A Creative’s Manifesto

Create - simply because

By Michael Opoku-Forfieh

Contents

1   The Now

2   The Future

3   The Past

Endings

Acknowledgements

Share

About Michael Opoku-Forfieh

The Now

The aim then, is about sharing experience

I am a psychotherapist,

I recognise now that really I am an

Artist

Something that I always dreamed of becoming

My paint - the human experience

The canvas – life

My now is filled with collaborating amongst

Clients,

Students,

Colleagues and Supervisees

For growth, learning, purpose and fulfilment

And your now?

Peering beyond

Daring the unknown

Trusting that journeying is

                  

                   The gift once sought

The knowing about

Unity of self, offers release

Rewind the spool

The release was necessary for learning

Gather to review, revise, plot anew.

The experience of being

Human

A Londoner,

A citizen of the world is mine.

What is yours?

The Future

Sharing as an artist is to be my

journey.

Will you?

Can you?

Writing as a way to express, expose, and expand *awareni.

Little else is simpler and yet more complex. Therapy speak?

There are many routes in we can take.

Paint

                                                                                                                        Sing

                     Design

                    Play

                                                                           Draw

Write

            

Psychotherapize

                      

                                              Educate

                  Walk

                                    

                                 Engineer

Listen                                                                        Love

                    Dance                                                             

                                          Socialise

            Meditate                                                 

Climb

Ride                                                   

Run

The route out – One

Between then and now choose to Live

Putting pen marks around ideas

Redrawing resilience 

                             and make arrow headed 

                                                                                links to everything else.

The invitation

My invitation for you, to you…

Create

Inspire self, inspire another, inspire others like fire – warm with light. Quick. Captivating.

Warming.

Dangerous.

The Past

Memories can drive thought and choice and action and behaviour.

Choose wisely.

Use intellect to determine

Best.

Listen - the heart speaks a lot

Know, take heed and follow

Will you?

Can you?

Writing to support growth,

                    

                     to share insights,

to enable:

you,

me,

us,

to evaluate critically - all that is encountered, witnessed and felt...

Honestly

Artfully

Let 

go

Endings

The first manifesto,

Offering the promise of change.

I doubt it to be the last ever penned.

An invitation…?

Acknowledgements

Arike                                                Jeff Goins

Ian Thompson                                 Clare Warner

Charlotte Forfieh                            Heather Richards

Jamil Ali                                            Anne Willoughby

N G                                                     Celia Valiente Aguado

Emmanouela Kladouchou        Dionne Sutherland-Davies

Victoria Kelly                                               Irvin Yalom

Daniel Kahneman                                       Joshua Foer

Professor Steve Peters

Inviting thought and inspiration. 

All…

Sharing

I am happy for you to share this manifesto in any way that you would like. My only ask, is that the information in this manifesto not change or be sold in anyway.

I have followed Jeff Goins advice to arrive at this auspicious point. Join him at https://goinswriter.com/resources/.

About the author

Michael Opoku-Forfieh is a Counsellor/Psychotherapist/teacher, supervisor, lecturer, writer, thinker, Artist. He trained as an integrative counsellor over 10 years ago and views therapy as a bridging link to becoming…

He lives in South East London with his wife and their 2 children, and every once in a while can be seen climbing off of his soap box after discussing: lives affected by mental illness, criminal justice, education, and the magic of therapy.

He can be found: Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Email, about.me

Let the last words/art/creations be yours, mine, ours

Don’t wait

Perfection is achieved along the way.

Now, begin…