How to Blast Past Your Creative Block, Remedy #4

Painting in Progress-my initial drawing in paint-this is where I usually start.

This is fourth in my series of my how to get out of stuck-ness and get into flow. Is there a project you are working on, writing or painting or creating and you're stuck? This tip is titled Hello Permission-Goodbye Pressure.  Oh, I can hear you from here, Amy that is a weird title, so let me explain. Sometimes the reason for this stuck-ness or block to moving forward is that insane pressure we put on our self.  Ok, so check in with yourself and when you think of that "thing" that you want to do, do you feel any pressure somewhere in your body? Do you feel the pressure to produce? To make it perfect? Get quiet for a minute.  Check to feel pressure in your head area or your gut or heart?   These icky feelings don't do much for allowing us to be in the wonderful world of flow, do they? The pressure translates into 'forcing yourself' which is the polar-opposite of flow, right?  

So what's the antidote?  Permission.  Talk to yourself, say to yourself, I'm going to do this for pure pleasure, for fun or to just have an experience. You might say more things like: no one will see it, so therefore, it does not need to be perfect. You can even throw it away when your done, it's just for you. The trick here is to really believe yourself, really believe! Go back to those body feelings and visualize that the permission will just pop the pressure...like popping a balloon with a pin. I don't know about you, but once I start moving on something I don't have a problem going forward, it's just getting me in motion that is the tough part. Now, you give your self permission to pop the balloon. Go have fun!

I decided to listen to my own advice starting this post. I've been working on this large painting for a couple weeks now and the pressure had built up in me to also do a post. But, the perfectionist side of me was holding me up because I felt the pressure of needing to have a perfectly finished painting to post (whew that's a lot of p's) anyway... When I told myself, hey you, you don't need a perfect painting to post... all pressure melted away and I was in the flow to write this note to y'all.  Stayed tuned for a finished painting and the next in the series of 'How to Blast out of Stuck-ness'.