Growing up, I was taught that it was selfish to put yourself first. So, I went about the next thirty years of my life putting everyone and everything else ahead of my own needs to avoid being viewed as selfish.

“Creativity is conceived in our intuition, our hearts, and through our higher power. It is the space where your mind drops into your heart.” – Betsy Burbank

Creativity is the act of turning new and imaginative ideas into reality, or creating meaningful new forms. It’s a two-step process that involves both thinking and producing. If you have ideas and don’t act on them or bring them into form, this is being “imaginative” because you haven’t actually created anything. True creativity requires that you take your ideas and create something new.

When I was eight years old, I created a buried treasure adventure for my five cousins who were coming over for a visit. I gathered up the beautiful costume jewelry my mother had given me and placed the pieces in a blue leather cigarette case. I headed out the back door of my childhood home and down to the end of the dirt road to the big nut tree in the field, where I buried the jewels. I marked the spot with a rock and ran all the way home. Once inside, I grabbed a sheet of paper and drew a map to the treasure. I tore the edges of the paper and ironed it to make it look old. I was ready!