Photo by reallyboring
I’m pretty sure I’ve said this before in previous posts, but it bears repeating — creativity is a way of being, not a specific talent. It’s how you show up in the world and connect with others as much as it’s about what you physically create through work or artistic expression.
As we move through life we transform how we create; sometimes becoming freer and more comfortable in our own skin (the ultimate goal, at least for me, anyway) or taking experiences of pain, frustration, betrayal and abandonment and building up walls of protection to feel safe again. We all do this (me included) and sometimes forget you’ve even created them in the first place. The trouble with the walls after a while is that they become obstacles to growth in ALL aspects of life, not just the areas of origin.
Soon everything is password protected. Life becomes stuck, stagnant and frustrating. Opportunities don’t pan out and things feel like a constant uphill trek with no trail markers. Disappointment creeps into the background of everything. Endless “creative reinventions” go no where and you find yourself burnt out, feeling like it’s time to scrap it all. And while busily distracted by the external “fight”, you completely ignore the most obvious of questions…are you even WILLING to give yourself permission to move outside the self imposed defenses you’ve created and do it all differently?
I still get tripped up by my own permission slips every now and again. A big one for me is giving myself permission to have what I want instead of always making sure others are OK first. It’s a long-running, hard-wired lesson that I continually have the opportunity to practice as a business owner and an empath. Being responsible is a good thing — feeling responsible for what others may or may not feel or do, is not.
When I notice I’m starting to get into a mental loop, I ask this one question to help break the cycle, “Am I willing to give myself permission to do things differently and release what I think I know.” From this starting point, follow up questions naturally flow, giving you an inkling of where outdated permissions are lurking. Then the choice is up to you — more of the same or dive into breaking down one more line of defense to let in a new healing perspective?
So next time you feel the creative mojo meter is bleak, low or running dry, start asking yourself about what might be blocking your inner permission to release what no longer serves you, and prepare to embrace the creative newness on the horizon. If you have a full cup in your hand already, you can’t fill it with more until you dump out what’s already inside it. So ditch the permissions and see what bubbles up for healing and creative expression.