Melissa H. Coleman's Blog, page 8

A LABOUR OF LOVE PART 2

The last blog talked about body image, however, when I discuss self- acceptance I’m not just talking about body image, although we know that plays a major role. Self-acceptance is the complete, overall, whole body, mind and spiritual well-being of yourself. Have you accepted all your imperfections as they are perfected in you?

Self-acceptance is about getting real because we are the hardest judges on ourselves. Facing your fears, the negativity or challenges like the warrior woman you are will help embrace your positivity. Remember the other day when you said to your best girlfriend, “I’m not smart enough to go back to university.”

Or you said, “I will never be able to lose these twenty kilos, so why bother trying.”

That defeatist attitude is brought on by your insecurities and FEAR of failure yet when you analyse FEAR in this regard it could easily convert to the fear of accomplishment. Once those twenty kilos are gone, then what? Will the fear of keeping the weight off scare you or the fear of not finishing the university studies you started?

Real acceptance is discovering your inner strength to face these challenges and to have the clarity and peace of mind to move through each day as it comes. Allow yourself to have the power of positivity.

Small steps + small goals = self-acceptance

 

Every day, I scrutinised myself in the mirror, turning from front, side and back. It was a methodical process of taking account of all my ‘flaws’, like a checklist. Tick and flick – Yup, still wobbly. Yup, still saggy and dimply. Yup, my legs are still stumpy. The more I focused on these body parts the more self-conscious I became. I began hiding beneath layers of clothes, and not feeling worthy of anyone (including myself), I let myself go. Who cares, right? For years I tried to come to terms with me and for years I failed. You know why?

[image error]I WAS LOOKING IN THE WRONG PLACES.

And no, I didn’t mean the wrong mirror – the one in Supre makes me look huge but the one in Rockman’s makes me look great.

What I mean is, I was looking for answers on the outside. I was looking at my appearance and really, that was not the problem. This moment of clarity or enlightenment told me it wasn’t my physical features that were the drawback, it was something within myself causing me to feel and think I was unattractive, dumb and awkward.

Remember all those years ago (in the first blog), I mentioned an incident by the pool. That statement from my friend hit me in such a profound way I believed everybody viewed me like she did.  If she thought I was fat then everyone else would so, therefore, I must be. As my active mind pondered these thoughts, I turned this minor incident into a ginormous mountain. If I’m fat, I must be ugly and dumb and unworthy and useless. Right? Wrong, no one in the history of mankind has been totally excepted by everybody, although some have come close – Princess Diana, would be my guess.

My point is there will always be ridiculers sitting on the judging pedestal casting their squinty eyes at everyone else instead of working on their own many flaws.

Beauty has been ours all along. We are beautifully flawed with our own characteristics, quirks, and abilities. So, what if that woman over there is smarter. Who cares if that woman is prettier?  Why be so judgmental on ourselves and our own kind. Be grateful and proud of her. You don’t know the journey she’s been on. You can make a difference and so can she. Fist pump the air – You go girl!

Acknowledging each other’s weaknesses and strengths helps to destroy the judgmental monster inside you. Practice it daily. Compliment YOURSELF AND ANOTHER WOMAN. Accepting – there’s that word again – warts, pimples, stretch marks and all – is what makes us beautiful on the inside out.

MICHELLE HEYNEN’S STORY

[image error]Michelle is an Author, Healer and Public Speaker and this is her experience as told by her.

www.michelleheynen.com

My Walk of Hope Through MS

On the 24th of November 2016 my life changed forever when I was told I had MS. This news initally made sense to me, it was like a missing puzzle piece had been found and I could complete a master piece and that mater piece was me.

Initially, I was not bothered by this however, this soon changed and I was not comfortable in my own skin anymore. I was afraid of public perception and who I now was and what that looked liked to people who didn’t have MS.

I became very fearful and self-conscious in public and around crowds of people, as my mind worried about what they saw when they looked at me. And that terrified me. I felt like I was judged every single time I went out in public.

