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The Power to Choose: 7 Ways to Reclaim Your Creativity

By Dan Goodwin

It’s all too easy in our lives to develop routines and habits that do not serve or support our creativity.

Of course some routines are necessary to lead a healthy and comfortable life. For example, basic human needs like eating, sleeping, social contact and so on, as well as the need to support and finance ourselves in some way, are all essential to stay alive and well.

But let’s look beyond this, to those next level routines that we put ourselves obediently through without ever really questioning them. The daily burdens we claim we have no choice over, that restrict, limit or otherwise negatively affect our creative lives.

Some are so powerful, yet so stealth-like in their near invisibility, that just seeing them written on the page can be very liberating and the first step in helping us realise what a stronghold and influence they can have.

So here are 7 of the most common beliefs we accept without question, and some suggestions as to how we can reframe them to begin to reclaim our power to choose:

1. “I have to write / paint / dance / create like this, it’s just the way it’s done.”
   
   Alternatively: I choose to write / paint / dance / create like this. I am free to explore other ways of creating whenever I wish, or even invent my own.
   
   
2. “I have to work alone. No-one understands what I’m working on and how it feels to create like this.”
   
   Alternatively: I choose to work alone. I am free to create with other people, in collaboration or individually and sharing the same creative space. I am free to explore the lives of others who may feel similar to how I do in the experience of creating.
   
   
3. “I have to limit the amount I create in case I run out of material or ideas.”
   
   Alternatively: I choose to limit the amount I create. I am free to create as much as I wish and to develop the attitude that creativity is an infinite well source, not a fixed and limited container.
   
   
4. “I have to create in the morning / afternoon / evening, it’s the only time possible.”
   
   Alternatively: I choose to create in the morning / afternoon / evening. I could rearrange my daily schedule to experiment with different times and see how they enhance my creativity.
   
   
5. “I have to be awkward to those around me and difficult to live with, it’s the way creative people are.”
   
   Alternatively: I choose to be awkward to those around me and difficult to live with. My ability to form healthy meaningful relationships is independent of my creativity.
   
   
6. “I have to create in this set order.”
   
   Alternatively: I choose to create in this set order. If I wish I could try starting at different points in the project and seeing how that adds to my creativity.
   
   
7. “I have to suffer for my creative work.”
   
   Alternatively: I choose to suffer for my creative work. I am free to make my life as comfortable as I can, and to seek out and put in place the supportive networks and environment I need to help me best create.
   

Some of these can be very challenging to write down, to say out loud, and to hear.

But often, just the simple reframing of words from “I HAVE to” to “I CHOOSE to” can unlock so much in our minds that we just accepted without question before.

Try using some of the above statements that ring most true for you.

Say the “I choose to…” alternative at least 20 times and notice how different it feels to saying and feeling “I have to.”

Then, for those that you feel most hold back your creative life, start to come up with some of the steps you can take to make things easier for yourself. •

© Copyright 2006 Dan Goodwin

About the Author | More by Dan Goodwin
Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin is the author of “Create Create!”, a FREE twice monthly ezine for people who want simple and powerful articles, tips and exercises to help them unleash their creative talents. Sign up right now and get your FREE “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook, at www.CoachCreative.com.

11/14/06