Worried that you’re not creative? You are, but you may be out of touch
with it. Your intuition can lead you into a world of novel ideas,
experimentation, and brainstorming that will perk up your work life and
stimulate innovation and problem-solving. Intuition training is not
just for New Agers. Many executives, business owners, and research and
development professionals attribute their successes to following
intuitive clues.
Intuition is your internal information and feeling source. It is an
inner library of physical and emotional cues that can direct you onto
the right avenue. It is the composite of “gut feelings” and perceptions
unique to you. It is an inner way of knowing. Too often, we are trained
to discount or repress that knowledge and therefore purposely neglect
it, devalue it, or refuse to recognize its message. Intuition is a tool
for insight and illumination. Can you recall a time when your intuition
prompted you to follow a different course and connected you to a result
you were looking for? Quentin recalls a time when his intuition prodded
him to take an unfamiliar exit off the expressway on his way home. As
he turned off, he felt foolish and almost turned around. But he
followed this country road and passed an intriguing building with a
“for sale” sign on it. He stopped in amazement--this building fit his
image of the gourmet shop he wanted to open someday. Here was his dream
in reality; the rest was up to him. The creative process demands, like
Quentin, that you’re willing to step into the unknown and see what
happens. Creativity is born of inspiration and your inspirations evolve
from your passions. So follow your whims and see where they lead. These
excursions will stimulate new thought patterns and generate new
paradigms for you. To help you to massage your intuitive talents, you
can try a series of exercises to evoke creative prospects for you.
Exercise #One: What Inspires You?
What do you feel excited by or passionate about? What kinds of books or
magazines do you read? What kinds of people do you most like to talk
with? What kinds of interests/projects are you drawn to in your leisure
time? If you went back to school, what would you most like to learn
about? What do you fantasize about? What are your aspirations? What
kinds of activities stimulate your creative expression? Do you long to
paint or write or build or organize or sing or play something? Write
down everything and anything that comes to mind. No idea is wrong or
silly. What is your internal voice urging you to explore/experience?
Let this exercise be the beginning of a creative journal. You may be
surprised at the wisdom and guidance stored for you in these seemingly
random thoughts.
To facilitate the new, it helps to clear away the past. Think back to
any regrets you have about lost opportunities. Kim wishes she had
studied engineering in college instead of teaching. Paul had a chance
to go into business with a friend and turned it down as he was too
scared. His friend is now a millionaire who works part-time. It may not
be too late for you.
Exercise #Two: What Creative Dreams Have You Abandoned and Why?
Make a list of all of the things you wanted to do, but didn’t. Then
think back to what your intuition told you about this option. Are you
still interested in this path? What does your inner voice tell you
about this choice now? Note any patterns that are still possible or an
enduring vision that you want to manifest.
You need to make peace with these cast offs. What can you learn from
these mistakes? Rudy learned that he hadn’t been ready until now to
write his play. His vision just became vivid enough for him to tell the
story. So he was able to release his regrets. Melissa, on the other
hand, always wanted to become a lawyer. Now at age fifty, she thought
she was too old, but the dream still beckoned her. This was a choice
point for her. She could either live the rest of her life with the
sorrow of not having become a lawyer or she could go to law school. Or
she could leverage her skills and become a lobbyist, a political
activist, a paralegal, a city official, or fulfill her dream in
numerous alternative ways. It was time for Melissa to move on. Grieve
what you must and then turn the corner and make room for the next
episode.
Learning to trust your intuition is the critical foundation for
creativity. Think back to the times when you were clear that a
particular choice was not a wise one. Your “gut” warned you against it.
Silvie, a billing consultant, recalls a phone call she received from a
potential client. The woman owned an antique store and sounded
stressed, disorganized, and demanding. Silvie had a negative visceral
reaction to the woman’s voice. Yet, Silvie needed more business and
this was a big account, so Silvie hushed up her intuitive radar and
accepted the woman as a client. A year later, the woman sued Silvie for
malpractice. During the legal proceedings, Silvie learned that this
woman had sued her last two billing agents and that lawsuits, not
antiques, were her primary source of income. Silvie swore to heed her
intuitive doubts in the future.
Exercise #Three: I Am Grateful to my Intuition for the Following...
When has your intuition steered you right? Make a list of the times
when your intuition helped you to make the right decision or prompted
you to try something. What have you learned about how it operates on
your behalf? One of the greatest blocks to creativity is fear. Fear
keeps you from exploring new ways. Fear of failure keeps you from
enjoying an experimental mind set where failure is expected and
welcomed as new information. Fear of being wrong or criticized also
clips your creative wings. Almost everyone can remember trying
something fresh and new and being chided. Therefore we learn to play it
safe, cease taking risks, and stop the flow of creative solutions.
While most people are educated in a school system that advocates one
right answer, today’s workplace requires you to invoke new answers. The
beauty of the entrepreneurial mind set is that it allows you to
innovate and make up your own solutions. Fear of “getting the wrong
answer” halts your flow of unique ideas.
