I recently attended a lecture by Swami Bodhananda at his center "Sambodh" about this topic. I have always heard the association of stress with psychosomatic ailments and the yogic point of view to counteract stress. This was a warm change and I really enjoyed to hear the way he talked about this topic "Creativity " and it's application in our life to be blissful.
This post has been written after being inspired by his words :)
This post has been written after being inspired by his words :)
Stress has become a known concept for all and we all know the definition of stress and its complications. But this topic of “creative way of living to counteract stress” is pretty interesting and I thought of sharing a brief summary to all of you.
There are several reason of stress , but one of the main causes are :
Inability to process the excess amount of information we are facing every day. There are so many choices and we get confused, frustrated . We get lost sometimes with so much information on a particular topic that it gives rise to fear of making the right choice.
The second most common cause is aspiration; it is a wonderful quality, but when that goes beyond our control then it leads to stress. We tend to get stuck in this journey of our aspirations, goals, targets that we rarely sit down and allow the thoughts , and situations to sink in and then respond in a calmer way.
In this generation it has become our nature that we are stressed in a situation and don't even realise it….Have we accepted that it is our basic nature itself and we “have to” go through this; as there doesnt seem to be any other choice.
We have several choices when we see menu list in a restaurant and we do take the effort here but when it comes to choices in life, we tend to sit in the “comfort zone”. Is it right of us to act like this ?
In this Comfort zone we have stopped ourselves from exploring any other perspective.We tend to think that there is no way and this is it.Our mind do not even think of alternative way for a solution and we do fail to look at this problem in a completely different perspective. Can we lead a content life in this stressful world by just changing the way we see ...like looking at things in a sirsasana way:)Maybe we would see a completely new world here and find answers.
We have several choices when we see menu list in a restaurant and we do take the effort here but when it comes to choices in life, we tend to sit in the “comfort zone”. Is it right of us to act like this ?
In this Comfort zone we have stopped ourselves from exploring any other perspective.We tend to think that there is no way and this is it.Our mind do not even think of alternative way for a solution and we do fail to look at this problem in a completely different perspective. Can we lead a content life in this stressful world by just changing the way we see ...like looking at things in a sirsasana way:)Maybe we would see a completely new world here and find answers.
What can we do to change our attitude/perspective?
Can Stressful situations be taken as a challenge to invoke creativity?
Can we use Stress as an opportunity to Self-grow ?
Can we see an opportunity in a calamity?
Sawmiji mentioned a brief example of Lord Rama In Ramayana. When he was sentenced to the forest let us recollect the attitude or the bhaava of Rama when he heard this order fro the elders. He had been indulged in the princely pleasures all these years and then suddenly when the situation was going to be absolutely different from the present one, how did he respond... was he perturbed , worried,angry; or was he calm, composed .Actually he stood as a warrior ready to take up the challenge to face the unknown…….
Let us explore the possibility of Using “Creativity” in our life to counter the Stress. We have heard this word “ Creativity”, “he is creative” etc several times. Is it a quality only for the Right brained dominant people? Just because we are more logical in our approach , can we really say that we are not even coming closer to the creativity or imagination zone.
Creativity is an ability to perceive the world in new ways, to find , to explore, to make connections , to do things in our own way and to generate solutions. We need -thinking and then action here. Imagination is only thinking but no action. So we can either be “Creative” or “Imaginative”or a combination of both. Sometimes Creativity is labelled for artistic ability in people. People use these terms together and promote confusion to people around them. We are all born creative and remain through our life and my creativity would be different from others and also changes within me on age, environment and exposure.
Learning to be creative is like learning a sport. Just like it requires practice to train the muscles to be fit for the sport, we train/harness our mind to be creative and flourish in this environment.
The first factor which comes in the way of being creative is FEAR. We have been trained since childhood that we “should “ not do any mistakes as it is not good for our growth. We “should” think , analyse the situation and then take the step forward. Here apart from being careful, there is an inner voice saying “do not fail otherwise all would judge you”. There is a fear coming ….what if I make a mistake, I need to do everything correct, no negative marking at all. Fear touches every part of our thought patterns in whatever we do and it plays an important role in blocking our Creativity instinct. There is a “fear” in being wrong, making the wrong moves and this fear stunts our progress. Instead of labelling “Failed projects” as Failures or disasters, if we call them as Experiments or testers, then we could be more inspired to think “out of the box” without fear.
Once we are mindful of the fear of creativity expression, we touch upon the contentment we derive while performing work. Any work whether it is a mundane job we do everyday or something different, we can make it interesting. This approach at looking or working on things interestingly is itself a way of creativity . Let us also “THINK BIG” to invoke this inherent nature in us. We can welcome trial and error in our lives and be more flexible and adaptive to thinking. The same situation which looks difficult, impossible, stressful can be creatively changed to bring Joy in us. We live in the same world which seems to be so complicated, but can creatively change to a place which brings joy to us.
Most of the times we are pigeonholed in our lives that many of our creative ability remain untapped and this makes us unsatisfied. Have we observed what do we do actually most of the time….we give excuses saying that I do not have time, my circumstances are bad, this is not my priority ,etc. Our progress remain stunted as we become very good in crushing our own creative expression.
Our progress could be more incremental if we give room to ourselves to be open to ideas by getting inspired from people,books, nature and every situation…
Our progress could be more incremental if we give room to ourselves to be open to ideas by getting inspired from people,books, nature and every situation…
If we are confident, curious, compassionate and stay connected with ourselves , we create our own unique creative expression where we are joyful from the act of creation rather than the outcome of the product.We would find wonder, beauty , new ideas and images everywhere when we allow our senses to be mindful each and every moment.
While cooking we sometimes explore with different spices and some mix and match here and there to create a tasty dish, in the same way we can explore all our potentials without fear of the outcome, without analysing logically and just let creativity enrich each and every step of our lives.
So the next time we are faced with a situation or if we already in a situation where there is adjustment without full involvement or contentment then let us think in a different perspective.We need not think of others who might be judgemental or be concerned about the outcome of this solution. We are actually using our creative mind to deal with the situation and giving a makeover of the entire problem itself. Imagine a world where we could use creativity in every aspect of life and enjoy life as it is and not look forward for others/situations to change.
We would take delight in the entire process if the idea/approach is coming from our heart with sincerity and a dedicated attitude no matter what the outcome is.
Even when this journey goes hard and disappointing sometimes, we are taking the full responsibility of the situation and steering through this with an open and compassionate mind(seldom being a self-critic) and understanding/accepting our idiosyncrasies, unique and weird ways of expressing.
We “create our own world in this so called stressful world”
- Summary by Prabha Krishna gathered from Swami Bodhananada ji s talk.
We would take delight in the entire process if the idea/approach is coming from our heart with sincerity and a dedicated attitude no matter what the outcome is.
Even when this journey goes hard and disappointing sometimes, we are taking the full responsibility of the situation and steering through this with an open and compassionate mind(seldom being a self-critic) and understanding/accepting our idiosyncrasies, unique and weird ways of expressing.
We “create our own world in this so called stressful world”
- Summary by Prabha Krishna gathered from Swami Bodhananada ji s talk.