Possibilities Coaching

Katie Grames 

Personal and Professional Development Coach

What do you really want? Who do you want to be? Where to you want to go? 

Possibilities Coaching can help you get there.

Know that you are inherently creative, whether you believe you are or not. Studies on creativity show that small children tend to have extraordinary scores on creativity tests, while adults tend to score low. Does this mean you have “lost” what you’ve had? Not at all. It does mean that you might need to cultivate your innate gift, that gift that may have been alive and kicking when you were quite small.

Know that creativity is extremely important in living effectively. It is not a fluffy non-essential. Your ability to make excellent decisions and be effectively resourceful will improve as you cultivate your creativity.

Be aware that life will flow through your creative gift in a way that cannot be duplicated or repeated by anyone else. Don’t deny the world your gifts. Exercise them. So tell your inner critic to “hush”. Think twice when you compare your inimitable gift with another’s inimitable gift. Yours is matchless. So is theirs. The world is blessed by your gift, and you and the world are blessed by theirs as well. (The last bullet in this article contains the famous quote by Martha Graham, who expressed this with exceptional eloquence.) 

Know that creativity is just plain fun. And fun will be one of the best ways for you to cultivate your gift.

Find something that is creative for you and spend some time playing with it. Drag out your old guitar, find some recipes you’d love to experiment with, dust off your wood working bench and uncover a project or two you’d enjoy, browse through some interior decorating magazines, get out those paints or pencils or rubber stamps and ink pads, sing in the shower, get a really intriguing embroidery pattern, get your pen and notebook out and start writing, get those wood or stone chisels out, browse a local or online hobby shop for hobby ideas, check out the local nursery for landscaping ideas, or find anything else that gets your juices flowing. Spend enough time on it to have fun. When you get tired of that creative pursuit, find something else that you enjoy. If you have difficulty coming up with something, that is fine too. Let yourself daydream about various creative pursuits until you find something that seems interesting. You may possibly need to work on your daydreaming skills, but I am sure you can do that with practice.

Is there a creative/artistic medium you'd love to try? (Classical guitar? Poetry? Watercolor painting?) Are you afraid of a possible lack of talent? My personal theory is that the best indicator of giftedness is interest. A proven theory is that the only way to virtuosity is time and practice. If you are drawn to something, your gift has already shown itself. You can personally choose how far you want to go with it by how much time you spend with it. Every gifted artist produces horrible, juvenile work before they learn their craft; don't let that stop you. It is only a matter of time before you find your wings. On the other hand, if there is nothing that interests you, but you have enough interest to read this article, then you probably just need to exercise your daydreaming skills a bit more and dream of all the wonderful (you fill in the blank with your own daydream material) you could create. 

You may have to create a certain amount of terrible or mediocre work for every piece of sheer magic that you create. For everything you make that causes you to feel like quitting, count it towards this quota. You are one step closer to your next piece of magic.

Remember that our creative selves are better at generating lots of fun ideas and not as good at finishing projects. On one hand, enjoy those ideas and those fun beginnings. On the other hand, if you want to finish a project and having difficulty doing so, get support around finishing specific goals. Whether it is a creativity group, a friend who will hold you accountable, or a coach; creating structure and accountability can make the most of your creative self. Be sure your support is gentle and non-critical, as your creative self may be rather tenderhearted about your work.  Do keep in mind that the very process of creating is often the most important thing to your creative self. You might want to hold your expectations of the outcomes very lightly as you seek to reach your creative goals.

Make a point to consider how you can be even more resourceful, creative, and experimental in your daily life. (“Is there a better way to tackle those dishes?”) It is useful and entertaining to have a “resourcefulness” mindset towards daily life. Your personal effectiveness can potentially increase considerably. It will also help to enhance your creative gifts.

Make it a point to daydream about the life you really want to live. Our creativity can help us explore, and create, our ideal life situations. Our logical, responsible selves are wonderful at keeping our current structure going, but are not so good at moving us forward to the next wonderful step in our lives. 

The following is a quote from Martha Graham, which has been a continuing inspiration to me as well as many other artists:

There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique.  And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and be lost.  The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is  nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep open and aware directly to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open.  

- Quote from Martha Graham in "Dance to The Piper" by Agnes DeMille