Think differently
Written by Nina Grunfeld Saturday, 19 November 2011 13:57
This week was my mother's funeral. It was, I think, a lovely event and, just to update those of you who have so kindly written to me about her, she ended up staying in her own home for the remainder of her life.
The reason I'm mentioning it right now (as well as it being uppermost in my mind) is to do with creativity and, therefore, this week's workshop.
I am the eldest child and we decided that I would organise the funeral, which was to be non-religious.
I think of myself as pretty creative, but I felt scared. How would I do it? I very much didn't want to let my mother or brother down and I knew neither wanted a conventional readings, poem, text, prayer format. I felt at a loss.
A few days before the funeral I mentioned to a colleague, Maurits Kalff, that I was thinking of talking about Mummy's life with her grand-children reading out bits from an autobiography Mummy had started and, sadly, not finished.
'You're making a documentary' Maurits suggested. And it was those words that freed me.
From that moment, the funeral changed from being a creative nightmare to a project. I stopped worrying about whether I was doing the 'right' thing and just let the idea of a focused documentary take over. I suddenly felt creative again.
So often our perfectionism stops us from creating something. We want to get things perfect and that freezes us. By giving my project a nickname 'The Documentary' and forgetting it needed to be 'right', I think I created something memorable.
Come along this week to our workshop on creativity, Be Creative Now. I hope you don't have a funeral to arrange, but no doubt there's something going on which you're worrying about not getting 'right'. Or maybe think of coming along as a part of the documentary of your life that you're creating.
Look forward to seeing you. Do book now to avoid missing it nearer the time.
Best wishes,
Nina
