Creative people use a wide range and depth of intense emotions to create art. How can you work with strong feelings and stay safe?
Being concerned with our ego in unhealthy ways can interfere with emotional expression.
Actor Thandie Newton once commented on being a celebrity:
“When I am out and about I feel watched. It’s become second nature. The only time I get to be private is in my work. That is when I liberate the ego. The blissed-out sensation of liberating the ego.”
M. Night Shyamalan cast and directed Bryce Dallas Howard in a key role in his 2004 film “The Village” and commented :
”There’s a purity to her that comes through in her acting. When an emotion comes through, it’s unadulterated.
“The gunk from fame and money — all those things that would gunk up the system — won’t get in her way.”
See more in article Dealing with fame and keeping your ego in check.
Actor and musician Gloria Reuben has commented about experiencing emotions:
“The thing I love most about acting is that while I am doing a scene, I am allotted all of the freedom to feel.
“Sometimes, actually I find that most times in life, one is not able to fully express what one feels.
“And I am the kind of person that feels so much that if I didn’t have acting (and music), I would burst from all of the emotion inside!”
Psychologist Cheryl Arutt works with actors and other artists, and notes:
“If you are an artist, you are your instrument. The greater access you maintain to yourself, the richer and broader your array of creative tools.
“Learning how to regulate stress and danger, especially how to recognize when we are safe allows us to maintain access to those higher order functions and flexibility of thinking.”
“Learning self-regulation allows creative people to visit those emotional extremes without getting stuck there.”
From my article Working With Our Emotions To Be More Creative.
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Psychotherapist Mihaela Ivan Holtz writes about working with emotions:
As an artist you need talent, dedication, passion…. and emotional boundaries.
Yes, you need emotional boundaries with your art to thrive in your career.
Your emotional boundaries facilitate, or impede, your internal emotional creative space and the connection you have with your art.
The more merged you are with your art, the more you invite your art into your emotional space.
And, the more you invite your art into your emotional space, the more you open yourself up to your art.
You and your art are intimately connected.
When you are in love with something your emotional boundaries become very fluid, almost like a dance – the dance of intimacy and love.
Your passion wants you to let your emotional boundaries melt and you become one with what you love. Creating and performing becomes one with you, flowing together.
Nothing else exists anymore – it’s just you and what you are passionate about in that moment. The feel of eternal takes over.
I am sure, you, the artist knows how this feels…
When you are able to become one with your art you can allow creating from inside out, getting in touch with your most unique talents.
And then, there are the times when you want to be a little more detached from your art.
Although still connected authentically, you seek some emotional distance.
You and your art are separate entities, completing each other.
There is a kind of emotional space that allows you and you art to stand on your own.
This is the state you want to be with your art when you present your art to agents, when you digest reviews about your art, and when your audience reacts to your performance.
Sometimes, when you need to be more objective and detached, you may overly identify with your art.
When people express how they feel authentically about your art, you can take it very personally because it feels like a reflection of who you are.
You can become reactive or defensive.
Read more in her article :
The Art of Creating Emotional Boundaries with Your Art
– To Connect to Your Creativity and Performance.
Dr. Mihaela Ivan Holtz works with creative people in TV/Film, performing and fine arts, and has many more articles on her site – follow the link.
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Douglas Eby (M.A./Psychology) is author of the The Creative Mind series of sites which provide “Information and inspiration to help creative people thrive.”
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