carries the call to make something no one else can. We are extensions of the Creator. Made in that image, we are here to create. What is that wild, wonderful, weird, worthy, or wizardly project that only you can muster—and manufacture? Even if you’re only partially aware of what it is—or might become, I bet you sense it heavy on your heart, although I assure you that it is kindling a flame within your soul.

 It’s time.

 It’s in our nature to put off what’s most important. I get it. When I think of hiring that artist to put pictures to my little kid’s books, some part of me shrinks. The closer I get to moving forward, the more distinct the voices inside become.

 You don’t have anything original to add.

 What makes you think your contributions are so original?

 What if it’s no good?

 What if they don’t sell?

 Worse, what if my own grandchild doesn’t like the books?

 The more unique the work we’re summoned to generate, the louder those voices. I bet you have even heard the shouting match inside of your head. Maybe you even kept score.

 One for the soul, two for…for who?

 Exactly.

 It took me near forever to figure out how often my soul had taken a backseat to old familiar and family fears. I’m sure you relate. In my family, if you didn’t represent the White Wonder Bread Lutheran standard of normal, you were ousted. Oh, you could show up for church potlucks with your seven-layer bars and attend funerals that served hot dish and Jello salad, but no one would talk to you. There’s not much worse than standing at a family function far from the madding crowd, when no one will even look at you.

 Given my family system, I’m pretty proud that I even got my non-fiction off the ground.

 I’d always wanted to be a writer. The goal anchored into my being after I learned to read when quite young. I was ecstatic when the squiggles on the page made sense.

My first word? “Dog”. My second word? “Like”. Think of the combinations those letters alone made when I rearranged them! (Okay, there weren’t that many compositions, but you can do “god” and “leg” and if you stretch it, “g’like”.)

But forming words for the public? That could reveal secrets best kept private.

I knew that the entire time I was writing my first book about chakras decades ago. I told no one in my family that I had signed a publishing contract. But somehow, the publication of the book, New Chakra Healing, leaked to my second cousin’s mother and father.

Now, they weren’t spring chickens. I wouldn’t have expected that when they arrived at a family reunion with their canes, they would have had the energy to call across the deck holding about 30 of us.

“Cyndi, we saw your book at Barnes & Noble. About, what is that word, sharkras?” (They made it sound a little like a tabloid about sharks.)

It did the trick. As I moved toward the elderly couple, the other 27 individuals on that deck pivoted to the far end, which hung right over a swampy lake. If I’d moved an inch toward the family members fleeing the literary conversation, the entire family would have been lost to the bog.

There are many reasons to kick a proverbial creative calling down the road. You must make a living. The kids or parents or clients or pets are all consuming. There are dishes and laundry to do, to boot. But there are no good reasons.

Made in the image of the Creator, we’re here to create. You’re here to create something that no one else can offer this world.

Instead of making a New Year’s resolution that’s too small, how about making a BIG one? I’ve hired an editor to finish up my first long fiction manuscript. I’ve selected an artist for my kidlet picture books. My soul is committed to inching my goals forward, even though I’ve no idea when—or how—I’ll finish.

I’ve learned that the completion doesn’t matter. What counts is that I take the steps.

How are you going to walk your soul forward into this year?

Stay tuned! I’ll be announcing a new program through The Shift Network on January 9^th, all about using the chakras to write your soul-based book. (Or is that “sharkras”?)