It has been a journey for me with Creativity.
I used to think I was not particularly creative as it didn’t show up like I thought it ought to. I was not a painter, a sculptor, a performing artist, or any sort of artist for that matter.
Even though I was drawn to creative carriers and so applied to and was admitted to Art Academy. I was certain I was a bit of an impostor amongst the obviously creative.
I studied Applied Arts, so Design. Though big on conceptual thinking within the realm of industry and interior design it was also a hands-on enough course for me to slip by with a hands-on attitude. Working side by side to the fine art, expressive art, fashion and graphic departments I became more and more convinced that creativity was not my strong suit.
Little did I know that creativity is energy in flow and that everybody has it, only the flow is not a given.
It is the flow of that energy that one wants to work with and of course, the letting go of the ideas we have of what that will look like.
Today I understand that creativity is in so much more then oil paintings and musical symphonies.
Today I also understand that though I might never be a dancer or a photographer, I am absolutely creative.
Today I can recognize the expression my creativity finds and welcome the flow when it moves through me. That is not to say that there are times I can neither connect to the expression nor the flow, but also that is something I have learned to relax into, and give it supporting parameters and time to emerge again. Perhaps with a little impatient at times, but usually I am simply grateful when it does happen, even if it keeps me up at night with ideas and excitement.
My creativity comes through in doing. That doing can be anything from cooking, designing a program or beautifying a space, creating new workshops and processes, assembling a birthday gift or planning a vacation. It shows up in small and large things, in projects and mind maps, mood boards, marketing strategies, making jewellery, or talking to a friend in need.
Creativity is the love and the joy that flows in and through me, expressing itself in a physical or energetic form.
Now how to access that flow if it is blocked?
I have no one stop answer for you. It is a journey for sure. But I would definitely start with that which scares you. Usually we hold back a whole lot of creativity beneath the places that we fear. Where we do not express, do not get into action, make ourselves small, don´t speak out truth, don´t dare to take space, afraid to make mistakes, want it to be perfect, are terrified of other peoples options, criticise the result, and so on.
I would say, start by stepping outside of your comfort zone. Dare a little. Tell the boy you like, that. Ask for help. Fail. Fail better, as the Buddhist teacher Pema Chödron says. Risk looking like a fool. Scream into a pillow. Dance like nobody is watching.
What ever pushes your edge, what ever helps you to express those places that you usually keep locked down and under control, go there. Step by step, but start walking.
There is no time to loose, no perfect moment to wait for, no abiding time until you are “ready”. Just start. Now. And trust the process.
The more you move outside of your comfort zone, the more you will start to know where to go next. What block to face, what old belief to challenge.
Yes, it is a journey with an unknown destination and hence we find all kind of excuses to not set out. But the truth is that if you want to live with creativity and expression flowing through you, you know that you have to move towards it and away from that which stops you from living it. You know. Something in you knows.
So I would say: throw aside the ideas of what it looks like or where you should end up, gather all the courage you have and deeply rooted in the place where you know you have more inside of you then you are currently permitting yourself to show, allow yourself to venture into the unknown. Because THAT is were creativity lives.
And that’s why no pushing or controlling or manipulating can ever MAKE the flow of creativity happen, it simply happens on it´s own accord if you can trust enough to let it flow through you, with no guarantee of its outcome.
Enjoy!
with Love,
Kanika
Co-Founder of DIMA Mallorca, Centre for conscious Living
Holistic Counselling
Kanikafrings.com