Within a couple of weeks, I thought I would throw myself back into work as I did not want to let my work colleagues down and thought it would be good for me to get back to normal life again. This transition back to work did not go well and I found the judgements I had given myself other people now gave me as well.

I became subject to intense but subtle bullying on a daily basis, where I would either be made fun of due to my fatigue, as they simply did not understand how it was different for me, in comparison to for lack of a better term “normal people”. They also thought that I should be performing perfecting, like a robot, that did not make any errors.

The lack of empathy from them on how my body sometimes functioned particularly my brain blew my mind. I would be pulled into meetings on a weekly basis due to “performance issues”. I would be belittled due to the sheer fact I was working four days a week instead of five. This went on for 3 months until I had a relapse and ended in the hospital for 5 weeks.

It was then my mindset changed completely and I became totally comfortable with who I am and how life was going to be for me. This was like a big fat reality slap for me. I realised that I was trying all too hard to please everyone else and not focusing on myself and my needs. That five weeks in hospital allowed me to look inwardly quite deeply.

It was not always pretty but it was a necessary step I had to take in the healing process of being someone who had MS; Being ok with having limitations from time to time allowing people in to help including new people into my circle of trust.

I think as woman we are sometimes way too hard on ourselves and we really need to give ourselves a break and be kind.

Once I accepted the MS and how it could affect me, how my body from time to time would not be at 100% then the true beauty of me came out.

I was able to see the hidden blessings in this new challenge and how it was a gift and not a curse. One thing that the MS did for me potentially saved my life and if not for the bullying that lead to the relapse I would not have been admitted to hospital. And the doctors would not have found the lesion on my breast.

Ladies! If we are willing to do the work and really sit in the shit so to speak magic can be had and found. See the positive in all your negatives.

 

Thanks Michelle for your contribution, honesty and strength. She’s right you know, you have no idea what the woman sitting beside you on the bus is going through so break down your guard on your own weaknesses and positively help yourself and maybe even her.

[image error]Mindset is a powerful thing…

TO BE CONTINUED PART 3 OF A LABOUR OF LOVE

 

 

 

A Labour of Love Part 1

*This article belongs to a series of blogs which correlates how middle-aged women can combat issues relating to self-acceptance. This topic is a little left field to me as my usual topic ‘Creativity’, is the central theme of all my posts, however, my solution to overcoming this issue is to use creative intelligence to inspire woman with unique ways to be happy in their own skin.*

My struggle with body image began when I hit my double-figure years. I had arrived at a friend’s house for a sleepover and an afternoon of fun, swimming and bomb diving. Sitting on the edge of the pool and listening to music, after frolicking and laughing for what seemed like hours; I felt great. It was another fun afternoon.

Until that precise moment when your world as you know it crumbles and falls around your feet. You know, like in the movies, when the camera zooms straight in on the character who looks as stunned as a seagull who has flown into a post. What caused this reaction was my friend’s words. They were utterly devastating. They hit me like a pair of cymbals which clanged on either side of my head reverberating in my fragile pre-teen mind.

Your fat, look, you have a tummy roll.

Not leaving it at that though, she turned to another of our girlfriends looking for confirmation and said as she pointed at me from across the pool.

Look at her fat roll.

The look on my face incited some compassion from the other girl who replied, “It’s the way she’s sitting. She’s hunched over.”

I adjusted my position and totally conscious of my bikini clad body now, sucked in my guts as inconspicuously as I could. Well, that didn’t go unnoticed either: Stop trying to suck it in!

Clumsily, I stood up from the edge and grabbed a towel, wrapped it around myself and went inside to change.

Over the years my awkwardness consumed me, I avoided anything that meant I would be on display. No hanging from the monkey bars in the playground – what if my shirt crept up and someone saw my fat tummy! No playing baseball during P.E. lessons because that involved running to bases and everybody watched you run. No swimming carnival – imagine being seen in my bathers by more people!

A close friend of mine and I began talking about our body fears, wants and wishes. The conversation would undoubtedly always start with, “I’m soo fat!”

Which was reciprocated with, “So am I!”

The usual banter about her being skinnier and prettier would commence and so forth, continuing until we were so engrossed in our own flaws we stopped talking.

