I saw the movie Saving Mr. Banks, starring Emma Thompson and Tom Hanks (among other great and familiar actors) two days ago, and it’s haunted my day and night dreams since. It’s an extraordinarily powerful movie conveying a deep truth about the heart of creativity.
Saving Mr. Banks is about P.L. Travers, author of the Mary Poppins books, and Walt Disney—about the difficulty Walt had in getting her to give him the rights to make his classic movie. The story of Mrs. Travers, prim, English, and opinionated, interfacing with the creative team at Disney is half of the plot, filled with the natural comedy of people with completely different life philosophies trying to agree on a creative vision. The other half of the story is flashbacks of P.L. Travers’ childhood in Australia. You witness the seeds that blossomed later into the world of Mary Poppins. Mostly you experience the central source of soul pain that still holds the writer in bondage, unable to forget, forgive, or create. She has writer’s block at the top of the film.
It’s an amazing journey to witness how each of these creative geniuses, Disney and Travers, took their personal pain and used their imaginations to paint a different possibility–writing a “different ending” to the story, you could say, than the one they had survived.
It’s a testament to the healing power of imagination and creativity, two things I’ve been talking with you about for a while now. No, you can’t make the actual events of your life turn out differently—not the past events, that is. But our souls seem to live as though all time is happening at once. When we are able to take the seed of pain driving us and use it to create something different, a certain kind of magic happens. The relief, release, and subsequent delight are a balm that changes the way we are able to live each day. Travers finishes the film writing her next Mary Poppins book.
Coach’s Challenge: What’s your driving pain? Honestly, there aren’t so very many. Most of them boil down to feeling that we didn’t do enough, weren’t lovable enough, for some reason we could not capture or keep the love and approval we so desperately wanted. We couldn’t fix the parent we adored—could not make them happy in spite of everything. Now. Take that pain and use your brilliance to make it different. Express love and kindness. Make something. Grow something. Invent something. It isn’t a logical thing – the healing often comes in unexpected ways. As you love yourself and allow that love to spread, miracles happen. As always, I invite you to leave a comment and share your journey.
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