Exercise #Four: What Frightens You Most About Expressing Your
Creativity?
What is your fear about? What creative traumas from the past still hold
power over you? What do you fear from your internal critic and others?
What person(s) from your past criticized your ideas and actions? Write
this all down so you can see it.
Fear is a component of risk and risking is essential to creativity. If
you read about writers and artists and businesspeople, they all
acknowledge fear. You will never be free of fear but you can minimize
it and strategize around it. Just don’t let fear keep you from your
true self. Whenever you accomplish something, you become vulnerable to
criticism. Leaders are often controversial and therefore targets for
someone’s arrow. Are you living your life for them or yourself? When I
get scared to write, I pick up a book called “Walking on Alligators: A
Book of Meditations for Writers” by Susan Shaughnessy (Harper, 1993).
Writing often feels dangerous to me and reading about other writer’s
similar terrors helps me to forget my doubt and just start typing. You
need to find antidotes for your fear. Mentors, support groups, classes,
coaches, readings, etc. all offer support systems which can undo the
demons from the past. Figure out what solutions will most help your
fear to stay in the background and use them.
Another form of support for your creativity is a nurturing environment.
Where do you do your best thinking? Where does your inner self feel
most daring and alive?
Exercise #Five: Creative Stimuli
Describe the ideal environment for your creative process. Imagine it in
all of its detail. What distracts and what stimulates you? Are you
alone or with others? Is there music playing? Are you outdoors? What
tools do you need? Are you at home or at a quaint inn? Knowing what
sparks your creative fire allows you to make that space. Lots of
creative people talk about having a studio or room of their own. Kay, a
painter I know, can paint anywhere that’s light enough if she has her
female jazz singers serenading her in the background. Music is her cue
to let go and play with her colors. Trudie, a landscape architect,
built an office for herself above the garage. As she lives in the city
and doesn’t have a view of trees, her office walls are plastered with
pictures of plants and trees and gardens and she has silk flowers all
over. Her rug of outdoor carpet spreads out like a lawn and her desk is
a table inside a rickety old trellis with strings of vines and garden
tools attached to it. She keeps bags of dirt and peat moss in the
corner so she can smell them and pretend she’s in the garden. You know
what business she’s in. Even if you only have a small space, make it
your own and fill it with personal catalysts.
Sometimes when you have a business problem or feel stuck on a decision,
nothing seems to help. Sit quietly and ask your intuitive guide for
suggestions. You can also write yourself a note requesting an answer
and put it in a drawer and let go for a while. Or you can change the
format of your project or question and see what happens. I often find
drawing a picture of what I’m trying to write about opens up new
angles. Other innovators try techniques like turning a project upside
down or sideways or miniaturizing it or making it into a story or
photographing it or discussing it with a child. These configurations
often cut through the haze. You’ve heard tales of inventions that were
actually mistakes or the result of a hair brain scheme. Experiment with
your dilemma and watch the solution appear.
Comparisons are also helpful. For example, Brian’s intuition urged him
to ponder how his decision about whether or not to cut staff was like a
tree. So he bundled up in his parka and went out to look at the oak in
his front yard. He finally realized that his employees were the roots
of his company; they held the tree up. Cutting an employee was like
chopping off a necessary root, yet, he had to cut the payroll. So, he
went back into the house and began to draft plans for reduced hours,
part-time positions, and job sharing. Honor your intuitive messages and
allow them to help you.
Exercise #Six: Your Creative Saboteurs
Write down all the things, people, places, activities, or thoughts that
diminish your creative energy. What would you like to subtract from
your life that interferes with the clarity of your intuitive channel?
Your intuition is a valuable asset; you can’t afford to have it
compromised by clutter, other people’s needs, or busyness. Even if you
only find the time to write in your creative journal or sit quietly for
fifteen minutes a day, you are connecting with your intuition. Preserve
the messages and insights. From the above list, what can you subtract
from your life to free up more creative space for yourself? What life
choices support your ingenious energy? Honor your individual cravings
and notions. Do you thrive in tranquility or excitement? Diligently
restructure your lifestyle to cultivate your intuitive knowledge and
its creative offshoots. Enjoy the new and exciting adventures that will
result.
Gail McMeekin is a national career and creativity coach as well as a licensed psychotherapist and writer located in Boston. She has over 25 years of experience helping people vision and achieve their personal, professional, and creative goals. She is the author of The 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women: A Portable Mentor (Conari Press, 2000) which sold out its first printing in 8 weeks and The Power of Positive Choices (Conari
Press, 2001). She also wrote the 90-minute audiocassette workshop-on-tape Positive Choices: From Stress to Serenity which has been featured in Human Resource Executive, Training, The Improper Bostonian and The Lifestyle Book of Tufts Associated Health Plan. Her company, Creative Success, works with individuals and groups to maximize creative self-expression and positive living. Gail has a B.A. from Connecticut College, an M.S.W. from Boston University, and a certificate in Human Resource Management from Bentley College.
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