Filed under: Creative Personality, Creative Process, Creativity, Giftedness | Tags: Creativity, Giftedness and creativity
“Curving back upon my own nature, I create again and again.”- Bhagavad-Gita
In the gifted person the calling to create can frequently be a relentless yearning. Innate characteristics of the gifted individuals such as seeking a deeper meaning and purpose; immense satisfaction in problem solving; constant curiosity and viewing a creative task from different perspectives, naturally urges them towards creativity. It’s as if all these traits merge together and become a compelling force from within to seek out creative challenges. In Mary-Elaine Jacobsen’s book, The Gifted Adult, she best describes this drive as never really ceasing, but instead oscillates in intensity, always to return.
“Everyday Geniuses’ need to create the best that they are capable of is not something that goes away with time. It’s not something we can excise, or a job from which we can expect to happily retire. To be sure, the intensity of creative pressure does ebb and flow, but like the tide, it always comes back. Unless we are extraordinarily hindered, sooner or later we must comply with the creative spirit’s urgings, because it is more persevering than any attempt by our thinking mind to ignore our gifts. Living everyday with the need to create is like sharing a room with a hyperactive little brother who elbows you, tugs at your shirtsleeve, and tweaks your ear repeatedly until you give him your undivided attention.”
Perhaps what fuels this drive is the tremendous satisfaction, the gifted person experiences during and after the creative process. Resulting in a release of such overwhelming pressure to utilize their talents and skills. Annemarie Roeper, founder of Roeper School of the Gifted and the Roeper Review, best describes this aspect as a “feeling of aliveness.”
“Gifted adults may be overwhelmed by the pressure of their own creativity. The gifted derive enormous satisfaction from the creative process….the whole process is accompanied by a feeling of aliveness, of power, of capability of enormous relief and of transcendence of the limits of our own body and soul. The ‘unique self’ flows into the world outside. It is like giving birth. Creative expression derives directly from the unique Self of the creator, and its activation brings inherent feelings of happiness and aliveness, even though they may be accompanied by less positive emotions, such as sadness, fear and pain.”— Gifted Adults: Their Characteristics and Emotions (Advance Development, 3)
She also touches on what can happen if the gifted person is suppressed or hindered from releasing such creative energy. “Just as the creative process creates a feeling of happiness, the greatest unhappiness can occur if it is interfered with or not allowed to happen. In that case the inner pressure cannot be released.”
It is common for the gifted person to suppress his or her own curiosities and creative urges as an attempt to avoid being perceived as odd or different. However doing so, can bring about a deep dissatisfaction in one’s life. Instead the gifted person should honor and embrace such natural forces and channel them in ways that will express his or her creative potential.
Filed under: Creative Process, Flow | Tags: adventure of creativity, creative spontaneity, Surrender to the creative process
Like getting in the car bound on an adventure, without a known destination, but to discover where the road might take you, do you yield to spontaneity? Are you one who comfortably dances with the mysterious, or do you become anxious by the unknown? How often does the artist approach the creation of an art piece with a distinct road map leading to the end product? Does a composer launch a piece of music with the finished result clearly calculated, knowing exactly how it will play out? Are the characters in a screenplay already evolved before the first act is written? Or in contrast, is it liberating to surrender to the natural creative process and allow alchemy to unfold?
Although we understand that the creative process doesn’t always operate with a blue print, it is tempting to grasp onto something concrete and secure in hopes of guarantying success. However, part of the beauty and thrill of the creative process is that it can have a life of its own and its destination refuses to be charted. Pre-planning and having expectations hinders our instincts and can prevent us from going down an unforeseen path; a path that might just uncover originality.
I have known artists and writers who played it safe by starting out with a sealed proof plan for their project, hoping this would avoid disaster. They go through great lengths to ensure the out come by over planning, over thinking and over researching. I don’t believe creativity can always been contained within the safe confines of a detailed map. Sometimes the most novel creations blossom within a loosely planned idea. When the artist allows him or her self to take risks and face the possibility of failure this opens the channels for one’s unique style to come through.
It is easy to become addicted to affirming ones talents and value as an artist by seeking guaranteed success. It requires practice, letting go of the seduction of predictability and the familiar. When you relinquish control, trust your intuition and allow the mystery of the creative process to guide you towards the splendor of the unknown, what can occur might be more than you had even imagined. So why not give it a try.
Filed under: Creative Process, Creativty & Wellbeing, Flow, Uncategorized | Tags: creative inspiration, Divine Discontent
by Lisa A. Riley
“Discover your own discontent, and be grateful, for without divine discontent there would be no creative force.”– Deepak Chopra
We all suffer to some degree of a chronic, low-grade discontent. So, we seek out the next goal to achieve, a new relationship, a new job, perhaps the next rush of adrenaline or the next “something else” that will bring fulfillment to our lives. The very thing we need to rid us of this unceasing desire and bring contentment. We even chant to ourselves a silent mantra, “When I get there, I can relax, enjoy life and then I will be happy.” Yet when we get there or obtain the object of our desire it only seems to temporarily quiet the hungry voice and before we know it, the gnawing starts up again.
In our eyes, such a recurring yearn can easily be interpret as a deficiency in our life or lack in our character that needs to be remedied. When we interpret feelings of dissatisfaction in a negative light and succumb to the urgency for instant gratification, we are often left with an even greater longing for the next thing.
