How to Create without Suffering
“I do not deny the reality of suffering—not yours, not mine, not humanity’s in general. It is simply that I refuse to fetishize it. I certainly refuse to deliberately seek out suffering in the name of artistic authenticity.”
here’s what you’ll gain from this article:
Find out the #1 enemy to the co-creative process.
Learn about the ego’s role in creative suffering.
Learn how to exchange martyrdom for magic in your outer purpose.
Let’s get to it!
CURIOSITY RECAP
Last week, we talked about how to find your way to (or back to) your outer purpose by following your curiosities.
Curiosity, as it turns out, is the Universe’s chosen language to communicate with us when it comes to our outer purpose.
When we trust in and engage with our curiosities, no matter how small or “silly” they may initially seem, we open the channel of co-creative energy between us and the Universe.
And when that channel is open, magic unfolds. ✨
Brilliant ideas flow into our minds seemingly out of nowhere.
We’re greeted with the right resources—people, places, or insights—at just the right time.
And we find ourselves experiencing states of abundant flow in which ideas make the brave leap from our hearts + minds into the world for others to enjoy.
THE CREATIVE’S GREATEST FOE
You might now be wondering:
Can I create when the co-creative channel between myself and the Universe is closed? In other words, can I go it alone? Can I solo-create and still be “successful” in my most important work?
Of course.
But know this: The solo-creative experience has a tendency to become mired in suffering.
The term “suffering artist” exists for a reason. And the reason is the gigantic pool of creatives who made the grave mistake of trusting in the pain of suffering instead of (or more than) the magic of the Universe.
This is what you must be wary of when it comes to a love affair with your most important, soul-evolving work: the temptation to equate creativity with suffering.
It’s entirely unnecessary to suffer for your cause, your purpose… whatever it is you want to call your life’s work.
And yet so many creatives go that route.
Despite the revered brilliance of many well-known sufferers—artists like Van Gogh and writers like Hemingway—suffering does not equal creativity. In instances like these, the artist’s brilliance existed in spite of his suffering not because of it.
Imagine if these artists had been able to release all that suffering and clear the path for unbridled co-creation.
Perhaps their creations would have been even more impactful. At the very least, they could have enjoyed the creative process a whole lot more.
All of this isn’t to say that life is free from suffering. The ego is far too good at brewing up big pots of suffer stew for that to be a possibility.
The point here is that, as creatives, we don’t have to seek out suffering in order to create in a big, game-changing way.
We don’t have to trade in our happiness in order to unearth brilliance.
We also don’t have to go it alone. The Universe is on call to offer divine guidance if we’re ready and willing to receive it.
THE EGO’S ROLE IN CREATIVE SUFFERING
As we mentioned above, the ego loves to stir up a tasty, drama-filled pot of woe-is-me suffering.
This is especially true when it comes to our most important work, because the ego feels downright terrified when we bravely traverse into the unknown waters of creativity.
Whether you listen to its ramblings or not, the ego will weave its naysayer thoughts throughout your creative endeavors, interpreting and labeling experiences as you go—“good”, “bad”, “unwanted”.
It does this with the sole hope that you’ll give up on your most important, soul-evolving work and opt for the safe, predictable path instead.
The higher self, on the other hand, knows that all experiences are nothing more than that—experiences.
It doesn’t interpret them nor does it want you to. It would much rather you take an experience as it comes and move through it without judgment, interpretation, worrying, or labeling.
Whereas the ego operates from the perspective of fear and suffering, the high self operates from the perspective of love and serendipity.
The higher self knows that the Universe always has grander, greater plans that can’t be seen through the mind’s eye, only felt through the heart’s loving trust.
This doesn’t mean we won’t face difficult points when carrying out the work of our outer purpose.
But we can learn a new way to approach challenges—we can learn to embrace them as they are without layering mind-made (ego) suffering on top of them.
EXCHANGE MARTYRDOM FOR MAGIC
“Sometimes I think that the difference between a tormented creative life and tranquil creative life is nothing more than the difference between the word awful and the word interesting. Interesting outcomes, after all, are just awful outcomes with the volume of drama turned way down.” — Liz Gilbert, Big Magic
Using Liz’s insights as a springboard, we can learn to reframe experiences that had once been labeled—by the ego, of course—as ‘painful,’ ‘boring,’ ‘frustrating,’ ‘fear-inducing,’ ‘discouraging,’ etc. as ‘interesting,’ instead.
Interesting things keep us curious.
Interesting things inspire us to ask questions.
And so if we can shift our vantage point on difficulties that arise in the work we love from that of ‘pain’ to that of ‘interest’, we maintain a curious edge that keeps us asking questions.
Transformation is rooted in our willingness to stay curious and ask questions about difficult things.
Our ability to leverage a challenging experience, harness its energy, and use it to change ourselves for the better relies on our willingness to maintain both presence and curiosity in moments when it would be far easier to shield our eyes and run.
