[Daily OM]: To understand how fear blocks
creativity, take a moment to imagine yourself telling a story. First,
imagine telling the story to someone you love and who loves you. You
probably feel warmth and energy as you fill in the details of your tale
to your friend's delight. Now, imagine telling the same story to someone
who, for whatever reason, makes you uncomfortable. The wonderful twists
and turns, the fine points and colorful images that unfolded in your
mind for your friend probably won't present themselves. Instead of
warmth, energy, and creativity, you will probably feel opposite
sensations and a desire to close down. When we feel unsafe, whether we
fear being judged, disliked, or misunderstood, our creative flow stops.
Alternately, when we feel safe, our creativity unfolds like a beautiful
flower, without conscious effort.
Knowing this, we can maximize our creative potential by creating the
conditions that inspire our creativity. In order to really be in the
flow, we need to feel safe and unrestricted. However, achieving this is
not as simple as avoiding people who make us feel uncomfortable.
Sometimes we can be alone in a room and still feel totally blocked. When
this happens, we know we have come up against elements in our own
psyches that are making us feel fearful. Perhaps we are afraid that in
expressing ourselves we will discover something we don't want to know,
or unleash emotions or ideas that we don't want to be responsible for.
Or maybe we're afraid we'll fail to produce something worthy.
When you're up against fear, internal or external, ritual can be a
powerful -- and creative -- antidote. Before you sit down to be
creative, try casting a circle of protection around yourself. Visualize
yourself inside a ring of light, protective fire, or angels. Imagine
that this protective energy emanates unconditional love for you and
wants to hear, see, and feel everything you have to express. Take a
moment to bathe in the warmth of this feeling and then fearlessly
surrender yourself to the power that flows through you.