The Creative Process, How Can We Start.
Creativity is a big word; we hear it all the time, but do we really know what’s behind it?
Julia Cameron defines it as ‘a spiritual practice where we become the channels for spiritual energy to enter the world. (…) Creativity is the natural order of life. Life is energy: pure creative energy’(Cameron, J. p. 3)
It doesn’t matter if you consider yourself spiritual or not. Connecting with your creativity enhances your spiritual life and your spiritual practice enhances your creative expression.
The Creative energy manifests on the second chakra, which mains physical points are on the ‘pelvis, ovaries and uterus, testes and protate, lower intenstine and bladder’. This is the chakra where our sexual energy originates. Creativity also expresses on the fifth chakra, located on the throat, the center for 'communication, spoken word, action, choices and will’ (Carrelas, B. p.30, 34).
How do we connect with it and how do we manage it.
‘The most creative of the lower three chakras, the second chakra is the one that provides the impetus from which you conceive not only a child but also the plans, desires, and dreams for all aspects of your life’ (Carrelas, B. p.30)
It might be difficult to understand that the creative energy and our sexual energy are the same, but if sexual energy is capable of creating life, wouldn’t it be capable of creating anything that we imagine?
What if we take one step forward and we connect with that energy and try to express it creatively?
If we put our imagination into action, we activate the creative force, which gives us the drive to take the steps towards our goal. Making that cake we are craving, finishing that painting we started months ago, learning how to play an instrument, writing a letter, a poem or a song; making a birthday present for a friend instead of buying it from the shop, decorating the house, clearing our workspace to look more harmonious... it can be anything!
It’s only by taking action that we can start perceiving a different reality, one where we stop dreaming that we become someone and actually become that someone by acting on our desires.
The Force of Resistance.
As everything in life has polarities, the opposite of creating is resisting ourselves from doing anything.
Here are the main six obstacles we find that opposes our creative expression.
- Phone and social media.
We sit down to finally practice our instrument and we follow notifications from our phones every 2 minutes. We end up texting back to all the messages we receive, or we remember a friend we haven’t spoken to in ages, so we decide to text him/her. When you realise it, the hour you had set to yourself to practice had passed and now you don’t have time anymore.
- Social events, drugs and alcohol.
This is one of the most commons forms of resistance. There’s always something going on, we all have fears of missing out. It’s difficult to make time for the things we want because after a long day of working on a job we don’t really like; all we want to do is to disconnect from that imprisonment and have fun with friends. Not just that, we need to numb the emotional emptiness we feel from not following our longings, by drinking and using intoxicants that “makes us feel more connected”, when in reality, they are dragging us even further from ourselves. The next day we feel tired, unmotivated and we waste another day. We could have dedicated this time to take little steps to the dream that keeps popping up at the back of our head.
Don’t get me wrong, we can allow ourselves to do this every now and then. The problem lies when we habituate ourselves to this form of escapism on a regular basis.
For good or for worst, the world is restricting us from enjoying social events the way we used to, so now more than ever is the perfect moment to dedicate ourselves the time we’ve always yearn: to finish that book we’ve always wanted to write, to learn a new skill, a new language, to cultivate a better version of ourselves.
- The Weather.
The day is sunny!
If you live in England or any northern country, you may appreciate that sunlight is limited, especially in winter. After days and days of rain when you could have set time for your creative practice, you didn’t because rain makes you feel unmotivated. When you’re finally determined, the sun has come out. It’s the perfect opportunity to go outside and enjoy the sun because who knows how long it may last??
Believe me, I get you. The sun is very important to me as well, and sometimes going out for walks enhances the creative process. You feel the sun in your face, and you come back home feeling refreshed and more determined to do what you want. As long as you make compromises with yourself and notice whether this becomes a pattern of escapism, or you actually use it to enhance your creative practice, this can be one common excuse you’ll find to resist acting on doing something now.
- Relationships.
Another super common trap for distraction. All relationships are really magical at the beginning. All we think about is on spending time with that person and improving our mutual growth together. If you’re there, that’s great, as long as you don’t forget about cultivating your own needs and making space and time to fulfil your own desires. The time you spend with another person should serve you as an opportunity to get to know yourself better and to share things that you both enjoy and make you happy.
If we use the other person to fill a void, to mask our boredom, to gain energy that we cannot build up within ourselves, to fill our sexual cravings, to not be alone… we’re lying to ourselves and to the other person. We’re not being real, and we keep avoiding to dedicate ourselves the time we need to finish projects that keep floating in our dream land. How can you balance your relationship life with your own life? Are you able to express your needs without the fear of being judged or abandoned? If you don’t know how to answer these questions, it’s important to ask yourself why and what can you do to improve this.
- Lack of intimacy with yourself.
Intimacy is not just referred to the sexual plane. In fact, we’ve been programmed to think that intimacy is about sex, when there’s lots more to it than that. Intimacy can simply be being in your room by yourself with soft lights, candles and subtle music in the background. It can be dancing and singing, really connecting to the music and not feeling ashamed for expressing. It can be sitting down and writing the thoughts and feelings you cannot share with anybody else, it can be painting that image you’ve been seeing in your head for ages, or simply spending time in nature appreciating its beauty and breathing fresh air.
- Fear.
This is the last of the obstacles, but the one that’s behind all of the above. Fear of being seen, fear of being heard, fear of failing, fear of being successful. It is really scary to show your voice to someone else. It is really scary that others judge your art or the way you move. What you have to say is valid and important and it doesn’t really matter if others like it or not. Now more than ever, we need to show ourselves; share with the world our own unique talents so we can inspire others to do the same. The more you do it, the more you’ll spark that drive in others. It takes courage, but stepping out of the safety line will take us to the throne where our higher self wants to stand.
stepping out of the safety line will take us to the throne where our higher self wants to stand.
How to overcome these obstacles?
It’s all about commitment.
Everything we do in life reflects how committed and determined we are, and the quality of our results shows how invested we were in that particular action.
The same way we invest time on a relationship with a person, and we feel committed to that relationship growing as we explore deeper levels of connection, we ought to ourselves to commit full heartedly to any goal we aim to achieve in life.
My mum used to say to me: “either you do things well or you don’t do them at all”. I hated when she said that because I liked being lazy and leaving things halfway finished; at least I showed I tried. With time, I’ve come to understand what she meant. If I want to get myself anywhere with my music, with my poetry or my healing process, I need to invest my 100% in it so I can keep moving forward on the path I chose to walk.
It’s only when we are truly determined to change habits and old patterns that keep us stuck, that we could start materialising the life we’ve always dreamt to live.
Do whatever it takes you, even though it feels very difficult at the beginning; I promise it becomes easier with time. Go to bed an hour earlier so you can get up an hour earlier to do some writing. Morning pages are incredibly beneficial because you clear your head before the day starts. Meditating early in the morning or doing yoga or some stretches clears your mood and charges your energy.
Setting some time of your day to do any form of exercise prevents your energy from remaining stuck and this will have an impact on your creative practice. If you cannot commit to do it on a daily basis, something as little as once a week can make all the difference.
I know we all have families and jobs that take away most of our time but try to find compromises and gaps within the week to create a structure that allows you to do what you really love. Your heart will really appreciate it, your physical and mental health will reflect it and everybody around you will be attracted by the light you shine.
References
Cameron, J. The Artist’s Way. London: MacMillan, 1994
Carrelas, B. Urban Tantra. New York: Ten Speed Press, 2007