The Six Internal Elements Necessary for Creative Success

We are creative people.
Being creative means that, to a certain extent, we will sometimes step outside the rules and expectations of the world - experiment, free-float through thought, let our hearts ride the rollercoaster of emotion, questioning, desire.
Yet, we are still bound by certain patterns, rely on working forms of media and tools of craft; words roll neatly into sentences, paint must dry before it is overlaid, a canvas needs the exacting fit of a measured frame. Though we may individually lean towards a Bohemian sense of the chaotic, still we want our creations to be moderately palatable - accepted by a culture that is regimented to norms of creative standard.

So, we adapt ourselves to outer circumstances - even as the urge to freely express makes us challenge the perameters of form and orthodoxy - we adapt. And we try to create honestly the things that we see and feel - translate them into an orderly presentation through color, sound, clay, ideas - brilliant music.

That's the peripheral stuff, the stuff of appearance and convention. Inwardly there are also elements that come together and weave a kind of creative design out of the psychic substances of our emotive and intuitive selves. The interplay of these elements produces the viable pattern of artistry. That pattern consists of six particular layers ( though sometimes fluctuating) of energy:

The first on the list is INSPIRATION. Who knows where this burst of agitated energy originates: Heart? Soul? God? Does it bubble up from the sensational brew of our value systems? Or is its appearance something random - magical?
It just comes to us - comes burning as a kind of belly fire that demands our attention. Do we have a choice about responding? Or, as artists, are we naturally born slaves to its primordial demands?

Who knows? Who cares?...

Because the second element in the creative pattern comes rushing in right behind inspiration and supplants all focus on rationale and question. We've been bitten by a bug, and immediately are hearts swell up with DESIRE.
Desire is that personal heart/gut investment that we add to the creative process. We get inspired, and then we want to do something about it. We make the "feeling" our own, say "I'm in" to the invitation. And then we begin moving with it.

But here we face the first challenge: because, once we acknowledge that we really want to be involved with this creative "thing" that has moved us so strongly, then we need to have the BELIEF that we are capable of pulling it all off. Can something tangible really be made from feelings and daydream, from the realm of invisibility? Do we believe in the power of possibility and in our own talents? Our yes to these questions is essential to our moving forward.

Once these three elements our brought into play, and we begin to accept the energy of the whole process - giving ourselves the permission to "go with the flow", then our bodies and spirits begin to fill with that energy. And this is when EMPOWERMENT happens. Somehow the magic of belief has bridged the gap between the unseen world and physical possiblities and we are alive with INSPIRATION, and a DESIRE to follow it to completion. We are ignited by the POWER of it all.

It's here that doubts sometimes begin to creep in. We're all shaken up with energy - from the inside out. The light of our vision is pouring through us and, as it does, it seems to wash to the surface all our deepest fears and sense of inadequacy. We think: "What if I can't pull this off? What if I'm not good enough?"

The answer, this next element, is very crucial to our continuing, but is often overlooked when discussing the process at hand: I call it AFFIRMATION. It is through affirmation that the most successful creators are able to cross roadblocks put up by life and feelings of insecurity. By affirming their intrinsic worth, either through reminding themselves of past accomplishments, or by reviewing their personal abilities- or, just drawing on inner will power and, much as a child would do, telling themselves "I know this might be hard, but I'm going to go ahead with it anyway - just because I can, just because I want to" (here, calling upon desire again), whatever the validating self talk might be, this is the place where the artist affirms his/her art, and draws courage from their inner reserves of energy to propel them forward again. Notice:
the river was flowing rapidly, then there appeared a log jam of emotion, but it was broken through by shear force of will.

Then, and only then, does the creative person truly prove his/her COMMITMENT. And this is the final element. Yes, commitment has shown up throughout the entire process (indeed, all the elements tend to energetically "loop" and repeat and mix themselves here and there), but only after resistance is powerfully overcome, is commitment fully realized. Here the creator is totally engaged, now he/she may commit their work to its medium in complete confidence.

These then are the six elements necessary for creative success: INSPIRATION (the mystical impulse, catalyst to the whole process), DESIRE (our engagement in it), BELIEF (how we traverse the unknown to the possible), EMPOWERMENT (when we fill ourselves with the life of this creative vision), AFFIRMATION (our inner defense system for smashing roadblocks), and COMMITMENT (putting it all together and getting it done).