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Hi, I’m Krista Kankula - a Creativity Coach and I’m all about helping you use play and creative self-expression as a tool to cultivate more self-connection, FUN and joy in your life!

For today’s exercise, we’re going to focus on creative blocks and how we can bring a playful energy/mindset to moving past them.

Creative blocks are sometimes also referred to as fear, resistance, or feeling stuck. It’s the sensation of not being able to access our creativity or feeling like something is blocking us from saying or expressing what’s inside of us.

What’s important to keep in mind is that:
1) Feeling blocked creatively is not a sign that we’re not creative or that something is wrong with us (there’s nothing wrong with you, we’re all creative)

2) although they may feel like it, they’re not impossible to move past

And 3) When we bring in a playful energy or attitude we can change the way we perceive creative blocks. Instead of dreading them, we can see them as an opportunity to get curious and learn.

That’s because creative blocks offer us helpful information. For example, they might be trying to communicate to us that…

1. There’s a part of us that feels afraid, uncertain, or vulnerable.
   
   
   
2. We need to change something in our environment or approach.
   
   
   
3. That we need rest, a break from that creative activity
   
   
   
4. That we need to shift our perspective.
   
   
   

Play is one of the ultimate antidotes to helping us past a creative block. Play helps us embrace the unknown when we’re not sure how to move past a block, it helps us imagine different possibilities and is really like a warm-up for our creativity.

Here’s how we can bring in that energy or attitude of playfulness to meet these blocks..

First, we bring attention to what’s present
Visualize or name the block (ex. I feel like there’s a block stopping me from saying and writing what I want to say or from allowing me to paint in a way that feels fun)
Then get curious about what’s there - what is this block trying to tell us?

Second, we bring in the energy of playfulness

We can do that in a number of ways, but I like using either movement AND/OR visualization as they both can be done pretty much anywhere and without any equipment.

Through Movement
Move in a way that feels playful to you, such as dancing,  jumping up and down, hopping on a swing in your backyard or participating in a game.

Through Visualization 
Picture a time when you felt really playful, maybe imagine yourself playing when you were younger and notice how the energy of playfulness feels in your body.

If you can’t picture that, imagine a child you know or one of your pets, a cat or dog being playful. Notice how seeing them be playful brings that energy of playfulness into your body.

Now that we’re embodying that playful energy we want to ask ourselves questions to get at solutions.

Here are some examples of questions we might ask ourselves:
How might I move past this block if I were being playful?

What would it look like if this activity felt playful again?

Finally, we want to look back at the block and observe:
How do you feel now?
What do you notice that you didn’t before? 

This process was inspired by what is called the coaching arch in life coaching. 

We can use parts of this process or the whole thing to help us when we’re feeling blocked. 

I hope you give this exercise a try and let a mindset of playfulness fuel your creativity and help you move past any blocks you may encounter.

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