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Lately I find myself coaching mothers, artists, and people in the financial world. Quite a blend, isnt it? Believe it or not, there is a common thread amongst them. There are limiting stories about each of these domains: the starving artist, the economy is bad, Im just a Mom so Im not important. What is key in transforming these stories is reinventing how we think of ourselves. Consider the notion that you get to decide how you want it to behow you want YOU to be. Isnt that cool? And yet, how do we really get out of our environmental, inherited, or self-created prisons?

I teach acting and creativity workshops to women in prison. The women are there due to prostitution, drug dealing, assault even murder. What I found to be the most freeing, unifying, and energizing act was to inspire these women to create. Some women thought they were worthless, some that they had nothing to say, some that they had been violated so horribly that all that was left were howls of horror. And yet the women created a play together and they did it in a week! And not just a play, a play that changed their lives, because they remembered they had a voice, and their voices matter. They performed for the other women in the prison and affected them too. Everyone reconsidered how they thought of their lives, their value in the world, their hearts.

I look at myself and other people as being trapped in metaphorical prisons at times. Some tough thoughts which construct the prison are: I cant do it, I wont achieve my dreams, my dreams dont matter, I am not good enough. The women in prison liberated their minds by being creative, and once they did that they created change, hope and were permanently altered. They knew better things were possible for themselves.

In what way do you dare to be creative today?

Creative Spark:

If you want a simple way to be creative right now, try this exercise:

My daughter will say things that are contrary to the truth. Okay, yes. I do mean they are a lie. But she and I both know its not true. Its fun because its imagined. What color is the snow? Pink! she exclaims. And so we pretend the snow is pink. And that concept infects our imagination and colors our world. And it is energizing, liberating, and joyful. Try it. What do you dare to think differently, do differently? Guess what? If you do it, you will be using your imagination, and you will instantaneously be creative.

Ruth’s First Joke for You

I just came from a Super Bowl party at my friends Becky and Peter’s house. They mentioned that they’d been to the theatre recently. Becky reported: “Everyone was older in the audience. No young people go to the theatre anymore.”

Can it be true? Is the theatre in danger of losing its audience?

I had a flash of fear, and then worse, dread. My most dearest times in my life have been at the theatre. At only 7 years old I watched Hamlet with my grandfather. I’ve seen great actors, from Raul Julia to Danitra Vance to Judi Dench, live onstage. There’s nothing as magical I have ever witnessed than these magicians at work.

So how do I, a one-woman show, a caregiver of a little girl, a life-coach save the theatre? Or inspire a movement? Yes, a movement which interests the online generations to appreciate a live show, a theatre production — watching actors creating imagined scenarios, all of us along for a collective journey, all of us listening and learning with our body, minds and souls about other worlds.

There was another moment this week when another mother of a young girl noticed I wasn’t cynical about the future. “You really believe that things can change?” “I do,” I said.

I believe that because I am in the business of change. I change characters, I change gears from mothering to coaching, I change from cooking dinner, to dancing, to reading books — my own and my daughters. I watch my clients change painful things in their lives, to wondrous new dynamics. And I want to change the trend of no young people at the theatre. And I will.

My biggest vision for my life’s work is to create the “5,000 Women Festival.” The title is a tribtute to the fact that 5,000 women are giving birth every moment. For the festival my dream is to have 5,000 people create works of performance art that change the world. I am gearing up to launch it this year. And what I just realized by blogging right now, is that one of the most important groups I am seeking to reach, are the young people. It hadn’t occurred to me before, but they are ripe for the mission, because if they join the festival they’d have a real life experience about how their lives, voices, and creativity matter.

And there will be young people at the theatre. Again.

Enjoy my first video blog!