After making his selection at the quarry, Michelangelo pushed a slab of stone down the road for miles to his studio. A passerby asked why he worked so hard over a piece of rock. He replied that he knew an angel in the rock wanted
to come out during a laborious process.
Rollo May in Courage to Create, wrote that creative people need big hearts to take the risk necessary for creativity. He called it an, "Active battle with the Gods."
Everyone requires patience to discover angels and the angles through stages of creativity.
Preparation: In the beginning of a creative project, an idea arrives followed by a search for ways to discover its possibilities and elaboration. Sparks fly. Everyone has fun until . . .
Frustration arrives: The creative process includes periods of confusion, chaos, and ambiguity. The distress of living with the frustration fuels the creative process. Believe it. Everyone feels a temptation to give up or feel satisfied with a project prematurely, just to have it done. Outlast the frustration, fear, and intimidation. Dialogue with it and soldier on.
Incubation: In this stage, tolerance develops for the mystery and the continuous flow of ambiguity. It involves both patience and playfulness. Process will solve the problem. Trust it. Move into this stage with diversion. Get away from thinking about the direct issue. Romp with a child's mind. Find humor as your friend.
Return to a situation that has become a rock in your road.
Elaboration: With patience, playfulness and diversion from frustration, feel the satisfaction of the, AHA moment. Perspiration rains until the skies clear. Ideas flow and spark in rainbow hues.
Communication: For writers, words harness paragraphs to race into pages. Sharing the idea in a form that becomes understandable turns into the finish line. All artists: Musicians, painters, and sculptors, find their power by movement into the process. The thrill takes over.
Rest, re-creation and play turn into building blocks that become fundamental to the creative process. Carl Jung encouraged, "Every creative individual owes all that is greatest in his life to fantasy.The dynamic principle of fantasy involves play. This characteristic feels childlike. Without playing with fantasy no creative work is accomplished."
Play with it.
Set it upside down.
Discover ways you haven't considered before to roll it and discover its angel.
Let the thrill take over.
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