Fighting Creative Resistance

Overcoming the internal obstacles to unleash the creative self

Mind Candy is a newsletter on practical philosophy and human flourishment—aka how to live the “the good life.” Each month we tackle a new theme. This month we’re exploring creativity.

“The loss of the sense of a self separate from the world is sometimes accompanied by a feeling of union with the environment.”

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

One of the biggest struggles someone has is connecting their creative self to the world.

We feel the energy within us, the ability to create something great, something we’re proud of.

And yet something stops us. We feel what Steven Pressfield calls the Resistance—the self-doubt, anxiety, procrastination—the things that hinder us from unleashing that creativity.

And no matter who we are, no matter how much we try, Resistance will always find a way into our lives.

It doesn’t matter whether we’re trying to solve a problem, write an essay, or paint a picture, Resistance always lurks close by.

So the creative needs to work to uncover ways to push Resistance to the side. The goal is to move from Resistance to Flow, as Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi put it, and get into the state of total absorption with our creativity.

When we find ourselves in a flow state, we find we are free, working off our intuition, our mind being one with the ‘environment.’ No longer are we consciously aware of our actions, rather they take on a life of their own, finding ways to create and allow our inner self to come forth and explode onto the world.

We find time is no longer relevant, hours zoom by as though they were minutes. Thoughts ceaselessly come forth. We make connections we’re not even aware of.

In order to hit this mark, we must defeat Reistance. Everyone has their own way, but the key is determine what works best for you.

The Professional Mindset-Pressfield recommends shifting our mindset to that of a professional’s. A professional shows up every day, regardless of whether they are inspired. They find ways to put in the time, to write the five pages, even if horrible. They treat the craft of creativity like a job, showing up and working at it every day. This reinforces the habit of working at the task, even if not fun, even if not in the mood—the job has to get done, one way or another.

Morning Pages-Julia Cameron, author of The Artist’s Way, recommends morning pages as a way to destroy resistance of the self and allow thoughts to more easily flow. Every morning, wake up and write, just pour onto the page, thinking of nothing but what comes to mind, holding no attachment to what comes out. The point is to get the juices flowing and try and release the blockage on the creative self.

Create the Scenario for Success to Hit-David Lynch spent nearly a decade in the 80s eating daily at the same Bob’s Big Boy in Burbank, CA finding his creative juices flowing the most after a milkshake. As the journalist Amy Wallace has documented:

“For his pains, he received “only three perfect milkshakes out of more than 2,500. But that wasn’t the point. For Lynch, it was enough to know he had set the stage for excellence to occur,” believing that “whether with milkshakes or movies,” one “must make room for inspiration to strike — to lay the proper groundwork for greatness to take hold.””

As Cameron says, we’re each filled with creative energy that wants to be expressed. It’s up to us to find ways that can help it flourish. Sometimes it’s not one thing or another but many things. And while these three tactics can work, there are millions more that do as well.

As you go about you week, reflect on this:

What helps me be creative? What do I need in order to bring about creative success? And what am I doing this week to help make that a reality?

3-Bullet Summary:

• We all have creative energy within us that wants to be released but we often face Resistance that holds us back.

• There are many ways to overcome Resistance but three are holding the mentality of the professional, performing morning pages, and setting yourself through habit and repetition for success to hit.

• While Resistance may lurk around every corner, we hold tools within ourselves to defeat that Resistance and allow ourselves into a state of Flow.

Until next time,

D.A. DiGerolamo

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