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Not Pandora's Box

We are born with a spirit of creativity, a seed of our potential. The curiosity and wonder that lead us to develop our gifts is tucked away ready to be awakened as we grow. But if our motivation has been restrained by too many obstacles or too few opportunities, or left unattended, our spirit may wither. But it does not die. It may need nurturing; it may simply need acknowledgement.

"Through My Eyes" is my view of this journey, available to each of us as we seek to re-stoke the fire that unleashes and empowers our creativity, our purest selves -- allowing us a richer, more diverse and fulfilling life.

Some of us realize our creative nature at an early age, while others may find surprising hints of it rising out of the depths later in life. Creativity unfolds in a multitude of ways. We don't have to be writers, painters, scientists or philosophers to express this spirit. It is simply a conceptual process at our disposal to help solve a given problem, to view an idea in a remarkably different light, to bring something new into being or to appreciate our life experience with greater sensibility and depth. Unlike Pandora's Box, when our curiosity compels us to open the gift before us, we unleash awareness, joy and wonder.

I have made it a practice to spend moments of every day engaging my mind to tackle problems that concern my life: everything from world health and public housing to, more humbly, my health and my unfinished house. From the grandiose to the mundane, I am intrigued with the process of problem solving because it allows me to enter a world where any solution is feasible, where there is no such word as "can't" and where my conscious and subconscious minds run free and uncensored. This is training ground for the creative process.

Such exploration is an exhilarating exercise that encourages my mind to think beyond the norm -- to think outside the confines of any box. The more I feed the beast and allow creative juices to flow, the more the inspiration comes pouring forth. It is amazing what the human brain can conjure up.

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