Do you know what it’s like to be wrapped in the arms of a painting? Have you ever experienced what it is to walk inside the colour gold? Or swim inside magenta pink? Did you know that it is possible to bathe in beauty and for that beauty to help you find pathways to new ways of knowing?
Are you already rolling your eyes, about to scroll on, because you think I’ve finally lost the plot? Bear with me, please. And if you dare, read on…
According to my Enneagram profile, I have a fundamental need to be different or even unique. It’s definitely true that I like to go my own way, although I sometimes complain that it leaves me isolated on the outside. It’s also true that independent thought is something I prize highly and that being on the outside, or rather the ‘outer side’ is where I prefer to be. I can move more freely from here and contribute my independent thinking (something that is harder to do if you are keen to maintain harmonious relationships in the centre of things) more comfortably. Maybe it explains a lot about my enjoyment of consulting and, without doubt, self-employment.
I wonder if my most recent choice of personal and professional development experience was influenced by my desire to be ‘different’. Visual Medicine is definitely ‘niche’, developed by the wonderful Suzette Clough over twenty years, through her experience as an artist and psychotherapist and offered out to the world as a creative, spiritual practice. I didn’t know too much about it when I signed up. I did know that it involved colour and deep personal enquiry and that was good enough for me. Periods of lockdown had already led to a burgeoning in my creativity and seen me reach for the pen, the pastel and even the paintbrush to express and explore. I had loved it. I had found companionship and solace in it. I had found a new dimension to living through it.
So September saw me embark on a five-month journey, from a base in Suzette’s cosy art studio in North-West London in the company of two other adventurers. The journey for me has been profound. And while this piece is not intended to extol the virtues of Visual Medicine or recount the discoveries I have made along the way, it is perhaps to announce definitively the permanent fixture of Creativity that is now part of my life and my absolute certainty of the benefits that come from hanging out with Her (yeah, she’s a ‘she’).
My upbringing mainly focussed on the academic in me. It wasn’t that my creativity was diminished in any way. It was more that academia was the important game in town and I learned to attach my sense of value (and potential) to my academic prowess. This is what would get me places. And perhaps it did. Or has. But while I certainly do not dismiss it now, I have come to realise gradually over the last decade, that Creativity has just as much — if not MORE — to offer me, the people I care about and my contribution to the world, than my IQ or academic ability.
And let’s be clear: I am not suggesting I have any great artistic talent. At the age of 52 I have finally come to describe myself as creative but shudder still at the prospect of going any further in recognising my artistic abilities. But actually this is not about being artistically talented. I am not talking about how good I or anyone else might be at painting or writing or singing or dancing. This is about being connected to the creative force inside me and being able to harness and channel my creative energy to positive effect. And one thing I can say with certainty and confidence is that I have lots of creative energy. Not only that, but I also now know that it is indisputably a force for good in the world — which is more than I can say for my intellect which, if I’m honest, was really only ever trained to take things apart, to dissect with analytical rigour and — usually — destroy.
Truth be told, I have become a Born Again Creative — like the reverse of the ex-smoker who irritates the hell out of everyone by telling them to stop smoking, I am evangelical about the benefits of creativity and would happily extol its virtues to any and every living soul. And you know what? The more you apply yourself to it, the more powerful a force your creativity becomes. It is a practice, like any other practice. The more you do it, the better you become at it. And yes, it may be that you become a better painter or a better song writer, but — and much more importantly — you can also become a more resourceful, more fulfilled, more imaginative contributor to the world; in the way you show up in your relationships, in your communities and workplaces — or, as Neon would say, in the way you live, lead and work.
About three years ago, I did a 12-week course in Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way. Many of you will know about it. One of the ‘non-negotiables’ in the course is taking up a practice of Morning Pages where you free write for twenty or so minutes every morning, just allowing your pen to move across the page, without thinking, caring about or even reading what emerges. My rational brain could not understand how that could or would ever contribute to the facilitation of my creativity. But it did. Without any doubt. It was over that period that I started drawing and then painting and writing more prolifically. It led to me taking a memoir writing course and then a poetry course. It led to me creating The Art of Becoming which has now developed into an innovative approach to developing women in leadership. And, aside from all these wonderful ‘outputs’, it also led to me accessing a deeper sense of wellbeing and resourcefulness in myself at a time when that was what I most needed in life.
It has increasingly informed the way I work with individuals and with teams and I am always now looking for ways to bring more creative ways of seeing, knowing and thinking to the corporate settings in which I operate. For is it not time that we tried something different? Have we not stretched the value of reason and analytical thought to their limit and found them wanting when it comes to unlocking new ways of approaching the challenges we face?
Underpinning all of my work is a deep, deep desire for people to thrive and in their thriving, to become ever greater forces for good in the world. I am convinced that creativity can help in this process and am committed to doing everything I can, in my own small way, to bring more of it, to show how it can help teams strengthen their relationships with each other, to show how it can unlock new thinking in how we tackle organisational challenges, how it can energise, heal and revitalise individuals and groups and in so doing, open up the possibility for more sustainable ways of living well.
So on that note, I leave you with one of my paintings as my gift to you on Valentine’s Day. Maybe if I were with you now in person, I would put it on the floor in front of you. Or maybe I’d invite you to just to sit with it quietly for a while. Maybe I would invite you to pay attention to the colours, textures, shapes and energies of the painting and to allow them to evoke something in you. And maybe, just maybe, I would ask you to write down a question relating to something that is challenging you in your life or work at the moment, and to then use the painting as a vehicle for understanding, exploring or addressing that challenge in a different way.
And maybe, maybe, just maybe, you might be surprised at what you discovered.
Happy Valentine’s.