Blocked VS Flow

The creative genius who invented the good old kitchen table knew that for it to be of any use, it needed four sturdy legs.  Like the four seasons, the four cardinal directions, the four basic elements of nature, each part is integral to the whole.

This power tool has four sturdy legs, in the form of four undeniable truths:

1.     Energy can be neither created nor destroyed.

2.     Creativity is infinite.

3.     A psychological block invented by the mind, can be changed by the mind.

4.     Every creek, stream, and river unhindered by rocks, logs, dams, or other obstacles, flows freely to the ocean.

Let’s look at each of these legs in turn, and then put them together to form the table, where we can break bread together and talk away those rocks, logs and dams with the power of the spring melt in the Sierra.

Repeatedly in my coaching practice, clients describe their current situations as feeling ‘blocked’ and that they are seeking a release, where these feelings of frustration and limitations are let go.  Sometimes, I have heard them use the word ‘flow’ to describe what they want to feel instead of ‘blocked’.  These two states are diametrically opposed: the opposite sides of the same coin.

Albert Einstein’s theory of energy states: “energy cannot be created or destroyed; it can only be changed from one form to another.”  Imagine Einstein’s energy as creative energy: impossible to create, use up or destroy, just taking different forms.  Either that energy can be used to block and frustrate the artist, or it can be used to create and innovate.

Stack onto this a similar thought, in a different vein, from Maya Angelou - the notion that creativity is infinitely abundant:  the more this energy is tapped into, the more robust the delivery channel becomes, the more fluid and effortlessly that creative force is available to conceive something that did not exist before. 

“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” –Maya Angelou

There will always be more creative energy than can ever be used. 

The question is, ‘if creative energy is limitlessly abundant, and always will be, how come it can sometimes feel so difficult to access”?  Just because energy cannot be destroyed, that doesn’t mean it is always readily available. 

“Energy cannot be created or destroyed; it can only be changed from one form to another.” -Albert Einstein

Sometimes, it’s blocked. 

Blocks are the psychological barriers humans build to protect themselves.  But as is the case with every fence:  is it there to keep something else out, or is it to keep something in?  A psychological block obstructs creative energy from reaching its path from the subconscious to the conscious, prevents it from fulfilling its purpose, and stops the artist from executing the task, by criticizing, downsizing, dismissing the artist’s ideas before they have a chance to germinate.

A block is … “any physical, biochemical, or psychological barrier or obstacle that obstructs or impedes a process, function, or activity.” -American Psychological Association

Through the study and experience of coaching, we learn about the blocks that people experience.  These blocks are different for every person, but in principle, they grow in the same way.  An overly simplified illustration that describes the process by which our ‘thinking brains’ develop could be described like this:  as children, we instinctively, unconsciously, understand that we rely on our parents or caregivers for our survival.  Humans take a long time to grow up and without the support of adults, we would literally die.  Instinct is a strong motivator.  This instinct drives us to create ‘rules’ about how we need to be in order to ensure basic physical and emotional support from our parents.  As we grow older, we might forget the context for which the rule was created, but not the rule itself.  Like a cancerous cell, the rule, the thought, continues to grow, and mutate into what I think of as large black masses:  solid, impermeable fortresses - blocks - designed to keep us alive, but ultimately, keep us from really living.

What are the names of the blocks that comprise the fortress?  Here are some of the most common:

• Perfectionism

• Stress

• Exhaustion

• Fear

• Procrastination

• Anxiety

• Lack of control

• Lack of self-worth (I’m not good enough)

• Limited mindset

• Comparison/judgement

• Depression

• Imposter syndrome

• Overwhelm

To let the river of creative energy flow freely, these blocks need to be displaced.

But let’s look at this again.  Einstein’s theory of relativity explains that energy and mass are the same thing.  If this follows, the block, however solid it is, is a form of potential energy that needs only to be activated to become kinetic.  This is a powerful concept.  It means that instead of engaging in a battle to the death with the block, a creative might be better served by embracing it, for the block too, has unlimited power.  It just needs to be positively harnessed.

Positive psychology does not dismiss negative emotions and experiences, it asks that we look at those things from a perspective of data collection.[i]  When we are triggered, or feeling reactive, angry, frustrated, or any of the emotions listed above, our subconscious is trying to tell us something.  This is where the power of coaching takes centre stage:  focused listening and powerful questioning that asks the client to view their existing thoughts and emotions from a different perspective: a creative perspective that is unleashed from the old rules that may have served a strong purpose in the past but are no longer necessary.

Flow is “a state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience is so enjoyable that people will continue to do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it.” -Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

A harnessed block could be looked at as ‘flow’.  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a co-founder of positive psychology, coined the term “flow” to describe a state where a person is so involved in their activity, that nothing else seems to matter[ii]; where she is in ‘the zone’.  He went on to say that “the best moments in our lives are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times . . . The best moments usually occur if a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile”[iii].  He said that people were their most creative, productive, and happy when they are in a state of flow. 

Characteristics of Flow:

• Complete focus and concentration on the task.

• Clarity of goals and reward in mind.

• Transformation of time (speeding up/slowing down).

• Doing the thing for its own sake (not for any other purpose).

• Effortlessness and ease.

• There is a balance between challenge and skills.

• Actions and awareness are merged, losing self-conscious rumination.

• There is a feeling of control over the task.[iv]

Reframing the frustrated perspective that is a creative block, to appreciating the block itself for the information that it is providing, takes the artist from what has been, to all the infinite possibilities of what can be.  This is a transformation from feeling small and blocked to a place where the artist or creative imagines herself soaring, lifted by her work and the meaning it gives her, to find those feelings of happiness and satisfaction from doing the thing she will always do, for the sheer sake of doing it. 

By taking an artist from BLOCKED to FLOW, the client feels like she is soaring like an eagle, lifting effortlessly on the thermals, flying higher and faster than she had thought possible when she was still on the ground.

Now, with open flow, we have a proper dining table where we can nourish ourselves with fresh, wonderful food and share our ideas, our dreams and our stories together.

[i] https://positivepsychology.com/3-steps-negativity-bias/

[ii] Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow – The Psychology of Optimal Experience, Harper Perennial, 1990

[iii] Positive Psychology, https://positivepsychology.com/mihaly-csikszentmihalyi-father-of-flow/#:~:text=Csikszentmihalyi%20said%20the%20highest%20intrinsic,and%20riding%20it%20with%20joy.

[iv] Positive Psychology, https://positivepsychology.com/mihaly-csikszentmihalyi-father-of-flow/#:~:text=Csikszentmihalyi%20said%20the%20highest%20intrinsic,and%20riding%20it%20with%20joy.

Additional References

1.     Zawn Villines, Medical News Today, April 19, 2022