Let the Children Be: Creative Space

Thank You, God, for giving me wings to reach high and far in life. I praise you with the energy that wells up from within me.

I notice that as soon as my brother’s play age fraternal twins enter my house, the energy of the whole place shifts. They shriek with delight and turn everything into play. I cannot help wondering, where has my own inner play age gone?

Play is the creative space we provide children to explore how they are going to define their role in life and in the world. Play-deprived or play-stuck adults may find it difficult to take the initiative to formulate a life purpose or have the drive to pursue a dream. We need to revive our inner play age to help us restore equilibrium in our life, to create possibilities and make us fly to reach our higher dreams.

Speaking of flights, I am reminded of one of the most fascinating scenes in nature for me, namely, a mother eagle teaching her young how to fly. The fledgling is usually flown to the highest point of the area and from there is dropped or hurled into space to force it to spread its wings. The mother eagle vigilantly watches from a perch or hovers over her young, ready to support it when it wears out in its flight. Then she assists her eaglet by pumping wind beneath its wings until the neophyte creates wind beneath its own wings.

Remember that God carries you constantly on eagle’s wings, the wings He himself has equipped you with. Reach out for your stars and soar high for indeed you have been divinely programmed for success…

Affirmation: I delight in my inner riches and goodness!

Personal Power

God, help me redirect my life so that I can forge something more satisfying and self-actualizing for me.

It came as a surprise for us, trainers, to discover that among an elite group of intellectually-gifted teen-agers whose wellness program we facilitated, laziness and being laid back ranked among the highest in the list of self-confessed traits or attitudes they would consider major blocks in their student life. They loved school, but they hated studying! They were lost as to how to motivate themselves and they were, for the large part, just distracting themselves with activities, entertaining themselves with trivialities, and immersing themselves in noise.

Personal Power = Awareness + Responsibility

We need to develop the will and the determination to create the kind of life we envision for ourselves that impels us to attain the highest level of excellence our personal life can reach.

God is not yet done with us and we definitely are works in progress.

All the powers we need to fulfill our role and purpose has already been given to us, or better said, been built into us.

Affirmation: I empower others even as I empower myself.

Autonomy: Standing Apart from the Rest

Grant that I may achieve autonomy and fearlessly express my will for good.

It is very easy to fall into the temptation of just aggressing our way to change, be in a collision course against anyone getting in our way or crashing in as a steamroller flattening out any opposition or contradiction. It is easy to believe that we bring about changes more quickly and attain results through sheer force than through gentle persuasion.

Willfulness must now give way to willingness and the power of negotiation or win-win solutions.

Being autonomous does not mean dramatically breaking off from family or group relationships or breaking away from long held practices or values. Rather, it means being more confidently aware that we have the capacity to stand apart from the rest and still feel complete. It could mean rolling with the punches and courageously taking the inevitable blows...

Affirmation: I cherish my own company! I feel complete by myself.