Overcoming Creative Anxiety | By Eric Maisel The following is an excerpt from the "Overcoming Creative Anxiety" on-line course. If you would like to enroll in the course, click here. The Anxiety of Creating and Not Creating Anxiety is a feature of the human condition. It is a much larger feature than most people realize. A great deal of what we do in life we do in order to reduce our experience of anxiety or in order to avoid anxiety altogether. Our very human defensiveness is one of the primary ways that we try to avoid experiencing anxiety. If something is about to make us anxious we deny that it is happening, make ourselves sick so that we can concentrate on our sickness, get angry at our mate so as to have something else to focus on, and so on. We are very tricky creatures in this regard. We are also very wonderful creatures who have it in us to create. "Creativity" is the word we use for our desire to make use of our inner resources, employ our imagination, knit together our thoughts and our feelings into beautiful things like songs, quilts, or novels, and feel like the hero of our own story. It is the way that we make manifest our potential, make use of our intelligence, and embrace what we love. When we create, we feel whole, useful, and devoted. Unfortunately, we often also feel anxious as we create or contemplate creating. There are many reasons for this--the subject of our 16 lessons. We get anxious because we fear we may fail, because we fear we may disappoint ourselves, because the work can be extremely hard, because the marketplace may criticize us and reject us, and so on. We want to create, because that is a wonderful thing, but we also don't want to create, so as to spare ourselves all this anxiety. That is the simple, profound dilemma that millions of people find themselves in. The solution is very simple to say although much harder to put into practice. In order to create and to deal with all the anxiety that comes with creating, you must acknowledge and accept that anxiety is part of the process, demand of yourself that you will learn--and really practice!--anxiety management skills so that you are equal to mastering the anxiety that arises, and get on with your creating and your anxiety management. It is too big a shame not to create if creating is what you long to do and there is no reason for you not to create if "all" that is standing in the way is your quite human, very ordinary experience of anxiety. The thing to do is to become an anxiety expert and get on with your creating! | DailyOM Course Spotlight by Allegra Huston If I told you that the pain of being wronged doesn't have to hurt so much, would you believe me? Maybe not. But would you like to believe me? I promise you that if you are willing to explore the territory of forgiveness, you will feel a lessening of that dull, constant pain. You will notice the anger and bitterness that clutch at your heart dissolve. That shell around yourself: it's supposed to protect you, but, really, doesn't it keep joy out and anger in? Forgiveness makes you powerful because it frees you from what other people do and have done. Forgiveness is a gift you give yourself. It's true, forgiveness isn't always easy to achieve. Probably you've tried, but the dragons of anger keep breathing fire, or injustice torments you. The trick to forgiveness is not to force it into existence with an act of will. Forgiveness is an act of grace--and grace can only flow into an open heart. This course gives you the tools to remove the shell and open your heart to the grace of forgiveness. We'll do it with pen, paper, and imagination - and it won't hurt. Instead, you'll laugh. With laughter comes freedom, insight, and a renewed sense of solidarity with your fellow travelers through this difficult, beautiful world. Top 10 DailyOM Courses 1. 21 Day Total Goddess Workout 2. Overcoming Self-Sabotage 3. You are a Badass at Habits 4. 8 Week Whole Body Makeover! 5. Break the Grip of Past Lovers 6. The 4-Minute Peaceful Warrior Workout 7. 21 Day Yoga Shred 8. Reinventing The Body, Resurrecting the Soul 9. Heal Yourself with Writing 10. A Year to Clear What is Holding You Back!
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