Author J.K. Rowling says, “I feel very strongly that there is a move to sanitise literature because we’re trying to protect children, not from the grizzly facts of life, but from their own imaginations.

“We need to fear and need to confront fear in a controlled environment and that’s a very important part of growing up.” [starpulse.com]

Literature and drama, including movies, can provide that kind of controlled environment, as Jungian analyst and writer Marie-Louise von Franz, among others, explores in her books such as Shadow and Evil in Fairy Tales.

But how does experiencing fear relate to being creative?

In her HuffingtonPost article Fear and Self-Loathing in Hollywood, Arianna Huffington writes, “Courage, my compatriot Socrates said, is the knowledge of what is not to be feared. But far too often in Hollywood, people are afraid of their own shadows — which can be a real career-killer.

“After all, it’s next to impossible to be truly creative when you are afraid of shadows (unless you are a nubile teen cast in a slasher flick, in which case you have a very good reason to fear those dark nooks and crannies).

“The most stultifying and damaging fear infecting Hollywood is, of course, the fear of failure, because it keeps you from taking risks — and risk is an essential element of creativity and art. Failure is part and parcel of any creative life. It’s not the opposite of success; it’s an integral part of success.”

Arianna Huffington is author of the book On Becoming Fearless.

Actor Molly Parker ["Deadwood"] agrees that a lot of decisions in Hollywood “get made based on fear” and says, “It’s something that I try really hard to not buy into… (but) I’m often attracted to projects that scare me in terms of what they’re about, because it challenges who I am and who I think I am and what I think the world is about.”

Actor and producer Drew Barrymore thinks “There’s something liberating about not pretending. Dare to embarrass yourself. Risk.” [From imdb.com]

One exuberant instance of her daring was in 1995 when she flashed David Letterman on his show. “How fun was that?,”Barrymore commented about it. “I’m so glad I was so free at one point in my life.”

Barrymore still nurtures that spirit at times: “I’ll drive in Ireland and park my car and run out into the field and rip all my clothes off and just run in the wheat fields naked. That’s for no one to see. That’s to have that freedom of feeling, like, at one with nature. So I am completely unguarded still.”

She adds, “I can’t handle actors who are guarded. I just think that it’s a tragedy when people are self-protective and angry about it. You have to know what the job entails.” [From How To Be Happy All the Time, by James Kaplan, Parade, Jan 21, 2007.]

Sandra Bullock is also someone who embraces risk as a creative strategy in choosing her acting roles.

She says, “I don’t do anything anymore that feels safe. If it doesn’t scare the crap out of you, then you’re not doing the right thing…” [From the page: Fear.]

The photo is Bullock in one of her bold roles, as Leigh Anne Tuohy in “The Blind Side.”

We can learn to risk fear and work with it to be more creative.

Psychiatrist Judith Orloff M.D. outlines strategies for overcoming fear, including: “Try not to obsess on fear — we are addicted to fear. Replace it with a positive thought or action… Avoid energy vampires, people who suck you dry with their fear or doom and gloom attitude.” [From her book Positive Energy.]

Robert Maurer, a clinical psychologist and teacher, exclaims, “Fear is good. As children, fear is a natural part of our lives, but as adults we view fear as a disease. It’s not a disease. Children say they are afraid or scared, but adults use the clinical terms anxiety or depression.

“A writer should not view fear as something bad, but as essentially doing something right.” [From article Writers can use fear to advantage, by Victor Inzunza.]

Dr. Maurer is author of the book One Small Step Can Change Your Life, and a related CD/Workbook program.

But we also need to be aware of the quality of our fear, and how valid it really is.

In his article Facing Fear with Deliberate Awareness, personal development teacher and musician Tupelo Kenyon notes that in our history as a species, “fear was an important tool for survival. Faced with a hungry wild animal, our fear kicked in, and our imagination provided us with graphic images of what was about to happen. Lunch!”

