I took this photo following Crystal Pite’s ballet in the Oslo Opera House this summer - Light of Passage. This ballet exemplifies the power of a creative mind to fuel us and usher beauty into our world. Are you desiring to release your creativity? In my work as a Life Coach and years working as a Clinical Psychologist, I’ve noticed a few enemies to creativity lurking in many of our lives.
As humans we don’t have limitless energy or resources. This means that our brains only have so much energy to expend into the world around us. Is the world (professional life, personal life) sucking your energy and thus limiting your ability to grow and create? There can be many reasons for this but let’s explore a few.
I was speaking to a business entrepreneur recently who was wondering why she cannot release her creativity, and thus lives in constant frustration. In her case, we explored how she struggles with sensory integration issues. As we explored her present life, it became clear that since she was young she was undone by visual and auditory stimuli. Her sensory systems were hypersensitive to light and sound. She unconsciously found some helpful tools along the way, for instance yoga and breath exercises. She had been to several Ashrams in India and in this context had finally achieved temporary peace for herself. Meanwhile in the US, she works in the business and finance world with computer screens, noise of coworkers, etc. She shared how she struggles to focus in this world, and comes closest to to creative self when she’s at home practicing her yoga. She had never consciously considered her hypersensitive sensory systems as a limiting factor in her creativity and growth. But the truth was, her sensory systems had been robbing her of energy, limiting her ability to generate ideas and produce her entire life. As we reflected on her story, she gained new hope that by altering her environment and understanding her unique needs, she might be able to move forward with a renewed entrepreneurial energy.
However, biological factors are only one limiting factor that can diminish our creative energy.
Another factor can be the exhaustion created by broken relational and emotional realities on our journeys. Our families, friends, and cultures can either promote health and growth, or leave us with wounds from which we slowly bleed, again limiting our ability to move into the world pursuing creativity and growth. Attachment research explores how our relational histories impact us. Secure attachments energize us and give us an ability to adventure into the world, while insecure attachments create unique limiting factors we have to learn to overcome in order to release our most powerful self.
Or consider how your internal narratives can release you to function powerfully and creatively, versus restrain you. Ponder the narrative of cultural scarcity. Do you live or work in an environment where scarcity rules instead of abundance? Scarcity of time, resources, help, support? When we live in a world where a narrative of scarcity runs through our brains, instead of seeing possible resources all around us, we see limits. How do you think this will impact your functioning and creativity as you engage the world?
Shame, struggles with vulnerability, and a whole host of emotional factors can also limit our creative capacity. Just consider for instance the amount of energy required to shield ourselves if we are anxious and use vast amounts of resources to guard ourselves from everything we’re anxious about. An anxious person cannot live out their fullest creative self, because the vulnerability they experience requires directing energy toward their forcefields — picture the Star Trek Enterprise being under attack, shields up! Do you guard against being vulnerable? Then you’re going to greatly limit your capacity for creativity. If you don’t believe me, consider this great quote from researcher Brene Brown, “‘Vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity, and change!”
Rigidity versus flexibility also requires extraordinary amounts of energy. Picture a tree standing rigid in a storm, versus one that flexes and moves in a hurricane. If we have strong roots we can simply direct our energy there to keep ourselves grounded and secure. This can perhaps help you understand how a rigid, versus flexible and adaptable brain, can also function under stress. A rigid brain is greatly limited in it’s response to stress. A flexible, adaptable, open and curious brain is capable to responding to stress in much the same way a well grounded tree can — moving with the flow instead of breaking under pressure.
What fuels creativity? Many things can but let’s consider personal connections. Connection fuels creativity (even though it can also limit us if those around us are toxic). Think of this like a fire. A single coal of wood burns out, but place coals by each other, add more wood to the fire, and it roars. We are also like this as humans. When we are connected to others whose ideas are different from ours and we’re in conversation, we can see things from a new perspective. It’s like touching a flame to a piece of wood that’s ready to burn. What fuels connection? Openness and curiosity!
So what is needed in order to unleash our creativity? Connection with healthy others, the ability to be authentic and bring our true self to the conversation, understanding and being mindful of our own biological resources and needs, embracing vulnerability so that all our resources are not used up by self-protection, and curiosity and openness just to name a few.
The bottom line is that if we’re enough, we can be more open to others and their ideas and thoughts. We’re not afraid of change, or growth, or of being destroyed because, ‘I’ve built my whole life or company around this idea or thing and can’t let it go.’ We’re well grounded and able to bend with the stresses of life, resulting in extra resources for creativity.
If you’re ready to discover how to release your best self and embrace creativity, seek out someone like myself to help support you on your journey. A good coach can help you discover the limiting factors in your life. Then you get to do the hard work of moving those obstacles out of your way, and discovering just how powerful and creative you can be!