Thinking Creatively

I’m always struck by people whose gratitude for being alive, with whatever circumstances they find themselves in, just shines from within. I’m not naturally like this, but I aspire to be, so I look for clues and tips and tricks to help me reprogram how I see the world.

Recently I saw an Adam Grant post on Instagram. He’s a well-known organizational psychologist. In his post dated March 17, 2022, Grant wrote, “It’s depressing to ruminate about the doors that closed yesterday. It’s liberating to look for the doors that are open today. You can't change who you’ve been. It’s never too late to choose who you want to become. Identity is a decision, not a destiny.”

The post had a second image labeled “The Past” and “The Future.” In the past, it begins with the starting point of when you were born, and there is only a narrow path available to you. The other life paths are closed. In the future, it begins with the starting point of your life today, and all life paths are open. The opportunities are unlimited. You can go in any direction, pursuing whatever you want. Which one would you want to focus your energy on?  

I really like this idea of shifting your mindset, the idea that we can stop amplifying the life paths closed to us, to stop thinking about what went wrong or what was unfair or what never happened, and instead focus our energy on everything we have right now. This creates space to think about the possibilities of what we can do with our current potential. It’s looking at the world in a different way.

In the book “Shin Buddhism Bits of Rubble Turn into Gold,” Reverend Taitetsu Unno wrote that “Buddhism is primarily descriptive and not prescriptive,” and that “each person is challenged to respond creatively to a given situation.” This allows us to, as he describes, “face reality as it is, realizing our limited, imperfect, vulnerable, and mortal self, which is sustained by boundless compassion. On that basis we proceed to respond creatively to the world, coming up with solutions unique to the problem at hand.”

I am inspired by this idea of “responding creatively.” I think in a way, that is also what Adam Grant suggests. You must respond creatively to see the unlimited number of life paths still ahead of you, yet as humans, we get bogged down in a limited conception of what our life was supposed to look like. Our expectations tend to hold us back.

Unno wrote that “the essence of Namu-Amida-Butsu is the constant renewal of the namu-self as a creative act.” He describes it as an “ongoing process, continuing as long as we live this human life. Obviously, it is not a static state, built on egocentric clinging to things, but a dynamic fashioning of a constantly evolving self.”

I think about what Buddhism means to me. The way it helps me see reality more clearly, which ultimately enables me to navigate what’s ahead, to be grounded in what I have right now, to appreciate everything I have instead of dwelling on what I don’t have or what didn’t work out.

I appreciate the idea of Namo Amida Butsu as a way of responding creatively to the challenges we inevitably face in life.