Creativity: our passionate life force

One of the many joys of living in London is the wealth of cultural events, one being the annual Terence Conran Lecture at the London Design Museum. This year the guest speaker was Sir John Hegarty, his themes being Creativity, his own creative process and his impact on brand-building and culture-defining advertising over the last 30 years. He was inspiring and thought-provoking, urging us to resist playing it safe, to risk pushing beyond frontiers and to aim passionately for creative excellence.

And yes, not playing it safe comes with the risk of failing, but every Creative knows that to create something extra-ordinary we have to be willing to fail. We know failing is not getting it ‘wrong’: that’s binary ‘Fixed Mindset’ thinking. The Creative knows making mistakes is the essential experimenting process on the path to creating excellence and success. As Thomas Edison said: ‘Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.’

The new Bruce Springsteen biopic, ‘Deliver me from Nowhere’ depicts this beautifully. It’s a poignantly honest film about someone battling with their inner daemons…in this case depression… by passionately focussing on the minutiae of his creative process, and it is through his intense passion and refusal to give up, that both healing and something extra-ordinary are created.

The etymology of the word ‘Passion’ is ‘to suffer, to bear and endure’, evolving from its original Latin meaning into ‘to feel intensely/powerfully’ about something or someone beyond ourselves. Passion is the integration of ‘Heart/Love’ and ‘Power’ and we cannot feel this…i.e. the willingness to go beyond…for our self alone. It might sound like passion, but this is an egoistic, aggressive energy, not true heart-felt passion. I first felt this acutely when my baby was born: a deep protective instinct awoke something dormant in me.

In a recent article I wrote: ‘I was talking with a friend recently who said she had never experienced passion for her work and was now wanting to experience that. As she spoke, I had a visual ‘flash’ of my very circuitous career and spontaneously said: ‘I’ve never not been passionate about my work!’ I paused to feel the truth of my statement, did a quick introspective joining- the- dots backwards and said: ‘Gosh yes…that’s true.’ And we both looked at each other in surprise.

It's a big statement and I have been reflecting on it since. It’s not that I always find my work easy, flowing and I’m bouncing with happiness all the time. The phrase “If you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life.” is either arrogant and/or ignorant. I prefer Steve Jobs’ comment: “Our work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do." 

Jobs is talking about creating excellence and this requires focussed dedication, a commitment to mastery… through humility and learning from our mistakes…and sheer hard work. It also means our heart has to be in it. We can be technically brilliant at something but if we don’t feel passion for it, we will never become excellent at it. Look at a concert pianist: they can be superb technically, but they will not move the audience if they are not feeling it in their hearts. This is what passion is.’ Creating great leadership teams

I am talking above about the passion I feel for my work, my calling. But it was the catalytic spark of becoming a mother and bonding with my baby that awoke my capacity for experiencing passion in all aspects of my life.

At one point in his lecture, Sir John Hegarty asked the audience to reflect on the question: ‘What is creativity?’ The image of Michelangelo’s stunning fresco in the Sistine Chapel, depicting God’s spark-of -life creation of Adam sprang into my mind. No words, just the visual. Hegarty then gave us his definition: ‘Creativity is an expression of the self…it’s you expressing your point of view.’

I digested what had just happened: my evocative visual and Hegarty’s definition. ‘Creativity’ comes from the Latin, ‘creare’ meaning to make, to bring forth, the Romans believing that creativity was a ‘genius’, a divine spirit, that descended: in modern language, a ‘flash of inspiration.’ For me, creativity is expressing our passionate life force, i.e. our Self, sparked by something greater that our own ego. Hence my visual of Michealangelo‘s fresco.

This experience has prompted me to dive deeper into my own relationship…and story…with creativity. As a young girl I was highly creative. I read and wrote copiously, one fuelling my imagination for the other: short stories as well as journal-writing; I was a passionate… and good… ballet dancer, and I was musical and gained a scholarship at a prestigious music school. This brought a pivotal turning point in my creative story. I had been offered the musical scholarship and at the same time, my ballet teacher was urging me to audition for the Royal Ballet School. My passion was ballet…and my love for music was because it propelled me to dance…but my father’s was for music, and he made the decisions, so I went to the music school. Ironically, it was there that I changed how I saw myself: I became overly self-conscious, comparing myself with others with my inner ‘critical parent’ voice telling me I wasn’t good enough. I stopped my two real passions: writing creatively and ballet, putting away such foolish, childish things and I leaned into academic, exclusively IQ, pursuits.

As I grew into adulthood, I continued to love creativity, particularly theatre, but it was other people’s, not mine. Interestingly, I projected onto others, having many highly artistic friends.

And so, I settled into that vein for several years until two critical events happened. The first, due to an unexpected catalyst, was when I was catapulted into my ‘Middle Passage’. This is a psychological stage, like adolescence, which we will all go through, though many run from it and keep spinning in the ‘busy fool syndrome’ filling it with noise until it finally catches up with them, often brutally. For those with the courage and wisdom to stay in, it becomes a profound psychological and emotional journey moving from our ‘Adapted/ Good boy/girl self’ to a more authentic and conscious Self. (For more on this, read the brilliant James Hollis’s ‘The Middle Passage: from Misery to Meaning in Midlife.)

