My story begins in 1998. I was sitting behind a closed door, in my office, at a major international experiential marketing firm. Once lucrative, creatively satisfying and comfortably collegial, my work environment had turned so toxic, each memo so much more malevolent, that this natural extrovert (ENFP) had taken to hiding behind closed doors.
My salvation was to be rooted in the regular knocks upon my door and the typical apologetic salutation from each intruder that would go something like, "Sorry to trouble you Doug, but can I pick your brain for 5 minutes? I need some creative ideas." These momentary intrusions ultimately resulted in the proverbial "Aha! Moment." It was shortly after a milestone birthday and my ruminations on my mortality and my growing dissatisfaction screamed out to me that I needed a change.
"I should sell creativity directly from the well," I first thought, then said out loud. I quickly wrote on my To Do List: "From now on, my life will be about creativity." It's where I conspicuously excelled and what filled me up. And now I had openly declared my intentions.
That small action - a declaration of intention - was a call to further action. I remembered that I had a copy of Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way hiding somewhere on the shelves of my home. I began rooting through a closet -- when in the true way that synchronicity works (a phenomenon exhaustively cited by Cameron) -- the book literally leapt off the top shelf and hit me on the noggin. Realizing that I had initially stopped reading the book at the exercises in chapter one, it occurred to me that I might want to find a class or a mentor to help me overcome my resistance. That day a friend called and I told her of my search. She called me back excitedly to say that she had just seen a flyer in her lobby about a class that started that week. So, from expressed intention to sitting in that first class had taken less than 72 hours. (woo-woo!)
The class was empowering. And after that first class, I have taken it again, and again in an advanced version, and ultimately with Julia Cameron herself in Taos. In the meantime, I had begun to do creative consulting and ideation and had printed business cards. One of those business cards, given to a classmate, found its way into the hands of a CPSI regular and fellow Chicagoan and creativity consultant. It was now early 2001. Acting as a creative mentor in those early days, she said simply, "You have to get yourself to CPSI."
Through the work in "The Artists' Way," I had mustered the courage to leave my job, so I was in the nascence of my consulting practice. I didn't have big budgets or large reserves set aside for conferences. Besides, the bubble had burst and the economy was behaving ominously. But compelled by a passion for creativity, driven by blind faith, buoyed by black coffee and financially floated by the much-abused AmEx Centurian, I drove straight through the night to Buffalo. I pulled into the curved drive of the Adam's Mark Hotel - minutes before Jon Pearson's opening keynote.
I tossed my keys to the doorman and dashed through the side door, breathless, inquiring about registration. Just then, Sue Zajac looked at me with kind, welcoming, sparkling eyes and literally led me by the hand back to the registration area, and moments later, I was enrolled in Springboard - facilitated by Tom Potter and Joette Field.
Upon entering the main meeting hall, I commenced grinning widely at Jon Pearson's hilarious speech - and instantly connected with this kindred spirit. Jon's creatively eclectic resume made mine look mainstream. His daring and spontaneity made Robin Williams look like Ben Stein on Valium. "I like this guy," I chuckled.
And, as I looked around the room, I also liked what I saw: a warm up activity that had people in funny hats and wigs and clown noses - all VERY glad to be there. And I had the palpable sense that I had at last found my place in the universe. Also in that moment I realized - really for the first time on a conscious level- creativity's essential connection to spirituality.
Being creative is often an alienating experience. You think "funny" so people treat you funny. Being a creative spirit and A.D.D.-challenged can have you meeting with resistance everywhere your mind turns - which is just about everywhere. And the world of improvisational comedy, when I was in it, had proven at times to be clawing and competitive, not cooperative. So, "creativity" and "community" seemed oxymoronic. But here -- at my first CPSI -- there was an undeniable atmosphere of connectivity and inclusion. A spirit of FUN without judgment prevailed.
The effect of that first CPSI on my life was profound-- the whole conference was an array of choices that were dizzying and irresistible -- each better than another. One moment in Springboard stands out. We were passing a Hula-Hoop around a circle we had formed; our arms linked together - the challenge was to get the hoop around the circle without once breaking our human chain. There was one significant problem - and there was so much tension around it, it filled the room. One of our classmates was confined to a wheelchair and he sat between me and another - he was visibly trembling and fretting frantically, (trying to maintain his stoic façade) at the thought of blowing the exercise for everyone. So, when we somehow figured out how to get him, and his wheelchair through the hoop, there was a gale-like collective exhale from the group - and tears and laughter erupted - just like something out of The Miracle Worker. "I love doing the impossible," said Walt Disney once - and we had just done it.
It was also at that first CPSI that I met Gerard Puccio. I enrolled that next summer in The International Center for Studies in Creativity distance cohort program. I graduated with an MS from Buff State in 2006, continued to attend CPSI yearly, and last year became a leader and part of the program for the first time. Still, maybe my most satisfying accomplishment is the number of other people whom I have since introduced to CPSI -- and whose gratitude I have experienced gladly for having changed their lives.
Today, I largely live the dream written on that To Do-List 10 years ago and I have CPSI and the global CPSI community to thank.