Our teen years are a crucial period of growth, it’s when your body undergoes an amazing transformation. Remember though, your friend circle has a superpower, they have the ability to validate, accept or judge you. And to brandish such power at such a tender age is nothing less than super… scary! Name one teen who hasn’t felt self-conscious or embarrassed during this stage… No, I didn’t think you could.

I’m fat. I’m skinny. I wish I had curly hair. I wish I had straight hair. My legs are short. My nose is crooked. How come my bottom sticks out more than yours?

You recognise some of these statements, don’t you? Well, let me tell you after thirty-five years they haven’t changed at all. They still leave the perilous lips of woman throughout the world. And unfortunately, we all have trouble adjusting to body changes and the ageing process among a closet of other flaws we think we have.

 It’s not just our friends or families that have the ability to criticise our bodies and how we feel about ourselves. Negative comments, hurtful teasing, and racial or ethnic prejudice from strangers can also affect the way you think of yourself. Media portrays young girls and woman as skinny, happy, organised and having that golden glow and men with large muscular bodies and an adoring woman hanging from each arm. Is this a genuine display of the norm?

Movies, advertisements, TV shows, and magazines all promote an improbable and impossible realisation of a ‘normal’ body image. Did you know the media-driven body image realistically only fits a small percentage of the population – YET it is the criteria by which we all try to measure ourselves up against.

Such pressure to conform to this idealised nonsense has led to significant health problems, a lack of coping skills and mentally unhappy lifestyles for countless of thousands of people.

Anorexia and bulimia have been overshadowed by Body Dysmorphia. Have you heard of it?

Body Dysmorphia is a mental illness where the person becomes obsessed by a particular flaw, whether it be minor or imagined. They spend hours exercising to excess each day, trying to fix the flaw and even go as far as cosmetic surgery. Never satisfied, they continue their quest to the detriment of their mental and physical health.

Our misguided effort in trying to replace the normality we once had when no-one cared what we looked like failed, and as time passed us by and we emerged into the middle-aged era, we found we are still confronted with the same issues. Except this time we have a weapon.

Experience!

Which brings me to the reason I am writing this blog today.

Self- acceptance is an individual’s ability to embrace and by satisfied with oneself within all the elements of mind, body and spirit. It involves self-understanding and a realistic view of your own strengths and weaknesses which are necessary for good mental health.

“Your body is precious. It is our vehicle for awakening. Treat it with care.” ~Buddha.

I am a forty-five year old woman who still feels a sense of being severely flawed. I crawl into my shell, my sanctuary inside myself, and on a rare occasion I will crawl out, but these outward events are short lived as I’m struck with the reality of what a woman is ‘supposed to’ look like – within minutes. I guess I have carried this beast of burden for most of my life. Its festers inside me, eating away at me and dragging me to some terribly low states.

In all my years of trying to come to terms with my body image and self-acceptance issues, I never felt they were fully addressed. And it makes me angry, so to heal my fractured relationship with myself, I have decided to stop hiding. I’m coming out of my shell.

It’s time for action! It’s time to get creative in my own skin.

A LABOUR OF LOVE PART 2 TO BE CONTINUED…

HARDWIRED

There’s something charming and irresistible about creative people. She may have a quirky nature that lights up your day when you look at her newly finished painting on the easel or he may be the author of an intriguing novel, the words in which, have inspired change in your life. Musicians, writers, painters, scientists and business people can all be creative. What is it that draws you to these people? Is it the way they see the world from a different perspective or the intrigue they cast over everyone they meet?  What makes these people stand out from the crowd?

Neuroscience confirms that highly creative people think and act differently than the average person. It seems their brains are hardwired in a unique way. The truth about creatives is they live in a completely different world. Imagine seeing the world through a creative brain… Imagine being able to get inside a creative brain and see for yourself an intensity fueled by curiosity. A place for eccentric conversations and fun activities along with mind blowing ideas where there is no pause or stop button.

