A Framework of Limitation

What do limits have to do with creativity?
That old cliche “Necessity is the mother of invention” is part of the answer, I think. When we need to make do, we have to be creative.
When we think about managing our day to day lives, our households, our budgets, we think of it as resourceful management. The Hearts at Home website is currently posting a column I wrote for them for The Pantagraph on this topic. You can read it here.
But our households aren't the only aspects of our lives where we experience limitations that require us to choose creative responses.
Parents who are limited by their responsibilities to their children must come up with creative ways to fill their lives with contentment, stimulation, a sense of freedom -- even when they feel least free. It isn't easy but it is possible, and yields the satisfaction of having fulfilled their duty to their family without losing themselves in the process.
The limitation becomes a kind of “laying down your own life” for the sake of someone else, and it's important to realize that the limitation is real. There is a real “giving up” when you accept a limitation.
It is when we “choose to look for -- and celebrate -- life in the midst of what feels like death” that we begin to understand the art of living creatively.
Our limitations become the framework for our art.