Facing my Limiting Beliefs around Creativity, head on

The Creation and writing process, releasing many of the ideas swirling in my head, cause to me to continually face the limiting beliefs that I: AM NOT a write, thinker, or voice worth listening to. This work is real-life proof of the material that I am writing about and asking others to engage in:

1.     De-bunking the beliefs we carry throughout our lives that inhibit us from reaching our true and full potential. 

2.     Continually coming face to face with where our passion and the world’s needs collide - even when it is hard work and requires discipline and grace.

3.     Ultimately unlocking the creative potential uniquely inside of you and only you.

Limiting Beliefs

What are the stories that I tell myself when I’m low, lacking energy or hope and needing encouragement? What are the inhibiting factors that keep me from getting to the work that I believe I’m uniquely called to?

As a not-yet-able-to-call-myself-a-writer, writer, I’m aware that the voices that are coming out of me are ugly, loud and inaccurate. And while I can call those out in others, I struggle to be honest with myself. 

Here’s what those voices sound like as a writer (because I know listing them takes the sting away):

…Your message has already been said

…Your voice doesn’t matter

…You don’t have time for this

…You have other ways that you should contribute

…You are not a good writer

…You are not articulate

…You are not creative

…my thoughts are too scattered and all over the place

Overcoming objections is the kind and gracious extension we all need from ourselves. It’s the dig deeper, love big, way of settling our inner voice when the other voices get loud and out-of-control!  It’s the hard work of reframing stories that have been told wrong in the past. Changing the narrative to what can be done when there is courage and faith in myself to believe…

These limiting beliefs all point to what is called the imposter syndrome! What if people find out who I really am? The truth is, many have and they’ve liked that person. Could writing in public be a more vulnerable space to let others know who you are and what you think? It’s scary and vulnerable and they will get the real me, and I have to believe that many will resonate with that vulnerable girl.

For now, I must reframe these limiting beliefs and get them out of my head and heart:

…I do have a unique message

…my voice will be heard in a different way from others

…others have said that I communicate in a way that resonates with them (so even if it’s just 1…)

…the way that I connect the dots is unique to me

I came here today during a writer’s retreat and decided to let myself tangent here. I wanted to press on and press in. After months of feeling stuck, I had to call upon others who have gone before me to speak with a new voice. And really just create a safe space for me. 

I’ll admit it, it was a stretch to ask a group of complete strangers to hold me accountable to the task of writing! And yet there was great power in this silent group existing in my life for one day and for one sole purpose – to free the thoughts in my head. There was something incredibly comforting knowing they were boldly looking internally to discover their own writing voices. I knew they were diligently fighting the demons of their past alongside of me. And simultaneously, the main objective was to just keep showing up! Without criticism, without judgment. So I signed up for a group and away I went. I give credit to them for helping me to overcome one of my many objections.

In order to get to this point, sometimes I have to coach myself and be reminded of other similar situations in which I overcame objections. What other hard things have I done that look similar to this? That’s exactly where I woke from my sleep this morning. My response in this particular scenario: I’ve written and published a workbook, I took a 3 year degree and made it 9! And wrote a thesis to prove it. I’ve organized thoughts in hundreds of blog posts and created a manual to train others on…and so forth. I must remind myself that this is not new. What I’m attempting to accomplish is not the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I have been prepared for this moment to begin looking into the eye of the storm of creativity and allowing all the unique ways that I am me to show up in full and good form. In that way, I am convinced that there is someone out there who needs me to persevere and keep finding my writer’s voice. It’s for that reason I continue. 

What are your limiting beliefs? How do you overcome them? Who do you share these with?

A Time for Unprecedented Innovation

When I first heard of the global pandemic that Covid-19 brought upon our world, I truly could not wrap my brain around the potential impact of the spread. I had no frame of reference to imagine what life might look like. I mean, who could? So few of us have ever lived through anything remotely close to this level of global crisis in our lifetime. Questions about daily life quickly surfaced. Why are people around the globe hoarding food and especially mind-blowing - hoarding toilet paper? How bad will this get? How many will be affected or even die before this is over? When will we know that it is over? What will change on a global scale when it all slows down?

