Create to Share

Have you ever seen a baby get excited about a new toy and then almost immediately turn around and hold it up with bright eyes and a big smile, pleading with you to share in the excitement? The baby has no expectations, only a desire to share.

When we share without expectation, we're sharing love. When we create without expectation, we're creating with love. But if we put a condition on sharing the things that we create -- I'll share this if you give me that -- then we disconnect from the ultimate reason that we possess the power to create: to share love.

That doesn't mean we can't receive something in return for what we create. Receiving in return for creating isn't the same as creating with the intention of receiving. The latter is based in scarcity, the former in abundance.

Like the baby pleading to share in the joy of discovery, we instinctively want to share what we love. When we do something because we love it, the act of doing it becomes enough. When we create with the intention of sharing, everything we receive in return becomes a gift.

  1. Beautifully put. Which explains why people who love their work sometimes say they’d do it even if they didn’t get paid. People that are driven to create (I think of many artists) are often willing to live with little money and comfort for the opportunity to share their creations.

    • Thank you, Yan.

      I think the shift away from doing stuff we love has created many of the problems and nuisances we associate with “work”. Even the word itself has gained negative connotations. How often do we hear ‘work’ being spoken of with passion and love?

      If we remember that we should want to share our work (without expectation or reward), that will help guide us towards doing stuff that we love. And when we do stuff that we love, we do stuff that matters.

      The money aspect of this has been on my mind a lot lately. I’ve been trying to understand how we can create with the intention of sharing while still receiving compensation for our work.

      When we do work we love, we only want and need as much money as is required to continue doing that work. If more money doesn’t allow us to do more of what we love, then we don’t need it (or really even want it).

      That’s not to say we shouldn’t receive or accept more money… I think we need to create a framework for ourselves, a set of income ethics that helps define our ‘enough’ and helps us know where money we don’t genuinely need should go. If we don’t do that, I think the money can become distracting, pulling us away from what we love. (And perhaps that’s why there are so few exceptional artists… most of them stop doing what they love when they start making lots of money.)

  2. Hi Raam,
    Thank you for this reflection. I *love* the discussion that Yan started.
    When I read this piece, I did not think about creating as in “work” but as in this moment, my life..all that I create. I am like the baby you reference..so excited to share my daily discoveries: the colors of the sunset splayed across the sky and reflected on the harbor water, a flower in full blossom in an unexpected place…all that Nature offers when I open my heart..Priceless.
    I create from this well of peace, gratitude, joy..all cultivated and nourished from my experiences with nature. When I am purposeful about creating this moment to be life enriching and spirit enlivening, all that I share is then life enriching and spirit enlivening; with a heart fully open to the moment, all that I receive is the same. A beautiful, natural, struggle free cycle. Truly a *gift*, as you say.
    I think too often we tend to want to fit into mainstream, while our inner self wishes for independence and freedom. to share who we are as well as our gifts. Mainstream says we “must” work, earn a certain amount of money to live a certain lifestyle; inner self knows how to tap into Universal flow and open to abundance by sharing in the very way you mention..with the intent to grow…
    I don’t think one should deflect money, nor material, but perhaps true joy/inner peace is in the act of creation rather than the accumulation of “stuff” over experiences..

    • Thank you for sharing your thoughts, Joy. 🙂

      You describe a clear differentiation between ‘work’ and tapping into universal flow, but I propose that there should be no differentiation. All of our ‘work’, whether it’s work that creates money or work that creates inner growth, should be approached through opening our heart and tapping into that universal abundance.

      There seems to be this idea that ‘work’ needs to be difficult, uncomfortable, and separate from what it means to be human, set apart from what it means to be relaxed and happy. My ‘work’ should always enrich my life and the lives of others, no matter what I’m receiving in return. My work should always be a “gift”. (This is an idea I’ve been exploring for some time. I’m not disagreeing with you, simply sharing something that your comment brought to mind.)

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