Stop Tolerating, Start Creating- What Are You Tolerating That's Silently Destroying Your Creativity

By Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin

One of the most incredible traits of human beings is being able to adapt when circumstances change.

Now most of the time this is a wonderful capability. Other times though, it means we become so used to tolerating certain situations that on the surface it feels like we're ignoring them.

Underneath though, they are damaging us daily, with a constant drip, drip effect that drastically undermines our confidence and ability to create.

Here's a physical example to illustrate the point.

A friend of mine, we'll call her Eve, injured her left shoulder lifting something too heavy. She thought she'd just rest it for a few days and hoped it would get better on its own.

A few days became a few weeks, and Eve's shoulder did appear to be a little less painful. “Hey, at least I've still got another working shoulder!” she joked with friends.

Three months on though, Eve decided the pain was too much. So she visited a chiropractor. To her amazement, after the chiropractor had examined Eve, she told her there was actually more damage to her OTHER shoulder, where she'd been compensating and protecting the one she hurt by using the other shoulder more.

The chiropractor also found that Eve's whole posture was out of alignment as she been leaning more to one side, again to try to protect the injured shoulder. A niggling pain in her left knee - that Eve had thought was completely unrelated - was also caused by the overcompensation for the injured shoulder.

Luckily Eve sought help in time, and both of her shoulders and her knee are now fully healed once more. By tolerating the pain for so long, Eve could have done herself permanent damage, in both shoulders, her back, her knee and ultimately her ability to physically function in the same way as before.

Will you be as fortunate though? What pain have you been tolerating in your creative life? What niggling negativities have been slowly chipping away at your creative confidence and your ability to create freely?

What kind of beliefs about your creativity have you gotten used to and accepted as “normal” even though they make you feel anxious, inadequate and fearful about creating?

We began by talking about how adaptable people are in difficult circumstances, and what a powerful trait that is to help us survive and thrive.

Think very carefully about what you've adapted to - the people, the habits, the situations, the inner thoughts - that all have an adverse effect on your creativity.

But you've just learned to tolerate them, forgetting there's an alternative, forgetting that you always have a choice. Until now.

Choose creativity, and choose to take care of yourself.

Identify the biggest negative tolerance in your life, the one thing that holds you back from being as creative as you can be more than anything else. Then take the first step to reducing the impact it has in your life, the first step to removing it entirely.

Stop tolerating, start creating. The first step begins today, it's a great time for you to take it.

Ready to be more creative? Then sign up to “Create Create!” - Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin's free twice monthly ezine - today, and get your free copy of the “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook. Just head over to http://www.coachcreative.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dan_Goodwin