The Hand and Heart of the Matter - Overcoming Creative Blocks
Artists and writers when not creating are said to have some of the cleanest houses! Their homes may be glowing, yet too often this housework is the distraction preventing the ‘task’ of creating.
But here lies the rub. When the creative process is ‘task’ orientated, one essential ingredient in the ‘art of creating’, may well be missing. And that’s the ‘heart’ of the matter.
The expression ‘My heart’s not in it,’ implies a lack of animation and connection. This too could be a description of what it feels like when we experience creative blocks. Yet the memory of when our heart felt connected to our creative expression lingers, making us feel that something has gone awry. We want to get back there if we’ve known that feeling, and if we haven’t, then we may feel this subterranean dis-ease of not living with joy.
How can we find our way back to the heart to rekindle that sense of spontaneity where our creative juices flow?
Image by Michaela from Pixabay
But yes, you might rightly argue, there are deadlines to meet and perhaps exhibition walls to fill! So how then can the heart speak to the external pressures of living and thus help transform procrastination or worse, creative blocks from taking over
Ancient wisdom beliefs across the globe have recognized the existence of energy within and around us, expressed through various cultures as ‘chi’ in Chinese, such as Chi Gong, ‘prana’ in India, ‘ki’ in Japan - Reiki, ‘nishama’ in Judaism and ‘a state of grace’ in Christianity.[1]
In our ancient country Australia, we are blessed with the healing wisdom of our indigenous people, which is also evident in many indigenous cultures throughout the world. ‘Healing Touch’ which is known as ‘Ngangkari’ is an Australian Aboriginal healing system that has existed for over 40,000 years. A remarkable quality of these gentle, silent healers, is that they have no need for language, as diagnosing and healing comes through touch alone.[2]
The Chinese Acupuncture System and the Indian Yogic Chakra System, directly recognizes the heart and hand connection. This is demonstrated through the Chinese meridian link between the heart and the hands ‘shao-yin’ (手少陰).[2] With the Indian Chakra System the major Heart Chakra, which is one of seven main chakras along the spine, links to the minor Hand Chakra, through the energy channels known as nadis, where pranic energy is emitted.
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
So how does heart to hand healing link to breaking through procrastination and creative blocks? A block implies that something is not flowing. If we draw on the ancient wisdom of Eastern and indigenous cultures, reigniting flow requires an unblocked heart channel.
The tools of an artist, whether it be a paintbrush or pen, are extensions of the hand. Could it be that when our heart to hand energy meridian is blocked, our ability to express ourselves creatively is also restricted?
When we feel blocked this is a moment for reflection to ask whether we are in self judgement, stifled by the belief that creatively we haven’t ‘got what it takes’. For some this may go back years , perhaps during school days when an outside opinion influenced our perception of ourselves when trying to create. The legacy of this rejection can surface, especially when we are feeling vulnerable, becoming the critical voice in our head that sabotages our creative flow.
Image – John Hain from Pixabay
If we were to examine our brains, as we convince ourselves of this ‘self-talk’ we would discover that we are being dominated by our Left Hemisphere, where our inner critic resides and where the logical part of our mind exists that is not responsible for creative expression. That’s the domain of the Right Hemisphere!
‘Whole Brain Living’(2021), written by Harvard trained neuro biologist, Dr Jill Bolte- Taylor, explores in detail her journey of having a stroke that wiped out her entire Left Hemisphere, leaving only her Right Hemisphere to navigate life. It took eight years to recover both hemispheres but being a neuro-biologist, she was in the unique position to document exactly what each hemisphere offered as they came fully back online. Bolte-Taylor records the bliss and creativity generated by living only in her Right Hemisphere where judgement did not exist.[4]
Image by Elisa Riva from Pixabay
This begs the question, how do we move out of our Left Brain’s, critical, linear mind and into our Right Brain’s, non-critical, present mind to generate our creativity?
If love is the expression of an open heart, where is there room for judgement? Could it be that our heart mind connection comes from connecting our heart to our Right Brain Hemisphere?
Play is of the moment and generates joy. Through play our hearts expand. Play is pivotal to expressing creativity, otherwise we might inhibit spontaneity and become mere copiers, bound by theory or repetitive practices.
If it is true that hands can extend the love of the heart, how then can using our hands in play generate the self-love needed to tap into our creativity?
Image by Alexandr Ivanov from Pixabay
I have discovered that several Right Brain activities can centre the mind, turn off the critic and allow us just to be; the precursor state needed to override the inner critic that too often is behind our procrastination. The ‘inner critic’, with its perfectionist guise, ‘If my work is not perfect, well it’s just not good enough,’ sets up inertia in our creative output but strengthens our perfectionist tendencies. Remember the ‘perfectly clean house’!
Adult colouring books and doodling can be wonderful ways for us to turn off the over thinking mind and allow us to spontaneously respond to colour. The brain is so designed that when it sees patterns, the effect is calming. This explains why walking through a forest seeing patterns of leaves settles our mind and similarly when seeing sets of waves, we can be transfixed, watching effortlessly, joyfully, without any mind chatter intruding.
Leaf Pattern by Belinda Nolan
One of my favourite processes for opening the heart - hand pathway is through finger painting. The messiness of finger painting can be a great disrupter of our inner perfectionist. The feel of paint and sense of colour can trigger childhood memories of joyful abandonment giving witness to the fact that our inner-child is still alive.
Behind perfectionism is the driving need to be accepted or feel acceptable. Its premise is to create ‘order’ so we have the illusion of being in control. In creating ‘order’ we are beholden to the Left Hemisphere, which cannot envisage creativity. Hence can play and perfectionism ever be correlated? In becoming ‘upstanding citizens’ have we relegated our inner child to the dungeon, thus abandoning our creative expression.
So, when feeling creatively stuck it can be useful to question – ‘Is my perfectionist side on overdrive?’ Then we can explore further, ‘Why am I needing approval?’ With gaining some awareness around this we may want to journal some thoughts for reflection. But before our left mind takes over, we can harness the moment by engaging in play.
And what better way to connect the heart and hands than with finger painting. Here we can seize the moment by getting out a large piece of paper or canvas and immerse our hands in acrylics and paint! No rules, no deadline, no expectations! Just pure pleasure of expressing ourselves! You might want to consider wearing old clothes as your perfectionist might object should you ‘dare’ put paint on your finery!
It is in this realm of play that you can liberate the energies that are blocked. The trick here is not to pause, for if you pause for too long the Left Brain may well kick in with all sorts of judgements to undermine your pleasure.
The beauty is the flow on effect. Once the creative channel has been opened a fuller expression of your creative being can be generated. And before long you’ll be dismissing those dusty shelves and grabbing your paint brushes or pen to express your innate artist with ‘play’ abandonment!
References
[1] Sidney Bender, S and Sise M.T. (2008). The Energy of Belief, Santa Rosa: Energy Psychology Press
[2] The Feed (2018). The Healing Touch: Indigeneous healers getting results. Sydney:Special Broadcasting Service
[3] Integrative Views of the Heart in Chinese and Western Medicine (April, 2017) URL: https://www.karger.com
[4] Bolte Taylor, J. (2021), Whole Brain Living, Carlsbad, California: Hay House