Blocked

First, when I started writing songs, and now, as I try to write blogs and such, I look for ways to eliminate “writer’s block.” It occurs to me, however, that we don’t have to be writers to get blocked. We meet blocks when we’re trying to work or having fun at home. We live with blocks to being able to see how to get from where we are to the life we really want to be living. We get blocked from being able to be disciplined, or from our ability to be carefree. We stumble against blocks to having the most loving, fulfilling relationships we crave. Something, like when I’m trying to write, just gets buried, out of reach, under some fog or blanket of who-knows-what, and it’s difficult to rescue it. Could we, when something is blocking us from living joyfully, unblock ourselves
like writers do?

Over the years, I have found multiple sources for dissolving writer’s block. One source says to freeform write. This strategy works as a way to clear the mind of chatter, so that the more valuable thoughts have space to form. Another source says to block out a specific time of day and discipline oneself to write anything for an hour, not caring whether or not it’s useful. The point with this strategy is about making time. You may not write anything valuable just because you show-up, but you will never write anything valuable if you don’t show-up. Other ideas include running, or taking a shower, because they both are presumed to ground the writer, somehow, while allowing for the distractions of activity to take the pressure off of writing, thereby releasing creativity. (Have you ever thought of something only after you stopped focusing on it? This is the same principle.)

What each of these strategies have in common is the loose, flowing manner of thought they are trying to provoke. Thoughts, in order to remain fluid and dynamic, should be allowed to live with no judgment, no editing, no critique, no perfectionism. Could we, somehow, use these concepts of releasing writer’s block to free us of all of the blocks we experience in the other areas of our lives?

In his book, “Drive,” Daniel Pink discusses how corporations have used varying combination of each of those strategies to encourage creativity in their employees, and the results have been happier, more loyal employees and bigger ideas than ever. “Post It” notes and Google Mail are just a few such ideas that
came from encouraging open, breathable space for employees, for example, void of expectation. What if we gave open, breathable space to our relationships, to our dreams, to our own job obligations? What if we quit demanding that every intervention meet immediate and measurable results? Could we just do for the sake of doing, just show-up, just scribble a free flow of places we want to see and why, without worrying about where we are going or how to get  there?

Of course, this requires a certain ability to balance. Just as we cannot live our dreams if we don’t allow ourselves the space to dream, we also cannot live them if all we do is dream without taking action. However, in those times when everything is blocked, when every turn is met with resistance, when
even our own inner-skeptic is saying we cannot, should not or will not, these are the times we need to remove the blocks. We need to freeform write. We need to allow ourselves to be distracted. We need to just show-up and trust that results will come in due time. Only then, when the block is gone, will we be able to truly make progress, again.

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