It’s so easy to love sometimes, listening to people’s stories, admiring their conquests and wisdom, laughing at their humor and humility. It goes so well we decide to create something together, a project, a marriage, a community.
When we enter into creation, everything in the unexpressed shadow comes to the party too. It has to. Without shadow there is no perspective, no third dimension, no way to indicate distance, depth or importance. However, just because these shadow elements will generate tension, it doesn’t mean they have to cause conflict.
Creating with others changes us, changes who we are to one another. The nature of the change is dependant on how we communicate when creative tension arises. If we have habits of wanting to be right, feeling criticized, attacking or withdrawing, the creative process is stalled and conflict takes its place.
To remain in our creativity we need to sustain curiosity, flexibility, and playfulness. We can help ourselves do this by the way we breath and use the voice.
- Allow the abdomen to drop and release when you inhale.
- Drop your shoulders when you exhale.
- Keep your face lifted and use the resonance in your head when you speak.
- Keep your posture erect and use the resonance in your chest too.
- Articulate clearly – don’t mumble.
- Make eye contact.
- Make room for silence.
These techniques work as well for singing as for speaking. And it’s true that I prescribe similar remedies for almost anything that ails in the world of communication. I do so because physical mastery of the breath and voice supports mental clarity, emotional balance and generative communication. That’s just how it works.