But, he adds, even without that kind of threat today, “our fear reflex still kicks in, just the same.”

“It’s not so much what’s happening in our world that creates the fear as what’s happening in our minds.”

He quotes Montaigne (1533-1595): “He who fears he will suffer, already suffers because of his fear.”

The video is by science journalist Jeff Wise, author of Extreme Fear: The Science of Your Mind in Danger.

Here are quotes from a couple of his articles :

Stealth Super-Powers

“Even low levels of fear can have a positive effect. A century ago, physiologists recognized that we tend to do better at a given task as the intensity of the challenge increases. Eventually we reach a performance maximum, beyond which our abilities begin to degrade. Taken together, these performance trends yield an inverted-U shape, known to psychologists as the Yerkes-Dodson law. Just when the peak occurs depends not only on the person but on the skill involved.”

Nine Secrets of Courage From ‘Extreme Fear’

“One crucial tool for mastering fear is to develop a sense of confidence in your abilities. You can train yourself for this mindset by setting challenging but reachable goals that become progressively more difficult. Dread public speaking? Make a toast at a small dinner party. Afraid of heights? Try tackling the lower reaches of a climbing wall. Above all, be sure to reward yourself when you’re successful.”

Both of these articles are in the Psychology Today collection Overcoming Fear.

Related pages:
Fear articles / books
Courage / confidence

[From my post Gifted and talented but with insecurity and low self esteem, and a longer quote in the post The Self-Esteem Supercharger.]

In his article I work to build self-confidence in myself and others, entrepreneur Stephen Pierce points out that self-confidence is “extremely valuable. Because I believe in myself, I can show others how to have faith in what they can accomplish.

“I see my dreams realized because I have the self-confidence to pursue them without giving up.

“I avoid surrendering my dreams. Even if I feel sad or afraid, I know that those emotions are only temporary. I can do anything I put my mind to. Belief in myself helps me to move forward in life.”

He also notes that “By showing others that they can be self-assured and brave, I learn a great deal. When I help others, I help myself.

“My confidence grows when I see others succeed after I have helped them.”

Confidence exists on a continuum

In his post How to build confidence, Morty Lefkoe admits he knows very well this experience many of us (most of us?) have had:

“I had very little self-confidence for most of my life,” he writes – adding, “but now I consistently experience a high level of confidence.”

So how did he make that shift? He explains:

Confidence actually exists on a continuum, ranging from a very low to a very high belief in our own abilities, a sense we can handle whatever life throws at us.  Very few people are totally lacking in confidence and very few feel confident that they can handle almost anything.  So the issue for most people is where they currently are on the continuum and how they can improve their confidence.

This is a very helpful point – it is not a simple, binary matter of having confidence versus not having. There are levels and degrees – and changes from one situation to another, or even day to day. Lefkoe continues:

It is important to distinguish between confidence about being able to perform a specific task (such as fly a plane or speak a foreign language) and confidence in yourself. One might not be confident about being able to perform a specific task even though they have high level of self-confidence.  Such a person knows that her inability to perform a specific task means nothing about her as a person.

But that may not be so easy to realize or put to use, especially when you are in the middle of feelings of self-criticism and low confidence.

As a teen and college freshman (many decades ago), I had the ambition to “be a doctor” – but failed organic chemistry. Like many people with a certain level of intellectual ability, I had managed to get through high school with good grades, but without really trying hard.

Failing a class was devastating to my confidence. Of course, there have been other experiences in my life of confidence deflation.

Lefkoe suggests “the way to gain confidence about specific abilities is to learn those skills and practice a lot.”

The key is our beliefs:

The way to improve our internal level of confidence that we apply to life in general is to eliminate our limiting beliefs.  Every negative belief we have lowers our internal level of self-confidence – beliefs such as I’m not good enough, I’m inadequate, I’m powerless, I’m not capable, Nothing I do is good enough, and I’m not worthy.

