The trouble with being creative

Often I am asked what its like to live and work in a creative field. The challenges, the payoffs etc... For people that hold steady jobs at stable companies, what I do for a living must evoke an equal amount of head scratching and envy. One of the big questions is 'how do you stay creative?' or 'how do you access that area of your mind more effectively?'

I recently completed my Yoga teacher training up in Rishikesh and I can only admit there was an inner shift of monumental proportions. An understanding about how the mind actually works and how we can move beyond the suffering that the mind creates is at the fundamental core of Yoga philosophy.

Learning to be creative has more to do with un-learning and de-habituating than anything else. To access our true creative potential we need to learn to still the mind. When we still the mind we start to unglue the narrative that plays through our consciousness like some mesmerising film, or train wreck, depending on where we're at. This ongoing narrative, constructed from layers upon layers of often unquestioned social, financial, religious beliefs keeps us trapped and stuck like a needle in the grooves of a record, playing the same song over and over again.

You can't just 'be' creative, not at a core level. Thats the problem with it, its not something you can click on and off, not if its to be regarded as an accessible part of your holistic being. Accessing creativity begins with observational awareness. We have to sit and watch the mind spin around in its habituated patterning, we need to understand it and observe it without judgement, without getting caught up in its game.

Creativity is not about being able to take a better picture or paint an amazing portrait though those are happy outcomes. Creativity, true creativity is the ability to take a novel approach to the most mundane habitual patterns that occur everyday in our lives. When we harness our reactivity and allow for gaps in our old narratives to form, we are on the path to becoming Great Artists within our own lives. 

Beware the Collective Unconscious

You may have experienced the Collective Unconscious in statements such as these:

-Good jobs are scarce
-It's nearly impossible to make a living as an artist
-The outlook for the global economy and environment is bleak
-We have to struggle and suffer for our success
-Survival is for the fittest
-The world is a dangerous place, defined by war and the competition for limited resources

The Collective Unconscious is passed down to us through our parents, peers, teachers, churches and mass media. It defines our thinking and actions not only as a culture but as individuals, masquerading as a set of unquestioned beliefs widely accepted as truth.

If you feel that life is a struggle, the world is unsafe and that your survival depends on your ability to compete aggressively you may be suffering at the hands of the Collective Unconscious.

The deeper I dig into my own reality, the more I realize that a lot of what I hold as fact are nothing more than fuzzy half truths and lazy stereotypes rooted in ignorance and the very human need to belong.

As awareness increases there's a realization that perhaps these long held social beliefs are not entirely in line with one's personal convictions.

An effective way the combat the Collective Unconscious is to meditate on the positive aspects of your life. Focussing on what's front of you: Your health, your family, your friends and relationships, your mind and the ability to change it anytime you want, your breath and whatever else it is in your life that allows you to be happy, free and at peace.

Creating space in the mind through meditation helps us break through the dark clouds of doubt and move into clarity and awareness. With the correct intention and practice it is our innate wisdom that begins to define our world view.

Why you will fail at your career

Excuses.

you hear them everywhere, though mostly they're in your mind:

too old
too young
in a relationship
have kids
not smart enough
no time
didn't go to the right school
dont have a good enough camera
the market is saturated
no one wants to pay for my skills
too much competition
not creative enough

with a little wisdom, some insight and a bit of self appreciation you'll start to see excuses as symptoms of your inner patterning. We all have an inner dialogue that essentially defines who we are and what we become.

Thoughts become words become action becomes character becomes destiny. Its as simple as that and you've heard it before.

People ask what it takes to become great, not necessarily at photography but anything. My advice would always be to watch your mind, forget about anything else...just learn to watch your mind.

That alone right there will define your success or your failure. Guaranteed. 100%

Once you become aware of your negative thinking and your tendency to make excuses, you'll begin to witness your deeper feelings and hidden opinions.

It takes a lot of work at first but you can change it. Just be aware. It doesn't have to be this epic monumental undertaking (though the results most certainly will be), just simply tell yourself that you no longer believe your excuses. You start to invalidate them.

Your mind will scream at you at first and call you a fraud and how dare you hold a new opinion of yourself...but after some time the new thinking will take hold and new grooves will be etched. The mind is fluid so when you cease dragging the needle down that path it'll fill back up as if it were water.

Next time you tell yourself that you didn't go to the right college or you live in the wrong town or you've got the wrong whatever just know that you only need to do one thing...

...change your mind. It's everything.