Inner Voices of Creativity

The Impatience Gremlin

By Anne Marie Bennett

If ever there was an inner voice that gets in the way of my gorgeous creativity, it’s this one — impatience. I have imaged him here, on this somewhat humorous SoulCollage® card, as a ravenous little beast in constant motion, set against what might actually be a cosmic traffic jam.

How does this voice inside of me get in my way? Listen to what he says and you will see:

I am the one who is in a hurry, always in a hurry to get somewhere, to get anywhere. I am the one who hates waiting. I am the one with agitated energy, who is irritated and frustrated whenever I have to wait. I am the one who lives in the future, who wants everything to happen right now. I am the one who is always campaigning for immediate gratification. I am the one who doesn’t like to go slow, to take things nice and easy, to stop and smell the flowers.

This little Gremlin of Impatience blocks many things in my life, but he can particularly cause roadblocks in the land of my creativity. If I’m starting to dabble in a new art technique, this impatient part will try to convince me that I have to be good at it right away, and that will be the end of my brave attempts at something new. If I allow this impatient voice to have its way with me, then I’d never begin a new writing project, because it loathes the vast amount of time it takes to move through the writing process.

Creativity, in its most basic of definitions, is a process, a journey. When we walk the creative path, there is no direct route from here to there. We meander, we bide our time, we backtrack, we step off the path and check out other vistas before stepping on the road again. The Gremlin of Impatience wants nothing to do with traveling this way. He is Here and he wants to get There in the shortest amount of time and with the least amount of fuss.

If you’re living the creative life (and my guess is that if you’re reading this, you are!), then your own little Gremlin of Impatience is going to rear its ugly head with you from time to time. The challenge is simply to recognize it for what it is. The simple act of naming this inner voice as soon as you become aware of it has the very real power to bring you back to your own gorgeous path of creativity.

Inner Reflection:

Spend some time this week listening for your own inner voice of impatience. Remember that it is only a small part of you. Notice how it makes itself known to you in your body — headaches, feet tapping, nail biting, overeating…? If it helps to visualize this part of you in a humorous way (as a gremlin or troll or ….?), do so. Make a SoulCollage® card for your deck to honor this part of you. Give him or her a name and actually talk to it the next time you hear it trying to rush you along on your own creative path. You might be surprised what it has to say to you. •

© 2007 Anne Marie Bennett. All rights reserved.

About the Author | More by Anne Marie Bennett
Anne Marie is a freelance writer and collage artist whose main passion is to spread the power of the SoulCollage process as far as possible. Anne Marie lives, laughs, sings, works, (and makes her own SoulCollage cards!) in Beverly, MA. To learn how to make your own SoulCollage® cards, please visit www.kaleidosoul.com.

01/29/07