Once you understand that a lot of negative self-esteem beliefs lowers your level of self-confidence and getting rid of them raises it, you will understand the myth that self-confidence comes from succeeding or failing at specific projects in life.

Another way limiting presumptions and beliefs can affect us is when we experience impostor or fraud feelings.

See the post Dealing with self sabotage: Getting beyond impostor feelings.

~~~

More articles by Morty Lefkoe — author of the book Re-create Your Life: Transforming Yourself and Your World.

To experience The Lefkoe Method, go to ReCreate Your Life where you can eliminate one limiting belief free.

Also see his Natural Confidence program.

dealing with self-criticism, building self confidence, self esteem confidence, building self esteem, impostor feelings

~ ~

Mary-Elaine Jacobsen, Psy.D. – author of The Gifted Adult – notes, “There are millions of unidentified individuals of high potential lost within the fabric of a society that seems to have issued an edict against knowing oneself, being oneself, and expressing oneself fully.”

Natalie Portman acted in her first notable role at age 13, in “The Professional,” and grew up largely on film sets.

Writer Amy Kaufman comments, “It wasn’t until she attended Harvard University that she says she was able to find her own voice, abandoning the ‘yes, ma’am’ attitude she’d adopted during adolescence.”

“When you’re a child, and a director is telling you what to do, you’re just like, ‘OK.’ It’s like it’s your parents,” Portman recalled. “There are certain people that have personalities, even as kids, where they’re like, ‘No! I won’t do that!’ But that’s just not me at all.”

Having to tap into that side of herself while playing the deferential Nina [in her movie Black Swan], she said, was more challenging than nearly all of the physical work.

“I was a good kid, and I probably stayed in that phase longer than most kids. I think even into my early adulthood, I was like, ‘Yes, thank you, sorry,’” she said.

“Having that apologetic, pleasing side to me — I’ve worked really hard to get out of that. Now, if I want something different, I’ll say it. Darren [Aronofsky, the director] learned one day that after trying everything he wanted to do, if on the last take he said, ‘Do this one for yourself,’ that’s the one that would be my best.”

[From 'Black Swan' director ruffles actresses' feathers, By Amy Kaufman, Los Angeles Times, November 28, 2010.]

In another article, Portman was asked about how her feelings about herself have changed compared with earlier in her life.

“You just start feeling happier in your own skin,” she said. “And also I think that takes away a lot of the competition [with other actresses] because you know you can only do what you can do and you can’t do what anyone else does. It allows you to enjoy everyone else a lot more, too.”

[From The Actress Roundtable, The Hollywood Reporter, Nov 10 2010, moderated by Matthew Belloni and Stephen Galloway.]

Sheltered

Actor Mena Suvari (“American Beauty”) was raised in an affluent family, and so sheltered she “never even learned how to take out the garbage,” according to a profile article.

At 21, she married cinematographer Robert Brinkmann, 17 years older, and during the five year marriage remained insecure and dependent.

“I’d convinced myself that I wasn’t capable of doing things,” she says. “I felt as if I were waiting for someone to validate me.”

But after her divorce, she began to see herself as an individual, rather than as someone’s wife or daughter, and said, “I’ve gotten to the point where all the love that I need, all the support that I need, the confidence, I can give myself. It’s empowering and freeing.”

From post on my Women and Talent site: Building identity: The courage to define yourself.

Not a gender thing

The above examples are not meant to imply these are “female issues.”

We can all be overly deferential or have a limiting sense of self worth and identity, or difficulties with assertiveness and expressing our needs and points of view.

More :

Multiple posts related to self-concept

post: Dealing with self sabotage: Getting beyond impostor feelings

post: Building self-confidence: Morty Lefkoe on changing limiting beliefs

Also see Lefkoe’s Natural Confidence program.

self-motivation, personal motivation, personal growth development, self growth, personal growth resources

Author Milli Thornton describes a CPA who kept shutting off his dream to write:

‘He’s long wanted to write the story of his life as a fictional novel, but could not bring himself to write more than the opening paragraph.

