This quote relates to a discussion that came up in one of my adult groups this week, and it was like a moment when we were peering behind the curtain of the therapeutic process. When should we apply our focus on fixing what is wrong, and when should we apply our focus on celebrating what is right? Another way of saying that would be, How much should we be fighting off what is holding us back and how much should we be grabbing onto what is pulling us forward?
My observation in my own life and in my work with patients is that our presumption is to spend more of our time focusing on fixing what is wrong than celebrating and expressing what is right. I wonder if there is some underlying cultural view that promotes this way of thinking. For example, we have all heard the phrase, "problem-solving," but we don't often use the phrase, "solution-finding." I wonder if we are generally taught to approach problems as something to be wrestled with and dominated, and certainly, this can be extremely effective. At the very least, identifying and recognizing dysfunctional patterns in one's life and finding the roots of the problem in one's personal history can springboard the process of change. Ignoring problems in relationships or in one's mental health can also delay the needed attention until a crisis occurs.
However, I am starting to see a connection between the value of creativity in the expressive therapies and the overall application of imagination in the crafting of our lives. Celebrating what is right in one's life is an affirmation of one's power to create and succeed. Oftentimes, experiences of failure and defeat cause people to stop imagining the possible, to stop dreaming, and to stop finding ways that their unique experiences can transform the world. It occurs to me that it is exactly in times of defeat that we are afforded an opportunity to envision a new reality, one that integrates the current predicament as the seed for a never-before-seen kind of fruit.
Creativity is not just something that you do on a piece of paper or with a musical instrument. Creativity is the ability to see more than what is there, to risk doing something differently, to trust an inner impulse to reveal more than what is known. As an expressive therapist, I hope to encourage my patients to have faith in their creative power to make a place for themselves in the world where their gifts will be expressed and valued. Sometimes, the problem we are trying to solve, whether it's depression or alcoholism or panic attacks, can become a distraction from the real problem: the absence of a soul-infused story, written in a language unknown to the rest of the world, the translation of which is the task for the rest of our lives.
“In my dream, the angel shrugged and said, if we fail this time, it will be a failure of imagination and then she placed the world gently in the palm of my hand.”
- Brian Andreas
My observation in my own life and in my work with patients is that our presumption is to spend more of our time focusing on fixing what is wrong than celebrating and expressing what is right. I wonder if there is some underlying cultural view that promotes this way of thinking. For example, we have all heard the phrase, "problem-solving," but we don't often use the phrase, "solution-finding." I wonder if we are generally taught to approach problems as something to be wrestled with and dominated, and certainly, this can be extremely effective. At the very least, identifying and recognizing dysfunctional patterns in one's life and finding the roots of the problem in one's personal history can springboard the process of change. Ignoring problems in relationships or in one's mental health can also delay the needed attention until a crisis occurs.
However, I am starting to see a connection between the value of creativity in the expressive therapies and the overall application of imagination in the crafting of our lives. Celebrating what is right in one's life is an affirmation of one's power to create and succeed. Oftentimes, experiences of failure and defeat cause people to stop imagining the possible, to stop dreaming, and to stop finding ways that their unique experiences can transform the world. It occurs to me that it is exactly in times of defeat that we are afforded an opportunity to envision a new reality, one that integrates the current predicament as the seed for a never-before-seen kind of fruit.
Creativity is not just something that you do on a piece of paper or with a musical instrument. Creativity is the ability to see more than what is there, to risk doing something differently, to trust an inner impulse to reveal more than what is known. As an expressive therapist, I hope to encourage my patients to have faith in their creative power to make a place for themselves in the world where their gifts will be expressed and valued. Sometimes, the problem we are trying to solve, whether it's depression or alcoholism or panic attacks, can become a distraction from the real problem: the absence of a soul-infused story, written in a language unknown to the rest of the world, the translation of which is the task for the rest of our lives.
“In my dream, the angel shrugged and said, if we fail this time, it will be a failure of imagination and then she placed the world gently in the palm of my hand.”
- Brian Andreas
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