Considerations for a World Disrupted: A Response from The Center for Creative Emergence

Considerations for a World Disrupted:

Engaging & Nurturing Your Creative Self

Dear all,

I hope you are staying safe, and taking the precautions you need for yourselves, your families, and your community to stay safe, healthy, and functioning. I had the March newsletter ready to go, and will send that out this week, but I wanted to send this response first, given the circumstances.

We're all in an unprecedented unknown together - a high-stakes global improv scene. People are being more raw and real and vulnerable. We're learning, adapting, and creating as we go. We're seeing real suffering, fear, and pain. It's easy to go into fight-flight-freeze or hopelessness in response. Yes, And...we're also seeing amazing and awe-inspiring acts of love, kindness, humanity, creativity, compassion, innovation, connection, support, generosity, and true community, even with the physical distancing.

The human(e) spirit and the Creative Spirit are not being held down! I'm seeing people all over the globe turn hopelessness into helpfulness. It's not about waiting until the constraints are over - it's about using them now, as they emerge, in our own lives and to serve the greater good.

I'm have various reactions to what's happening, from deep sadness for the real suffering and challenges of so many to huge hope and awe for how people are showing up and for what's creatively possible, among others. My work focus all stems from the life-giving creative source/force within us, and working with it to transform the darkest night into a new dawn. I'm committed more than ever to that, and in the process of learning what that means at a new level.

In that, I'm reflecting on what's emerging and my role within it. My work is changing as my in-person workshops have halted and I'll be going virtual. While I have no answers, which is the hallmark of emergence space , I'm staying present to real-time discovery to get more clarity on what's mine to do. Navigating the Unknown has always been at the core of my creative emergence and improv-based work, and I am deepening in that exploration now.

There are ways of being, thinking, and acting to support our mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual/soulful, and creative well-being given the constraints of this situation. I'll share a small first batch of them here today, and will add others, and expand on some of these, in future posts. These are considerations, not prescriptions...take in and adapt whatever resonates, and leave the rest. :-)

Considerations for Your Creative Self

in a World Disrupted - Part 1

Creative Self Care. In addition to whatever else you are doing for your self care - staying informed, eating well, hydrating, exercising, social distancing, meditating, breath/body practices, staying connected w loved ones, getting out in nature - do something to actively nurture your Creative Self and keep aliveness energy moving through you. Paint, draw, move, dance, make crafts, dance, sing, write poems; improvise, play games and make up games; discover new music and write music; watch funny videos that make you laugh, aspirational videos that inspire you, educational videos that teach and inform; read inspirational books that uplift you; join social media groups of caring creative people coming together around for shared support or shared aspirational actions and discussions - they are out there!

Our Creative Self Flourishes with Hope. Feed it some hopeful news or ideas each day, especially when the world is living in fear. Stay cautious and informed...and consciously seek out positive stories and energy, acts of kindness, helpful innovations. It's all out there. Learn new things; try the creative things you've put off; reflect, think, contemplate, and question assumptions. Journaling is one great way to sort out your thoughts (fears, hopes, ideas) and tap into what emerges into your consciousness. it's a great way to dialogue with inner parts of yourself, including what's alive and generative in you. it's especially needed now. This is a good time to use the "Pause" we're all in to deepen Self Discovery in creative ways. I have more to say on this in future posts.

Creative Self Safety in an Unsafe World - we need some sense of psychological safety to best engage with the Creative Self. Familiarity and stability (the norm) is not giving it to us now, so that means we need to learn to find it in the unknown. One way to do that is stay Present to what's true for you, moment by moment, day by day. Don't leave "space-time" in your mind to go back to the ways things were, or create harrowing future narratives of what might be - stay in the moment with what really IS. Learning to stay present, like in an improv scene, means being with what is, creating with it in the moment, until what's next unfolds...and then being with that. If you can answer "Yes" to, "Am I safe in this moment?" and really feel that, then more creative potential opens up to you. You can begin to feel safer, and see possibilities that you had not seen, just by practicing presence. Yogis, mystics, athletes, and improvisers all practice various forms of presencing (and there is much online on it and how to access it) because it transforms how we respond to life, and is especially useful in disruptions. One paragraph doesn't do this topic justice.

Embrace Both And (and Yes And). Accept the Paradox of Both And that we are all in right now. Creativity thrives within paradox. There is no one completely right way to view what's happening. No matter what you think about this situation, there is evidence to back you up: if you think this is devastating, there is much to validate you on that. If you think this is a dawning of a new creative renaissance, there is much to validate you on that. Both are true. There are horrible things happening for people, and generative things emerging. We're seeing people get incredibly creative in how they're helping others. We're seeing groups gather online to commiserate, collaborate, and co-create. Both And is not about denying any aspect of what's happening - it it's about accepting the various parts of what's there - and creating a larger context or framework for them to co-exist so they are not limited to narrow ways of seeing or meeting the situation. I see BOTH AND as accepting both and more, and YES AND as accepting them, AND adding something new that is our contribution. We're both in a breakdown and in a breakthrough to something new. If we can hold both the challenging aspects WITH the generative aspects without denying one, it becomes easier to find a call to contribution within it.

That's it for today. People are being with what's happening in so many different ways, based on their unique circumstances and needs, and I respect the creative differences. The above are some reflections on engaging the creative potential in the situation - a potential Yes And to whatever else you're doing that works for you.

If you are having a hard time accessing your creative voice in what's happening, I am offering a limited number of pro bono 30-minute Creative Self Support sessions over the next 3 weeks. I'll give you personalized specific tools and techniques, based on who you are and particular needs, specifically for accessing and focusing your creative self. It's first come first serve until my schedule fills up. (This is different than my regular free 30-minute coaching discovery sessions.)

Stay safe! Take good care of yourself - and others! We are all in this emergent unknown alone together...and with the creative spirit.

Love and good thoughts,

Michelle

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Other Posts to Nurture Your Creative Self in a World Disrupted

There are ideas and practices in these posts as food for

thought during these rapid-changing times.

The Center for Creative Emergence