Harnessing your unique creative power

Over the last few articles, I’ve been exploring the concept of genius. In this conception, genius is not what separates special humans from the rest, but what distinguishes humans from other life on Earth. We humans have an innate ability to invent new ideas, values, and ways of being. We have an innate ability to evolve ourselves. Genius is that creative power. Here, I continue exploring how we can each articulate and harness our own unique flavor of genius.

Superpower vs. creative power

In famous hero stories throughout history, the protagonist often has special abilities or powers that are tangible and obvious. They are given an object imbued with magic, like an enchanted sword or invisibility cloak. Or they have a specific “superpower” that easily distinguishes them from mere mortals or common folk. Hercules was a demigod with superhuman strength. Storm commands the forces of nature. Harry Potter can use magic.

​Purpose-driven leaders might think of their genius as their own unique superpower. It is a special ability that only they possess. It guides and aids them along their journey. And it can give them the confidence to do what they might otherwise deem impossible. It makes them feel their most powerful.

And yet, “superpower” is perhaps not the most helpful analogy for our genius. For most of us, our unique ability is not quite as tangible or obvious as it is in popular hero stories. Often, our gifts are subtle and seemingly ordinary. And though unique and important, there is nothing “superhuman” about our genius. It does not set us apart from or above others. In fact, it is maybe the most human thing about us. It is perhaps even what makes us human.

Our genius might be most aptly thought of simply as our unique creative power. It is creative because it brings new ideas, expressions, or behaviors into being. It is a power because it is the force that allows us to shape ourselves and the world. It makes us feel capable and powerful.

The stream of life

Many spiritual traditions posit that we are all part of (or that we all are) the divine oneness of the universe, whether we call it God, Brahman, Tao, Spirit, or something else. When we truly become present and fully open, we lose attachment to our sense of separateness. We see that we are but one stream always flowing down the mountainside from, connected to, and soon rejoining the endless ocean of being. We are all well served by cultivating this presence and acknowledging and inhabiting that which is beyond this separate self of ours.

And yet, perhaps paradoxically, some of the most meaningful moments of our lives often come from better understanding, embracing, actualizing, and expressing our unique, separate selves. Yes, we are but a stream flowing into the ocean. But before we find our way to the sea, we rejoice in feeling ourselves flowing down the riverbanks and bask in awe of the landscapes around us, how they guide us, and how we help shape them.

Our presence is perhaps the truest, most lasting us. It is the water that flows through our stream of being, all other streams, the ocean, and the clouds in an endless cycle. But we might consider our genius to be the most unique us. It is the contours and depths of the stream, the aspect that exists only at this moment in this one place in the whole world.

Understanding our unique creative power

Our work here on Earth might be thought of in part as coming to know and fully live this separate self of ours, while also seeing beyond it. By articulating and expressing our genius, our unique creative power, we not only access a palpable sense of aliveness but also better access and fulfill whatever wants to happen and flow through us. By offering our genius to the world, we can cultivate the fulfillment that comes with purpose.

But how do we find, come to know, and live our genius?

Though we might say our genius is found and understood at the intersection of our passions, talents, and values, it is not quite so simple. Some aspects of our unique creative power might fit cleanly under those banners. Others may not. Some might be easily captured through words. Others might be better expressed through images or sounds. Others might be just a feeling. Some might be permanent fixtures of our identity. Others might come and go throughout our lifetime, just as a stream might snake back and forth across the landscape over time or deepen or dry up with the seasons. What often emerges as all of this intermingles is something before and beyond our mind’s grasp.

The best we can realistically hope for is to come to better know and express our genius. And we can do so, in part, through two steps: 1) mapping the expanse of disparate elements that comprise our genius, and 2) distilling that expanse down to a single essence.

Step 1: Mapping the expanse of our genius

In the popular role-playing Dungeons and Dragons, fantasy characters set out on quests similar to those described by the hero’s journey. They slay dragons, retrieve something that has been stolen, or resolve a conflict. But before the game begins in earnest, players first create the characters they are to play and specify their various strengths, skills, personality traits, ideals, bonds, flaws, etc. Often, these attributes all get collected on one sheet of paper that becomes a key reference for the player.

Change agents can benefit from a similar process. We can create our own genius profiles to capture the various attributes or qualities of our genius and our special roles in change. Change agent archetypes, passions, talents, and core values are all prime targets for your profile. But these profiles can capture much more than that: your geographic home, supporting values, shadow values, affirmations, important relationships, Myers-Briggs type, Strengths Finder strengths, Enneagram type, Ayurveda dosha, animals of special importance or meaning, even photographs or works of art that are meaningful for you. You might even think of it not so much as a profile, but as a mood board that captures the energies, types, and ways of doing and being that express who you are and what you are here to create.

The goal here is to capture all the diversity and messiness of your unique creative power. Through the act of articulating and claiming these many different, perhaps disparate, aspects of ourselves and our genius, we not only come to know ourselves more fully, but also find them more activated and available within us.

You can use this template as inspiration.

Step 2: Distilling our essence

Though often helpful and illuminating, our genius profiles or mood boards can quickly become unwieldy. We can find ourselves astounded and overwhelmed by the sheer number of parts that we might claim for ourselves and learn to harness. We see that there are multitudes within us, so much so that we lose the clarity of what we are here to do and how to move forward.

Because of this, after we map the expense of our creative power, it can also be powerful to distill these various parts into a single essence. Through the genius profile, we claim all the many different parts of us. But through this effort, we hone them all down to the one most indispensable, most distinguishing element or through line or theme (while acknowledging that one word, phrase, or concept can never actually capture our genius).

Often, a single imperative verb (e.g., “restore,” “grow,” or “explore”) can best serve this function, representing the core action that our genius enables within us. In this way, we frame and harness our genius not as what or who we are, but as what we are here to do or how we create. But others might find more resonance in a symbolic metaphor or poetic turn-of-phrase representing a role (e.g., “safe harbor,” or “travel guide for the soul”).

Look at your mood board. Does any one theme or energy run through it all? Is there any one element that feels particularly powerful to you? Is there anything that feels the most “yes”?

You are not going to get this right

Articulating your essence is a mysterious, often tricky, process. It might be immediately obvious to you right in this moment. Or, it might take a few hours, weeks, months, or years to capture. You might think your way to it unsuccessfully, only to find it randomly in a poem or dream when you least expect it. And once you do, it might change or take on a new form unexpectedly as you come to know yourself more fully or your transition into different chapters of your life.

Don’t worry about getting this “right.” You are not going to get it right. What you are trying to capture here cannot actually be fully expressed in words. You are just doing your best to give words to the ineffable.

With that said, you’ll know you're on the right path when you begin to feel more empowered and clear about how to move forward with your life. It’s almost like the moment Harry Potter learns he’s a wizard or Luke learns he can use the force. Through that knowing, so much of what confounds us from the past makes sense. So much of our path forward feels clear and that much more possible. Simply by acknowledging that we possess our own unique creative power, something within us comes alive.

But, just like with Harry and Luke, that is just the very beginning of the journey. We have our whole lives to know ourselves even more deeply. We have our whole lives to find ways to express our genius more clearly, richly, and fully.