One of the beautiful gifts both Miro and I have experienced during the past 6 months here in Antigua is the permission to be creative. Yes, we always have permission in our lives to “do” creative things. In our old lives, this came in the form of scheduling time for the creative things in our lives that we consider life enhancing. Time to go to piano class, time to practice. Time to host the kids play date, planned and scheduled group finger painting time. Yes, it’s all good, but after one year of travel and six months in living in Guatemala, we’ve realized just how contrived scheduling creative time was in our previous lives.

Inspired living inspires creativity.

Over the last six months something remarkable has happened. We’ve been inspired to create. Gathering groups of people in one place all without the restraints of schedules, attracting creative souls into our lives has inspired singing. Singing like group campfire singing. Singing with guitars, and drums. All in unison, completely egoless, some of us sounding worse than others, none of us caring. It’s about creating and making music together. Many nights have been spent singing together, feeling the music, creating sound from our souls.

Miro sings & Julia plays guitar Lucy in the Skys with Diamonds from lainie liberti on Vimeo.

Miro singing and even Miro……… playing guitar.

Such inspiration has even floated into the fingertips of Miro as for the first time, he picked up a guitar. Strum, strum, strumming, without resistance to being taught, open to the experience of not knowing and learning publicly. It was such a different experience than that of his former piano lessons, in the presence of the rigid Romanian middle age woman piano teacher. Different than the ruler she kept in her hands poised to tap (gently of course) onto Miro’s tiny knuckles when his fingers hit the wrong key. Very different experience indeed.

Traveling grants permission to be creative.

I too have been effected by this freedom. For the first time in close to 15 years, I started drawing again. Free-flowing drawing, large strokes, messy charcoals. Same sort of experience less concerned with the outcome, more engaged in the moment of creating. Very different than the graphic design, brand creation and marketing strategy I’ve been involved in for the past 18 years, creativity that was expressed commercially, with purpose and with meaning. How very different if feels to express creativity without those reasons, restrictions, constraints or purpose. Large flowing lines, from the heart, not the head, flowing from me as natural as breath. Creativity as natural as the air we breathe, so happy to be back.

Creativity for the sake of creativity.

Simple.

Why did it require giving up everything, changing our lifestyle to rediscover this? I don’t really know, but I’m grateful, nonetheless…