I propose that being creative always brings positive feelings and offers meaning in our lives. I also believe that it is probably the best antidote to trauma that there is, which is why I devote a full Chapter to the subject in Section Five!
The raw material for creativity is always present – it is the task of the practitioner to allow it to flow and prosper – and to take care at all phases of growth not to inhibit its expression.
Creativity opens up new possibilities, promotes alternative ways of looking at the world, assists in looking at old problems in a new way, (sometimes called reframing) and encourages people to be at ease with their mind, body and spirit.
When a person who has suffered trauma finds a practitioner who is creative it is like a breath of fresh air. Immediate change might not be the result of the encounter – the nature of deep trauma, dissociation or narcissism sees to that – but even accepting that the change will not be quick is actually creative in itself.
Sometimes adverse and even harmful experiences can act as a catalyst, or spur, for movement. It can shake us up and force us to look at what our priorities are. Courage is needed to reflect on such experiences without going down the old blame game road – and once again this is where the experienced practitioner comes in.
Wisdom, courage, intuition, self-awareness, insight, and indeed discipline are all characteristics that are vital in the project of being creative in turning trauma into growth.
Why do we day-dream, or allow our mind to wander? (Or indeed, dream at all).
Surely it is not a helpful thing to be doing, evolution-wise.
In order to survive as primitive hunter-gatherers, (or even as advanced hunter-gatherers) living close to nature, and in tune with all its aspects and variations, we needed to be focused, aware of dangerous animals, dangerous or poisonous plants, focused on hunting and finding the best food on a continual basis.
What good was daydreaming? What advantage did it bring?
I believe that it had (and still has) a vital role in creatively organising our minds – inward reflection – working out problems which are more about invention, more strategic than tactical, and more about enhancing long term sustainability of our species over short term day-by-day survival.
Let us think again about dissociation. Remember we said that if we are in so much danger, and/or are suffering so much that we cannot fight, flee or freeze we dissociate? This involves taking on a different persona which is very real for us. And while it is important to remember that dissociation is a response to what might be overwhelming threat, daydreaming is also a form of dissociation – a kind of harmless dissociation that we use when we do not need to concentrate deeply on whatever we are doing.
When our mind wanders as we day-dream, it is often using our unconscious to solve problems that, sometimes, we don’t even consciously know we are solving, or, maybe, don’t even know that we have! Or, consciously, we may day-dream about a scenario, time, place etc. where the problem exists and then we rehearse, in our mind, what we might do or say to improve the situation, i.e. solve the problem.
This, we sometimes refer to as using our imagination. We imagine a solution which then can become real.
Of course we can also imagine a harmful or abusive solution – filling our head with toxic thoughts – thereby making things worse instead of better.
But I do not call this creativity!