wellness

How Do We Access Creativity?

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Creativity and Parts Series, #4 (final post)

So how do we access creativity, then?

We access creativity by being in relationship with all parts. And we access what is immediately in front of us, first. Sometimes we have to work backwards to find what’s right in front of us. At the center of the onion may be vulnerability, and creativity. But there may be a layer surrounding that, a protective part like procrastination. There may even be a layer or two surrounding that – such as frustration with the procrastination. A good question to ask is “How do you feel towards this layer / part?” And if there’s a strong emotion, that may indicate another layer to notice, step back, and work with. If the answer is something like curious, or open-hearted, or compassionate, that’s generally a green light to go ahead and work with the layer (or part, or emotion).

When we get curious about what’s there, we actually are accessing that open-hearted energy known in IFS as Self-energy. The cool thing about doing this – no matter how many layers or steps back you’ve had to take – is that by being in relationship with any part, we are building up the Self-energy that helps us get to the good stuff. In the process of getting curious, we are creating the superhighway that helps us get to the center of the onion. In fact, the vulnerability and creativity that is the goal is also the essence of the pathway that gets us there. Which is why when we start doing this work, going slowly leads to going fast because we build up Self-energy along the way.

By noticing and getting curious about our protective parts, finding out what they need from us and how we can care for them, we are able to be in relationship with them. When protective parts have trust instead of fear, they may step aside and allow access to more vulnerability and creativity. That being said, when protective parts step aside, they also may lead us to younger hurt parts, known as exiles. Working with a therapist can help us to care for these young parts as well – and when our young parts have access to play and fun, and our protective parts are comfortable allowing play and care, access to creativity can become a superhighway. Young parts often lead directly to creativity when they feel safe!

Working with a therapist who is familiar with IFS, or a mentor or coach in your creative field, may help you to take more steps towards this.

Working with parts:

What is your protective part trying to tell you? What is it concerned will happen if you don’t listen? What does it need from you?

Accessing creativity:

Consider what creative pathways are exciting to you. If there are no barriers, what would you do? How can you care for your protective parts as a part of your creative process? What kinds of creativity did you enjoy as a child? What do you enjoy now?

What is the first step you could take today (or the next step, if you’re already engaged in a project) towards your ideal creative activity?

*Please note that this series is intended to be a jumping-off point in considering parts and the creative process, or additional supplemental material in the therapy process; it is not intended to replace therapy. Please discuss any questions, concerns, or activated responses with your therapist directly.

Journaling Exercise

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Creativity and Parts Series

Journaling exercise: Try writing a dialogue with a part. You can begin by noticing either the sensation you identified or the voice that alerts you to the part. On one side of the page (or in one color), write out what the part may say, and on the other side, you can respond from your Self. Going back and forth between the two, you can create a written dialogue between your Self and your part.

If you notice additional parts while engaging with this, you can add them in another color or column, or repeat the exercise between the newly-identified part and your Self.

Once you’ve completed the “conversation,” you can read it back over for reflection or bring it to your next therapy session.

Opening Access to Creativity

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Creativity and Parts Series, #3

There are so many potential blocks to our pathway towards creativity. Our inner critics take on a variety of roles, and as protective parts they are often trying to work to keep us safe from harm. Or from vulnerability. Our internal protectors don’t always know the difference.

Creativity requires vulnerability; vulnerability fuels creativity.

So when we have parts that directly criticize us, or indirectly engage in behaviors like procrastination, prioritizing other tasks, or somehow devaluing a creative endeavor, they are trying to keep us from myriad harms that can come with vulnerability. Being creative requires messiness, the potential of failure, being disliked by someone, being criticized by someone, and above all else, being seen in a genuine way. This is the thing that can be scary about therapy, too – and is also kind of the point: being seen.

“Being seen” is a big deal – especially if we’re talking about being seen at our core. In order to be seen at the core, we have to work at first seeing the parts of ourselves that are closest. Most of us don’t have a congenial relationship with our inner critics, but that’s actually a great place to start. We have to understand what they’re trying to do for us, what they’re scared of, and how we can care for them, in order for them to stop shouting at us. We can’t skip ahead or around – they’ll find a subversive way to stop us. But if we understand and care for the needs of the critic, or even find a way to use its skills in harmony with our goals, we can open up more access to the vulnerable process of creativity.

We don’t go around protective parts, or check them off a list and then move on. It’s through the relationship with parts that we experience opening. By seeing all parts of ourselves – protective layers, younger hurt parts, and even some playful and joyful young parts – we can open access to vulnerability, and to creativity.

