threshold creativity

As I was getting ready to leave the house, I noticed that the most reliable conditions for me to come up with new ideas seem to be:

• sitting in group meditation sessions,

• listening to my partner tell me how his day was,

• leaving the house to do something else.

At first glance, none of these moments lend themselves particularly well to dive into creative exploration. It may even seem like a disturbance or inconvenience at the time. Looking at them together, though, they are all moments of transition out of my scripted thought patterns into the world. 

Let's call it threshold creativity.

Unexpected sparks that occur during gaps of attention; when we surrender control or let go of what we were doing before. You know, AHA moments while showering or puzzle solving while dreaming. 

Much of what we call 'our own' creativity happens when our accumulated life experiences merge with and/or rub up against whatever is going on around us in the moment. Nora Bateson describes "this way in which life coalesces toward vitality in unseen ways" with the term Aphanipoiesis.

Practising improvisation, therefore is not really a matter of making anything specific happen, but rather one of tending to our spaces in which improvisation can occur.

I'd like to invite you into such tender spaces through Creative Coaching and improvisation training. Especially if you want to become more intuitively spontaneous while working with other people.

Do get in touch if this sounds interesting to you.

Warm wishes, Angelina

reflection by Angelina Castellini

Recommendations

Enticing Scripts - Making Improvisation (Im)possible by Angelina Castellini & Aaron Seitz in Unpsychology issue Nr.8: https://www.unpsychology.org

Aphanipoiesis by Nora Bateson: https://journals.isss.org/index.php/jisss/article/view/3887

The Art of Is by Stephen Nachmanovitch: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43164585-the-art-of-is