As I was going through the tumultuous experiences of my Middle Passage…and reading and writing copiously again!... I began to find my authentic voice. I had been a therapist, listening to and healing others but had not expressed ‘me’ for many years. As I wrote in another article: ‘It’s no coincidence that I became a psychotherapist. Many years later, when I began to teach leadership and was also finding my own, authentic voice, a family member complained to me: ‘You’ve always been such a great listener. Why do you have to talk?!’  Growing Up

The second catalytic moment came from my son, who now runs an advertising agency in New York. We were working together on my website: our creative aims were aligned but we were struggling with our different approaches on how to get there. In frustration, he burst out: ‘Why, you’re an Emotive Creative!’ I’d never heard that term before. He explained that there are different types of Creatives and an ‘Emotive Creative’ is someone who draws their creativity from their feelings. It was a seminal moment…a ‘naming’ of me. I have always felt deeply: recently a close friend asked me curiously, ‘Why do you care so much?’ about something most people would have given up on. I’ve always known it’s core to who I am, but, because of the very different family and culture I had been brought up in …and also married into…it was always something I was ashamed of, a part of my ‘shadow’ that I had tried to separate from my more acceptable IQ- intellectual self.

To be told my passion, my depth of feeling, was core to my creativity was intensely liberating and has made me reassess much. The following, by Arne Dietrich, a cognitive neuroscientist and professor of Psychology at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon. captures what my son, Louis was describing:                  

Deliberate and Cognitive: this involves intentional, systematic, and rational thinking based on a high degree of knowledge in a specific field. It is a purposeful process of research, experimentation, and problem-solving, often requiring focus and discipline. For example: Thomas Edison's methodical process of running countless experiments to invent the lightbulb.

Deliberate and Emotional: this involves the intentional exploration of personal feelings and introspection to generate innovative ideas. It is a logical, mindful process driven by emotions, where one reflects on experiences to gain insights. For example: A songwriter consciously reflecting on personal life events and deep emotions to create a powerful and resonant song, such as Sam Cooke writing "A Change Is Gonna Come.”

Spontaneous and Cognitive: this creativity occurs as a sudden flash of inspiration when the conscious mind is relaxed, but it still relies on a pre-existing body of knowledge. The subconscious mind continues to work on a problem in the background. For example: Isaac Newton having the "eureka" moment regarding gravity while watching an apple fall from a tree.

Spontaneous and Emotional: this is the most elusive and unplanned form of creativity, emerging from the deepest parts of the subconscious and heavily influenced by intense emotions or gut feelings. It often manifests as a powerful, sudden epiphany and is common among artists and musicians. For example: An artist's work being guided by personal tragedies, such as Picasso's "Blue Period," or a musician receiving sudden, almost "divine" inspiration for a melody. 

When I first read the above, I immediately identified with being ‘Deliberate and Emotional’, and it also explains why the skill of ‘Detached Involvement’, a crucial leadership quality for great decision-making, is so core to my teaching.

‘In one of my favourite films, The Matrix, Neo says: ‘What are you trying to tell me? That I can dodge bullets?’ Morpheus responds: ‘No, Neo. I’m trying to tell you that when you’re ready, you won’t have to.’

We cannot stop the bullets from firing, but we can create a pause in how we choose to react. This is what we can control. We can focus on what is going to bring us inner strength and equilibrium in that ‘space between’, i.e. what will stabilise us. And from this springboard we can stretch that pause and think… helicopter vision/big picture thinking… to consider which is the best way forwards. It is these two qualities of inner stability and the ability to think creatively out of a seeming impasse, that inspires great trust and loyalty and is the true meaning of freedom and power.

This is the skill of ‘Detached Involvement’, the ability to be fully experiencing the moment and simultaneously connecting to our helicopter vision to make sense of what’s happening, so we can make the best decisions moving forwards. And to do all this, we need to focus on our self-care and be at ease with our inner stillness. We can only make great decisions when we unhook from the ‘noise’ and listen to our inner voice, our intuitive intelligence.’ Finding a third way through

I wrote the above article a few months ago, but as I look at it with my newfound perspective, I now see I have again avoided bringing feelings in. I now know that the ‘Involved’ aspect of ‘Detached Involvement’ is multi -dimensional for me, an integration of feelings, visceral experiencing, i.e. instinct, and intuition…my ‘flashes of inspiration’. I filter this rich melange of data up into my helicopter vision and IQ for sense-making and then take the right decision going forwards.

Yes, my creativity is emotional and deliberate: I feel and then I think. But what I’m enjoying is that the more I own my creativity, the more I can stretch and play with the other types. I’m more at ease now with being ‘Spontaneous and Emotional’ and ‘Spontaneous and Cognitive’, seeing spontaneity as my intuition and imagination. What I found hardest was ‘Deliberate and Cognitive’: where is the passion, intuition and imagination in that and what has that to do with being creative? But bringing forth something is about focussing on the detail and mastering the craft. Michealangelo, for all his imagination and passion, could not have completed the Sistine Chapel without being intentional, systematic and using his cognitive abilities to discern what and how to implement his vision.

Creativity is not limited to one type, one mode of expression. Again, that’s binary ‘Fixed Mindset’ thinking. We are all born with the capacity to express ourselves in multiple ways: mind, body, heart and soul. I look at my beautiful 3-month-old granddaughter, and she is already expressing herself with such joy and wonder as she interacts with the world. It’s why we are so drawn to babies: beyond the protective instinct they arouse in us, they also remind us…sometimes painfully… of our true/authentic self and who we can be, who we want to be i.e. our highest potential, and not the person we might have become. Creativity does the same. It’s that passionate life force that invites us to rise above the cynical and connect to something miraculous in ourselves and others.

Hannah Elizabeth Greenwood