[image error]Creativity is about human expression and ingenuity, it is a means of communicating. And it is remarkable how creatives can adapt and overcome any situation to achieve their goal. Highly creative people have been known to be on the edge of happiness and depression, full of energy and focussed, however, this doesn’t mean they are hyperactive or have a mental condition, it simply means their intellect and personality traits are more complex than most people. The way they think is unique to themselves and this mysterious process is what makes them so distinctive.

Their sensitive heart may be the source of their brilliance yet also the source of their suffering for a creative can leap from imagination and fantasy to reality… then to a new reality. What I mean is, this ability to escape enables them to create an original idea, form it into something worthwhile which can be recognised and consider appropriate for society. The year Einstein described the theory of relativity saw him publish five papers on the subject. His passion and emotional involvement, as well as his creative intellect in his project, were evident.

“A man falling from the roof of a house is both in motion and at rest at the same time.”

The way Einstein conceived this theory showed creative genius at work in that he used multiple opposite statements or antithesis. This contradictory nature of his conclusion is a form of creative cognition.

[image error]What is it that draws people to creative minds? It is their ability to reconnect YOU to your creative self. It’s that spark of fire and light that mingles with your subconscious awakening a purpose, inspiring a project, inviting passion into your imagination. Creative people love sharing their zeal, it’s contagious, so hardwire your mind by thinking on a deeper level and bend the norm to become unique to you. Adopt a creative!

 

 

Creativity, Neurological Learning Differences and Education

Genius cannot exist without a mental disorder states a study that names George Orwell, LS Lowry and Lewis Carroll among 21 artists who suffered a form of Autism or Aspergers.

The study analyses the psychiatric portrait of some of the most imaginative minds in history and claims to prove the link between madness and greatness.

Further, Beethoven, Mozart, Hans Christian Andersen and Immanuel Kant are among the musicians, writers, painters and philosophers who were diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome.

Prof Michael Fitzgerald, a psychiatrist from Ireland specialising Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), a syndrome that affects social relationships but not intellect, claims that people with ASD or Asperger’s can have exceptional artistic creativity, as well as mathematical genius.

What is Autism?

Autism is a lifelong developmental condition that affects, among other things, the way an individual relates to his or her environment and their interaction with other people. It is a range of conditions characterised by challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviours, speech and nonverbal communication, as well as by unique strengths and differences.

Most people associate Autism with rigid thinking, restricted interests, and a literal interpretation of speech and behaviour.  Let me explain rigid thinking.

Rigid thinking refers to a person’s difficulty in maintaining appropriate behaviour in new and unfamiliar situations and this can also affect their thinking.

So, how could a person with these traits possibly be creative? The answer lies in how we measure creativity.

Scientists found that people with this developmental condition were far more likely to come up with unique answers to creative problems, despite having traits that can be socially crippling.

Howard Gardner published his book Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences in 1983, he revolutionised the way educators and psychologists thought about intelligence.  Rather than measuring only verbal and logical-mathematical reasoning as the well-known Stanford-Binet IQ test does, Gardner suggested that all people possess at least eight modalities of intelligence.

These range from musical-rhythmic, interpersonal (social), and kinasthetic-physical intelligence (learning in which the student carries out physical activities rather then listening to lectures within a classroom). We all excel in one modality or more by showing stronger intelligence, and everyone, he believed is unique. A certainty in which I agree.

A study published in The Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders found a strong link between autism and creativity.

People who display Autistic traits, whether male or female, young or old show more “divergent thinking. This type of thinking or thought process allows for multiple solutions to a problem by creatively exploring ideas.

Gardner taught us that a child does not need to earn good grades in reading and math to be smart or to have the potential for success.

Howard Gardner (definately worth googling this man) challenged the education system of today saying, “Challenge an educational system that assumes that everyone can learn the same materials in the same way and that a uniform, universal measure suffices to test student learning. Indeed, as currently constituted, our educational system is heavily biased toward linguistic modes of instruction and assessment and, to a somewhat lesser degree, toward logical-quantitative modes as well.”

Gardner argues that “…Students learn in ways that are identifiably distinctive. The broad spectrum of students – and perhaps the society as a whole – would be better served if disciplines could be presented in many ways and learning could be assessed through a variety of means.” 

