When I was around five years old, my father set aside some of his small hand tools in a toolbox for me to use. Often in the evenings or weekends when my father was working on a project, I would be there with him fashioning something from scrapes of wood he had discarded. Unfortunately, my father’s needing to remind me to use a specific tool for the task it was designed often disturbed the peaceful hum of us creating. “A hammer is for pounding nails, a saw is for cutting wood, a drill is for drilling holes,” he would say.
Many years later his words about using a tool for the task it was designed for came back to me, but in a completely different context. At the time, I was trying to be someone I wasn’t so I could fit in and have a sense of belonging. One day, as I struggled, once again I heard his words in my head. “Use the tool for the task it was designed for.” In this context he wasn’t talking about a hammer or a saw, he was talking about me being who I was—not who I thought I needed to be.
I felt his words were telling me to stop expecting myself to be like others and instead embrace who I really was, all the gifts I had to offer, and then walk that path. If I was a hammer, then I needed to just pound nails. If I was a saw, I just needed to cut wood—nothing more and nothing less. It was on that day that I saw just how deep the wisdom of his words was. I also realized the pushing, forcing, and ignoring were just symptoms of me not embracing the task I was designed to do and that I wasn’t living an authentic life. But when I allowed myself to be who I really was, I found that life was much easier and I was actually perfect for the tasks I was designed to do.
With this in mind, I invite you to explore some of the ICWIB art activities and videos for FREE, because they are wonderful way to reconnect with your authentic nature.
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