What is Creativity?
One of the most common reasons for seeking hypnotherapy is “to get unstuck.” Which, in simple terms, means “to be the person I would like to be, if only I could get out of my own way.” In other words, persons seeking hypnotherapy have preferred behaviors in mind, whether that means stopping bad habits or starting good ones. The inability to act on those desires makes them feel stupid or inadequate. Fact is, most have tried every conventional treatment or cure before settling on hypnotherapy as a last resort. They’re not lacking in intelligence or persistence. What they lack is creativity.
Creativity is often presented as a personality trait; you are either creative or you are not. But that’s not accurate. Creativity is a skill. Like any other skill, some people are better at it than others. But as a skill, creativity can be improved with practice.
As you might guess, one of the first steps to developing creativity is to eschew convention. Conventional thinking suggests that “practice makes perfect.” In reality, practicing a skill imperfectly makes one very consistent at that imperfect performance. So some creative soul modified it to “perfect practice makes perfect.” And that makes perfect sense; but who’s to say what constitutes perfection?
Actually, regardless of the skill, it’s pretty easy to find a teacher or coach who claims to understand perfection and can guide you towards it. And that includes creativity.
A discussion of the perception of perfection is beyond the scope of this piece. Suffice to say, virtually every skill can be broken down into smaller components. It is those components that the competent teacher or coach observes for when making recommendations for how one might improve.
The knowledgeable teacher attends more closely to the process of the skill than the product. That’s the difference between telling a basketball player he missed a foul shot (product) and recommending that he “follow thru in the direction of the basket” (process). And, yes, the same concept applies to observing components within creativity and recommending improvements related to them.
The iHealth Center tagline—Change Your Mind to Change Your Life—is an assertion of clients’ creative abilities. Most arrive with a pretty weak creativity muscle. That’s why they’re stuck. The challenge is to exercise that creativity thru repetition and refinement.
Hypnotherapy challenges conventional thought. Conventional therapies vest the responsibility for creative solutions in the care provider. Hypnotherapy requires collaboration between client and hypnotherapist, requiring both to think creatively. But don’t think of it as a game of HORSE. The client need not match the hypnotherapist’s creativity shot-for-shot. But neither is it a random “shoot around.” The purpose of developing ones skill in creativity is to produce relevant and practical solutions to real problems.
The next blog upload will discuss the components of creativity. When you know the components, and have developed some basic skill, you can self-monitor for continuous improvement.