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All people are creative.
No one is excluded from this reality. But there are some people for whom consistent creative expression is vital. If these types lack creative flow, they experience disruption and pain to one degree or another. If persistent, creative career coaching may be in order to begin producing again.

Highly creative people must heed the creative call and take action.
If we ignore the creative call, it will always re-emerge to nip at our heels. We may have to find a creative space amidst other commitments, but we pay a price if we ignore the call completely, and sometimes a serious one indeed. The good news is, everyone can expand their creative expression in a way that relieves extraneous tensions. Becoming a professional artist, essential for some, is for others not the only answer. There are myriad ways to live a more creatively engaged career life. In the process of creative coaching, the first step is to help clients mine intuition and to help them explore the possibilities.

Belief patterns can be re-formed.
When a negative belief has ingrained itself in our minds, it can seem inescapable. To realize that we are in command of the belief pattern, and not the other way around, is the fist step to eliminating it. We are larger than belief. Regarding creative expression, our Creative Voice is infinitely larger than our Critical Voice.

Creative expression is not born of ego.
As we all know, the creative impulse arises from the depths. The receptive state is an invitation, and as the energy arises through the heart and mind, our uniqueness is expressed. The creative process leads us to share new views, new angles, and new insights. I believe it's a generous act, less about receiving attention than it is about sharing a new view, a new angle and new insight. In this vein, the creative process can be examined within the framework of spirituality.

The Inner Critic is a helpful servant in disguise.
It may be hard to wrap arms around this statement. But the Inner Critic is a key figure in creative power. If we push the critic away it gets stronger; if we understand its messages and respond, it will yield to the Creative Voice and will even play a supportive role. This process of transformation is about using one's "awareness mind" to listen deeply. It takes some people longer than others to unleash full creative expression. But with practice, the Critical Voice is tempered into a helpful editor. As sure as day follows night, the Creative Voice is always waiting to take its proper lead. Creative career coaching can help to nurture and speed this process along.

Creative spontaneity can be re-gained.
When our Creativity is in retreat, we feel arid and unmoved. But as we find ways to lift the shades off, the light begins to pour back in. This is a natural rhythm of the Creative Process. The ebb and flow operate at various times, in varying degrees. Dry times can be disappointing, even alarming, especially if our livelihood is depending upon it. But there are many tools and techniques that help to ease those shades off. The creative spirit doesn't leave, it simply goes into retreat. When we find the opening again, it returns in a way that feels at once familiar and new. Creative expression is in perpetual evolution. When it returns, we experience ourselves, and our world, just a bit more fully than before.

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*Essay by Barbara Bowen of GatewaysCoaching.com - the definitive source for the creative process and creative careers. Contact Barbara about your creative coaching needs. She would love to hear from you.*

Copyright ©2009 Barbara Bowen and Gateways Art Coaching. All rights reserved.