Some people learn better within a hands-on environment, others learn through visual aids. The classroom environment is out-dated, and while technology and the world continue to improve and progress our education system doesn’t. It is still trapped in the 1800s.

According to this theory, “Language, mathematical and spatial analysis, musical thinking, the use of the body to solve problems or to make things, an understanding of other individuals, and an [image error]understanding of ourselves is how we learn in this world. Where individuals differ is in the strength of these intelligences (where they surpass one modality over another), and in the ways in which such intelligences are stimulated and combined to carry out tasks, solve problems, and progress.

WHAT IS ASPERGERS?

A page on the Asperger’s Association of New England site declares “There is strong evidence that such superstars as Vincent van Gogh, Emily Dickinson, Albert Einstein, code-breaker Alan Turing, and musician Glen Gould, among many others, all had Asperger Syndrome. Today, there are adults with Aspergers who are successful as professors, lawyers, physicians, artists, authors, and educators.”

Inhibited intellect, I think not. Stronger intelligence in one modality, yes.

Aspergers is classified as Pervasive Developmental Disorder. Although a better label for conditions like Asperger’s Syndrome is neurological or learning ‘difference’. This explains a persons ability to recieve, process and store information relative to others.

What is ‘normal’ these days anyway? What is used to typify normal?

Asperger’s and creativity are two sides of the same coin – you can’t get one without the other

Study after study has shown a link between these conditions and artistic capacity or the ability to solve problems in unconventional ways.

Da Vinci, Albert Einstein and Walt Disney are just some of the creatives who have been diagnosed (after their deaths) with learning disabilities.

Creativity, learning differences and education meld into one as studies and research provide new evidence of abilities and how to percieve them.

Vermeulen, Peter. (2012). Autism as Context Blindness. Shawnee Mission, KS: AAPC Publishing.

Gardner, H. (1993). Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligences. New York, NY: BasicBooks.

Your Creative Reservoir

Creative exploration to me is enjoying an intense period of inspiration by reaching deep inside and exploring the creative unknown. I love to be creative and I’m always on the look out to develop new ideas, bring to birth strange new words and implement imaginative and unique storylines.

For me, little things can ‘light bulb’ a moment of inspiration. A word said in the course of a conversation, the way of a person’s peculiarities, the majesty of creation or a wide- eyed look from a much-loved pet.

These are triggers that initiate a deluge of thoughts which cascade like a waterfall in my head. Without a pen and paper or some kind of device where I can capture this magical water, it would likely float downstream and be forgotten in the babbling of everyday thought. The best way to fill your creative well is to be prepared for inspiration to strike at any time.

[image error]I attended a function once and throughout the evening the mannerisms and quirky idiosyncrasies of the company I kept reminded me of rare animals and humanoid aliens and anime characters. Sights, sounds, smell and touch are the elements of creativity, the creative brain is a sensory brain, and these triggers, these intriguing elements, can engage your senses by filling your creative reservoir. Igniting awareness and creating a perception of your surroundings helps facilitate creativity.

At this moment your creative well is filled to the brim with imagery, concepts and ideas but like any reservoir, it has the possibility of running dry or becoming stagnant. Any creative will recognise in order to keep the thoughts fresh and flowing maintenance is necessary. We need to self- nourish our creative reservior. How?

Replenishing by taking a creative field trip

Get out and experience something new. Go for a walk in an architecturally unquie area or go to an exhibit. How about attending an open air concert or a stage play? The thing is even if what you do doesn’t directly relate to your specialised field it could still spark a creative connection.

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Go Mining

Everyone has a past. You would likely have old notebooks or files filled with thoughts, images and ideas that once inspired you. Looking back on these may help you see things in a whole new light.

Sit down to write what you have thought and not to think what you shall write – William Cobbett.

Hemingway used to purposely leave his work unfinished. An effective strategy to begin with the next day. Stopping before your inspiration runs dry is a great cue to step away and do something completely different. Coming back to your project the following day, fresh and alert, will enhance your ability to consistently dream up new ideas.