Now 30+ days into isolation, more questions than answers remain. We’ve been left alone in our houses like so many others - left to wonder when this will lift and how it will all evolve. Coinciding with this barrage of uncertainty, my mind races to the unlimited potential we have on a global scale for massive amounts of new innovation. Yes, these are difficult times. I live in a place that has experienced some of the highest rates of reported cases and deaths to date. I’m terribly sad and concerned about that impact on society here. I have no idea how life will look when we’re given our freedom back. But as difficult as a time as this is, there is most certainly hope to be found in the potential for beautiful creation to come alive in new ways out of the chaos and crisis.

Times of crisis have historically necessitated a call to draw from untapped resources. They invite us by way of a silent and unseen period of hiddenness to explore new ways of being, new ways of searching deep within in ways previously unforeseen. We are called in a time of crisis to both individually and collectively explore what our part in the chaos will be. I believe we are at an unprecedented time in history for immense creativity and innovation.

The Creativity Process & Transition Round-About

How the Creation Process informs Crisis

If you’ve been reading along on this blog for any period of time, you will know that I write about the crossroads of transition and creativity. The similarities between the two are almost an exact mirror. As seen in the diagram that can be used interchangeably, both have the same four phases: Nudging (or crisis), Preparation, Incubation, Illumination and Implementation. Every creative process starts with a nudging or a desire for something different. That nudging may also be a crisis that forces a period of incubation. Incubation is often a time of solitude for an unknown length of time - a period of hiddenness existing to contemplate, consider, experiment, bend, twist, and gather information and gain new understanding. This period exists to create solutions to the nudging or crisis; this period invites innovation. After Incubation comes illumination of the how, where, who and the details that answer the questions of implementation the fourth phase.

These stages are ultimately the same for the personal developmental life cycles. A season of nudging or personal crisis is followed by hiddenness, labeled transition. The beautiful and often painful purpose of the incubation period is to cause depth and growth. Here we are strengthened in the solitude. We are like an iron in a fire, being molded and shaped. This pain and isolation causes us if we choose to innovate new ways of approaching old problems. In transition this might look like an in-depth discovery period  around who we are, what we were created for and how we are to live into our true self. We learn through time and those who’ve gone before that our next vocational season is dependent on this period of hiddenness and the depths of richness and creativity that are cultivated in us during this uncomfortable hiddenness.   

As I think about what is going on globally, I can’t help but wonder how this challenging season of incubation IS NOT meant to bring us despair, anxiety, harm, or discouragement, as I can frequently feel in the moment. Rather just like that of the creative process, this season of global incubation, is a growing pain for something richer, deeper, something new! 

Creating from a deficit

And yet how can we create when we find our brains filled with questions about the day-to-day functioning that is required of us? Will we have enough to live on? Will we have enough to eat? Will there be a lack in the areas of health care needs if I’m sick? How can we create in a time when our basic needs are all we can think about? Some of us can not enter this season of innovation. 

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs stands out to me as a reference and point of understanding. When our basic physiological “habit needs” hunger and thirst, sickness, and fatigue are not met we can not move to the higher levels of self-actualization. How can we possibly innovate in a season such as this? Creating takes us from our focus on the here and now and the problems right in front of us and challenges us to consider what exists outside of the box we can see that we are living in. This perspective shift does not negate a world in need. Rather it holds tightly to a firm grasp of reality in the present mixed with a desire for something better and different in the future. We hold reality in the palms of faith and hope.

The idea that we create only after our needs are met seems ideal but unrealistic. So what do we do now, today in this place of confinement? We create! We make adaptations and we innovate! We have to be flexible to think outside of the box of the way that we have been doing things. And in that adapting we will eventually see new ways of being. From that innovation, maybe we learn to write or draw or design or cook. We learn to celebrate birthdays and weddings virtually. We learn to cook or teach our children how to. We learn to be educators in a new way.  Creating is what we as humans, created in the image of the greatest Creator, do as a natural response to chaos.

Creativity Process Parallel to this Crisis:

1. Isolation - lack of busyness

2. Given time to percolate

3. Out of need we are creating

These small and big ways of thinking outside the box are shaping a new reality – on a personal scale and a larger global scale. This shift will most definitely have a long term impact on society. We will one day look back at this point in time, as people have historically done after crisis and ask, what shifted for the better because of Covid-19?

When I allow myself to imagine the possibilities outside my small myopic view of disappointment, discomfort, and discouragement, I can begin to dream and imagine that what we are collectively creating is a NEW future that has not been known or seen. In these unique and unprecedented times, we as a global society are meant to create in unprecedented ways.  What new or creative part will you play in the world’s adaptation needs? 

