Originally posted on June 10, 2013. It’s one of my favourite posts, and I sought it out this week as I’m going through a case of “bloglessness” at the moment. Keep scrolling past the cartoon…

No, it’s not a blog post on the Muse album (that’s something us (me) bloggers do, slip something in to the post to let the world know that we (I) don’t sit whole days in darkened rooms trying to think of something to write; it’s usually something totally unrelated to the subject at hand and just lets the world know that we (I) are (am) actually cool)!

Anyhow, I’ve written a few times about bloggers block. I think I’ve found a way to overcome it. I came across an article by psychologist Douglas Eby on Zite. He says that what causes creative blocks is The Resistance. This holds us back from being creative. He quotes from a book by Steven Pressfield. In the Foreword, Robert Mckee describes The Resistance as being the:

“…all-encompassing term for what Freud called the Death Wish – that destructive force inside human nature that rises whenever we consider a tough, long-term course of action that might do for us or others something that’s actually good.”

We sabotage ourselves in that way because we are afraid of the Master Fear, the fear of all fears – the fear that we will Succeed!

This must be true because most of the world’s population is not 100% happy with what they’ve got.

Now what literally stopped me in my tracks so much so that I went for a walk, was what he said next. The reason why we are afraid of success is because we are afraid of rejection, of being excluded from our ‘tribes’. This is a fear 50 million years in the making, and, it seems, we’ve been “wired” for it.

Douglas Eby goes on to say that a Professional cannot let the thought of rejection get him/her down, or take actual rejection personally. The internal enemy is Resistance and Resistance gets stronger when we take things personally. What I like next is when he says that:

“The Professional gives an ear to criticism, seeking to learn and grow.”

By challenging limiting beliefs about oneself and thoughts that are no longer useful will fortify our inner creative resolve.

In a nutshell, The Resistance arises out of a master fear that we will succeed at doing something that’s good for ourselves and others. This fear prevents us from taking any action because to do so, and succeed will mean that we will be rejected by our social groups. The only way to get over this is challenge these limiting beliefs and use criticism as a way to improve and become better.

Probably the best piece of advice I received about my so-called blogger’s block, came from a colleague at work who at one time dabbled in art. He said:

“…Regina, just sit in front of your open laptop on a blank screen, and wait for words to come. Just like an artist stands in front of his canvas, eventually something will go on to that canvas, even if it is something he will paint over. At least you will have broken the block.”

That was good advice indeed. At last, what he said made sense to me after reading Douglas Eby’s article.

I actually managed to create this post quite effortlessly. Now let’s see what happens tomorrow 🙂

********

Above post inspired by Douglas Eby’s article, “Fighting Inner Battles to be More Creative” on Psych Central.

Steven Pressfield’s book, “The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Creative Battles”