Dance with the obstacles in your life

Do you know that saying?! Each one of us has good days and bad days.

Fear of failure is one of people\’s biggest fears, according to a study by Linkagoal, a company that has developed a platform to increase productivity. According to the results presented by Linkagoal, over 31% of respondents do not make new plans for fear of making a mistake with the execution of that plan.

Similar to the fear of failure are creative blockages, those moments when no matter the idea you have, you can\’t materialise it in any way. The fear of failure combined with a stagnation of creativity can cause many unpleasant moments in the long run, and Twyla Tharp, one of the greatest American choreographers, deals with this subject in her book, \”The Creative Habit: Learn it and use it for your life\”.

We present below how you can recognise inspirational blockages and how you can overcome them.

Blockages and revelations: In her book, Twyla mentions two diametrically opposed states that you can go through during a creative process. The first state is the blockage, the moment when you are completely uninspired and during which you feel that nothing is connected. The author calls this state \”the rut\”. At the opposite pole is the state you always want when you are full of ideas and feel inspired. You have a feeling of self-knowledge and you can continue the creative process indefinitely. In this context, Twyla called this state \”the groove\”.

Dose your creativity for several days: To keep your creativity active longer, there is an exercise you can do that is also explained in the book. You have to dose some of your inspiration for the next day and this happens if you stop the creative process when you feel you have discovered a good idea. In this way, the next day you will start with the ritual you have become accustomed to so far and you will resume the creative process from a \”high\” point, where you stopped it the day before.

Take a walk to regain your inspiration: When you feel that you have reached a \”dead\” point in the creative process, it is time for a change of atmosphere. Find a place that inspires you and take a walk there with a clear purpose in mind. For example, if you are passionate about make-up, you can go to a cosmetics store with the intention of buying a certain product. In this way you give your brain a little boost to have time to recover and who knows, maybe a certain thing will manage to awaken your creativity during this walk.

Things and rituals that lead to blockages: Inspirational blockages never appear suddenly; they are almost always triggered by certain repetitive things. Among the things that can cause blockages, Twyla mentions:

• Bad ideas that you stubbornly resurrect;
• Bad timing, by which we mean an inappropriate time in your life which does not favour a given action, or is maybe an inappropriate time for you;
• You test methods that have failed in the past, and in doing so you prolong the blockage. If you have tried to find a solution to an important problem in the early hours of the morning, but you are not a morning person, maybe it\’s time to try something different.

You can do \”insert a favourite activity here\”: One of the suggestions presented in the book to regain your creativity is physical movement. Twyla chooses to film herself while dancing different dance styles. She believes that movement, dancing, physical effort are not just for professionals — anyone can \”recharge their batteries\” through physical exercise. The author also believes that the chemistry between body and mind is inseparable, and through movement the two entities come to be in balance.

Correctly identify the state you are in: One of the most important tips offered by Twyla is to try to identify from the first \”symptoms\” the state you are in. If you are on a “rut”, the next step is to identify the problem that is causing you this condition (physical or emotional problem) and change the approach. Once you have reached the \”groove\” it would be good to try to prolong this state as much as possible in order to benefit from positive results for a long time.

The TMoves team can help you have as many “groove” moments as possible and to overcome your blockages using dance-therapy methods, as well as meditation. Don’t forget that your body is your temple, as we have mentioned in a previous article.