“If I can’t write like Wally Lamb, it’s too scary to even begin,” he declared in his heart.

The years ticked by and the CPA felt unfulfilled. “I’ll write my story when I retire,” he promised himself.

When I heard this, I couldn’t rest. “Don’t wait until you retire!” I said. “You may just put it off forever at that rate.”

I knew this truth intimately because of the years when painful hormones surging from my fear of writing gene caused me to hide from my own creativity.’

From article Fear of Writing: Is It A Gene? by Milli Thornton – author of the book Fear of Writing.

In her article Reclaiming Your Creative Courage, Gail McMeekin – a career/creativity coach and writer – notes that one of the greatest blocks to creativity is fear.

“Fear keeps you from exploring your goals in depth and strategizing successful action steps to achieve them. Fear of failure keeps you from enjoying an experimental mind set where roadblocks and re-routing are expected and, even welcomed as new information. Focusing on the fear of being wrong or criticized clips your creative wings.

“Almost everyone can remember trying something new and being chided. Therefore we learned to play it safe, cease taking risks, and stop the flow of creative solutions.”

To get control of fears or defuse them, she suggests exploring some key questions, such as:

What is your fear about–specifically?

What creative traumas from the past still hold power over you?

What do you fear from your internal critic or people from your past who criticized your ideas and actions?

Write this all down so you can see it and begin resolution.

What fears do you have about being creative? Maybe if you deeply and honestly and courageously examine those fears, they will have less power to hold you back.

What may really scare us in pursuing a creative project could be the demand for exploring the inner depths of our psyche. [See the pages on Depth psychology and the Shadow Self, among others on this site.]

In her book Pregnant Darkness: Alchemy and the Rebirth of Consciousness, Monika Wikman says “we descend into darkness voluntarily” when we create.

Even people who are “professionals” at creating must sometimes find that descent fearful or even terrifying at times.

But many actors, writers and other artists talk about using fear in their work – rather than protecting themselves from it.

Kate Hudson had an interesting perspective about acting in her film “The Skeleton Key”:

“Accessing my fears was a lot easier than when I have to deliver a punch line or be always up. Because I’m not always up. Whereas my fears are always somehow underlining everything, everyday.

“You always have something that you’re afraid of. It kind of fuels you… it fuels me. So it’s easier to tap into those than to have to be up or happy.”

From the page Fear – which has many more quotes.

Our fears about creativity and creating may be fueled by ideas – such as the ones we build up over time that help form our self-concept.

In his post The Number 1 Reason You Still Have Fear in Your Life, Steven Aitchison notes, “What a lot of us do is install a fear into our identity, therefore making it a lot harder to get rid of the fear.  For example I asked an acquaintance a few weeks ago if he was going abroad this year for his holidays.  He advised he was afraid of flying so wasn’t going abroad.”

Aitchison continues, “I asked Bob what had made him afraid of flying and he replied it was because of a particularly turbulent  flight he had been on about 10 years ago and he said he would never get back on a plane again.  I then asked if he had ever been in a car accident and he advised he had been in two, one quite bad and the other a minor accident.  I asked if he still drove his car, and he advised he did and it suddenly dawned on him what I was getting at.”

Aitchison declares that “any type of fear is a choice we have… If we faced up to our fear on numerous occasions we would realise there is not much to be frightened of with most of our fears, so when you say you are afraid of something you are really saying I have not faced up to my fears yet.”

Beliefs and fears

“The problem isn’t just your fear. No, your fear represents a powerful, self-limiting belief! Until your beliefs are identified and replaced with empowering beliefs, no amount of positive thinking will help you create and attain success.”

From the book: Conquer Fear! : A Unique Blend of Psychology and Theology to Change Your Beliefs — And Thus Your Results, by Lisa Jimenez.

