Meeting Your Muse

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Photo credit: Getty Images

“There’s a dragon inside me,” Gina told me.

Her eyes displayed an understandable wariness. After all, except in very rarified social circles, dragons are not common parlance. “Tell me about it,” I replied. “I don’t pass judgment lightly.”

That brought a little smile and an audible sigh of relief. She went on to explain that the dragon first made itself known when she was a young child.

“I was playing by a creek,” she explained. “I was watching the sunlight sparkle on the water. It mesmerized me. And then, I felt this heat in my chest, and, when I closed my eyes, I saw an image of a dragon just looking straight at me.”

This vision, whatever its nature, entranced her. Over the coming days, whenever she felt that warm sensation in her chest and closed her eyes, the dragon appeared. Soon, she began drawing pictures of it, and, before long, had piles of them. Her parents simply figured it was an imaginary friend, but her siblings teased her as the “dragon girl.” She soon learned to keep the dragon to herself.

My mental status exam indicated Gina was of sound mind. In her mid-20s, gainfully employed and partnered, her time and energy were focused on creating a life. She visited with me more from curiosity than distress. After so many years of living with this palpable indwelling presence, she wanted to understand the what, how and why of its appearance in her life.

“Has the dragon become a problem?” I asked.

“In a way. That warm sensation now feels like a hot, agitated energy that needs to get out. I try to release it with running and swimming, but those only help for a while. And, it’s showing up more often,” she explained.

Minus the dragon, some of us can relate to Gina’s experience. I’ve worked with many clients who complained about feeling “agitated” or being unable to “sit still,” or otherwise bursting with unbridled and unfocused energy, both psychological and physical in its expression. Sometimes, these emotive manifestations arise from inner conflict, stress, worry or excessive anxiety. Other times, there are physical catalysts, such as overdosing on stimulants (think coffee and energy drinks), neurochemical imbalances or an overabundance of stress hormones. However, with Gina, none of these prime movers were present.

“Perhaps it’s your version of a muse,” I suggested.

Sources of Creativity

While writers often reference their “muse,” this term applies to any internal source of inspiration driving one’s creativity. One’s muse, whatever its focus, provides ideas, visions and energy to fuel creative pursuits, often emerging spontaneously in what some call an “inspirational surge.” Muses show up when they feel like it, seemingly like a personified force operating independently from one’s will and volition.

On hearing my suggested interpretation, Gina’s face lit up in one of those “Aha!” looks. “I’m supposed to paint!” she exclaimed.

Gina recalled that, for years after the dragon appeared, she repeatedly drew and painted its image, but, never making a connection between the two, failed to actively pursue this artistic urge. In high school and college, she continued to doodle dragon images in notebooks, but even that practice ebbed away.

“Perhaps the agitation is your dragon muse rattling your cage,” I suggested.

That proved to be the case. Gina soon pursued abstract painting in earnest. Whenever her dragon “visited,” as she put, new visions emerged in her mind’s eye, providing inspiration for her paintings.

There are many unconscious forces working in the background of the human psyche, and these sometimes emerge in mysterious guises and symbols. The conscious mind often mistakes these “visitations” for signs of mental disturbance, and, sometimes, they are. But just as often, they serve other purposes—creativity, insight, mental paradigm shifts and intuitions.

So, if you’re fortunate to have a muse in there, partner with its creative power. It may well transform your life.

For more, visit philipchard.com.