A Shift to Creativity

As a middle manager, I sometimes feel like my job is one of the least creative spaces in the world. After all, I don't own the deciding and I don't own the doing, I just facilitate the in-between. This includes trouble-shooting the problems faced by the do-ers and managing the myriad issues raised by the deciders.

As I mentioned in this post, I spend so much time in problem-identification and reaction mode that I feel I am becoming negative in my focus. But in my class last week, I realized that I can use my skill for seeing "problems" as an opportunity for creativity. If I see problems as negative things to be fixed, I'm going to constantly resist them, which is just going to create more tension and more problems and drain my energy. (Here's a great post on this very thing!) But if I see them instead as challenges that are asking for creative attention, I can start to shift not only how I approach them but the very energy of them.

Instead of seeing it as my job to solve problems, I can instead see it as my job to create space for opportunities and solutions to arise. This makes me feel instantly lighter and simultaneously  more powerful. I feel my curiosity and intuition kicking in as I relax into the creative place. I am actually looking forward to tackling some of the issues that before have made me resist and tense up. 

In complete transparency, thinking about this shift also makes me tense and afraid. My mind (ego?) tells me I can't do it. That's because it's not up to my mind, which is a control freak. My following of my mind is what gets me in this stew each time and sends me further down the path of most resistance. This is a heart thing. A gut thing. A trust in myself thing. My mind knows when I do that, things change and it loses power.

So, if I am going to practice this I might as well start  now. Today I will practice reframing my approach. Problems are opportunities for creative thinking...