Easy things don’t transform us. Difficult things do.
Specifically, difficult things that we’re brave enough to face head-on and open-hearted.
In those moments, we exchange suffering for magic.
REMOVE YOURSELF FROM YOUR OUTER PURPOSE
Co-creating without suffering is a whole lot easier if you disentangle your identity (ego) from your outer purpose.
From this ego-distanced perspective, you can remain both brave in your execution and curious about your failures.
If your identity is entangled with your work, your ego is most certainly involved. And as we mentioned last week, the ego has a track record for severing the co-creative channel between you and the Universe.
When that channel is severed, creativity suffers and so do you.
We find it’s easiest to distance ourselves from our work when we view the mind + body merely as tools for the Universe to create through.
From this perspective, the outcome of our work—successful or not—is rendered irrelevant. So long as we’re enjoying the co-creative journey, we’re carrying out our outer purpose.
TAKEAWAYS
The Universe and your higher self will never ask you to suffer for them or their cause, but the ego will.
Carrying out your outer purpose in this world will inevitably bring about challenges. The existence of challenges doesn’t imply the existence of suffering. It’s the ego’s interpretation of challenges that creates suffering.
If your mind (ego) is wrapped up in itself or in its suffering, it means you’ve pinched off the co-creative flow of Universal intelligence. It’s impossible to co-create when you’ve snipped the communication line.
Learn to humbly embrace difficulties and challenges in your work as part of the process and nothing more. Don’t allow the ego to use the existence of difficulties as a reason to suffer.
MAKE IT REAL
Ashley’s Example
“Ever since I can remember, my greatest moments of mind-made suffering have cropped up when everything is going really, really well.
In other words: Whenever everything is going as wonderfully as I can possibly imagine, there’s this fear-based portion of my mind that chimes up and reminds me to be on the lookout for catastrophe.
It reminds me to be cautious of happiness, because happiness can be taken away.
I thought I was alone in this experience until a few years back when I came across a blurb in one of Brené Brown’s books in which she talks about the fact that joy is actually the most vulnerable emotion we experience. She goes on to explain that this is because in moments when we feel so joyful, so high, we simultaneously experience the vulnerability of what it would be like to have that joy taken away.
The more high-vibe the emotion, the farther we have to fall.
Brené says that when we can’t tolerate joy, we dress rehearse tragedy.
I mean, I’m gonna go ahead and call a spade a spade: This 👆 nonsense is most certainly the work of the ego.
Regardless of its origin, it’s a painful and frightening thing to experience.
I’ve found that these feelings of joy-based vulnerability are especially common in the work I love. All too often, as soon as I find a state of joyful flow while working, an undercurrent of guilt shows up and carries my mind down an icky path.
A path where I find myself questioning, ‘Who are you to be so happy? Who are you to do the work you love? This could all be taken away at any moment. Be careful not to be too happy. Something bad could happen to take it all away. Remember that time when you felt so happy and then X happened? That could happen again. Let’s just play it say and keep the feelings to a mediocre minimum, please.’
It’s as if my mind hedges my joy as a protective mechanism. In other words, instead of allowing myself to fully experience the joy of the present moment, my mind leans into fear-based questioning in a way that straddles my consciousness between past, present, and future, thereby diluting the joy I’m able to feel in the Now.
Ever since reading Brené’s insights about joy being the most vulnerable emotion, I’ve worked to challenge and release my mind’s tendency to become mired in suffering when things are going well.
I do this by first acknowledging what is going on.
‘Huh, I see you’re feeling afraid of the joy to be had in this moment.’
I find my mind responds best when I humor its fears a bit, and so I incorporate that strategy into my self-talk.
‘You know, you’re probably right. All this joy is probably an indication that sh*t’s going to hit the fan soon. Thanks for the reminder, we’ll keep an eye out. For now, let’s go back to being joyful. Might as well appreciate it while we can.’
As counterintuitive as it seems, acknowledging the possible validity of the mind’s (ego’s) fears makes it feel heard. And once the ego feels heard, it usually shuts up for a while. At least long enough for me to appreciate the joy of the present moment.
When it comes to dealing with feelings of guilt for being joyful when so many others are suffering, I remind myself that feeling guilty about my own joy or taking on the suffering of others helps no one and potentially even hurts people. It not only robs joy from me, it also weakens my ability to bring my most important work into the world, which could potentially inspire others to do the same.
When it comes to living authentically and embracing our outer purpose, there’s an energetic domino effect. When we do the work that lights ourselves up, we light others up, too. That’s something to be celebrated, never ashamed of.”
INTENTION
I exchange suffering for magic. The wisdom of the Universe flows through my heart and guides me as I carry out my most important work.
2 RESOURCES
Book: Big Magic* by Liz Gilbert
Article: Brené Brown: ‘Joy is the Most Vulnerable Emotion We Experience’
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