Witnessing Notre Dame Burn Taught Me 2 Lessons on Creativity and Resilience (BKI 51)

Hi, this is Diana. Bright Knowledge Instance. Give you one thing you can do today to move your creativity ahead. And I just got back from Paris, and on the very last day that we were there, Notre Dame burned, as many of you know, a great icon in European history now in world culture. And I would never have thought this could have happened so fast and so dramatically. As a child, I lived in Brussels for four years, and so I've been to Notre Dame many times as part of my psyche.

And literally before the fire started, we were outside taking photos two hours prior. I would have never thought that such a dramatically catastrophic thing would have happened so fast. And the good news is, a lot was saved. And all of this got me thinking of a couple of different things that are slightly contradictory but complementary when it comes to our creativity. And the first thing is don't wait.

You never know how fast things can change. And I would never have believed that in front of my eyes, I would see such a horrific sight. And for a while, we all thought it was going to be lost completely. So for your creativity, do something for it today. Go see something that's important to you. Paint, draw, sing, write, whatever, dance, whatever it is that you do, do it.

Don't wait until tomorrow. I remember standing in front of Notre Dame and thinking, I will never see this again. Fortunately, that's not true. But that's how it looked to us when we were watching the flames, which were huge and dramatic and crazy. So seize the day. Carpe diem, as they say. You never know how fast things change. So let's enjoy what we have right now and appreciate what we have around us right now.

The second thing, and it's slightly contradictory, is although it looked like all was lost, a huge amount was saved. So even in moments of disaster, and if things in your life right now don't feel like they're going so well, you can rise from the ashes. There is good even in the bad. In Greek tragedy, they say our greatest weakness is also our greatest strength. So even for things that right now seem like a weakness or a negativity in your life, what can you transform that into?

What can you use that as the ashes that you're going to rise from, like the phoenix? So today, seize the day. Do what you love to do. Doesn't matter if you're even good at it or not. That doesn't matter at all. The thing is to participate actively now, because everything could change in a moment. The other thing is, even if things are bad, you can rise like a phoenix from the ashes.

Even in our darkest moments, there is hope for transformation. So I hope these can give you a little strength. Certainly witnessing this dramatic event unfolding in front of my eyes made a huge impression on me forever. And it certainly encourages me to not hold back. You know, let's not wait, and let's not let things that are kind of dragging us down keep us down. Let's rise. Bye.