For a program to change beliefs, see ReCreate Your Life (The Lefkoe Method.)

Psychologist Robert Maurer, PhD has worked with many successful writers and other creative people, and thinks fear may be indispensable for creative expression.

“Fear is good,” he said in an interview. [See my article Scary thrills or irrational dread: working with fear and anxiety.]

“As children, fear is a natural part of our lives, but as adults we view fear as a disease. It’s not a disease.

“Children say they are afraid or scared, but adults use the clinical terms anxiety or depression. A writer should not view fear as something bad, but as essentially doing something right.”

developing creativity, psychology of creativity, creative inspiration, creative expression, creative experience, creative anxiety

And many creators not only live with fears, they welcome them.

This photo is Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang, running for safety after lighting gunpowder to create one of his drawings.

“Why is it important,” he asks, “to make these violent explosions beautiful? Because the artist, like an alchemist, has the ability to transform certain energies, using poison against poison, using dirt and getting gold.”

He admits “Gunpowder possesses a physical danger for anyone near it. But with time, we get to know the material. First, you have to accept that it’s uncontrollable…”

The image and quotes are from a video in the PBS series Art:21.

See an excerpt in my video Courage and Creating.

He also makes some interesting comments on other qualities of courage and daring that artists have – or don’t have:

“The Japanese, like the Chinese, are inspired by the oriental vision of nature and cosmology. But their way of thinking is different from the Chinese. In fact, the Japanese artistic milieu thinks that their lack of daring poses a problem when facing the West.

“They say that their artists do not have the courage to be ambitious. In fact, they do not dare to break off the connection with the West: they do not dare to be radical. They pay too much attention to the West’s opinion of them.

“They say that I, on the other hand, dare to take oriental cosmology as a starting point and use things that came from my own culture as materials, that I dare to be ambitious, to assert myself and oppose the marvellous myths of the West.”

From interview by Fei Dawei. “To Dare To Accomplish Nothing” – from www.caiguoqiang.com

Related book Cai Guo-Qiang

Fear and creative work

Fear is perhaps the most basic emotion we have. As Leonardo da Vinci reportedly said, “Fear arises sooner than anything else.”

Writer Julia Cameron (“The Artist’s Way”) has commented that artists are often terrified. Being creative is venturing into the unknown, and it sets off emotional alarms.

[For more on her, see the post The mind of gifted adults: Julia Cameron on her mental health challenges.)

Fear can show up at any stage of a creative project, and regardless of talent or experience.

When she got a midnight call saying that Scholastic Press was paying a huge advance to publish her first Harry Potter book, J.K. Rowling admits she experienced a rush of fear.

"I couldn't sleep - I was obviously delighted but most of me was just frozen in terror."

"Courage is at the very heart of creativity."

Psychologist Stephen Diamond, PhD, notes in his review of The Courage to Create by Rollo May that May was "a pioneering psychotherapist, philosopher, prolific and poetic author, and sought after teacher and lecturer, and also a gifted watercolorist with great appreciation for art and music."

Dr. Diamond continues, "Courage, as the book's apt title implies, is at the very heart of creativity, since to be creative requires us to risk seeing reality anew, and to try (typically not wholly successfully) to express our experiences in creative work, despite the anxiety such soul-searching and self-revealing endeavors inevitably engender.

"Creativity always requires taking a chance on one's self-- meeting one's unconscious, or shadow, or what May called the daimonic - and moving ahead despite self-doubts, discouragement and anxiety.

"Courage, as May makes clear, is not the absence of insecurity, fear, anxiety or despair, but resides in the decision to move through these feelings as constructively or creatively as possible."

Stephen Diamond, PhD, is author of book Anger, Madness,and the Daimonic: The Psychological Genesis of Violence, Evil, and Creativity.

Also hear my podcast interview with Dr. Diamond

Related post: Creative Passion and Gifted Adults: Prodded by Our Angelic and Demonic Muse

