Feeling uninspired, being in a creative rut, having writer’s block…  Call it what you will, but as creatives and creators, we have all felt it. Mental training is important in all aspects of life – but for creativity, it has long been neglected.

During our annual event, Crossing Borders – The Future of the Cultural and Creative Industries, we invited psychologist and writer, Pär Säthil, to speak about creative action through psychology, and how training the mind can help us break free from depriving mental loops.
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"Most people want to be creative. We want to write that book that we’ve been dreaming about for years, or we want to take that great business idea from inside our minds and into the world,” Pär Säthil says in his presentation. “In our minds, the future – once this dream becomes reality – looks fascinating.”

Säthil soon shifts into a slide with “WTF!?!?” in big letters.

“Sadly, it turns out that the brain is really bad at predicting how we will actually feel once something we dream of actually becomes reality,” he explains. In many cases, what was supposed to be an exciting creative dream, instead becomes a state in which we are “bombarded by self-limiting, negative, or critical thoughts.”

As people, this is surely something that we can all recognize to some extent. Sometimes it feels as if only certain people are gifted with creativity. We act as if being creative is passive; as if we can only create in flashes of inspiration. The rest of the time? Well, we wait to be inspired, so that we can finally get out of our “creative rut.” But creativity is something that we all have within us; and with a little brain training, it is something that we can all learn to cultivate.

“How do I know all of this?” Pär Säthil asks. “Well, because this is what my life used to look like, too.”

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It wasn’t until Säthil started practicing meditation and begun studying psychology at university that things clicked for him. Previously a young musician with stage fright, with the tools of psychology everyday became “a total revelation.”

Now, Säthil – in addition to being a writer and a psychologist – is the creator of The Brave Creative, which uses psychotherapy, psychological research, and meditation to help you build a life in which you can both thrive creatively and feel good at the same time. 

You can read more about The Brave Creative in our interview with Pär Säthil: Meet the Speakers: Pär Säthil – The Brave Creative.
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In his presentation, Säthil tells us about his top two natural laws of psychology for creative people: 

1. Your brain does not see reality.

2. Everything is ambiguous.

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Curious to hear more? Watch Pär Säthil's presentation in the video below.

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Want to hear more from Pär Säthil and The Brave Creative? Read Pär Säthil's DARE Story on our blog, and visit his website: bravecreativecourse.com.

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Cover photo via Pär Säthil/The Brave Creative.