 “We do not know who might find shelter in the things that we have made. We should see this as a liberating reality. We are serving people we do not know. This is a sacred task.” - Alabaster Co.

For further reflection:

Where are the places you are improvising, bending, challenging old ways? Where are you making a new way forward? In this unprecedented time, what will you innovate?

Holding Calling Captive: Top 4 Creativity Killers that Limit our Potential

The incredible architectural masterpiece of antoni Gaudi, la Sagrada Familia

Top 4 Creativity Assassins

We were created in the image of an incredible Creator - just look around. He gave every individual a distinct fingerprint of creativity. “We are God’s workmanship, his masterpiece work of art, (his Sistene Chapel or La Sagrada Familia), created anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us” (Eph 2:10). And yet somewhere, somehow we have limited the creative work potential existing inside all of us and written it off as something for the professional artists. What if instead, we saw every person, ourselves included, as making up a greater part of a creative whole! And with whatever role we have, we consider the possibilities of tapping into this creativity? What if we considered how a person in finance, in leadership, in construction might think outside the box and utilize his/her imagination for purposeful and life-giving work for the greater good? 

Creativity is so much more than art or artists. I frequently hear people say, I’m not the artist type! The potential to be inspired with awe and wonder is ingrained in every single human person’s unique design - that’s where creativity lives. I believe we are all born creative people. But not only that, our brains and particularly our prefrontal cortex, unlike those of other animals, gives us the capacity to tap into a wellspring of unlimited imagination and use our unique creativity for the good of others. It’s unlimited! Imagine that!!!

It is every individual’s responsibility to discover what exclusive design we were particularly created for. Just like every tool in your kitchen or garage has a unique purpose and designed for a specific task. We were each created to fulfill a distinct job on this earth.  What I create is different than what you create because my life experience and my skillset are uniquely me! And yet we do several things that are unhelpful to cultivate this creativity within us and in others.

Top 4 Creativity Killers 

1. Busyness

We live in a noisy world, even when no one is speaking. The clutter of our lives, whether material or conceptual, keep us from the joy, spontaneity and creativity found in artistic expression space. When we remove the excess in our lives we find free space enlivening and inspiring new ways of being. The clutter on the other hand, consumes both the literal space and mind space where artistic expression once lived.

Nancy Carlsson-Paige, a professor and early childhood advocate writes in, Taking Back Childhood. She says “kids benefit emotionally and cognitively from having long uninterrupted blocks of time to explore art materials such as paints, crayons, colored pencils, chalk, markers, clay, etc.” She writes how open-ended materials and time can can bring a child’s personal narrative to life! It's been proven that participating in art creation soothes the soul, provides inspiration, promoting mental and emotional well-being. In addition, adults, similar to children, need free, uninterrupted blocks of time to explore their artistic voices. It’s through pushing the boundaries of materials in long uninterrupted time, that our personal narratives can come to life! We limit our creative potential by leading overly-full lives. Boredom is creativity’s greatest fertilizer. It is the process that matters most in art, not the end product.

“Boredom is creativity’s greatest fertilizer”

2. Comparison

If boredom fertilizes the growth of creation, comparison is the weed killer. Comparison rears it’s ugly head in the form of self-limiting beliefs or other-limiting beliefs, limiting possibility and inspiration. “I’m not as good as____” or “You’re not the musician that she is.” These thoughts, regardless of how or if they’re verbalized, may keep you from experimenting with what the expression of how God-given creativity looks within you.

These limiting beliefs, similarly may keep you from encouraging development in others. For years, I compared myself to my husband. I would say, I’m not as creative as Jeff. And the truth is, I’m NOT Jeff! He’s different than I am. He has a completely different skillset than I do. But from the end product I see, through the eyes of jealousy a creative block inside me that can not sponsor his expressions. The way he upcycles and designs a table out of garbage is something I could never do. And although he IS naturally really good at a lot of things, he doesn’t create the same as me. For many years, I allowed the thought that “I’m not as creative as…” from allowing me to experiment with and discover my often ugly, messy, tasteless, sometimes beautiful, but irregardless, unique to me – meal, travel plan, or blog article. Comparison kills creativity. 

