Emberlight Values Series: Creativity

If Embracing the Unknown opened the door and Adaptability and Resourcefulness taught us to move through it, Creativity is what we build once we are standing on the other side.

Creativity at Emberlight is not reserved for artists, though we have plenty of those. You may hear Scott Sheerin or Conrad or Greg Lathrop playing their flutes at the crossing fire or to accompany a labyrinth walk. There's also Jessica Chilton, and her Spirited Improv that includes music and sound and song baths. And who hasn't been moved by Aditi's kirtan chants? Creativity moves beyond those interwoven melodies and harmonies. It is the capacity to imagine a response that did not exist before it was needed. Creativity is Ethan Sisser asking, seven years ago, whether dying had to be a solitary experience, and an entire community rising up to answer that question with something new.

We see creativity daily in ways that rarely get named as such, especially in the formation of our volunteer-led teams. A care team that builds a ritual outside under Grandmother Oak because a resident's tradition calls for one that no book has described. A volunteer who finds the exact right words for a family in shock. A grief circle that finds its own shape, session by session, because no two circles of loss are alike. A mindfulness practice from the Sanctuary team to stream energetics into the space for all who enter. The library team's newly opened space with books to guide the way toward death with grace displayed.

The artist Georgia O'Keeffe is credited with the idea that she had to create the unknown for herself, because no one else could see it until she made it visible. That is the quiet work of creativity: bringing something into form that was only, until that moment, a feeling or a need.

Sheila Anmuth, "Better Blue" (cold wax)

At Emberlight, we have invited creativity onto our walls from local River Arts District artists as well. Shela Anmuth has partnered with us for two years curating a collection of original art as a backdrop for our residents, families, and volunteers in all our spaces. Those who walk the hallways, wiping away tears, often leave with a painting that will remain a touchstone of their time here during their loved one's last journey.

Creativity is not separate from our other values. It is Respect for All Beings finding its expression, Loving Presence finding its shape, Mutual Accountability finding its voice. Curiosity asked the question. Creativity answers it.

This month, we invite you to sit with these questions:

• Where in your life is something asking to be created that does not yet exist: a ritual, a conversation, a way of caring? What is stopping you from making it?

• If you are a volunteer, ask yourself: "What is one thing I have made, whether a gesture, a word, or a small ritual, that helped someone in a way nothing else could have?"

Let's celebrate our creativity together.

Emberlight's values series is brought to you by the BE= belonging + equity team and this month's offering was written by Courtney Smith.