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 and 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 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 or 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. Karen had a chance to go into business with a friend and turned it down because she was too scared. Her 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 the things you wanted to do, but didn't. Then, think back to what your intuition told you about these options. Choose one. 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-off dreams. What can you learn from your mistakes? Rose learned that she hadn't been ready until recently to write her play. her vision just became vivid enough for her to tell the story, so she was able to release her regrets. Melissa, on the other hand, always wanted to become a lawyer. 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.
Nadia, 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. Nadia had a negative visceral reaction to the woman's voice. But Nadia needed more business and this was a big account, so she hushed her intuitive radar and accepted the woman as a client. A year later, the woman sued Nadia for malpractice.
During the legal proceedings, Nadia learned that this woman had sued her last two billing agents and that lawsuits, not antiques, were her primary source of income. Nadia 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 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 of doing things. Fear of failure keeps you from enjoying an experimental mindset 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 or teased about it.
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 evoke new answers. The beauty of the entrepreneurial mindset 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. When you read about writers and artists and business people, 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 are targets for someone's arrow. Are you living your life for them or for yourself?
Don't let fear keep you from your true self.
When I get scared to write, I pick up a book called Walking on Alligators: A Book of Meditations for Writers by Susan Shaughnessy. Writing often feels dangerous to me, and reading about another writer's similar terrors helps me to forget my doubt and just start typing. You need to find antidotes for your fear. That's why I developed my Creativity Courage Cards with affirmations matched to beautiful photos—to counter fear. Mentors, support groups, classes, coaches, and readings all offer support systems that 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 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 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 by looking at her workspace. 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 that drawing a picture of what I'm trying to write about opens up new angles.
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