I have this clear knowing, that in every person on the planet there is a creative force that we can either tap into or suppress, and when we suppress it we create chaos within us. That chaos will cause all sorts of havoc in our outer reality, like aggression and conflict – even war – and we get judgmental of others because that energy gets agitated and it has to find an outlet.

Too many people grow up being creatively suppressed, because very few parents have any idea how to support their children’s creativity. Either they smother us with too many compliments about our creative endeavors or they criticize our attempts – both equally bad and with debilitating effects on our personal ability to express ourselves, because they both make us focus on what other people think. And there is also a third way our parents’ attitude can affect us. We notice how they cringe when they do something and we copy them and think that this is how it feels to be creative, and we hardwire in our brains that being creative is difficult and unpleasant and something that we’re supposed to fear, or at least dread.

And what’s worse is that most parents have very little actual interest in supporting real creativity in their children, because creativity isn’t something nice and polite – it is something raw and wild, and most parents try to tame their children so they will fit into society. Of course they don’t do this out of ill will – they actually do it out of concern and misguided love, because no one wants their child to be an outcast. But the price for fitting in is very high. And many people start to realize that when they turn 40 or 50 – life has become a very bleak experience because so much focus and energy has gone into fitting in. Society takes precedence over the individual person who then starts to wither and die, slowly but surely.

So many suffer – especially women. We have become so good at behaving, so we have completely forgotten about expressing. But the need is still there. We just don’t do it, and with all that creative energy bottled up, we start to feel depressed and lost. Life seems meaningless, because it’s just more of the same. The sense of adventure has been lost and instead there is a paralyzing boredom left.

So much of women’s energy is focused toward beauty. It’s not just about our looks, but also about how we express ourselves. We get caught up in wanting things to look “nice”. And when we feel the urge to express ourselves there are plenty of shops where we can buy molds and pretty things to assemble according to someone else’s idea, and courses where we can learn how to draw in a certain way. It is very safe. The major problem with this is that your own inner creativity can’t survive in an environment that is too safe, because creativity isn’t safe – it is unpredictable, provoking and slightly dangerous. Sometimes ugly, loud and garish. But it takes us home to our soul.

Tired of being afraid of what other people think of your art? Learn more about my signature program, Find Your Own Creative Flow, where I teach you how to fall in love with what’s inside of you: