Extraordinary! Creative Peak Experience

Peak experience in nature

The morning poet William Stafford died, he drafted a poem containing these lines: You can’t tell when strange things with meaning will happen.  I’m (still) here writing it down just the way it was .“You don’t have to prove anything,” my mother said. “Just be ready for what God sends.” I listened and put my hand into the sun again. It was all easy.”

Watching the horizon
Out of the far sky, sounds like frogs’ croaking and braying from donkeys pervade the air, dark spots flying a moving amoeba. The black birds, I learned later anhingas, circle the Shumard oak trees floating a while on tropical air currents before coasting to nearby branches. Anhinga’s size and shape are extraordinary and they’re formidable. They swim with only their necks above water so they look like a snake ready to strike. No surprise they’re called devil birds.

Black birds are coming closer and I see their strange features – long pointed yellowish-orange bills with extended tails that spread wide soaring, short legs and webbed feet. This ancient looking species is otherworldly like they waltzed in from prehistoric time. Staring at their awkward dance and Cenozoic shape…their primordial sounds, my perception of reality changes. Murmur of all noise drops away and judgment, space suspend.

Utter happiness and a Peak experience
Again the discordant orchestra begins its overture as one by one the anhingas take their special places like ladies in waiting chattering to each other. As if on cue, royalty arrives. A beautiful silver blue heron hovers near the crown of the oak tree before settling into a nest on a lower bough. Soon, arriving with a small fish dangling from his mouth, the majestic partner dives in feeding the three chicks in quick succession. Suddenly, I feel a release and utter happiness sweeps over me.

What happens next in the night sky is indescribable. Flashes of white light touch the trees, lighting the oaks as if Christmas. For a moment, everything is quiet and still. Then, a dozen white storks all aglow representing peace and joy to the world flash angelic luminescence…. followed by a refrain of harsh, rattling sounds announcing their arrival. But soon like an unearned gift from the gods, their blaring harmonics combine with the anhingas’ braying into a momentous symphony, a celebration, an ode to what’s possible. The black birds, herons and the white ones cohabitate in peace on the trees. The night winks goodbye on the mysteriously extraordinary experience. I ask myself, what else is possible?

What we know
Abraham Maslow’s research on peak experiences and creativity is significant. He found that individuals are intensely involved during inspirational moments with one effect of giving up both the past and the future. For others, a lessening of fear, inhibitions and ego. Peak experiences foster an elevation of hope, “…a beneficent spontaneity,” according to Maslow, and “…a strong fusion of the person with the world.”

Peak experiences provide hope and deep connections to the world. Everything is amazing when a peak experience manifests. How can we have more? – Becky Breed

Writing/Creativity exercise:

1. What moments have you responded to powerfully and profoundly? What mind-bending encounters have you experienced? Make a list of them. When we allow ourselves to be touched whether it’s during nature, artistic, musical, athletic or religious experiences, it can be revelatory. Read The Ecstasy of Eternity https://www.themarginalian.org/2024/03/01/richard-jefferies-story-of-my-heart-2/
2. How do we let the light in and experience wonder? As yourself how you’re going to be creative today. Give in to your whims and fancies. Step out of the everyday shadows. Risk being open and free. Be ready for the trees, the melody, the Word to invite you.
3. Pablo Picasso said, “It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.” Reflect on how you spend your free time and the state of mind you convey. How often do you play? Be in the moment. The more you reserve opportunity for special moments, the more likely you are to experience peak experiences.
4. Carry an attitude of expectancy. Believe that at any moment something extraordinary will happen. Enjoy!

For more inspiration, check out our website www.thewritingandcreativelife.com.

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