Theodore Roethke — Being, not doing

I must confess that being is very difficult for me. For years I have been caught up in the culture of doing — setting goals and working to achieve those goals. I find it very difficult to sit and just be. I must at the very least doodle. If I go on vacation, it often takes me a week to relax and forget my day job. But I still feel I must be doing something. Write. Draw. Read. Produce something of value. Rarely can I just be.  I simply cannot sit and doing nothing.  My thoughts continue to flow.

How about you? Are you caught up in the culture of doing or have you learned like Roethke to enjoy just being?

Here is my favorite Theodore Roethke poem. I love the first three lines. This is a poem to be read out loud. Listen to the interaction of sounds.

The Waking

I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I feel my fate in what I cannot fear.
I learn by going where I have to go.

We think by feeling. What is there to know?
I hear my being dance from ear to ear.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

Of those so close beside me, which are you?
God bless the Ground! I shall walk softly there,
And learn by going where I have to go.

Light takes the Tree; but who can tell us how?
The lowly worm climbs up a winding stair;
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

Great Nature has another thing to do
To you and me, so take the lively air,
And, lovely, learn by going where to go.

This shaking keeps me steady. I should know.
What falls away is always. And is near.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

I learn by going where I have to go.

Brianna King

What the world needs now is more imagination and creativity.  Every day we face problems and challenges in our personal as well as our professional lives.  Too often we continue to respond to these problems in the same way that we have always responded.  We keep doing what we have always done and keep getting the same result.  Instead, we should be searching for new ways of solving the problems.



What challenges do you face as a creative leader?  What obstacles stand in your way of achieving the success you dream about?  Are you so focused on the problems that you fail to see the opportunities around the corner?  Shift your focus to the possibilities.  Choose a new path into the future.  Imagine a better world.

Albert Einstein once said, "Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”  

What are you doing to expand your imagination — to open the doors of creative thinking? What are you doing to escape of the black hole of negative thinking?  Here are five ways to increase your imaginative thinking.

1. Develop an attitude of curiosity.  Be curious about everything.  Look for connections that others do not see.


2. Question and challenge accepted beliefs, assumptions and practices.  Just because you have always done it a certain way does not mean you should continue to do it that way.


3. Explore the world.  Travel to places you have never been.  Read books in fields of learning that you normally don't read.  Engage people outside your field of expertise in conversations and learn from them.


4. Conduct daily doodling practice.  Doodle for 5 - 10 minutes.  Doodling helps to relax your mind and start your creative juices flowing.  Drawing can free your mind of entrenched ways of seeing. Create new ways of seeing by doodling.  Focus your attention on the doodling.  Don't worry about being artistic.


5. Conduct daily writing practice.  Write everyday for 10 minutes.  Don't worry about grammar, spelling or punctuation.  Start with the phrase, "In the future, I".  Keep writing for the full 10 minutes.  When you run out of things to write, start again with the phrase, "In the future, I".

Remember that your imagination and creativity will help you solve most of your problems and help you build a better world.  Begin now to cultivate your imagination.