The Danger of Blanket Beliefs: Which Ones Are Smothering YOUR Creativity?
What is the one single thing that will hold back your creativity, even if you have the perfect environment, studio, equipment, support network, marketing, and finances in place to freely create and share with the world whatever your heart desires?
The answer? Your belief system.
Our belief systems are the collected thoughts we have about the world and ourselves in it, those thoughts we assume to be true, and no longer question or challenge.
Many beliefs we have may come from direct experience and good judgement and are entirely healthy to hold and abide by. For example we believe if we put our hand in a fire it will get burnt. And we’d be right!
But what about other beliefs that appear to be just as irrefutable and entirely founded in truth, but actually aren’t? These can be beliefs that in fact also limit us hugely, even if we don’t initially realise it.
There are those beliefs which may be fairly specific to your creative life and aspirations, for example:
“I can’t draw so it’s pointless me trying anything else artistic.”
“Getting a book deal these days is impossible, there’s too much competition.”
“I tried dancing ballroom years ago and was useless so I couldn’t dance salsa.”
Then there are those that are even wider reaching, such as:
“All artists suffer from depression”.
“You can’t make money from something you love.”
“You can only have a few good ideas before you run out.”
Do any of these examples sound familiar to your belief system?
We can call these beliefs, that we hold without having seriously questioned or challenged in years, and that seriously limit our creative efforts, Blanket Beliefs.
And yes, blankets can be very comforting. They can keep us warm and cosy, huddled up in the same position for hours, days or years, safe from the fear of change, protected from needing to reach out beyond ourselves and the familiarity of what we know.
But blankets can also smother us, stifle us, and entangle us, holding us back from breaking free, striding out and seeking what we truly desire in our creative lives.
The first step in breaking free from your Blanket Beliefs is to recognise them, and separate what is actually true from what you just BELIEVE to be true.
Take the time to think about some of the beliefs you hold without question about your creative life.
Write them down as a list, the thoughts you hold as unquestionably true that seriously limit your creativity and prevent you moving forward and achieving what you dream of achieving. Use the examples above if they’re relevant to you and add as many others as you think of.
Then consider what holding these unproven Blanket Beliefs costs you and your creative ambitions on a daily basis. Only then can you begin to work on replacing these beliefs with others that are more realistic, more healthy, and that will serve you far better in the long run.
So isn’t it time you began to identify and loosen some of your Blanket Beliefs?
Don’t you owe it to yourself, and to the rest of the waiting world, to stop smothering YOUR creativity?
: Share Your Experience ::
What are some of the Blanket Beliefs that hold YOU back from creating?
Share your comments and experiences by just clicking on the comments link below.
The answer? Your belief system.
Our belief systems are the collected thoughts we have about the world and ourselves in it, those thoughts we assume to be true, and no longer question or challenge.
Many beliefs we have may come from direct experience and good judgement and are entirely healthy to hold and abide by. For example we believe if we put our hand in a fire it will get burnt. And we’d be right!
But what about other beliefs that appear to be just as irrefutable and entirely founded in truth, but actually aren’t? These can be beliefs that in fact also limit us hugely, even if we don’t initially realise it.
There are those beliefs which may be fairly specific to your creative life and aspirations, for example:
“I can’t draw so it’s pointless me trying anything else artistic.”
“Getting a book deal these days is impossible, there’s too much competition.”
“I tried dancing ballroom years ago and was useless so I couldn’t dance salsa.”
Then there are those that are even wider reaching, such as:
“All artists suffer from depression”.
“You can’t make money from something you love.”
“You can only have a few good ideas before you run out.”
Do any of these examples sound familiar to your belief system?
We can call these beliefs, that we hold without having seriously questioned or challenged in years, and that seriously limit our creative efforts, Blanket Beliefs.
And yes, blankets can be very comforting. They can keep us warm and cosy, huddled up in the same position for hours, days or years, safe from the fear of change, protected from needing to reach out beyond ourselves and the familiarity of what we know.
But blankets can also smother us, stifle us, and entangle us, holding us back from breaking free, striding out and seeking what we truly desire in our creative lives.
The first step in breaking free from your Blanket Beliefs is to recognise them, and separate what is actually true from what you just BELIEVE to be true.
Take the time to think about some of the beliefs you hold without question about your creative life.
Write them down as a list, the thoughts you hold as unquestionably true that seriously limit your creativity and prevent you moving forward and achieving what you dream of achieving. Use the examples above if they’re relevant to you and add as many others as you think of.
Then consider what holding these unproven Blanket Beliefs costs you and your creative ambitions on a daily basis. Only then can you begin to work on replacing these beliefs with others that are more realistic, more healthy, and that will serve you far better in the long run.
So isn’t it time you began to identify and loosen some of your Blanket Beliefs?
Don’t you owe it to yourself, and to the rest of the waiting world, to stop smothering YOUR creativity?
: Share Your Experience ::
What are some of the Blanket Beliefs that hold YOU back from creating?
Share your comments and experiences by just clicking on the comments link below.
posted by Dan at 5:27 PM
1 Comments:
I suppose this isn't as much about how blanket beliefs are smothering my creativity as it is about the huge step I took to get PAST one of these beliefs. For 28 yrs I have been keeping journals which mostly contain what I would NOW classify as "pieces" rather than "entries". I LOVED the physical act of writing and how it seemed to enrich my soul. People would tell me I had a special talent for writing (very significant people in my life) and yet I was bound by a belief that since I hadn't actually DONE anything to *show* my writing, I couldn't possibly be a writer.
Flash forward to about one year ago when I left my job to be a stay at home mom because I just couldn't get out of my job anything close to what I could get out of my writing. For a few months when I would fill out papers for things under occupation I would put "homemaker". One day I took a risk just to see how it felt. Instead of stating "homemaker" I stated "writer". I felt like I was lying. Why? You see, I hadn't ever had anything PUBLISHED so I couldn't be a WRITER!! Then I thought.....wait, I AM a writer! Writing is my life and my soul purpose. So what if nobody else knows that yet.
Every single chance I get now I refer to myself as a writer. All it took was one little risk to nudge me out from under that belief. Since then, I have begun to feel incredibly confident about my abilities and actually BELIEVE I can do it!! I have taken a few writing refresher and creativity courses and I am not very far away from putting the pieces of my traumatic teen years into a book about bullying - not a how-to, but an experiencial/memoir type of book.
And you know what? So what if it never gets published. I'm a writer anyway!!
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