[The image is Daniel Craig in movie The Golden Compass, with his animal daimon - from the post Do we all have genius? Does it get drummed out of us?.]

Director Steven Spielberg keeps exercising his courage. He has said, “I still have pretty much the same fears I had as a kid. I’m not sure I’d want to give them up; a lot of these insecurities fuel the movies I make.”

Many actors and other artists say they are drawn to projects that make them feel scared.

Meryl Streep said of insecurity, “Maybe it’s a good thing. I hope it’s some sort of breaking down of whatever is familiar to you. Whatever is complacent, whatever is easy.”

American Buddhist nun Pema Chodron writes in her book The Places That Scare You: “To the extent that we stop struggling against uncertainty and ambiguity, to that extent we dissolve our fear.”

Psychologist Robert Maurer has worked with many successful writers and other creative people, and thinks fear may be an indispensable part of the creative process.

“Fear is good,” he says. “As children, fear is a natural part of our lives, but as adults we view fear as a disease. It’s not a disease.” He points out that a creative achievement, such as publishing your first novel, does not make fear go away.

He adds, “Your skill at being able to nourish yourself and give yourself permission to make mistakes and learn from them is your single greatest attribute as an artist and as a human being.”

Being courageous to go ahead with what is fearful can enable us to be more creative.

Related:

My article Courage and creativity

More quotes on the page: Courage – Confidence

Post: Judy and Hilary Swank on courage – getting through your fear to your creative potential

developing creativity, creative potential, creative personality type, creative experience characteristics, psychology of creativity, creative mind

“Call it avoidance, complacency, indecisiveness, stubborness or noncompliance. Whatever the term or definition, I have often tried to find some way to delay change or run in the opposite direction from it.”

The challenge

In her post Change and the HSP, from her blog Inside the Mind of a Highly Sensitive Person, Helen Akers takes a look at some of the challenges HSPs encounter when compelled toward change, either by circumstances or by the insistent voice of our own intuition.

HSPs and change

“Apparently, having difficulty dealing with change is something that the majority of HSPs find themselves struggling with. I would suspect this is because, as a group, we are more cautious.

“We’re the ones that look before we leap, at least twice or as many times as it takes before we feel somewhat comfortable. We also don’t like the unknown, which is what change encompasses.”

Intuition as our guide

“Change is the arena where we should allow our intuition to guide us more. What I’ve relearned over the past four years is that our intuition usually already knows the answer. We can make all the “pros” and “cons” lists that we want, wrestle between what the heart wants and what the mind says is best, ask others for their input, and then recheck those lists to make sure we didn’t overlook any detail.

“In the end though, we still need to make a choice over which way to go, what change to make, when and how we will do it or play the “wait and see” game by doing nothing at all.”

Out of the cocoon

“HSPs go about change the same way a caterpillar metamorphisizes into a butterfly. It’s a slower process that requires incubation, hibernation and a trust of instinctive nature.

“HSPs would be cheating themselves and greater society of the outward reflection of their inner beauty if they didn’t allow themselves to do the same.”

Related:
Articles: Change and coaching Products/Programs
Articles: change / growth / coaching / self-help
books: change/growth
Intuition / instinct
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new year’s resolutions, high sensitivity personality, intuition, personal growth

Oh My God! car by Harrod Blank

Filmmaker Harrod Blank grew up in the isolated Santa Cruz mountains of California, without a TV and with only roosters and chickens for friends. At 16, driven by a desire to communicate who he is with others, he began decorating cars, beginning with his bland, white Volkswagen.

The resulting car,”Oh My God,” introduced him to a community of other kindred-spirit eccentric art car creators, led him to write the book Art Cars, establish the Art Car World museum, and eventually into filmmaking with “Wild Cars” and “Automorphosis.”

