What is Creativity?

As I sit to write this very first blog about creativity and releasing creative blocks, I find myself feeling blocked. Hmmmm, what if this so called block was really an opportunity to share with you one of tools I use everyday to stay clear?  Okay. Here we go....

Closing my eyes, I am taking in a few deep breaths through my mouth and letting them out; I can feel myself beginning to relax; I notice the sounds in the room and let them fade into the background; I feel the chair against my back, supporting me; I welcome the sensations showing up in my body;  my awareness is expanding in all directions, becoming vast and I open and embrace the emotions that are showing up here; emotions are coming and going; I gently welcome everything, especially the resistance and fear; I observe the inner dialog without engaging in it; it too fades into the background; I let my mind gently drift back to the question that started this specific blog...

What is creativity? Whenever I start working with a client, I always ask him or her what it means to be creative. Very often their answers will reveal the limiting beliefs they hold around their own creative ability. For instance, I had one man tell me that being creative meant being a poor, starving artist. Another client confided that if she allowed her creativity to be expressed, she feared that she would become an eccentric, reclusive, crazy old woman who whose only friends in life were the 42 cats she kept in her basement. 

Another limiting concept about creativity that I've heard quite often and will speak about from my own experience is the belief that we are only good for one creative endeavor in life and because of that, we had better use it wisely. This belief used to be so pervasive in my life that I was actually afraid of letting myself feel inspired or excited by anything or anyone because if I did, I was risking having that feeling well up inside and overflow into some prematurely expressed creative idea. In other words, I was terrified of wasting my one allotted creative expression on something that had no meaning.  It sounds crazy to me now and while I  recognized there was some sort of shut down going on in my life, I wasn't sure how to change it.  Before sharing with you how I finally uncovered and cleared that limiting belief, let's explore one more common belief some people hold to be true.

Have you ever heard someone say, "I don't have a creative bone in my body."? Through my experience of coaching individuals who have said these exact words to me, I have found that whenever I've offered them the tools to explore what's underneath this limiting belief, every person I've worked with has recognized that fear is the root emotion holding the belief in place. More often than not, the deepest fear is NOT about failing to be creative; rather the deepest fear is of their own creative power, innate genius, and unstoppable magnificence.  Most people are afraid of what they know they CAN create, not what they can't create.

Gratefully, what I have come to realize about creativity is that it is a constant flow of energy that is the catalyst for both self-expression and manifestation which, ultimately, are the same things. All of life is infused with the same creative force. We as living beings are both The Creator and The Created. Without exception, every living organism has this energy pulsating through its consciousness and creativity is truly the natural order of things. It is nourishment for the soul and if creativity is not flowing, life is extremely diminished, marginalized,  and compromised.

Using the some very potent questions and being brutally honest with myself was the key that helped me uncover the disempowering beliefs I used to hide behind.  For example, here are a few of the questions I asked myself to help reveal my own deepest fears  "What would I HAVE TO RISK FEELING if I let go of the belief that I've only got one good creative idea?" "How have I played small with my creativity?" "What guarantee from Life am I holding out for before I'd be willing to step into my creative power?"

When I finally spoke the deepest truth and allowed the core fear to have its way with me, all lies and illusions were dismantled. I also used a "Belief Change Process" to clear, on a cellular level, the old beliefs.  This technique, which was developed by Brandon Bays and Kevin Billett, works with many life issues and while I would love to just share the exact script I used, I also want to honor the copyrights of the those who created it.  What I can share is that this and other tools like it are what I use everyday with myself and with my clients to remove creative blocks.

 The intention of this blog is to share tools and techniques for clearing creative blocks because I know from my own experience how much more freedom and aliveness I feel when creativity flows. If you find it helpful, job done.