The problem with affirmations is that they reinforce what is what is wrong. For example, repeating a phrase such as "the Universe supports me" suggests that it does not, otherwise why would you need to repeat it so much?
A woman once said "I only want to do God's will."
"Whose will is it to do God's will?" I asked her.
After a long pause she said, "Mine."
Willpower strategies push you in the direction you want to go, but again, the opposing structural tension ultimately pulls you back, reinforcing the sense of helplessness.
Structural tension is non-resolvable. You can shift to another, more useful structure, but paradoxically you cannot change it based upon your dissatisfaction, because this motivation is in self part of the original conflict. Creativity is different from problem solving.
The structure that is senior to structural conflict has the following properties:
1. It incorporates the structural conflict into itself
2. It transposes a complex structure into a simple one
Structural tension is formed by two major components:
1. A vision of the result you want to create
2. A clear view of the reality you now have
The result you want only needs to be clear enough so that you would recognize it if you had it.
An artist who uses an improvisory process may be unclear on how the final painting will look, but extremely clear on what he or she wants to express. In this sense the painting itself is part of a process. The final result is the power of the expression.
The conception period feels like play. Concepts are general and allow you to mentally try different possibilities. Once you have formed a concept, the next step is to crystallize it into a specific vision. How do you want to see the concept manifested? When you focus a concept into a vision, you are limiting many ways into a single way.
A common mistake is to attempt to match your concept to what already exists instead of forming the concept from scratch.
When you limit, you must include and exclude. "In order to get some of my books to work, I needed to throw out some of my best lines!"
Most people don't realize that they can treat their own life as a creation.
The art of accurately naming what you want begins with separating what you wnat from questions of possibility.
"The vision of the whole... appears more and more to be the essential act of creation." -- Roger Sessions.
Civilization and culture provide a shared framework for collaboration and creation. However, their very existence also necessarily limits the perspectives and scope of such creation. Take ancient cultures such as the Egyptians or Maya for example, or modern day capitalism. These systems all allow their participants to build upon a common framework, but also implicitly influence and limit the scope of their visions. The real danger is that this tunnel vision is difficult to become aware of for those in a particular system.
A society [or individual] that fosters reasons and excuses for irresponsible or destructive behavior has little chance of reaching its potential greatness.
Those who learn to know reality, without holding on to the past, are in the best position to truly live their lives.
The three stages of the creative cycle are: Germination, Assimilation, and Completion.
Germination contains a lot of energy and inspiration, but you cannot focus exclusively on it. Don't become a "workshop junkie". To be successful, you must master all three stages.
Assimilation is the stage where you teach your vision to yourself. You are playing surrogate mother to your vision; Sustaining it and allowing it to evolve at its own pace.
The act of completing a creation is obviously important, but it is all too easy to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
Some people feel uncomfortable having what they want. Receiving, or learning to live with your creation, is an essential step. When you release your final work, you can then receive it and experience it as a separate entity.
Each state in creation creates energy and provides momentum for the next. Germination leads to assimilation, which drives completion, which drives the next germination phase.
The way you activate the seeds of your creation is by making choices about the results you want to create.
Choosing is a skill and an art. For example, when choosing what to eat, train yourself to quickly find what you want, then rapidly test that choice against alternatives, rather than the other way around.
Practice making lots of choices, small and large, to develop your ability to make the right choices.
Most people have learned to compromise rather than choose. The ways we can undermine our power of choice include:
1. Choice by limitation - choosing only what seems reasonable
2. Choice by indirectness - choosing the process instead of the result
3. Choice by elimination - eliminating all other possibilities and taking what's left
4. Choice by default - use inaction to "decide"
5. Conditional choice - imposing preconditions
6. Choice by reaction - choices designed to overcome a conflict, or avoid pain.
7. Choice by consensus - polling others
8. Choice by adverse possession - thinking like a powerless victim
Choosing is power. In the creative orientation, you consciously choose the result you want to manifest.
Don't focus on what you don't want, this merely traps you in structural conflict. You can only create a masterpiece by visualizing what you want, not what you don't.
When you make a choice, first conceive of the results you want by having a clear vision of what you want to create, then formalize your choice by actually saying "I choose to have...".