What neuroscience says about why creative failure sends you into a spiral, and why the one tool that brings your brain back online costs less than a coffee
Las time this happened I reached inside myself, closing my eyes, focusing on my breath. Deep controlled, soothing breaths, repeating the mantra «release» repeatedly for 60 seconds.
I picked up this advice from Brendon Burhcard and it helps «landing» again after panic has hit.
I generally reach for a busy buzzy task. Anything to distract me and make me feel productive, like entering credit card charges or clearing out a desk drawer. Worse, i envision a whole new project like a workshop or what about this is a different kind of a book… All of which create ambivalence, my favorite form of avoidance and procrastination. I recently cleaned out my journal. I get rid of anything that I didn’t wanna keep and kept some of those ideas that might be worth working on for my Substack essays and what I saw was over and over and over how I kept looking at different projects and not just choosing one. That is what I want to write about on Saturday. How my body‘s illnesses and pains and problems keep telling me to do something meaningful before I die. But then I told myself I don’t know what to do when that is a big fat lie. Probably more than you wanted, but hey, it’s what I came up with.
Dear Cynthia: I do the same. I'll reorganize an entire shelf before I'll sit down with the one sentence that's been waiting for me all week. The credit card charges, the new workshop idea, the fresh book concept that suddenly feels urgent. I know that move. I invented some of it. Saturday's piece is already there. The body asking you to choose. The lie about not knowing. Write that one. Don't tidy it on the way in. The ambivalence is the subject, not the thing to apologize for. Cheering you on, M!
Las time this happened I reached inside myself, closing my eyes, focusing on my breath. Deep controlled, soothing breaths, repeating the mantra «release» repeatedly for 60 seconds.
I picked up this advice from Brendon Burhcard and it helps «landing» again after panic has hit.
Dear Roy: that is such a great advice! I will try it out. Thank you so much for sharing!!!
Looking forward to hear how it works for you :-)
I generally reach for a busy buzzy task. Anything to distract me and make me feel productive, like entering credit card charges or clearing out a desk drawer. Worse, i envision a whole new project like a workshop or what about this is a different kind of a book… All of which create ambivalence, my favorite form of avoidance and procrastination. I recently cleaned out my journal. I get rid of anything that I didn’t wanna keep and kept some of those ideas that might be worth working on for my Substack essays and what I saw was over and over and over how I kept looking at different projects and not just choosing one. That is what I want to write about on Saturday. How my body‘s illnesses and pains and problems keep telling me to do something meaningful before I die. But then I told myself I don’t know what to do when that is a big fat lie. Probably more than you wanted, but hey, it’s what I came up with.
Dear Cynthia: I do the same. I'll reorganize an entire shelf before I'll sit down with the one sentence that's been waiting for me all week. The credit card charges, the new workshop idea, the fresh book concept that suddenly feels urgent. I know that move. I invented some of it. Saturday's piece is already there. The body asking you to choose. The lie about not knowing. Write that one. Don't tidy it on the way in. The ambivalence is the subject, not the thing to apologize for. Cheering you on, M!