KEEPING THE DOOR OPEN

Author’s Note

The door matters because creativity does not force its way in.

It arrives when something in us is willing.

Keeping the door open is not about producing more or proving anything.

It is about choosing presence over protection, curiosity over control.

It is a practice of staying available to what wants to be known, felt, or expressed.

There were seasons when closing the door felt safer.

And seasons when forgetting it existed cost me more.

This manifesto is not a demand—it is an invitation.

A reminder that imagination is one of the ways we remain in relationship with ourselves.

The door is still here.

So am I.

— Flower InBloom

On Being Creative (and Letting Imagination Breathe)

Creativity doesn’t arrive with instructions.

It doesn’t knock politely or wait until the room is clean.

It shows up barefoot, carrying color on its hands,

asking only that we make a little space.

Imagination is not escape—it’s remembrance.

A remembering of how to see without permission.

How to ask what if before is this allowed?

How to trust the quiet tug that says,

Look closer. There’s more here.

When we create, we are not inventing ourselves—

we are revealing what’s already been whispering.

The image that won’t leave.

The sentence that hums under the day.

The shape of something unnamed that wants a body.

Creativity is play with purpose hidden inside.

It’s curiosity wearing wonder like a coat.

It’s the courage to be unfinished in public,

to let mess be part of the magic,

to choose expression over explanation.

Imagination is how the soul stretches.

It bends time.

It braids memory with possibility.

It lets grief talk to beauty

and somehow makes both survivable.

You don’t have to force it.

You don’t have to be loud.

You only have to listen when something inside says,

Follow this.

Create when you don’t know what it means yet.

Create when words fail but color doesn’t.

Create because imagining is an act of hope—

a quiet rebellion against the smallness we were taught.

And remember:

every time you imagine,

you are practicing freedom.

I arrive willing to imagine.

A Manifesto for Imagination

I choose imagination over permission.

Not because I am reckless—

but because creation answers to something older than approval.

I believe creativity is not a talent given to a few,

but a current running through all of us,

waiting for attention instead of mastery.

I will let ideas arrive unfinished.

I will not demand clarity before I begin.

I honor the draft, the sketch, the almost—

as sacred thresholds, not failures.

I trust curiosity more than certainty.

I follow wonder even when it makes no sense yet.

I allow play to lead and meaning to catch up.

I refuse to shrink my vision to make others comfortable.

I will not apologize for color, depth, or feeling.

My imagination is not excess—

it is evidence of life.

I understand that creating is an act of courage.

To imagine is to risk being seen.

To make is to say, I was here, and I felt something.

I create even when I am tired.

I create even when I am joyful.

I create as a form of listening—

to myself, to the moment, to what wants to come through.

I am allowed to change.

I am allowed to outgrow my own work.

I am allowed to imagine myself differently.

This is my practice:

to keep the door open,

to stay curious,

to choose expression over silence.

This is my vow:

I will protect my imagination

as one of the ways I stay alive.

🔥 SHARPENED MANIFESTO

I choose imagination over permission.

I do not wait to be validated before I begin.

Creativity is not a luxury.

It is a way of thinking, sensing, and surviving.

I allow ideas to arrive incomplete.

I do not confuse unfinished with unworthy.

I trust curiosity more than consensus.

I follow what pulls me, not what reassures others.

I will not minimize my vision to avoid discomfort.

Depth is not drama.

Color is not chaos.

Feeling is not a flaw.

To create is to take up space on purpose.

To imagine is to refuse erasure.

I accept the risk of being seen.

I accept that not everyone will understand.

Understanding is not required for truth.

I create because silence costs me more.

I create because aliveness demands expression.

This is my line in the ground:

I will not abandon my imagination.

It is one of the ways I remain whole.

🌿 SOFTENED MANIFESTO

I let imagination lead me home.

Not quickly—

but honestly.

I remember that creativity does not rush.

It unfolds when it feels safe enough to be touched.

I allow myself to begin without knowing.

To play without pressure.

To explore without outcome.

I follow what feels warm, curious, or quietly alive.

I rest when the spark dims.

I return when it flickers again.

I do not ask my imagination to prove itself.

I offer it patience instead.

I make room for tenderness in my work.

For pauses.

For changes of heart.

For the truth of today.

When I create, I am listening.

When I imagine, I am trusting.

This is not about productivity.

It is about presence.

I stay with what wants to be expressed—

and I let it take the time it needs.

🕯️ RITUAL MANIFESTO

I arrive as I am.

Breath by breath.

With open hands.

I release the need to be ready.

I release the need to be certain.

I invite imagination to speak—

in images, in feelings, in fragments.

I give myself permission to begin.

I give myself permission to pause.

I give myself permission to change.

I listen for what feels alive.

I follow it gently.

I honor what comes through me

without forcing it to stay.

May my creativity remain curious.

May my imagination remain free.

May my expression remain true.

I am here.

I am listening.

I begin again.

I imagine, therefore I remain.

— Flower InBloom