I’m feeling really inspired after our mountain bike trip to Mount Saint Anne, near Quebec City, where the UCI Mountain-bike World-Cup races were held.  Even though the rest of my family are much stronger cross-country mountain bikers, and are into downhill mountain bike riding (unlike myself who will take a climb over a downhill anytime) I really appreciated taking my mountain bike out on the trails both with my husband and solo.  I’m usually afraid to go down hills with any amount of speed.  But I managed to let go of this fear enough to stop braking all the time and get some speed to ride down the hills climbed, with a newer sense of freedom. The experience gave me a lot to think about in terms of how fear can interfere with our creativity.

Sometimes we need to let go of the brakes that interfere with us moving freely in our lives.  Usually the brakes are in the form of fear: fear of being judged, fear of falling on our faces, fear of not being good enough, fear of the unknown, fear of disappointment in ourselves.  This last one,   fear of disappointment in ourselves is perhaps one we don’t often recognize.  I remember being introduced to this concept in my twenties when I was in undergrad psychology: there was a professor who specialized in studying underachievers: those who fear failing so much so that they don’t bother trying. Or, they worry their results will not be perfect enough so they opt to play it safe and not strive for anything too big. In a society where we are trained to compare ourselves and strive for excellence, my guess is that there are a lot of underachievers out there.

Playing it safe is something I think many of us do when we worry about judgement not just from others but from ourselves.  If we don’t try then we never know. If we don’t try then we don’t fail. If we don’t try then we can avoid the discomfort of moving out of our comfort zone.  But to be truly aligned with one’s creativity means chances need to be taken; try out new things, experiment, be open to things turning out differently than expected,  and maybe even failing.  Many well know inventors had numerous so-called failures before they were successful with what they were creating.  It is part of the process. Sometimes we think that there is a perfect process that creating takes, step one do this and next do that, but the reality is that in order for creative process  to unfold one must take some risks. There is a stepping out of the usual that is required in order to create from your true self, rather than emulate what you think creativity or art “should” look like.  When we create from a space of openness it does not mean that everything is rosy and pretty and fun, it means that we are open to riding the up and down waves of the sometimes chaotic creative process.

There are times where we will be in love with the process of making art. And there will also be times when we want to run from creative process, when feelings come up we don’t expect.  It could be as simple as I don’t like the way this looks or this is getting tedious or it’s not going as planned.  These are common thoughts that come up during art making, for professional artists as well.  But if we don’t push through them, meaning riding and experiencing these feelings as part of the process then it becomes difficult to create from our true selves.  That friction we experience when creating can sometimes be what is needed to create.  After all childbirth isn’t painless.  When we are birthing something into the world there is a process, one that can take many paths but struggle is part of it.  Where it becomes problematic is when we anticipate that struggle as being bigger than it is and we put on the brakes out of fear.  When we approach the process mindfully, we see what is , accept it and keep moving without judgement of good or bad but just part of the process.

We have the freedom to choose to go down that hill, which inevitably helps us get the momentum needed to get back up the next hill.

So often I hear from workshop participants that they come because they feel stuck creatively.  Fear blocks them via old messages and scripts picked up a long the way.  When we let these scripts become our story, our excuse for not trying, its hard to move forward and gain some new experiences. Delving into your creativity is an invitation to break past these barriers metaphorically, then in real-time.  Once we see we can live through anticipated mistakes, or rather once we begin to realize that the “mistakes” are actually an important part of the creative process we can let go a little more and relax into the ride with less resistance.

What will you do today to let go of the brakes a little more in your creative process? Journal your response with whatever words come to mind or quickly draw or paint the imagery that comes to mind when you think of letting go a little more.

Below is a picture of the 3rd place winner, Canadian Catharine Pendrel in the women’s cross-country race, rocking it!