Written by: Gabrielle Constance Gingras, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
People seek out coaches and therapists because they wish to access their full potential. They want to transform their lives, because the choices they have made and the situations they find themselves in aren’t working for them anymore. Then what is the key that can transform what is to what can be? A central KEY is CREATIVITY.
When clients see no solution and they reach an impasse, their creative function is blocked as well, and it is our job as therapists and coaches to help them find the keys to transform what is to what can be. CREATIVITY opens the door so clients can access the part of themselves that expresses their uniqueness, that is full of resources, that allows them to reinvent their lives with confidence and see new perspectives and create possibilities where there seem to be none. This is the part of themselves that is full of excitement and vitality.
The good news is, that by connecting to creativity, everyone has access to these states of being that are naturally available to us. Creativity is not just daydreaming about changes, which is getting lost in the illusion of the imagination, it is about taking concrete steps to make dreams come true. Imagination is the stepping- stone of creativity yet on its own it can be summed up as magical thinking or avoidance, while creativity is the hands-on action of materialising your dreams. Having clients connect to their creativity starts by helping them take responsibility for their lives and implementing change grounded in their full potential.
So how do we reconnect with our creativity?
1. Lead by example: as a coach or therapist, are you in touch with your creativity? Have you explored your creative outlets (cooking, dancing, painting, journaling, etc.?) Do you welcome these moments of creative flow into your life? Remember that they create space to solve problems and can provide new insight. Once you tap into your own creativity and you lead by example, ask your clients to make room for creativity in their life. Once you have integrated this, you can also invite your clients to include creativity in their regular activities. Creativity is like self-care, it shouldn’t just happen on the weekends, it’s a daily event, even if it’s for 15 minutes. See and feel the joy grow in your life and in your clients’ lives.
2. Simple actions: Reconnecting to creativity creates new neural pathways and one way to go about this is to ask different types of questions in your sessions: questions that solicit the imagination. For example, ‘If the way you feel was a colour, which one would it be?” “Draw a line that might represent your week.”
“What symbol of strength can you relate to that might help you through this challenge, and why did you choose this symbol?”
Get ready for a whole new world and new discoveries to be revealed through these questions. Once again, lead by example and try doing these exercises before sharing them with your clients. If you feel uncomfortable with these questions, they are a good starting point to work on oneself and what might arise in your client. Creativity can often trigger self-judgement and our inner critic. New awareness arising from these exercises can provide essential feedback on what the person might want to change in their life. For example, a client might look at the line that represents their week and see the same peak of stress every Tuesday morning … what is that all about?
3. Transforming imagined states into physical reality: you know the therapeutic goals: having clients connect to their imagined results… The place to start is to have clients connect to the state they wish to experience with all their senses and then make it a reality through micro-choices. Let their dreams manifest into action. You support your clients in becoming the authors of the story of their dreams (therapeutic goals), have them feel it with all of their senses, and it becomes so appealing that action naturally unfolds.
These are just a few suggestions of strategies you might want to implement in your practice and unleashing your creativity as a therapist or coach can inspire your clients to transform their lives. Creativity is an essential KEY to transforming what is to what can be.
With love,
Gabrielle Constance Gingras
Gabrielle Constance Gingras, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Gabrielle Constance walks the talk of constant evolution. A Multipotential Art therapist and Coach, Gabrielle began her career as an English teacher traveling the world when she discovered the powerful healing potential of art. This serendipitous encounter motivated her to return to Canada to pursue her Master's degree in art therapy. Inspired by the idea of promoting art therapy and making it accessible to as many people as possible, in 2015, Gabrielle and three colleagues founded Canevas, the first clinical art therapy center in Montreal. After gaining hands-on experience in the field, Gabrielle is now studying for her Ph.D. in research and clinical psychology at the University of Quebec in Montreal. Most recently trained as a Transformational Coach through the Phénix Leadership Institute, Gabrielle's mission is to use her life experience to empower and accompany women who are Atypical Multipotential Leaders in living a life that is aligned with their many skills and passions, a life that taps into their creative power and their unique talents, where truth and authenticity are non-negotiable when it comes to manifesting their dreams.
