Creativity Pulls Us Out Of Fear
Healthy fear is a natural response to immediate danger.
Anxiety arises when the left hemisphere of the brain attempts to rationalize fear and exert control, even in the absence of real threats.
“You can’t be anxious and creative at the same time. Creativity pulls you out of fear.”
Dr Martha Beck Beyond Anxiety: Curiosity, Creativity, and Finding Your Life’s Purpose
The right hemisphere processes imagery, intuition, and wholeness. Creativity shifts us from threat-based problem-solving (left brain) to open-ended, embodied awareness (right brain).
This shift reduces cortisol and increases alpha brain waves, associated with calm and flow states.
We are in a collective anxiety spiral.
Anxiety is contagious. Continuous exposure to alarming narratives and control strategies amplifies individual and societal anxiety. This cycle is fueled by media, workplace pressures, and the challenging world we live in.
We coregulate with calmer people and as adults, we can build our neural resilience.
Neuroplasticity, our brain’s ability to form new neural networks through repetition, means that regular creative play builds new neural pathways. We become “better” at play and creativity! This reduces anxiety.
Fear arises in the survival-focused part of the brain. It turns into anxiety as our logical brain tries to control and explain everything. Our creative side is more holistic and grounded in the present moment. Anxiety is intensified by catastrophic thinking about worst case scenarios in the future.
Taming the “Creature” with Compassion
Martha Beck recommends offering your brain/ “creature” warmth, presence, and kindness, the way we soothe a scared animal or young child.
Somatic mindfulness helps us regulate our nervous system enough that we are able to access compassion. Let’s pause here for a practice of present moment awareness and curiosity.
What’s really happening in this moment?
What do I notice in my body?
With your palms on the sides of your face, relax your forehead. Let worry soften and release.
Offer the soothing warmth of your presence to your heart and sense into safety.
Fear narrows focus, curiosity widens it.
I love exploring big questions about how things work!
What’s going on in deep space? How do emotions work? Why do people have different experiences with gender and what would it be like to live in a world beyond the gender binary? What does creativity change in our brain? How does someone improvise music or compose songs? What makes people care about the environment? Why do some people turn to addictive substances and behaviors and others turn to people? Why do we work until we’re tapped out and how can we turn that around and nourish ourselves? What role will AI play in our world? How can I be happier?
What caught your eye in the above? What are you curious about?
Maybe you’re a scientist whose collaborative research is helping people. Visualize the people you work with and the ones you’re helping to heal.
You’re a jazz musician, on stage or a street corner with your band mates, singing/ playing, improvising to the beat. Your audience is loving it, grooving to your music.
Let your mind roam forward into the future in which our survival needs are taken care of, we are no longer competing for scarce resources, our world runs on clean energy, and we cooperate and live together peacefully.
Be specific and use all your senses to bring yourself into this wonderful fascinating world a few or more years from now. Breathe and relax into it.
Our brain believes catastrophic thoughts are true, so we need to stop fueling that. Instead, we can seed some healthy neural networks for the future we care about and are working towards together.
As always, we welcome you in our Sunday Free Community Class, 10AM Eastern. Details and link here.