What parts of yourself are hard to see? What parts feel easy to see and understand? When do you notice yourself feeling playful and allowing joy?

Journaling Exercise

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Creativity and Parts Series

Journaling exercise: Start by writing what you feel in your body after reading the previous posts. What sensations do you notice? Where do you feel heavy / light, warm / cold, tight / relaxed? Take a moment to write and describe the sensations in as much detail as possible.

If you could give a voice to one of the sensations you noticed, what would it share with you? Let the sensation “talk” to you. Or, if you are aware that this is tied to a part of you you’re already familiar with, what is the part trying to share with you through the bodily sensation? (For example, an internal critic could speak through tension in the shoulders, or a productive part may tell you through your leg jiggling that you should be folding your laundry instead of contemplating creativity.) We’re not trying to change or stop these sensations or the thoughts associated with them; at this point, we are just noticing and tolerating them, if that feels okay to you to do. (And if it does not, you can always listen to your internal stop signs!).

Next, consider the moment when you begin or plan to begin a creative endeavor. (What is your creative endeavor of choice? Art, writing, music?) What thoughts pop into your head? You can take a moment to journal these thoughts, and any emotions associated with them. You may have positive or negative emotions, or both. All reactions are welcome, and all parts of you are welcome.

Notice, do these thoughts feel like they belong to you, or someone else? Consider if these thoughts are barriers to creativity, or encouragement for creativity. Who else in your lifetime may have influenced the development of this voice? It can be useful to notice how much of this voice belongs to a part of you, and how much may belong to people (such as parents, teachers, or coaches) who may have influenced the way you approach creativity. If the voice is yours alone, what led to its development?

You can continue to journal in this way by noticing sensations, giving voice to them, and considering who may have influenced that voice or how it developed internally. You can use this journaling as a tool for deepening your therapy work, or as a tool for increasing self-understanding and self-compassion in your creative endeavors. As you begin to befriend (or at least acknowledge) the parts of you activated by creativity, you are developing a relationship with your parts and your creative process.

Why Do We Need Creativity?

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(Creativity and Parts Series, #1)

We often think of creative pursuits as little luxuries or hobbies. Some people may consider them to be unnecessary, or child-like. But I believe creative pursuits are not a luxury so much as one of the most important things we can do, and an access point to joy.

By creative pursuits, I don’t mean necessarily big activities that require a lot of time or money or emotional investment. For some people, they may be. For some people, creative pursuits may even encompass their career or life’s work. But creativity is also sometimes how we get the toddler to put on their shoes (by pretending their toes are running away and we need to catch them, of course), or what we flavors we choose to cook with for dinner, or play with a pet. Creativity can be infused into daily life. When we’re paying attention, we may also notice where else we feel a pull towards play.

Creativity is also at the heart of a type of therapy for managing depression called Behavioral Activation therapy, which focuses on finding areas of enjoyment and meaningfulness and enhancing the activities that meet both criteria. Involvement in things that are enjoyable and meaningful is preventative against depression!

In Internal Family Systems therapy, when our busy protective parts give us space, we can access what’s called Self-energy. This may look like a self-critical voice quieting enough to allow ourselves to be creative. Self-energy often feels calm, confident, light, open, and… creative.

The upcoming series of posts focuses on the creative process, what parts can hinder it, and how to work with these parts in order to access more internal vulnerability and creativity.

Celebrating 5 Years in Business

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Five years ago today, I opened the doors to Perspectives for the first time. My office was a little smaller, and my schedule a little more open. I had spent months preparing the office to open and years preparing my clinical skills before taking the step to become a small business owner.

Here we are at June 1st, 2020. I’m currently working from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and my heart goes out to all those who are struggling in these times due to the virus and due to the burden of systemic racism in our country. These are tough times. I miss being in the physical office, but am so grateful to be able to connect with my clients via telehealth. And I look forward to sharing space in the office at 46 Prince Street again someday soon.

As I think back to my opening day and all that has happened since, I’m aware that although I’m a solo practitioner, this work is anything but solo. The work itself is grounded in connection.

I’m grateful for all the individuals who have walked into my office, brave enough to bear the vulnerability of therapy and to trust me to sit alongside them. I’m grateful for my colleagues who work alongside me, inspiring me with the good work they do and elevating us all. We are a community of helpers. I’m grateful for my supervisors and mentors, and my business coach, who give me something to aspire to while simultaneously cultivating the capacity for success. And I’m grateful for my dear friends and family who share my heart and make it possible for me to do the work.

