Yes, it's true. We all have creative energy within us...

If you feel this, but don't know where to begin, if you feel energy bursting forth in you like a light beam through a cloud, but can't seem to get the full power of the sunlight to shine through, it may be time to pay attention.

When we feel this way, it is a sure sign that we are not following the course for our life that was intended for us from the start. Creativity is a life force that pulses through all of us and exists in everything. Often, we find we do not know our own creative power because we have thus far failed to listen to the beating of our own heart, the whisper of the wind between the trees, and the silent murmur of a thousand voices revealing the collective spirit of the present moment.

Art is an expression of life itself, in its many forms. It comes through in our daily work, in our routines, and even in the type of problems we struggle with. Once we have an understanding of our own selves---both our self-identity as well as, and especially, our deeper, subconscious desires that make up our shadow self---we begin to walk in confidence. The next step may be dark and unknown, but self-confidence allows us to take the risk in making that first step along our creative journey. When we do, we often are surprised to find out that there was a net underneath our feet all along, to catch us when we feared we would fall.

This first step can be considered taking a step of ultimate faith. Ultimate faith is what is required of us if we are to achieve our highest potential. Without ultimate faith, we continually sabotage our own creative efforts, we doubt our abilities, and then we stop trying.

Through a three-step process of self-understanding, bold thinking, and brave action, we can begin to realize the creative potential within ourselves. Projects get completed, novels get written, paintings are finished, songs are recorded, gardens are planted, and all sorts of things that seem to be magical begin to happen. It’s what Carl Jung called synchronicity. But before we can realize these manifestations of our creative energy and be successful in contributing to the artistic expression of the Zeitgeist around us, we must be in tune with our own selves as a source of creative energy.

When we are in tune with our creative energy, we realize that we are a part of everything, and our ability to express ourselves becomes multiplied and magnified to encompass so many more possibilities than we could have imagined before.

So how does coaching help one to be creative? A coach is different from a mentor or a therapist. Here are the top 10 things you can expect from your creative coach:

• A coach will be there to help you realize your vision and develop practical goals to achieve that vision.
• Through personality testing, a coach will be able to equip you with the tools to fully understand and embrace your self-knowledge and your hidden shadow side, where creativity and resistance reside. We use the Enneagram, Myers-Briggs, and StrengthsFinders 2.0 to reveal deeper personal tendencies and artistic style.
• A coach will help you identify and maximize your artistic strengths. 
• A coach will train you to work with resistance and procrastination when they crop up, so that you can move through those normal stages of creativity and onto more productive stages.
• A coach will be able to teach you how to deal with critics (internal and external), and to turn negative self-talk into resiliency and renewed motivation. 
• A coach will help you discover how to set personal boundaries for yourself that make sense to you specifically.
• Creativity often involves interruptions and challenges. A coach will be there to encourage you to use your personal development tools to get through challenges and to best handle interruptions so that you stay on track in your creative production. 
• A coach can  guide you toward developing your own creative rituals. Ritual in creative work is so important. Ritual can help build a sense of purpose to one's work, and can keep one focused on the process of creating. 
• A coach will be able to introduce you to a whole network of support and connection within your artistic community. 
• A coach will be around to remind you of your vision should you lose focus.

Becoming aware and open to your own creative energy, and learning how to harness it to produce the outcomes you envision, doesn't always come easily. If you have found yourself struggling with procrastination, self-sabotaging, negative self-talk, disorganization, lack of inspiration, fear, jealously, doubt, or any other form of resistance that keeps you creatively paralyzed, and you would like to explore how to face these challenges and move toward your higher purpose, click here for more information on working with a creativity life coach.