Unused Creativity

Brene Brown is a qualitative researcher who has spent about fifteen years doing interviews, collecting data.  She uses grounding methods for her research, which means that she does not do a lit review first, which can tell the researcher what already exists within the various fields and disciplines of research knowledge.  But it also can give you a bit of a bias before you start, which is why she doesn't do them first.  However, after the first few years of Brown's work, she viewed her data and noticed some common threads that were showing up over and over again; so that directed her to where she went next in her line of questions and so forth.  This means that the research goes deeper and builds off itself, often allowing for the researcher to develop comprehensive fleshing out of the details within any one specific area.

So a few years ago, Brown tied the first twelve years of research and three books together into a six session set of conversations in "The Power of Vulnerability:  Teachings on Authenticity, Connection, & Courage".  I'm calling them conversations, since her presentation style is more informal than a lecture and she interacts with her audience in a way that feels much more organic in the way it progresses than an academic lecture.  Her main audience during these sessions were social workers, teachers, counselors, and others within the mental health professions such as nurses, doctors, and support staff.  Brene is also in demand in the business world, working with C~teams {I had to look that up, as it was not readily apparent to me that she meant CEO, CFO, etc.  It makes sense, of course;  but when she first referred to it, I was like, "mmm, like A~Team, B~Team, or maybe even Sea Teams, what?"  Please keep in mind my husband was in the Coast Guard for over twenty years and is also a huge fan of sports.  So any of those options were possibilities.}

My own counselor, who's been working with me for thirteen years now {I knew her when she was childless and now, she's got four, the eldest is about to become a teenager...I have great admiration for this woman on oh so many levels}, refers to Brene Brown's works from time to time.  I've a great deal of trust in my counselor, we've built a solid rapport over the years.  So when I saw "The Power of Vulnerability" as an offering on HooplaDigital, I was all, "guess I'll give it go"  Dude, so glad I did.

Last post referred to:  unused creativity metastasizes into rage, grief, shame, and judgment.  For those of you who might be familiar with Brown's Ten Guideposts of the Wholehearted, you might recall that this is a major point  that falls under guidepost six {cultivating creativity and letting go of comparison}.  To be fair, if you are slightly confused, it does fall at the tail end of the fifth of six sessions that comprise "The Power of Vulnerability".  It's just that I got some damn excited about this whole area in particular because it's been very relevant for me for awhile now, the whole creativity realm.

In Brown's research, she found that the wholehearted, folks who were able to get the most satisfaction in their life, regardless of their life circumstances, socioeconomics, etc. practiced creativity often.  They are curious, developing their interests in creativity thru writing, painting, photography, stained glass, welding, pyrography, jewelry making, etc.  Brown looked at those people who didn't develop their creativity, allowing themselves to be expressive in various ways that were not harmful, and realized some some common themes emerging from her data.

We all have the capacity to be creative.  I looked a little at learning to creative as an adult.  But many of us were shamed as children for being creative and so we might have shut that part of ourselves down.  Which is why as adults, some of us have a difficult time leaning into creativity and relaxing as we try our hands are various activities, fearing comparison, shaming ourselves before others can or might, or approaching creativity as tho it were a competition that we can strive for perfection and conquer it.

So we all have this capacity for creativity, and as children, we are usually quite creative as we are learning all these areas, exploring new possibilities, and having great fun with it.  Until some authoritative figure scoffs, scolds, or shames us; at which point we tone things down, cut off our creative outlet, internalizing the message that we are not good enough in some way, even if it is just having fun and playing with it.  Apparently, we are not worthy, and so we deny that creativity's expression.

But it does not wither and die.  It's not like it simply dissipates.  That creative energy morphs into something else.  We might start to resent others who excel in their creative expressions, earning the art teacher's praise or our parents' admiration.  We might become angry at those teachers, or parents, or other kids.  That judgment often carries thru highschool {omg, band nerd}, into college {oh, he's an ART major, want fries with that?}, and into the work place {let's be practical}.  Shaming is rampant when any part of ourselves is denied, aimed at both ourselves and others.  We fear the shaming others might direct toward us, so we don't risk being creative and perhaps being judged or compared to others and found lacking.  Better we don't risk that at all, we think and so we stifle that creative part of ourselves.

When we deny ourselves, any part of ourselves, we are not being our true authentic selves and we live a stifled life of fear.  We shame ourselves, feeling that part of ourselves is not worthy of our own attention, let alone someone else's.  We do not accept our entire self.  We don't love ourselves.  And then we don't feel lovable.  In fact, we probably don't even feel worthy of acceptance and love, because we can't even do that for ourselves.  And we wither, becoming bitter, numb, afraid, fearful, mean, violent, and lashing out at others because we hurt.  It becomes this horrible cycle of shutting down this part, becoming fearful that we aren't good enough, becoming bitter and angry and then being rejected because we are so mean and then withdrawing more and more from the connection, love, and acceptance we so badly crave as humans.  The more we withdraw from  human connection, the more we become susceptible to depression, poor well being, illness, developing addictions, etc.

I'm NOT saying creativity is the magical cure that is the ONE thing that will right all the wrongs.  But I am saying that cultivating creativity is vital to being well, in general.  Give it a try, for maybe three months, and see how you feel and what sort of changes you notice.