In this article we’ll explore:
- A few lessons on creativity and personal growth I learned after launching my book.
- 3 Keys to becoming more creative – challenging labels, understanding what the creation wants to become, and how the shadow is the key to unleashing creativity.
The Creative Complex
Back in March, I launched my book PISTIS – Demystifying Jungian Psychology. At the time, I knew nothing about writing, and funny enough that’s precisely why I was capable of doing it.
You see, I wrote a book but, I don’t consider myself a writer. I don’t say that in a demeaning way, it’s just that I never dreamt about writing a book, never took any courses nor had mentors. I just gave myself permission to experiment.
Of course, the words didn’t magically appear on the paper, as I’ve been religiously writing almost daily for the past 2 years. But after launching this book I could clearly see how powerful labels can be as they impose many expectations and limitations.
Before I ever thought about becoming a therapist, I went to music school. At that time, reaching perfection was the law to me. I’d spend hours practicing scales and different music pieces, but I never felt like I was good enough. Even when I got compliments, I’d just shrug it off and continue with my blind obsession.
With time, the joy of playing vanished and everything became very mechanical. I had this fixed idea about how a musician should be, and that left no room for spontaneity or creativity. I was deeply identified with my playing that any wrong note was a direct hit to my self-esteem.
Naturally, I had stage fright and avoided playing in front of my colleagues. When I started studying psychology, I quickly understood that most of this fear and unreasonable perfectionism had its roots in an unresolved mother and father complex, but I won’t explore this here, as I have plenty of videos on it already:
Long story short, because of all these internalized rules and constant comparison, I couldn’t enjoy playing my guitar. Now, with writing, I never labeled myself, I didn’t have any role models to compare myself to. I had a natural fear of judgment about sharing my articles, but that was it.
This lack of labels allowed my relationship with creativity to shift from striving for perfection to being guided by the creative spirit or as Carl Jung would say, the creative complex.
The Creative Act
I read The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin, about a month before finishing my book, and it completely changed my worldview and relationship with art. He translated into words many experiences I’ve had and expanded it in such a beautiful way.
The main lesson to me was about understanding what the creation wants to become. Instead of coming up with your own agenda and exploring creativity in a narcissistic and utilitarian way, you become a vessel for it.
When you adopt this attitude, the most important thing isn’t the outcome anymore or to please others, it’s about producing something that’s honest, sincere, and truthful.
It’s about allowing your soul to express itself and as Rick Rubin says, it just happens that when you do that, others can truly connect with you and appreciate your creations.
As I was reading The Creative Act, I noticed many similarities between the individuation journey and the creative process. Regarding psychotherapy, Carl Jung proposes the use of the dialectic method precisely because it doesn’t work with rules and preconceived notions and we can tailor it to the individual.
Of course, we follow certain guidelines but we never know exactly where we’re going to arrive beforehand as we allow the spontaneity of the Self to come forth. This is exactly what happens with creativity, if we try to control it and place expectations, we suffocate the creative spirit.
Moreover, the individuation journey lies in a paradox between fulfilling the demands of the external world and the inner world. The first is about our persona, our role in society, and the ideal image we seek to portray. The second is about uncovering our most authentic selves and enriching our inner lives.
The problem is that this image of perfection often goes against our true natures and leads us to hide important qualities of our personality that form our shadows. During the creative process, the unconscious is manifested and we encounter all of these repressed aspects and raw emotions.
The creative act often defies this ideal image (persona) and challenges us to see ourselves in a new light and accept visceral emotions we never knew existed. That’s why creating can be so cathartic and makes us feel so whole at the same time.
Creating is a way to symbolize what is hidden, connect with our most authentic selves, and dare to do things we never knew were possible. When we fully open ourselves to the creative experience, we embark on a journey of self-discovery and have the chance to become who we are meant to be.
The Creative Shadow
That’s why creativity is directly linked with integrating our shadows. One of the biggest challenges for me was always to accept my sensitive and emotional side. I had to deal with CPTSD and severe derealization, and I learned that feeling anything was not only a threat but also it was “for pussies”.
Of course, this made me feel not only anxious and depressed all the time but also incapable of creating anything. I’d look at other people’s creations and feel jealous, and I’d try to diminish them by saying “I could do better”.
The problem is that I didn’t, I allowed fear and shame to rule my entire life, while others were rising above this childish narcissism and sharing their creations despite being afraid. To create anything worthy we must be vulnerable and as I worked on myself and started integrating the Anima, mostly through Active Imagination, I learned to feel again.
I understood that the quality of our creations is directly correlated with our inner work and how willing we are to challenge the beliefs we hold. Often what blocks creativity isn’t technique but our sensibility to connect with it.
Personally, I experience this uncanny feeling that takes up my whole body and makes me wanna shout “This has to exist”. When I feel my body tingling, that’s when I know I have to dedicate myself to allow this creation to come forth.
However, this feeling often appears very subtly and demands courage to follow it. That’s how the creative journey and individuation process are linked as they propel us to question the scripts we’ve been given, challenge the assumptions we have about the world and ourselves, and tap into our unique and authentic way of being.
Accept Your Gifts
After I launched my book, I felt the need to take writing more seriously and I’ve been writing articles and recording videos for 17 weeks straight now. This endeavor is not only making me face every fear I have but also required me to rearrange my whole life and business.
This leads us to one last lesson, my experience as a therapist constantly shows me how people are immensely afraid of their gifts and talents. They’re willing to face their darkness but run away from their inner gold.
Why? … Because accepting our talents demands courage and responsibility. Unfortunately, many people are lazy and choose to remain anxious and depressed instead of truly committing to developing their capabilities.
Every day I see perfectly abled people crafting the most elaborate excuses to avoid growing up. However, if you want to be your most creative self, you must follow your fears and truly commit to developing your craft. All we need is a bit of courage.
- If you’re stuck in this mentality, I have a great video called You’re Not Afraid of Failure, You’re Afraid of Success.
Lastly, I share all the knowledge and tools that helped me and my clients to become more creative and integrate the shadow in Katabasis – The Shadow Integration Manual.
And Carl Jung’s Active Imagination method in Active Imagination Deciphered (includes Katabasis as a bonus).
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