Tired of Knowing
I get tired of having to know.
I get tired of having to figure out where I am, where I am going, what will happen next, what I should do next, what the right thing to do is…
The world we live in expects a lot of knowing. (Which is a bit crazy considering all the unknown we exist within - all the uncontrollable things that might show up and change the path!)
All this “having to know” trickles its way unhelpfully into our creative life.
This morning I was working on an art-piece when a friend called. The painting was going ok. Not great, but ok. As I talked to her, I continued to paint and it took on a whole new, more exciting energy!
I realized that once again, I had been caught up in the trying to know. As soon as she called, I had to stop thinking about my painting so hard in order to converse with her. So, of course, that is when the creativity gushed back in!
It’s aways a relief to me to be in the unknowing of creating. The calm of the present moment where I sink into the work and let it speak to me and guide me. The surprises that show up to delight when I stop trying to figure it all out and force it to happen.
If you are a Creative, you know the value of not knowing, of getting a little lost and enjoying the mystery. However, if you tend to swing too far into not knowing, you may also struggle with follow-through or being dependable or being organized. And, therefore, you may have received the message that not knowing is irresponsible.
As a result, we tend to double-down on figuring things out. We may live out of fear of dropping the ball and being seen as chaotic.
And then we wonder why creating feels so hard. Or why there is never time for it.
It’s easy to fall into a vicious cycle not figuring out anything that leads to disarray and, then, over-thinking which leads to a lack of creativity, and back again…
What’s needed is a healthy middle-path. Your middle path. The one that has just enough figured out so that your creativity is free to go wild AND you can see things through.
That sweet spot can help you let go of the DEEP conditioning that says not knowing is a problem, that not knowing is irresponsible, that not knowing is wrong.
The secret is that we need a bit of UNknowing in all parts of our life. It invites creativity into all the nooks and crannies of the everyday tasks. This is the deeper stuff of a life lived in creative flow.
★ Creative Challenge ★ Where are you trying to know too much and where would it be helpful to figure a few things out? Doodle what your sweet spot might look like!