Shadowy Emotions

[Emotions - I]

“It is the creative potential itself in human beings that is the image of God” - Mary Daly

We are all creatives, which is simply to say that there is within us the capacity to make something that doesn’t exist yet.

A painting.
A pizza.
A paper airplane.

A spreadsheet that works.
A system that doesn’t malfunction.
A strategy that is more efficient.

A new industry.
A new theory.
A new technology.

Some of us are inclined to change the world; others, to change the color of the accent wall in our dining room. It’s the same inclination. The same indwelling, creative spirit.

But this divine, creative spirit is a package deal. It’s not “sold” as a single unit, as if we have the desire to make the world more beautiful, period. In the package comes a landscape of negative emotions.

Creativity, while divine, has a shadowy backside, and what lurks in the shadow is as diverse as our inspiration.

Mary Daly’s quote is a foundational conviction behind this blog, and if you randomly searched the archives, you would find its truth threaded throughout the last 700 entries. What you might not find, however, is much reflection on the negative emotions that often accompany our creative call.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be working through the reality (and importance) of six emotions that are prevalent for those that have a keen awareness of their creative potential: anxiety, fear, restlessness, insecurity, self-pity, and doubt.