The integration of spirituality and creativity is a subject close to my heart and I am very passionate about the healing benefits this type of integration evokes within us. Actually it is not just the healing that is of interest to me. What we are able to achieve in our life as a result of this form of integration, is in itself, quite remarkable.

Recently I was drawn to the topic of creative tension: that is, the energy that suspends and blocks our ability to channel creative inspiration from a source greater than ‘Self’.

This tension often results from a loss of balance between higher will or higher consciousness and self will. We loose sight of the bigger picture, our connection with the divine and with our own divinity. This can happen so subtly that we often do not realise until we have hit a brick wall, there is no more gentle forward movement.

When we run on our own will – self will, we are driven, there is tension and stress involved. When we run on God’s will we are drawn.

There is of course the polar opposite to also consider. There are times when I can be too spiritual to be any earthly good. I receive lots of inspiration, but I do not follow through and create. So there is a fine balance between self will and higher will.

Higher will inspires and guides and self will is necessary to get up and go, to put things into action. When the things I am putting into action are guided by higher will, I achieve wonderment in my life. I create with a flow of energy that brings peace, serenity and a very deep feeling of contentment. It is the type of work that I look back at and know that a force greater than myself was creating through me. The work is inspiring not tiring.

Creative tension arrives for me, when I am in need of a spiritual tune up.

It usually pops up in things like taking on too much, being too busy to hear higher guidance, over extending myself with others and not enough energy directed toward the requests of my soul – my inner life.

It is essential that I tend to my creative energies daily with meditation and prayer. These mystical tools keep my creative channel flowing, they keep me in line with what John O’Donohue refers to as ‘the secret signature and light of our own nature’.

I maintain my spiritual alignment with this mantra – “God, how would you have me be today”.

If I don’t address my life in this way, the circles I run in are not of divine nature, they are instead more reflective of a hamster on a wheel. I put in a lot of energy but keep running in the same place. Or alternatively what I do create is not inspiring and can be lifeless and dull.

When the voice of “is it enough” or “is this good enough” becomes louder than divine instruction, I can guarantee there is spiritual work to be done. Usually I find that my meditation and prayer have waned and as a result, self will has not only pitched its tent but errected a hammock.

Running predominantly on self will is dangerous because it directs our attention to output rather than the nourishing focus of the creative process itself.

My most valuable lesson: when a project is blocked or there is no completion in sight, it is a spiritual indication that I am either heading in the wrong direction, or I need to wait for more information to be revealed to me.

I usually find with hindsight, that either the project or the way I was approaching the project, was not in line with what higher guidance would have me do. It means I am trying to create work on my will rather than allow the work of higher will to flow creatively through me.

I respond to creative tension with …. more meditation and prayer, until the path is gently revealed.