Issue #1 - Creative Blocks

Creativity requires us to journey into the unknown but it’s not a place we find particularly comfortable. Our “thinking” brain resists the uncertainty in all kinds of ways. We go blank. We feel empty. These blocks take us out of the creative flow and often just when we are on the brink of a breakthrough!

7 WAYS TO UNBLOCK

1. Curiosity
Blocks come in all shapes and “guises.” A common response is to clutch or panic. The more we fight against them the tighter their hold.

• What if we approach them with curiosity instead of rigidity?
  
• What if we don’t take them on face value?
  
• Then it becomes possible to create a doorway through the block.
  
• The “I wonder why…” response instead of the “Oh, No!” is to leave crisis mode and enter into contemplation. We now have options.

2. Body Language
Sometimes we don’t realize we are tensing a shoulder or have an ache in the neck.

THE HEAD TILT - Take one hand and place it over your ear, and gently move your head over to the opposite shoulder. Stretch both sides 7-10 times, and feel the muscles melt into a more relaxed mode.

• Stand with arms loose at your sides.
  
• Slowly scan your body from head to toe.
  
• Locate the sensation. Where blockage exists in the body flow can’t happen.
  
• Take a few moments. Stretch. Breathe. And then…

3. Find an Image
Whether the block is a sensation in your body or a strong emotional feeling, it helps to find an image.

• For example, a burning sensation might suggest a fire, a volcano, a glass of orange juice!
  
• In the painting process we paint it. The image or symbol is the “container” into which we put the ache or the pain.
  
• With practice, just holding the image in your mind can have the same affect.
  

4. Imagination
Why stop there? The more specific we can make the image the more playful it becomes and the looser the block’s grip.

• Take the image another step.
  
• What are the visual details?
  
• Where is it?
  
• If it could talk, what would it say?
  
• What would you say back?!
  

5. Slow Down
Whether we are painting, writing or moving through space, exaggerated slowness can:

• Give us time to notice what we might otherwise race by.
  
• Strengthen our connection and deepen the focus.
  
• Create what in painting I call the “wobble” effect. The slight shakiness loosens control causing the paintbrush to squiggle a more expressive line.
  
• Ask “What could it be?”
  

by Laura Higgins Palmer - The Line of Motion

6. Go Faster
This, too, is about loss of control but now we are trying to go faster than our brain can analyze what we are doing.

• The left brain wants to label and categorize.
  
• Worst of all it wants to censor out what it doesn’t like.
  
• Rushing causes surprises to happen.
  
• If we speed things along, the paintbrush slips into a new shape, an idea pops up.
  

7. Say a Mantra
In moments of doubt we can “talk” ourselves through by repeating a phrase of support.

• Like affirmations, speaking positively out loud can interrupt old inner dialogues.
  
• Make it playful.
  
• A student of mine combines word with motion. He takes a deep breath, shrugs his shoulders and chants “Whatever!” before plunging back in.
  

In Endless Variety
The tip that works one moment may not another. What does work is to keep the mind guessing so it doesn’t know what to expect. Find playful ways to break through automatic responses. This helps us to stay the course into that unknown place, rich with possibility. To be continued...