“What I create is unique because my life experience and skillset are uniquely me”

When our unique skill set, natural abilities, learned traits, and personality all line up and we use them in the unique way they were formed for, we know it. And so do others. This place of pleasurable work I believe brings delight to God, ourselves and others. Whether baking, dancing, welding, or doing complex computer technology. We can feel a life-giving, purpose-filled element of God’s design at work in and through us. It is also up to us to foster that, not stifle it in others. That is how it’s meant to be! And yet we must welcome that creative potential within us and discover where our unique fingerprint meets the world’s deepest need. We must harness the creative potential the season of transition offers us.   

3. Being the “Art” police

Likewise, we limit ourselves and other’s creativity in the language we use, or the judgment of others work. Take my recent interaction with my daughter, as an example. She’s 6 and unafraid to mix all media all the time! My acquired organizational skills go a bit mad when she gets in her zone! A few days ago I found her painting rocks. But she didn’t restrain herself there. She began using the paint to color sand, then mixed the multiple colors of sand (turned back to brown) with the painted shells, and finally added a bag full of chalk! A couple hours later, hands and clothes covered in paint and sand – wahlah! She had created her masterpiece! Where she saw a beautiful creative expression, I couldn’t help but see a mess to clean up. But did she see a beautiful creation? I didn’t ask her…I think in hindsight she was just really enjoying the process.

Simultaneously amazed and perplexed at the unlimited boundaries of her mind, I managed to contain my inner art police! I don’t intend to limit her or other people’s self expression. My censor lies in part in my own inhibited creative-self. My logical, well-developed left-brain trying to tell my artistic brain there is no logic in that.

Despite my desires to empower people through the arts, I must pay careful attention that my own blocks do not cause unnecessary limitations. Our limitations of both language and self-imposed boundaries of what art should look like keep us from exploring new ways to mixing media and pushing into new levels of untapped creativity – in both ourselves and others. 

4. Take the same comfortable approach.

We limit our own creativity when we fail to step into the new. . Creativity emerges when we get off the path of least resistance and try something new! (Think: Mac-n-cheese quesadillas, thin-mint brownies, batter-fried oreos! Creative food creations!) Our brains naturally default to what we've done in the past. The past is known, familiar and comfortable.

Getting off the familiar path and taking a new direction gives us a whole new set of possibilities. It is often scary, yes. Typically a new path is scary primarily because we are afraid to fail. We’re also afraid of the unknown and the possibility of the future being worse than the present. Ruth Haley Barton summarizes it powerfully in Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership saying, “When the fear of staying the same is greater than the fear of the unknown, we are ripe for change!” We must be motivated to consider that the future holds hope of discovering new possibilities. 

While thinking about things the way they've been thought about and doing things the way they’ve been done is comfortable, these ways can be broken. What brings people, and global workers in particular, to transition is a way of life that is not working. The realization that one or more aspects of life needs to change brings painful awareness – for the children who need a better education, for a sustainable financial structure, for aging parents, for the ability to not always be in a burn-out state! Doing things the way they’ve always been done; when these are no longer working, we have the opportunity to see this as a season of possibilities! For many of us, we must get to the point of desperation for change. To be desperate for something different you have to be willing to step out AND BE WRONG! We know that the most beautiful testimonies are lives risen above pain where beauty has been made from ashes. This is the redemptive and transformative work that we get to be about - being made in the mirror image of our Creator. 

Sky is the limit

Give yourself space to explore possibilities. Allow yourself to acknowledge what you are good at. Spend time intentionally noticing what others are good at. Be aware where Jealousy creeps in. And get the necessary support to take whatever necessary first step is in front of you. The work of creativity is up to all of us. We get the privilege of joining in the pleasure of creating new with our great Creator.

Question: How can we be facilitators of artistic expression in both ourselves and others?  

Practical Application. What if instead we…try to fit into my day and particularly within my work one of the following words: wonder, imagine, invent, design, create, express, I’m curious, what if? Kids are comfortable with this language!

Or

Start a conversation with a child beginning with one of these words - imagine if…you could go anywhere right now, where would you go? What if…you could eat whatever you wanted for dinner – no limits! The potential responses are UNLIMITED and delightfully fun! What if you actually did it?!

Or

as a coach, I might say to someone in major life transition - Imagine you had five other lives to lead, what might they look like? What would you do in each of them? This approach gives permission to dream and takes people out of their logical responses that can often fail in times of transition. Begin to imagine that which has yet to be created.