If you do not have a Listening/Focusing Partnership, consider whether there is a colleague at work, a friend or family member who is already an excellent listener and might be interested in learning the formal Listening/Focusing Partnership method with you. Then, use the multi-media materials in our Self-Help Package or the free download of Chapter Three: The Listening/Focusing Exchange (a link at the top of this blog entry ). You can also enroll in Listening/Focusing Classes/Workshops internationally with Certified Focusing Professionals or bring in Creative Edge Consulting for onsite training.
The Blurry, Vague, "Feel of the Whole Thing" Holds The Next Steps
I invite you to use Intuitive Focusing again below to find next steps on a "creative project": an article, a book, a poem, a song, a dance, a marketing campaign, an engineering breakthrough, some project needing creative ideas.
If you need to work more specifically on "blocks" to creativity, you could use Cornell and McGavin's technique from last week, using Focusing to give a gentle hearing to the "part" that wants to "hold back," as well as the "part" that wants to "go forward," until steps toward resolution arise (Week Two Treasures In Blocks).
Focusing On A Creative Problem or Project
(You can read these to yourself now, download them for continuous use, read them into a tape recorder for playback . Leave at least one minute of silence between each instruction)
(One minute)
Okay --- first, just get yourself comfortable --- feel the weight of your body on the chair --- loosen any clothing that is too tight ---
(One minute)
Spend a moment just noticing your breathing --- don't try to change it --- just notice the breath going in --- and out ---
(One minute ---)
Now, notice where you have tension in your body (pause) ---
(One minute --- )
Now, imagine the tension as a stream of water, draining out of your body through your fingertips and feet (Pause) ---
(One minute --- )
Let yourself travel inside of your body to a place of peace ---
(One minute --- )
Now, bring to mind a creative problem or project that needs attention (pause) ---
(One minute or more --- )
Think about it or get a mental image of it ---
(One minute --- )
Now, try to set aside all of your thoughts about possible solutions, and, as you carry a mental image of the problem or project in your mind, just wait and see what comes in the center of your body, around your heart/chest area, in response (pause) --- not words, but the intuitive feel of the whole situation, The Creative Edge ---
(One minute --- )
Now, carefully try to find words or an image for that Edge --- Go carefully back and forth between any words and the intuitive feel of the whole thing until you find words or an image that are just right for it ---
(One minute --- )
Now, gently ask yourself, "Is that it? Would that work here?", and wait, at least a minute, to see what comes in your wordless intuition, your whole-body sense, The Creative Edge ---
(One minute ---)
Again, carefully find words or an image that exactly fit that Edge ---
(One minute --- )
Now, try that possible solution out in the creative situation, either in your imagination or by actually writing, painting, tinkering with a model ---
(One minute --- )
Now, ask yourself, "Does that work?" and, again, don't answer from your head, what you already know, but wait, as long as a minute, for an answer to come in the center of your body, your wordless intuition, The Creative Edge ---
(One minute --- )
Again, carefully find words or an image for that, "Does that solution work?" ---
(One minute --- )
If the answer is "Yes," a release of bodily tension, a sense of coming unstuck --- then return to the creative project and work again until there is another place of not-knowing, where you can begin the whole Focusing process again ---
If the answer is "No," your body remains tense and your energy still blocked, flat, then, set aside everything you have already thought and tried and ask your "subconscious," the "intuitive feel" at The Creative Edge, again: "What does this situation need?", and, again, wait, as long as a minute or more, to see what comes in the center of your chest, an intuitive "feel" for the whole thing ---
(One minute)
Take a moment, again, to carefully find words or an image for whatever has come ---
(One minute)
Keep at this as long as you are comfortable, asking an open-ended question, waiting for an "intuitive feel" of "the whole thing" to emerge, looking for words or an image or even a gesture or action step that fits the intuitive feel "exactly."
(One minute or more --- )
But, if no clear next step arises, just remind yourself that, by spending Focusing time sitting with The Creative Edge, you have added energy and started a new living-forward, and, especially if you continue to hold "the feel of it all" on the back-burner of your mind, later something new will likely pop up ---
(One minute)
Appreciate yourself and your "subconscious," the "intuitive feel," for taking time with this, trusting that taking time is the important thing -- solutions can then arise later.
Remember, it is often easier to learn Intuitive Focusing with the company of a Focusing Listener. See links below to find many resources, including self-help groups, and Creative Edge Focusing Consultants for individual Coaching or Classes and Workshops.
