Illustration by Michael Burmesch
When mental health experts list the attributes necessary for coping with life’s many challenges, they usually reference resilience, realistic optimism, self-compassion and emotional intelligence. Indeed, these qualities clearly help us adapt when fate hits us hard with loss, suffering and trauma. However, there is another little-discussed attribute that proves equally important, particularly when grappling with disruptive emotional and interpersonal issues. Creativity. The good news is that even those who don’t consider themselves creative can become so, largely by inhabiting a mindset they possessed as a young child.
Unfortunately, when wrestling with psychological conundrums, both clients and their therapists can display a dearth of creative thinking. When trapped in a mental or behavioral rut, we often fall prey to Einstein’s oft-quoted assertion that insanity means doing something repeatedly despite getting the same unwelcome outcome. Or as John Grinder of Neuro-Linguistic Programming fame put it, “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten.” So, effectively addressing a personal quandary often necessitates thinking and acting outside one’s pre-existing adult boundaries.
Frequently, folks coming to therapy have already experimented unsuccessfully with a myriad of “fix me” approaches, so it’s not for lack of effort that they remain mired in mental muck. Rather, it is due to the absence of an imaginative approach. Now, prescriptions for amplifying one’s creativity are legion, populating books, podcasts and workshops. Can we draw from these methods and apply them in a therapeutic or self-help context to address personal challenges? Not as much as one might suppose. Instead, there is another, often-overlooked resource in this regard.
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Beginner’s Eyes
Studies show the best role models for creativity are children. They benefit from what we call “beginner’s eyes,” meaning they haven’t logged enough life experience to be set in their ways of thinking and acting. Usually, the modus operandi of their creativity involves storytelling. They create fantasies that stretch the boundaries of what is possible. As a kid, I spent hours writing stories, illustrating them and, at times, acting them out through play. That is, until the drumbeat of rote learning in school slowly indoctrinated me, and most others, into painting inside the lines, so to speak. Studies show creativity in children diminishes rapidly in many traditional educational settings.
Recent research suggests this childlike narrative approach helps adults reframe how they view and approach their personal problems. Ashley provided a case in point. Beset by social anxiety that impeded her at work and in her personal relationships, she’d run the gamut of orthodox treatments but to no avail. She enjoyed reading fiction and regularly journaled about her experiences, so my suggestion that she begin composing fantasy narratives about herself and her conundrum didn’t sound off-the-charts. The format went as follows:
- Shifting Context: Ashley wrote fantasies in which she explored different and wild social settings, those she would never actually experience. The office became a playroom, or a dinner party took place atop the clouds, and so on.
- Altering Perspective: In her writings, she created and inhabited different characters, some quite fanciful and even outrageous. Again, these alter egos were well outside what was possible for her in real life. Still, this helped her adopt different mindsets and emotions.
- Modifying Actions: In her fantasies, she behaved in ways that were well outside her existing behavioral boundaries. In doing so, she felt the freedom to imagine scenarios she would never consider in real life.
The result? Ashley reframed a rigid mental script that made her anxious when entering social environments. Gradually, her anxiety about social situations morphed into curiosity, a tendency joined at the hip with creativity. How is that possible? Well, as Buddha said, “We are what we think, having become what we thought.” And when that thinking is too self-defeating or constraining, it needs to be diluted or replaced with the childlike mindset of storytelling and fantasy. How we think becomes how we feel, and how we feel generates how we act.
When emotionally stuck, our same-old thought patterns function like a cage, constantly reminding us of what we can’t feel or do. Creative storytelling pushes against these mental bars, making liberation possible.
Philip Chard is a psychotherapist and author with a focus on lasting behavior change, emotional healing and adaptation to health challenges. For more, visit philipchard.com.