Religions and philosophies have often referred to this as “A Divine Discontent.” They recognize its gift as a fountain of energy, which prompts us to take the next step towards becoming our full potential. In his book, The Path of Least Resistance, Robert Fritz, compares this process to a rubber band that is stretched back to a point of tension. Within that tension manifest a natural tendency to return to its previous form. According to Fritz this results when the place we’re currently at does not match up to where we desire to be. Therefore, what wells up is a strong urge to resolve it. Within this tension lives an energy, which commonly occurs prior to a major breakthrough or epiphany.
How does divine discontent play out in the creative process? It rears its face in the initial stages of an idea and then transforms into a sudden urge to bring the vision into fruition. It can be the motivation that drives the artist to return to the sculpture, painting or novel daily. Or it surfaces in the aftermath of its completion as a desire still yet not fulfilled. Once again ignites the birth of another idea.
In Mark Epstein’s book, Open to Desire he describes this restlessness. He writes, “But allowing oneself to fall into the space that desire cannot span makes the experience complete. The little bit of lack that remains, after even the most satisfying resolution of desire, is a window into something important, something true.”
Experiencing the Divine Discontent is part of being human and even a natural quality of being an artist. It can drive us to push through moments of creative block and seek out innovative ideas. That said, let us embrace and welcome the presence of our Divine Discontent and let it become a muse that is channeled towards developing a productive artful life.
Filed under: Creative Process, Creativity, Creativty & Wellbeing, Uncategorized | Tags: Grief and Art, Grieving, Loss
by Lisa A. Riley, MA
There might come a time when the safe cushion of our routine lives is suddenly jolted by a loss. It could be an unexpected loss of a job, an ending to a relationship, a death of a loved one or a dream we watched slip out of our reach. In either situation, grief can result and often consume our lives during such times. This can disrupt the flow of our routine especially in our artistic life. Startled and paralyzed, we are unable to tap into what was once a river of creativity. Although, grief is a natural remedy to move us towards healing and recovery, it can often put a suddenly halt to our creative process.
Grief may require us to shut down both physically and mentally in order to cope. The very same energy that once cultivated inspiration is now forced to focus on recuperating. This can often leave us feeling creatively dried up and dull. Yet, in the midst of suffering also lies an opportunity to heal from it and what better avenue then to try to express it through our art.
During grief, our creativity pulls from a different source, our own emotional suffering. Sometimes emotional pain and trials can force us to become more introspective, present and sensitive to our internal world, allowing feelings to be closer to the surface making it much easier to tap into. We can clearly see this occurring in the pieces of some of our old masters.
For example, Picasso’s well-known “Blue Period,” was prompted by the sudden suicide death of his friend Carlos Casadgemas. His grief can be felt through the blues and greens that dominated his paintings during this period. Picasso also painted multiple portraits of Casadgemas as an avenue to express the deep loss and yearning for his friend. Another example is a writer telling the story of his own trauma over and over again as a reoccurring theme in his writings. For instance, Shakespeare’s repeated theme of death that shows up in his plays can be attributed to witnessing multiple fatalities in his family. Because of the high mortality rate during his time, many of his brothers and sisters died at an early age.
The intense feelings of loss and grief can be overwhelming. Being able to process some of these feelings through our art can help lesson the intensity as well as bring some relief. Creatively expressing our grief can help us work through the pain and bring more meaning and depth to our experience.
Just as Picasso began his Rose Period soon after his Blue Period, we too can have hope that there is a light at the end of the dark tunnel.
Content © 2008/2009 by Lisa A. Riley, The Art of Mind’s Blog. All Rights Reserved.
Filed under: Creative Process, Creativity | Tags: All children are born artists, child artist within, Creativity
by Lisa A. Riley
“All children are born artists, the problem is to remain an artist as we grow up.”– Picasso
If we sit and observe whenever little kids draw, finger paint or play, it’s intriguing how they seem without self-doubt, judgment or fear of doing it wrong. A preconceived expectation of the end product doesn’t seem to play a role in what they are engaged in and in that moment they simply get lost in the doing of it. It’s as if they approach their art, free of inhibitions and with an openness to take risks, experiment and most importantly have fun. It’s as if being fully present in the moment and entering that space of spontaneity, comes so easily.
I once spoke to someone who ran a local community art school. She shared with me that they had noticed a decreased attendance in their children’s art classes. When I asked why, she speculated that it was the result of kids being less and less encouraged to do art for the sake of the experience and for play. Instead, in order for parents to feel they were getting their money’s worth they were expecting their kids to produce a nice finished product at the end of each class. If the art piece resembled something out of preschool, their child must not be learning something valuable.
Is it possible that in this day and age of video games and computers, where shapes are colored within the clean lines of digital images, we’ve suppressed the urge to color outside of the margins? Are our children losing touch of their innate nature to create something in the mud, draw in the sand and venture down the road of their own imaginations? Is the art of trial and error no longer valued?
As we “grow up” the courage to create slowly moves into the background of our lives and we measure what we produce with labels of “Success” or “Fail,” with nothing in between. We develop an apprehensiveness towards taking risks and the fear of doing it wrong keeps us from looking foolish in the process. Is learning to suppress free expression, suppressing our own imaginative instincts that we were naturally born with when we first entered this world?
I once heard a grade school teacher encourage parents to, “Praise the effort rather then the outcome.” We often have the bad habit of discounting the process in it self. Undermining the steps in the middle that hold moments of exploration while focusing too much on the end product. If we approach our careers or our art giving value to the effort perhaps we will resurrect the courage to create; remembering what it was like to drenched our fingers in paint and draw out of the lines.
Perhaps as adults, in order to tap into our well of creativity, we need to let go of the rules we adopted while growing up and reconnect with the child artist within.
Content © 2008/2009 by Lisa A. Riley, The Art of Mind’s Blog. All Rights Reserved.