From the “Carthedral” to Uri Geller’s fork-and-spoon-covered “Peace Car,” Automorphosis draws us into the tuck-and-roll interior lives of some very creative and independent non-conformists.

“There’s a lack of smiles. I’m filling a need. I had no idea,” says the creator of the “Shark Car.” One artist, a cancer survivor covered her vehicle with chains – a metaphor for her illness – and found healing in the process. “The very thing that says you’re going to die ends up being the thing that sustains you.”

“Ever since we’ve been born, we’ve been conditioned with the imagery and the messages that we should live a certain way,” says Blank. Automorphosis is an inspiration to throw off the restrictions of convention and live more authentic, independent and expressive lives.

“Automorphosis” is Blank’s second art car film, a follow-up to “Wild Wheels.”

Art Cars: the cars, the artists, the obsession, the craft book by Harrod Blank

Related:
Eccentricity
Being eccentric and creative and productive – non-conformity and your creative potential
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art cars, eccentric people, being a nonconformist, Automorphosis

One of greatest of all impressionist painters was a man named Paul Gauguin.

He had a family and worked in the post office in Paris for many years.  But in the evenings he visited the cafés frequented by the painters of Paris, getting to know them and asking them questions.

He was fascinated by painting. The whole idea of painting absorbed his attention.  It was all he thought about, and yet with a family and a full-time job, there was no way that he could devote himself to the painting he wanted so badly to do.

One day after the age of 40, in a move that shocked everybody, he gave up his job as a postal inspector, left his family, and moved to the South Sea Island of Tahiti.  There he began painting.

His paintings now are worth hundreds of thousands, even millions of dollars, and hang in the finest museums in the world.  He is considered by many to be one of the most important painters of the last 300 years.

[The article also includes the video: Brian Tracy – Unbreakable Laws Of Self-Confidence.]

building self confidence, self esteem confidence, confidence building, building self esteem, building identity, search for your true self

In this clip, Dick (Jim Carrey) is feeling exuberantly self-assured after getting a promotion, and sings “I Believe I Can Fly.”

There are many variations of belief and attitudes that can keep us from “flying” and realizing our talents and dreams.

In his article Facing the Enemies Within – Courage and Fear, Jim Rohn talks about five “enemies we face from within” – indifference; indecision; doubt; worry, and over-caution. All can be fueled by our thinking and beliefs.

“Einstein alone was impertinent enough to discard the notion of absolute time.” Walter Isaacson, who wrote the biography Einstein: His Life and Universe.

Robert Ornstein, PhD, author of The Psychology of Consciousness declares, “If you spend too much time being like everybody else, you decrease your chances of coming up with something different.”

From post Einstein and other non-conformists – the creative potential of eccentricity.

Rock the Boat

For her Happiness Project post True Rule: Rock the Boat, Gretchen Rubin shot this video of Debbie Stier (SVP, Associate Publisher at HarperStudio), who says: “My True Rule is that you should rock the boat. Don’t let fear stop you, don’t let what other people might think stop you, just push it as far as you can go – rock the boat, take risks, and experiment.”

Here is a complementary message by Tama J. Kieves of Awakening Artistry, from her newsletter:

“I allow myself to be uncorked, unabashed, and showered with delicious good in every facet of my life. I don’t need to fit in anymore, in the world of struggling, suffering, complaining, belittling. I am going nova and that’s okay.”

Self-censoring

Actor, writer, raconteur Richard Belzer talks about many topics in a podcast interview (with Dusty Wright).

One of his pithy comments is that when Reagan was President, “a lot of censorship became self-censorship,” and often in fear or anticipation of someone else doing it, people “policed themselves. That’s the most chilling thing to me. That’s Orwellian. That’s Nazi Germany, Soviet Russia.”

His HuffingtonPost bio says, “Due to his ‘uncontrollable wit,’ Belzer was politely asked to leave every school he ever attended.”

Another form of censorship – and becoming a creative person in spite of it.

creative risks, personal growth development, self growth, adult underachievement