Fortunately, filling your well is an endless need accomplished without difficulty if you dedicate time each day. Don’t wait until you have exhausted it, instead nurture and energise your creativity by fulfilling your challenges and being aware of your needs.

Harnessing Your Creative Energy

The rhythmic thump was the only recognition that the creature’s hooves plummeted the ground. With a rumbling snort and his dark eyes focused he sliced his way through the wind. His mane flicked behind his neck and his muscles rippled under the glow of his dark powerful body. He charged forward and whinnied in delight. The freedom, the exhilaration, the energy.

What if you could take that intense energy and apply it toward your creative visualisation. Can something like that really be harnessed? And if so, can it be harnessed effectively?

[image error]The stallion- let’s call him Cruiser – was not an adrenaline junkie. He was a level-headed horse expressing himself. His focus didn’t waver as he powered towards his goal and with no distractions he reached it. He felt the swell of pride and achievement. His mindset, highly filtered and his brain processing millions of signals every second ignoring all other thoughts not conduit with his goal.

Is this harnessing creative energy?

The answer is No.

When we focus on an idea and ignore anything unrelated to that core theme we inhibit our creative flow. After all isn’t being creative connecting experiences that were previously not connected. Focus does play a positive role in the creative process, however, when it comes to improving a concept, adapting it and implementing it, it’s important to create a flow. A less logical and lower filtered thought process achieves this. Potential options and idea clarity is attained by defocusing and letting your brain do what it does best – process everything.

1+1 = 4

Getting back to Cruiser.

He stomped his hooves on the grass and shook his head at the wind as he focussed his dark eyes. Folding himself backwards, he reared high, his legs flicking at an invisible marker. Then using his weight he lunged forward and dashed across the paddock. He watched as the birds hidden in the tall tan reeds of grass scattered out of his path and he slowed, his eyes flashing in the sunlight. A blue dog barked in the distance and he swished his mane. Trotting like a king toward the dog and his human he greeted them with a gruff snort and his gaze met hers.

Lower level filtering is a brain process which is responsible for less logical thought. Creativity starts with your sensory experiences and life influences. Your ideas and feelings are what connects your creativity. No heavy thinking or analysing is required. Explore your ideas.

Jot down your thoughts if you’re a writer then edit later. The creative process is like a game of tennis. A lot of back and forth; creating and evaluating, however, you can’t do both at the same time. To be truly creative perceive and process your idea using this simple technique allowing your creative energy to be harnessed.

 

DREAMS DON’T WORK UNLESS YOU DO

Did you know dreaming can improve and boost creativity. History is replete with writers who have dreamed their characters or stories to life.

Remember Frankenstein; author Mary Shelley, spent the night conversing about ghosts and relating stories and experiences about the ideologies of life. Through the night whilst dreaming her thoughts coalesced in her mind to form the famous Frankenstein. Keeping her dream fresh, the next morning she began to write.

Other writers like Charlotte Bronte and H.P Lovecroft and yours truly have had inspiration strike in the dead of night. In my experience, I felt a strong urge to pen my dream the following day. It resulted in the War Machine – a short prose which I have since entered into a competition.

The likes of Stephen King and Stephanie Meyer also brought to life their dreams. Misery was literally dreamed up when King fell asleep on a flight and Twilight became a best-seller from Meyers dream.

We, authors, aren’t the only ones who use our dreams for creative inspiration. James Cameron and Einstein did. The common denominator is, although all these examples have come to fruition whilst we were asleep; it seems the person had already been thinking consciously about an aspect of their creative dream first.

The reason your dreams are most times weirdly creative is your usual conscience rationalisation of ideas is unbounded. Your brain tries to fit incongruous ideas together with realistic ideas to see what fits best. Thus by blending these two disparities creatively, you end up with a major creative breakthrough.

[image error]Let’s flip the coin. Insomnia. It has inspired the great works of Leonardo da Vinci, Marcel Proust and Coldplay.  Science is still in two minds as to the effect insomnia or sleep deprivation has on creativity but that hasn’t stopped some ingenious creatives harnessing their imagination by inventing sleeping methods. Salvador Dali would sit in his favourite chair and hold a metal spoon in his hand and when he’d nod off, the spoon would clank onto the floor and wake him up. This delirious state in between drifting off to sleep and waking is believed to trigger hallucinations. It is called hynogogia.

