Fears, Unconscious Fears, And Being More Creative
How do our fears encourage or interfere with being creative?
“I don’t do anything anymore that feels safe. If it doesn’t scare the crap out of you, then you’re not doing the right thing.” – Sandra Bullock
I’ve always liked that quote. But fear, anxiety, being scared can motivate us, or disrupt creativity.
(From post Fear and Anxiety Can Help Us Be More Creative.)
[Audio version of this post - synthetic voice.]
In their book Art & Fear, artists David Bayles and Ted Orland comment:
“In the ideal — that is to say, real — artist, fears not only continue to exist, they exist side by side with the desires that complement them, perhaps drive them, certainly feed them.
“Naive passion, which promotes work done in ignorance of obstacles, becomes — with courage — informed passion, which promotes work done in full acceptance of those obstacles.”
Writer Steven Pressfield asks, “Are you paralyzed with fear? That’s a good sign. Fear is good. Like self-doubt, fear is an indicator. Fear tells us what we have to do.” – From his book The War of Art.
Many actors and other performers experience stage fright. What are some of the feelings and thinking that drive this anxiety?
For some performers, their inexperience can lead to insecurity, but a number of people report these feelings even after establishing themselves for years as accomplished artists.
Ann Dowd (‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ and other projects) was quoted in a 2015 New York Times article: “I have stage fright. I suppose every actor has a degree of it. It’s tedious.”
From my article How can anticipation drive stage fright?
Anxiety is one form of fear, and as a number of psychologists and others point out, it can interfere with creativity.
Writer and creativity coach Eric Maisel has said that in his many years of counseling as a psychotherapist, he has found, “Anxiety regularly stops creative people in their tracks and makes their experience of creating more painful than pleasurable.”
– From my post Creative Anxiety.
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Psychotherapist Mihaela Ivan Holtz helps creative people in TV/Film, performing and fine arts.
She also writes about the emotional and creative pleasures of our inner life – and its challenges – on her site Creative Minds Psychotherapy.
Here is an excerpt from one of her articles on fear:
The fears that we are aware of, we can choose to face them or not.
However, Unconscious Fears are deceiving. They control us without our ability to know and understand their impact on our lives.
Unconscious Fears are seductive. We believe they do not exist, while they keep us stuck in dysfunctional cycles.
We can get stuck in bad or unfulfilling relationships, unsuccessful careers, or live a life that does not feel right.
Unconscious fears are powerful. They don’t stop controlling our lives, unless we address them.
When we heal unconscious fears, we can become an active part in creating our life, instead of life happening to us.
How do you know you have Unconscious Fears, since they operate outside your awareness?
Actually, deep inside you know…
You know because life is not working for you…because you are feeling stuck, going in circles without getting anywhere.
Because you are aware of how much more capable you are than your accomplishments.
You know because you can’t make things happen, over and over again…
Some examples of unconscious fears are:
“fear of being broken,”
“fear of authority figures,”
“fear of not being loved,”
“fear of rejection,”
“fear of humiliation,”
“fear of not being good enough,”
“fear of not succeeding,”
“fear of making mistakes,” … just to name a few.
Read more in her article
Uncover your Unconscious Fears and Live Free.
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Hugh Jackman on how meditation has helped him live better with anxiety.
“I was a very anxious kid in many ways. I had a lot of fears.
“I was afraid of heights; I was afraid of the dark; I was afraid of what people thought—and I hated the prison of that fear.”
He continues:
“With meditation, my anxiety levels dropped considerably.
“It seems to me that the mind is fuel to the fire of fear.”
He explains more about his experience with Transcendental Meditation… see article:
Meditation for Emotional Health and Creativity.
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High Sensitivity and fear and anxiety
As a creative person, you probably have the personality trait of high sensitivity, or sensory processing sensitivity.
“Anxiety or high stress is actually pretty common for highly sensitive people.
“Much of it has to do with an overloaded sensitive nervous system.”
Sensitivity expert Julie Bjelland explains, “When the nervous system doesn’t get time to turn off, even away from someone’s energy in the room, this nervous system ‘engine’ gets overwhelmed…
“It’s common for highly sensitive people to have a busy mind and have a hard time turning it off to relax.”
Here is a short video with an excerpt of the audio in her free Masterclass
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