Make versus Create 2

We look up at the same stars and see such different things.

George R.R. Martin

Something interesting happens when the word ‘create’ is used instead of the word ‘make.’ Have you ever tried this? Even though the words have a similar meaning, I am amazed at how my thoughts are impacted by such a slight change in the use of a word.

Here are three leading areas of my life that have opened up in a surprising way to the word create.

Make a Living versus Create an Income

When a new day at work starts, I have been trying to see it as something I get to do rather than something I must do. Truthfully, my work is something that I must do to get the dollars. If I focus on that alone, it has a habit of limiting the fulfilment I can get out of my job. So instead of telling myself that I do this job to make a living, I have been telling myself that it is a way I participate in creating my income. The day seems to open up into a 9-hour potential of possibility. I find my mindset in a place of intention, actively pursuing my work more, moment to moment. This small shift in my thinking also inspires me to dream about other possible ways I could create an income for myself if I wanted to. It hasn’t changed anything about the job itself but it has changed the way I experience it. I have found that even a slight creative approach can inspire further creative thinking.

Make a Friend versus Create a Friendship

I can make a friend in a day but creating a friendship becomes journey I take over time. I have loved to think about this one differently. I have found that when I think of the people in my world as friendships I am creating as opposed to friends I have made, I start to view them from a deeper place in my heart. It has had a refreshing way of helping me gauge the different relationships in my world and to know the ones that add sincere value to the life I want to live and the person I want to grow into. Creating a friendship isn’t something that happens once but it is a colourful journey that continues on purpose and this point of view has encouraged an honest discovery of where my heart is invested, the ones that are true and the ones I want to hold dear.

Make Dinner versus Create a Meal

Oh, food! Wonderful food. I’ll just make myself a quick meal. Chuck something together to get fed and hurry along onto other things or places. Now, though, when I think more about it as creating a meal for myself, it makes me want to slow down and give more, more careful thought. The change is how I see the experience and what that means to me. Where I used to see making meals as hard tasks that I must complete with food is now seen as creating meals that have opened up an ongoing process of how I relate to food and how it can serve and nurture my body. I have gone from making food that will feed me to creating meals that will nourish my body.

There are many more areas the word ‘create’ can be used instead of ‘make’ and even if it sounds a bit awkward in a sentence, the little amazing effects are there.

Making something seems to point to something you must do whereas creating something aims at what we can do. It leads to openness, opportunity, and freedom, I find. While the one seems to imply certain limits the other offers a delightful sense of liberation.

I encourage you to create more and make less.

Love,

Jo-Anne.