It’s inherently human to strive to solve creative challenges. The discomfort, fear, irritation and “not knowing” energy drives you to find answers to what you see as “problems.”
But what if those “problems” are the key to you understanding yourself on a deeper level, as well as the key to unlocking the creative gifts hiding on the other side? In other words, what if they aren’t problems at all, but opportunities to expand into deeper emotional intelligence?
Creative challenges can be anything – lack of money for supplies, poor health that limits your energy, a mindset that keeps you fearful from stepping out to create something that’s always been in your heart. The list can be anything that blocks your path to expressing yourself fully.
However, you don’t always understand that the power of the creative challenge in front of you is much more than an inconvenience, a hint to travel a different path, or an opportunity to fall back into judgment, proving the world is not on your side.
Creative challenges provide the motivation to look beyond the surface, to dig into the emotions that a specific issue or situation is presenting to give you a chance to outgrow it and/or heal.
Open Up to Seeing Challenges as a Self-Learning Detour
A life without creative challenges, or as I like to call them, self-learning detours, is missing a crucial element of purpose. Without obstacles there is no awareness or drive to connect with your deepest desires or heal the shadow- parts hidden from view.
How can you understand what you would love to do creatively without the road blocks that bring you to a decision-making space? It’s in the moments where you are pushed to dig deep and really feel, forced to make a choice for or against your heart, that you see the true purpose of the challenge and why it’s there.
Creative challenges are a tool to help you clear out the clutter and really be honest about where love is present in your life. When you are focused on getting through, you aren’t able to see anything with a self-loving, compassionate gaze. You see the obstacles in your life as something to defeat and overcome rather than own, which can build up more fear, frustration and disconnect with your heart-guided intuition.
Being Heart-Centered Takes Practice, and It’s Not Just for the Woo Woo Crowd
If you have some creative challenges right now, whether they are in your business, health, perspective or relationships, take a moment and breathe. Then ask yourself, “How can I see this situation with love instead of judgment”? Or, “How can I begin to understand the nuances behind how a situation came to be, or explore ways to take one day at a time using love as a guide instead of expectations or desired outcomes?”
There will always be things that aren’t flowing in your life. It’s time to get more connected to your heart space to get the true guidance you seek, rather than spinning in circles and only pushing mental strategies and tactics. Love needs to be part of the picture on every level.
Through journaling, meditation, heart chakra music, color therapy or simply placing your hand over your heart, you are building, rebuilding or strengthening the most important creative tool of all, your inner knowing. When this connection is strong, and you trust it, mindful, heart-centered solutions become your norm instead of the exception. Healing can begin, as you see creative challenges transform into something that opened a door to deeper love within yourself rather than a negative hurt that still stings.
Challenges also bring a lot of clarity because they put you in a space of surrender. Where something may have worked at a mental level, it can be impossible in practice – and that is OK. The creative part of the challenge is to find that path that works now and can offer a bigger balance of love, along with the mental strategies required for action.
Building the heart-centered perspective doesn’t completely eliminate the trials in your life, but it certainly offers a more grounded and effective way to get to the heart of the knowledge and healing they share much faster.
What are some ways you practice seeing the creative challenges in your life with a loving or learning approach rather than a fearful or judgmental one? Better yet, can you see what needs healing within yourself without judging that it’s there?
Interested in reading more on a similar topic? Check out Creativity Kick-Start: Forgiveness and Creative Choices. Want help along your own personal creative journey? Connect with me for a creativity coaching session or an intuitive reading. Looking for a deeper connection to your inner wisdom? Listen to my podcast, Flirting With Enlightenment.