Tiredness can bring about that eureka moment. Let me explain – when you are awake, limitless distractions proliferate, however, when you are tired your distraction filters fade away and you’re left in a less focused cognitive state which leads to reflecting on other unrelated information. This additional information floating through your thoughts can ultimately merge and provide an ‘aha’ moment.

What about daydreaming?

Daydreaming is not dreaming. It is the unfocused mind wandering and this can happen at any time. Creativity is spurred on by daydreaming, nevertheless, not all scientists agree because not all daydreams are created equal.

[image error]Instead, it is ‘dedicated daydreaming’ that yields creative ideas by purposely letting the mind wander after having paid attention to a specific problem first. Einstein said, “Creativity is the residue of time wasted.”

Creative ideas are achieved through all of these methods. We’ve seen through history the results, so next time you have a creative block or want to aim that little bit higher for creative inspiration take a nap, go for a walk and daydream or stay up late. One of these options is bound to work best for you.

CREATIVE MADNESS

Have you ever put time aside to just sit and write. Fully immerse yourself in your writing with no distractions, knowing that you need to put the effort in. The day comes and you slide into your comfy office chair and your mindset is sharp. Ready! Today is looking good to get writing. Happy, no distractions, no worries. Right?

Wrong! Instead, you find yourself, messing around with technology. Figuring you’ll get that nagging voice out of your head so you can concentrate fully on your creative thoughts, so you begin to get a video ready to save and send to your subscribers.

*Little evil dude sitting on the desk tapping his pitchfork* Like hell, you ain’t doing nothing but sweating over this video today!

[image error]Ask yourself: Can frustration be part of the creative process? Some say frustration aids creativity. Is that true? Is the act of feeling frustrated an essential element of creativity?

Let’s define frustration. It is the feeling of being upset or annoyed as a result of being unable to change or achieve something. Frustration is the prevention of progress. It feels as if you’re going in circles, never achieving anything and as the day starts to slip away, it feels like you’re at square 1. Right where you started! But are you…

Frustration can actually aid creativity. Psychologists have known for some time that certain kinds of difficulties or obstacles can actually improve your performance. Frustration can give us the power to find a new angle, an innovative idea or motivate us to go that bit further to achieve our goal.

Imagine your at the NRL finals footy game. The crowd is going nuts and there are all kinds of conversations, yelling and pointing going on around you. You want to filter them out, you want to focus on what’s important. The score is being announced. Can you concentrate on hearing the score by blocking out all the racket? Psychologists suggest that if you can you have strong attention filters. Some people struggle with it.

But some people have weak attentional filters and this means that they are constantly interrupted by the sounds, smells and sights of the stadium around them. Stick with me, my point is coming. A study revealed people with weak filters were vastly more likely to have real creative milestones in their lives. these are the ones who publish their novels, release their music CD or .display their art in a gallery. This element of frustration helps them think outside the box because literally, their filter is full of holes.

There is a point, however, where the level of frustration inhibits creativity. High levels of frustration lead to anger which leads to fruitlessness. How can we abate our struggle with frustration to harness our creativity? We need to learn to live with tension, then discover ways to harness our frustration into inspiration.

We need to learn to be comfortable with and embrace paradox, contradiction, and ambiguity. It is the foundation of creativity. Psychologists recommend ignoring the struggle caused by frustration. Embrace it allowing the battle to form a relationship with your creative process. This doesn’t mean you go out looking to get frustrated, it simply means, through acceptance you can benefit from its power and seek to move into a deeper fold of creativity.

Frustration is a sign you have reached your level of tension. You can feel the energy and you recognise the disturbances in your mind and body; see these as the boiling points for creative success. Collaborating with your frustration can exploit your creativity. So next time you feel that burning rise of disdain engulfing your body, take a moment to acknowledge, you are now awakening your deeper creative processes. Welcome it.

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