Secret #4 Surrendering to Creative Cycles

"When you come to the edge of all the light you know, and are about to step off into the darkness of the unknown, faith is knowing one of two things will happen; There will be something solid to stand on, or you will be taught how to fly."~Barbara Winter

This chapter in 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women is about embracing the cycles of creativity.

Most of us have times that we feel that the ideas are coming quickly and will never stop and other times when the creative land seems barren and we wonder if we will ever have another decent idea or the will to implement it.

Jamie Ridler talks about what often leads to her "moods," those rather barren times, among some other great things, like what she does during these moods and how she survives them.

One of her mood predictors is something she calls being on the bridge. As soon as I saw the term, I knew exactly what it meant. I followed the link to a previous post she had about the bridge and it took me to that wonderful a-ha moment.

I have spent a lot of time on the bridge and I realize that it almost always has preceded one of my creative funks. I think I have been on the SoulCollage bridge for a year.

When I first received my certification I was excited. I wanted to learn all I could about SoulCollage so that I could share it with others. Preparing is fun; especially preparing without a deadline.

Once I scheduled a workshop, I began to fall into a non-creative place. I wasn't sure of myself. I was terrified and I pretty much put, "Please don't let anyone show up," out into the Universe. And that is exactly what I got.
I was relieved.

Yet, I was also disappointed and disillusioned. I would just drop the idea of facilitating altogether for a while (jumping off the bridge). But something always pulled me back. I repeated this cycle numerous times, as many of you have witnessed.

Thursday night, I finally did a real honest-to-Seena workshop. I actually crossed the bridge. I made mistakes. It wasn't perfect. But it worked. People enjoyed the process and learned things about themselves. They want to continue.

I finally get it! I can make mistakes and people will still get something useful. I can learn from my mistakes. I can also learn things from doing the workshops that I couldn't possibly learn any other way and these things will lead to better workshops. If I always jump off the bridge instead of crossing it, I will never improve.

Jamie said something very important. She said that she finally figured out that the bridge is just a link between two places that she loves.

I couldn't be sure that I loved both places until I finally crossed and lead the workshop this week. Now I know that I love where the bridge leads so the bridge is no longer a scary place.

I will no longer dread the idea of making mistakes. It's never going to be fun to mess up in front of people. Hey, I'm not a masochist. But it's not the end of the world.

I'm so grateful for this book group and for Jamie's amazing insight and her willingness to share it.

She also has a great interview with Leah Piken Kolidas, whom you probably know from Creative Every Day. Isn't it wonderful that we are surrounded by these highly creative women who are willing to share their hearts, souls and ideas with us and who do it so well?