Cross Your Creative Threshold
// February 28th, 2011 // 2 Comments » // creativity
Have you ever crossed a major threshold in your life and not realized it until much later?
By threshold, I mean some particular moment that signifies moving from one phase of your life, or state of being, and into another. Some thresholds are easy to catch as you go through: weddings, graduations, the birth of a child. Others just sort of happen, and the realization that you’ve crossed over dawns slowly.
Take The Step:
I stepped into a local community hall one winter night, unaware it was a ‘life threshold’. I thought it was just another door into a (hopefully) warm room full of people.
There were signs this might be something different. A woman stood at the entrance twirling a large fire-stick and chatting to people as they arrived–the flaming ends of the stick whooshed and seared incomprehensible signs into the frigid air, thick smoke anointed me as I walked past.
Taking the step is the defining act of crossing a threshold, it involves movement, action, stepping into an unknown situation. It sounds simple, “just do it” simple. But before taking that step, something else has to happen.
Be Ready To Leave Something Behind
It was an event to raise money for a local youth circus group. Once inside, I saw people gathered in small pockets: young people, parents, musicians, youth workers, poets.
On the way to the event I debated with myself whether to just forget the whole thing turn around. I’d recently moved to this community following a marriage breakup, was working two jobs, studying, feeling very burnt-out.
The term threshold comes from the Old English term ‘threscold’ the ‘thresh’ part of that meant to tread, or trample, and probably refers to people banging their boots on the heavy board of the doorsill to knock off the mud before they entered the house.
The mud I was banging from my boots that night was the sense of isolation that I’d been taking refuge in up to that point.
I didn’t want that for myself anymore. Walking into that room was uncomfortable but I’d made the decision to reconnect with people.
Be Curious
There was movement between the groups, and a stage set up at the front with an open mic. People took turns to play, sing, recite poetry, tell stories and jokes. There was no system. Whenever the stage emptied, someone strolled up and filled it with whatever gift they had to offer.
I remember a young woman got up, unaccompanied, and sang a quirky, jazzy song. It was beautiful. An older guy followed and recited a long and humorous political poem. He was great too, but my attention was wavering, distracted by a comforting, spicy fragrance flowing out from the kitchen beside the stage.
An open counter separated the kitchen from the rest of the hall, through it you could see people bustling, setting up pot luck dishes and laughing. Simmering on the stovetop were two large pots. Here was the source of the smell.
When I went to investigate, there was a woman moving from one pot to the other: checking, stirring. She explained the pots were filled with Chai tea, one made with cows milk, and one with soy. I’d never heard of it before, (this was in thedays before Starbucks Chai Latte). I tried both pots and was instantly hooked, it was like the perfect comfort food–but in a drink.
She showed me how to put it all together, and I volunteered to make the next batch while she caught up with friends.
Curiosity allows you to make the most of the new situation as you move into it. If you are crossing a threshold, it is likely that there is something on the other side that has drawn you there. Curiosity keeps you alert and helps you find what you’re seeking.
Follow through
Once you’ve crossed over, the next step is to keep moving. I had turned up that evening in an attempt to open up to the next step in my creative life, over the next few years I joined a local playback theatre group and had my first performance in that same hall, took my first Butoh workshop (same hall again), began movement and drama classes, had my first attempts at writing poetry, entered an art competition and saw my art hanging in a gallery for the first time.
Cultivate Meaning
Somehow the taste and smell of chai I encountered for the first time that night infused itself into my memory and came to represent a period of great change, where I began to stretch my creative capacity, where being creative became a conscious intention and one of the defining qualities I chose for myself.
We are always crossing thresholds, this is just one of many I’ve crossed. I picked this to focus on built a metaphor (Creative Chai) that I still draw heavily from years later.
