Your Elusive Inner Genius is Waiting to Be Let Out
Your inner creative genius is a child
It’s like the hair is being yanked from your head. Your inner creative genius is tugging at the strands demanding your attention. She’s trying to pull the ideas out of your brain onto paper, but they’re not coming.
It’s like your brain is trying to be the rational adult and disciplining your creative child. Your brain is resisting and it’s aggravating. But your child wants your attention. They want you to play with them, but your brain won’t listen.
This is what writing often looks like to me. I come to the table ready to let loose and play, but my brain parent is busy chastising me. The brain parent keeps giving the creative genius child all these rules and regulations she has to follow, but she’s not interested.
She stares at the mind maps and outlines her parent created, but it doesn’t speak to her.
All too often, I get to the screen to be thwarted by this demonic child. I came ready and prepared to write, but it’s not coming. I want to scream, “WHY?”
A wild child
I find myself wrestling with my inner creative child often. I try to make her do one thing, but she wants to do another. The more I try to manage her, the more out of control she gets.
Sometimes your inner creative doesn’t want to comply. It’s a rogue child, and it keeps doing its own thing. You’re trying to coral and manage it, but the kid is rampant.
You showed up and sat down to supervise, but now it’s the kid's turn to play. She’s screaming and carrying on, giving you a major headache. So, the least you can do is give her a canvas.
Give a child a paintbrush and they’ll paint something. They may not paint between the lines, they may not paint what you want them to, but they will paint.
Taming the shrew
Long ago, I stopped trying to tame mine and let her loose instead. I let her out through free writing. My free writing becomes an absolute mess, bouncing from thought to thought. It’s like being in a bouncy castle, so my inner creative child loves it.
She loves to come up with different ideas, but she doesn’t know how to bring them to life. That’s what she needs me for. She had the idea, but the idea hasn’t been given time to percolate yet. It needs time to stew in the brain.
You both know the idea will be good when it comes out, but you’re wondering how long that’s going to take.
And instead of trying to focus on finishing that one idea, your child has moved on to the next shiny thing. Now you have a dozen half-finished canvases, none of which you can hang up.
I imagine the parent saying, Hey, get back here and finish up! But the kid has moved on.
Cleaning up the mess
My computer is filled with half-written articles that I can’t seem to find the gusto to finish. My creative child doesn’t give a shit. She’s all giggly and pleased with herself. She thinks she's done me some kind of service.
But now I have to clean up her mess. And man is it a mess. She went so wild there are stains on the wall and paint all over the carpet.
My parent is protesting. I didn’t make this mess. Why am I the one cleaning it up? Answer: because you’re the parent.
You have to help your kid clean up, then help her connect the dots on her picture.
The finished product
Once it’s all said and done, the two of you finally created a beautiful picture. It was a team effort. Your child had to inspire you, and you had to guide your child to the finish line. But now you get to hang up your canvas in pride.
After all your fighting, you two can be proud of the work you accomplished. It couldn’t have been done without each other.
And now you get to repeat the process all over again.
