It would seem that creating something that the heart truly desires would be one of the simplest things in the world to accomplish. After all, creating the life that we want, the ideal job, or daily experiences that we may want to enjoy do not seem like unreasonable requests. Yet, we can find ourselves stuck with a myriad of reasons from the reasonable part of the brain that says none of it is possible.

This voice in the head has many different names that we can use to describe it. From the saboteur, the gremlin, the inner critic, and to the most popular “should” voice (you know that one- it starts sentences with “should” or “shouldn’t” right after the word “you”). We use any version of this voice to keep us small which essentially keeps us from truly experiencing how powerful and creative we are. we can also theorize the many reasons the mind does this. In the book The Big Leap by Dr. Gay Hendricks www.thebigleap.net he offers some fantastic explanations about how the mind creates these gaps between living in full creativity and how the mind feels it is helping us by keeping us safe. The voice in the head even creates ideas about living a successful life versus a less successful one.

As I was writing this post, I could hear the tiny voice in my head saying, “oh just what the world needs, another blog post”.  Well, while at Home Depot, I noticed that they have at least 20 versions of hammers.  So there!

My dear friend Graeme Franks just completed his first book, How to Find a Door in a Wall (to be published soon). One of my favorite parts of the book, beyond him acknowledging me with a lovely sketch rendition of myself in the opening pages, is a little character that shows up on other pages in the book. He fully reveals this character as his internal critic. The entire time he is writing this book, his critic is just sitting idly by, whittling away, making his little comments.

The strategy that Graeme uses in his book is an excellent demonstration of our ability to create even in the face of our less than encouraging voice. This voice gets a bit quieter through acceptance of it occurring in our lives. At the same time, this opens us up to loving who we are at a deeper level. This, in turn, allows even greater space to listen to the heart and create.

So, what to do? Consider taking one step, just one, toward creating something that you would like to create in your life. It could be a new job, a new relationship, a painting or even writing a book. If you just took one step today, what could it be? Then, allow yourself to take it. The voice will likely be there, and you can still create the life that you want and invite that voice over for coffee every now and then.