|
Part of my regular screening to understand the scope of my new Creative Client’s problems is to ask them about headaches and stomach aches. I even regularly touch base with local gastroenterologist offices and nearby neurologists to offer my services, and to connect with good providers of these services around me, to send my own clients to. Headaches and stomach aches are common symptoms amongst Creative People! Headaches and Creative PeopleThere is a lot of crossover in what people have been diagnosed with in the past, what has brought them into my office, and what can actually be strengths of their Creative Personalities. A regular example of this is the crossover of ADHD features to Creative Personality features. In fact, many, if not most, Creative People have features that are neurodivergent, and most people with ADHD that are also Creative are able to stick to and execute plans they are passionate about, better (Boot, Nevicka, and Baas, 2020). As there are dualities in all things, this beneficial feature has a risk of detrimental hyperfocus, and oftentimes physically I see this in Creative People as a migraine. The picture I often give is of a computer with too many tabs open, a fan unable to cool it down, either freezing itself or forcing itself to shut down. Our brain is also, electrical. A migraine may be a natural, organismic reaction to enthusiasm or otherwise driven overdoing.  Headaches and Creative PersonalitiesThere was a study by Gerhard and Huber (2003) that researched personality traits and stress sensitivity in migraine patients. They also established a link between migraine severity and length and the personality trait of secondary neuroticism and increased sensitivity to stress. In other words, quick arousal when stimulated especially along the axes of anxiety and depression symptoms, and the slow resolution of these symptoms once aroused, was associated with higher migraine intensity. If these traits sound familiar to you, they should. They are aligned with the higher sensory capacity that Creative People feel. Especially those Creative People who are HSPs. You are in touch with the way your body feels with a very sensitive threshold- and this study reaffirms this information with a creative personality trait and migraines. Stomach Aches and Creative People From the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, “Researchers have identified a powerful connection between the gut and the brain. Like the brain, the gut is full of nerves. It contains the largest area of nerves outside the brain with the digestive tract and the brain sharing many of the same nerve connections.” This article continues to explore the impact of emotions on the stomach and digestion, including long-term conditions and diseases. We know creative people have powerful emotions, and that emotions are expressed in the body. It follows, then, that the expression of these emotions often impact the stomachs of creative people. This is why I regularly reverse engineer my search by looking for powerful emotional expression by asking about chronic stomach aches. Conclusions about Headaches and Stomach Aches in Creative PeopleUnderstanding your body and its rhythms is a vital part of caring for your Creative Personality well. When you learn the links between your Creative Personality and the way your body reacts to and experiences life, you feel more empowered to take care of yourself well. Creative Personalities are powerful and manifest themselves in many powerful ways. It is important to educate yourself and learn for yourself how your Creative Personality presents itself in your own life. When you support and nurture yourself well as a Creative Person, you will truly flourish.  Learn More About Support for Creative People in Maryland, Virginia, and BeyondIf you are interested in real, impactful, and lasting life change for your creative mind, I would love to help you. Let's connect and launch your life to the next level! I have three steps you can take, right now from my site if you are ready to move forward in your life: 1) Book a Free Consultation. All new clients to Creatively, LLC are entitled to a 15 min, free creativity coaching or counseling consultation to sit with me and discuss your needs, services available, and we can problem solve and hand-pick the best next steps to help you succeed. 2) Begin Counseling for the Modern Day Creative Person. Are you a working Creative in need of specific support? I offer a range of Counseling Services so you can select exactly what you need, and nothing that you don't. Creativity Counseling offers 30 min sessions to 60-minute sessions, as well as asynchronous support. 3) Join my Artists in Residency Program. This is a Free, Online Community of Artists where you can build support, accountability, and a network of Creative People as a stepping stone towards reconnecting and committing to your authentic, creative self. More Articles like Creative People with Headaches and Stomach AchesCreative Translation, Crisis of Meaning: Creative People Lost, Coaching Creative People, A Creative Personality Snapshot, From One Creative to Another, Finding your Creative Balance, Dream Theory for Creative People, Creative People, Mental Health and Creativity (C) 2022 Creatively, LLC www.creativelyllc.com References
Boot N, Nevicka B, Baas M. Creativity in ADHD: Goal-Directed Motivation and Domain Specificity. Journal of Attention Disorders. 2020;24(13):1857-1866. doi:10.1177/1087054717727352 Dorothea Huber Dr, Dr. Phil & Gerhard, (2003) Personality Traits and Stress Sensitivity in Migraine Patients, Behavioral Medicine, 29:1, 4-13, DOI: 10.1080/08964280309596169 https://adaa.org/learn-from-us/from-the-experts/blog-posts/consumer/how-calm-anxious-stomach-brain-gut-connection Hello, Wonderful Creative Minds! Today I want to introduce you to an often encountered, rarely talked about feature of the creative experience, that I affectionately call the “Creation Translation.” This is the critical part of your creative process where your internal experience becomes translated into your external expression. This seemly nuanced, though very real process, is one of the most important, difficult, and unique aspects of your creativity. While it varies artist to artist, and by type of expression, as a part of the creative process, we can generally speak about it in a cohesive way as it functions for Creative People. Creation Translation Works Like A MuscleOne of the first things I tell Creative People about your Creative Translation, or CT for short, is that it functions in many ways like a muscle. Not unlike language, musical, mathematical, or other types of translation, the more you use your CT, the easier it gets, and vice versa. The key, then, is to use it with regularity, to keep your CT flexible and strong. A regularly practiced CT is a key component to the much sought-after “creating with ease.” CT is Important For All Types of Artists and Creative MindsAll types of Creative People use this important creative process, the CT. Different from technical skill and creative perception, CT is a combination of these important features to take what you as an artist experience and present it in a way that is consistent with that, for others to share in that experience. This is an important way in which we use art to communicate!  