Not expressing creativity can cause all manner of havoc in a person’s life. Creativity is a part of who we are, just like our spirit, our sexuality, our intellect and our intuition.
Gay Hendricks, PHD, one of the leading theorists in the field of body mind integration and the author of over twenty books, including Conscious Living, The Corporate Mystic, The Centering Book and Learning to Love Yourself, was quoted in an interview:
“If you sit on your genius, if you sit on your creativity and don’t share it with the world, it will really eat you up. Having seen 20,000 people in my seminars and therapy sessions over the years, I can definitely attest to that because I think the greatest source of pain on our planet is not, for example, hunger, it is unexpressed creativity. As I travel around the world, no matter what continent I’m on, it is that un-owned, unexpressed potential that is such a painful thing for so many people.”
Unexpressed creativity is the greatest source of pain? This is a mighty and powerful declaration and yet I believe it to be true for myself. I have experienced the pain of yearning to follow a creative inclination and not be able to do so, if only because I couldn’t name it well enough to follow through. Perhaps many people don’t recognize that yearning or restlessness or disinterest or depression can be a symptom of unexpressed potential.
So what happens when we sit on our genius? What happens when we don’t allow what is inside us to come forth? My belief is that we create an internal conflict that we begin to act out. We deny. We justify. We excuse. We find conscious or unconscious ways to explain why we aren’t using and sharing our genius. Ultimately our greatest creative endeavor is to create reasons why we tolerate not to sharing who we are through our creativity. Time passes; opportunity passes; and yet we don’t act on our soul’s desire and we waste our potential.
When we sit on our genius we risk a powder keg of energy that must go somewhere. If it is not used to create, what will this powerful energy be used for? To forward someone else’s dream? To create drama in our life? To adopt addictions to keep us busy so we don’t notice how painful it is to deny who we are?
Creativity is from spirit. It is one of the animators of the soul. It causes us to act. It pulls at us. It whispers to us, "do this, try this, have fun with this." In the act of creating comes a mirror that allows us to recognize that yes, we are here, yes, what we think, feel and do matters, and yes our ideas are valid, that, in fact, we do have genius.
If you are sitting on your genius, try standing up and shaking your creative bootie. It could be that’s all you need to begin to discover some unexpressed potential you didn’t know you had.
Hugs,
Diana