CREaTiVity-Blocks-Strategies
Posted on December 04, 2013 by Lynda McLeod, One of Thousands of Life Coaches on Noomii.
Creativity & Blocks
“When we live creatively, boredom is banished and every moment holds the promise of a fresh discovery. Whether or not these discoveries enrich the world beyond our personal lives, living creatively links us with the process of evolution.”
(Csikszentmihalyi, 1996, p. 344)
According to Pink (2006), creativity is the most sought-after resource today as we move out of the information age into the age of creators and empathizers. Pink believes people who can easily access their creative capacities (their right brain) will be increasingly in demand. The ability to link ideas and concepts and see relationships to create something original is what organizations are looking for (Pink 2006). However, there are many obstacles/blocks that you have to climb over to effectively tap into your creative capacity.
When starting to choreograph another dance, Tharp (2003) faces what she calls the “white room.” This evokes a lot of internal dialogue questioning her ability to create. If she were to stay in the white room staring at the walls, anxiety will inevitably trigger her amygdala in the brain, resulting in a fight or flight response. “This fear of change is rooted in the brain’s physiology, and when fear takes hold, it can prevent creativity, change and success” (Maurer, 2004, p. 21). We all know that feeling when we open up a blank and pulsating Word document.
We end up doing everything but creating. We procrastinate, give in to perfectionism, resist creating altogether and/or resort to being overwhelmed and using self-sabotage to rationalize why we can’t do it. These common blocks are well known and normal when people are called upon to create. Unfortunately, it is one of the biggest reasons for people to shy away from the process. Or worse, to default and say, “I am just not creative.”
References
Csikszentmihalyi, Mihalyi. (1996). Creativity Flow and the psychology of discovery and invention. New York: Harper Collins.
Pink, D. (2005). A whole new mind: Why right-brainers will rule the future. New York: Penguin books.
Tharp, T. (2003). The creative habit: Learn it and use if for life. New York: Simon and Shuster.
