Leaving fear behind is the fast path

Inspired by a conversation with my brother, work conversations and personal reflections I wanted to talk about how managing your mental state is critical for your creativity which, in turn, is critical for finding work you naturally enjoy.

Our nervous system influences our mental state and our ability to be creative.

Unfortunately modern life and the stresses it imposes on us puts us into a flight, fight, freeze or fawn state more often than is healthy or even necessary.

We are focused in this state on the danger in hand and our response.

The alternative is when we are in a resting and relaxed stated which is when we can be creative (which takes many forms which will be unique to us).

Hopefully my description, the benefits this gives us and the impact on our creativity which helps us navigate obstacles and to avoid getting stuck in the quagmire (read analysis paralysis, overthinking and self-judgement) is self evident.

So the focus of this week's post is on exploring how we can facilitate getting into this state of mind.

Before this I wanted to highlight a couple of relevant contributions this week.

In a fun conversation with John Morley this week he introduced the simple idea of his experience of corporate life being based on having, doing and being.

This means

what do I want to have?

what do I need to do to get it?

what do I... oh well, not sure I am interested in being

His approach is to subvert this to being, having and doing

what do I want to be?

what does that lead me to do?

what do I... well I guess I will have whatever I have

I love how this is a simple and effective way to communicate one way in which we have gone wrong (in the Western working world and the Western world in general).

Please help me communicate this better if I haven't quite represented this accurately John Morley .

Adam Widawski shared a timely post on the concept of flow (which is somewhat related)

an optimal state of consciousness when we feel and perform at our best

and asked the question

What is your top flow-induction protocol?

In the conversation with my brother, Damien Papworth , the topic of the addiction to being right came up. Our interactions with others can fall too easily into sharing opinions and ideas (which we have picked up somewhere) and trying to convince the other of the rightness of our argument.

As a species we need connection and this feels like a very thin form of connection which is based only on the intellect and rational debate.

In my article on How to be human in business I explored other lighter (but more substantiaI I believe) forms of connection.

So this leads me back to the question of

How do we manage our mental state so that we are relaxed and best able to access our creativity?

It is my experience that a reflective practice to become consciously aware that we ARE all connected all of the time (to each other and and other non-human entities) is a major contributor to this. If this doesn't make sense, read to the end, the exercise at the end should make this clear.

It is easy to forget this and these sources of stress cause us to forget this.

So a practice that brings this idea into our awareness can be very helpful.

Contemplating and reflecting on the photo at the top of the article is my contribution to this practice.

As I look I notice:

• how the weather (life giving rain or sun and its role in photosynthesis) is essential for all life on earth
• the winter as it ebbs away provided time for the trees to rest and prepare for another cycle of growth
• the reeds on the edge of the pond thrive in this watery environment (and can be utilised by humans for thatching houses)
• the path providing us a convenient and easy means of accessing this park so motivating us to spend time in this natural space with the myriad benefits
• the dog and its owner with the symbiotic relationship which gives humans a real sense of what it means to be loved unconditionally and the dog the connection which it craves without embarrasment (perhaps providing us with a role model and a reminder of what matters)
• the gentle sinuous curves and soft edges of the landscape offering us effortless beauty that soothes our minds (encouraging us to rest allowing our creativity to emerge)

As I finish writing I notice how my mental state has slowed and eased from this simple exercise which brings a feeling of gratitude.

If you would be interested in exploring further, please connect with me by sending a message so I can share a free exercise created by the Earthaconter Community that will help you slow down and be more creative.

(if you are interested in learning about more practices and tools that help you become more creative, follow the Earthaconter Community )