Needs Use and Practice by Creative PeopleYour CT needs regular use and practice to flourish. This is simply true. You may know the feeling of frustration and growth upon learning and building a new skill, or training and expanding a new set of muscles, and building and training your CT with use is not much different than that. You are keeping a part of your mind and creative process in good shape that will support your creative and mental health in a sustainable way. Creation Translation Flourishes With Use, Atrophies With DisuseWhile your CT flourishes with use, it will similarly atrophy and weaken with disuse. This emphasizes the importance of commitment to the regular practice of your creativity, translating your concepts into expression. Akin to “flow” described in creativity research, CT allows you to be more productive. From the perspective of a painter, imagine looking back and forth from your subject, to your canvas, and that good feeling of flow, back and forth, from seeing, to paint stroke, where the image you are creating comes to life on the canvas. You are translating the real-life image, through your own creative filters, brain, techniques, and inclinations, through the brush and onto the canvas, where it comes to life as your own interpretation. This ease or flow-like state is the combination of your artistic skill and your creative ideas combined, recreating your vision. Inability to Start a New Project With Disuse You are a writer, and ready to start your new book. You look at the flashing cursor on your blank screen and feel stuck. You have a concept, you have researched it, and you have a creative voice and perspective from which you write but somehow you don’t know how to begin. It is the lack of use and regular practice of your CT that is feeling stuck and blocked, keeping you from your first keystrokes, to begin your new work. Without regular creative practice, exercising the translation of a concept to creative execution, this difficult task becomes rusty and increasingly difficult to engage with. It is one of the main reasons my artists struggle to maintain a regular creative practice in the first place! How Regular Creative Practice Can Help Creative PeopleOften, I talk about the dichotomous nature of things, especially in creative concepts. One of these dichotomies is between process and product. They are ever at odds with each other, and the more you focus on one, the further you get from the other, creating a lovely tension and balance. It is important to remember that CT is a PROCESS-oriented concept, not a PRODUCT-oriented concept. In other words, consistent creative practice keeps your CT running smoothly, and, especially in the beginning of establishing a creative practice, you must not invest in your creative product in order to allow your CT to build and grow strong. Over time, the regular use of your CT in an ongoing creative practice will produce the ease and flow you seek, generating a more consistent, authentic product reflective of your sensibility as an artist. How Regular Use of Creation Translation is Good for Your Worldview, Self-Esteem, and Mental Health as a Creative Person From a mental health perspective, regular creative practice is the most healthy thing a creative person can do for their mental health. This is something I have researched myself, and build much of my Creativity Counseling and Creativity Coaching principles upon. One of the reasons a regular creative practice is so important is because of the maintenance of your CT. A creative with a well-maintained CT tends to have healthy self-esteem, a clear sense of meaningfulness, perspective, and a sense of purpose in the world. In traditional cognitive therapy, we see concepts and research that reinforce these principles, such as Beck’s Cognitive Triad, that mood states impact thoughts that impact self-esteem. Learn More About Your Creative Personality, and Build a Regular Creative PracticeIf you are interested in real, impactful, and lasting life change for your creative mind, I would love to help you. Let's connect and launch your life to the next level! I have three steps you can take, right now from my site if you are ready to move forward in your life: 1) Book a Free Consultation. All new clients to Creatively, LLC are entitled to a 15 min, free creativity coaching or counseling consultation to sit with me and discuss your needs, services available, and we can problem solve and hand-pick the best next steps to help you succeed. 2) Begin Counseling for the Modern Day Creative Person. Are you a working Creative in need of specific support? I offer a range of Counseling Services so you can select exactly what you need, and nothing that you don't. Creativity Counseling offers 30 min sessions to 60-minute sessions, as well as asynchronous support. 3) Join my Artists in Residency Program. This is a Free, Online Community of Artists where you can build support, accountability, and a network of Creative People as a stepping stone towards reconnecting and committing to your authentic, creative self. Other Articles like, “Creation Translation”Crisis of Meaning: Creative People Lost, Coaching Creative People, A Creative Personality Snapshot, From One Creative to Another, Finding your Creative Balance, Dream Theory for Creative People, Launch Creatively Into Spring, Creative People, Mental Health and Creativity (C) 2022 Creatively, LLC
www.creativelyllc.com |
get more from The Creativity CoursesLiking educational topics and knowing what's hot in creativity? Creatively has online courses, with an interactive creative community, coaching sessions and more in the Creativity Courses. Want these blogposts in a newsletter? Subscribe here, and get a free gift. Cindy Cisnerosis a Creativity Coach, Creative Therapist and Professional Artist in Sykesville, Maryland. She is an expert straddling the realms of arts, creativity research, psychology, therapy, and coaching. She provides Online Creativity Counseling in Maryland and Virginia, and Online Creativity Coaching throughout the USA, Canada and the UK tailored for the discerning, imaginative, artistic, and neurodiverse. The information provided in this blog is from my own clinical experiences and training. It is intended to supplement your clinical care. Never make major life changes before consulting with your treatment team. If you are unsure of your safety or wellbeing, do not hesitate to get help immediately.
Archives
July 2025
|
RSS Feed
|
|
Concierge Therapy for Creatives in Maryland
Creativity Coaching Worldwide including the USA, UK and Canada |
|
Telephone |
|