There are a lot of things that go into maintaining a business. Along with the therapy itself, I am continuously looking forward to see what needs I can meet in our community, and reflecting back on what has worked so far.

Five years into business, Perspectives Mental Health Counseling, PLLC, is just getting started.

When to go to therapy?

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How do you know when it’s time to start or return to therapy?

In a first session, I often will ask a client how they knew it was time to come in. Sometimes people are coming in at the encouragement of a friend or family member; sometimes they know they need an outside perspective to explore an issue; sometimes it is clear that anxiety, depression or other symptoms are getting in the way of day-to-day life.

For therapists, it is easy to know when we need to go to therapy. When our own stuff starts coming up for us in the midst of counseling others, or if it’s at all getting in the way of facilitating psychotherapy, we know we need to talk to colleagues or get our own therapy. It’s like how doctors need to be healthy in order to treat their patients; counselors need to be emotionally healthy in order to treat our clients.

For everyone else, it can be harder to answer this question. Generally, I encourage someone to come to counseling when they have issues that are getting in the way of living their life the way they want to. (This could be due to any number of things: a stress response that is out of proportion to the stressor; difficulty sleeping; low mood; overwhelming thoughts; relationship difficulties; adjusting to a traumatic medical diagnosis or event).

When you feel you need a safe person to talk to, to process recent events or explore a part of your identity, it’s a good time to come to therapy. When you need to voice the loss you’ve experienced or the secrets that weigh on you, it’s a good time to come to therapy. When you feel ready to build on the strengths you’ve got and develop additional coping skills to face the challenges or burdens of your life, it’s a good time to come to therapy.

I always tell my clients that therapy is about balancing challenge and support. So, when you feel you need extra support in your life and you are ready to be challenged to grow – that is the time to come to therapy!

Mindfulness Exercise

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Mindfulness involves observing and accepting the things around and within us in the present moment, without judgment.  In therapy, Johanna may involve mindfulness skills to build awareness of various issues and to develop coping strategies to reach optimal wellness.   The exercise below is not individualized to your needs as it may be in therapy, but is rather intended as a general exercise that you may find useful.

January’s Mindfulness Exercise:

It’s a new year, so let’s go back to the basics – starting with the breath.

Sit or stand as comfortable as you can, allowing your arms to rest at your side. Take a nice inhale through your nose, and exhale through pursed lips. Notice the feeling of expansion as you breathe in, and release as you exhale. Pay attention to the air as it passes through either your nose or your mouth.

Notice also how the rest of your body shifts with each breath in and out. Do your shoulders go up and down? Does your chest rise, or your belly expand? Bring your awareness inward to notice the details of each breath. Check in also with the muscles that might be holding tension, such as your jaw or shoulders. Do they shift when you inhale, or exhale?

As best you can, focus solely on the minute details of each breath – you have been breathing all day, perhaps without noticing it. Try to take 5 to 10 intentional breaths with this level of awareness.

 

Today’s exercise is intended to increase your emotional awareness, both regarding what you are experiencing emotionally as well as what you do with it. As always, if this feels overwhelming, please call Johanna to set up an appointment.

 

NOTE: This is not intended to replace therapy.  Please contact Johanna at (585)406-3012 if you are interested in engaging in counseling for optimal wellness.

The Helper’s Humanity

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Together with Amy Andrews, MFA, LMHC, Johanna will be running a series of workshops on the humanity of the helper. Each workshop will use a different aspect of creative writing to explore your sense of humanity as a helping professional. Johanna and Amy will lead various exercises to deepen your curiosity and validate your vulnerability as a human and as a helper. Each exercise will involve personal time for writing as well as group discussion for processing.

The goals of the workshop are to provide creative writing tools for self-care and personal exploration, and to validate all the aspects of your humanity!

The first workshop is coming up in a few weeks on September 22nd. Each workshop will run from 8am-12pm, and coffee and light snacks will be provided. Spots are limited, so sign up soon!

Workshops are open to all, but are geared towards those individuals currently working in the helping professions (medical, mental health, religion and spirituality, teaching, etc).

Sign up for one retreat or for all four: $75 per retreat or $250 for all four.

To sign up, email Johanna at jbondperspectives@gmail.com or Amy at andrews.counseling@gmail.com. Please feel free to reach out with any questions you may have, as well.

Johanna and Amy are incredibly excited to collaborate on this project and can’t wait for the first workshop, titled “Developing identity through character.”