BEN DEPRAZ-BRENNINKMEIJER

It took me a while to get to this realisation, but I finally ended up embracing the fact that everything in the world is co-creation. Everything that happens in life, yours or mine, is exactly at the convergence between forces unravelling outside of us, and how we choose to show up to meet reality.

We are responsible for a portion of what reality is, and the Stoics already understood this 2,000 years ago. We can control our thoughts, our emotions, what we choose to say and do and the meaning we make about life’s events. That’s where we have agency.

We do not control what other people think, say or do. We do not control their actions, their beliefs, nor do we control natural forces like the tides or the weather. Basically we don’t control anything apart from what lies inside of us – and even there, there are some biological processes which we do not consciously control.

But… what if we did? What if we did control other people’s thoughts, beliefs and actions? What if we did control the tides and the weather? What if we did control our health, our cells dividing and dying, and everything else?

As a kid, I used to spend hours playing outside, imagining that I had magic powers and could control elements like fire, or water, or forces like electricity. I would spend evenings lying in bed wishing for something special to happen overnight so that I would wake up with superpowers, like a mutant from X-Men or something. Even a few years ago, my initial interest in hypnosis was driven by the mystery of the human mind and the power of suggestion. Could we really control someone else’s mind? The child within me was fascinated…

Today, I have decided that I am a grown up. I know I don’t have superpowers. And yet, I still pretend I do… it is a game I LOVE to play.

What if everything that is present in my life and everything that happens to me is something I created? What if everything that is present in your life and everything that happens to you is something you created? I know this may be hard to swallow for some events, but let’s look at it playfully. It’s a game designed to empower us, and the purpose of the game is to ask ourselves: how?

I look at my fiancée and I ask myself: how did I create her?

I look at the money in my bank account and I ask myself: how did I create it?

I look at my clients and I ask myself: how did I create them?

Hell, I even look at my clients’ results and I ask myself: how did I create those?

I look at my body and I ask myself: how did I create it?

I look at the people who never replied to me and I ask myself: how did I create this?

I look at all my failures and I ask myself: how did I create them?

I constantly play this game with all my clients, and even if it may piss them off every once in a while (it can be challenging to own your responsibility when all you want to do is pointing fingers), the insights we discover are simply invaluable. Who we become as we continue to dive deeper into the game is not something that is easy to describe. There is a faith, there is a power, there is a sense of absolute possibility which lifts one’s spirit and liberates one’s soul.

Now THAT, my friend, is the Business of Creation.