You are what you think. I know, you are more accustomed to the saying, you are what you eat. But really, even what you eat is a result of what you think. All the silly, seemingly mindless things we do are the result of what we think before we do them. They are only mindless when we have done them so long that they have become automatic habits.

One of the most important aspects of the creative thought process involves catching ourselves in a detrimental habit and changing it through the creation of more positive ones. Noah St. John calls them Power Habits. Those of you who have read my book Rainbows Over Ruins with its foreword by Noah St John know that Noah played a key role in helping me get unstuck when I was going through a difficult time.

It wasn’t so much that negative thought habits were undermining my personal and professional aspirations. Rather, I was not developing the power of my thoughts in a more positive direction. At first, Noah taught me about Afformations – the positive why questions that make a powerful shift possible. They enabled me to make a rapid turnaround in my day to day experiences. As I saw the results unfolding, I wanted to learn more about this technique, as well as Noah’s Power Habits system.

I found both techniques to be easy to understand, simple to learn and practice, and extremely beneficial. They are useful whenever you encounter a contrast or conflict in your activities or relationships with others. In practice, they provide a means to examine what’s creating the conflict and find creative solutions to it.

Here’s an example. In my work as a line producer, it’s very easy to become buried in financial details. At certain points, like someone who cannot see the forest for the trees, all we can see is financial limitation and we start saying “no” to every request. We husband our resources to make them stretch over the required period. We may not feel happy about it, but we do feel justified. In some way, we feel we are serving the best financial interests of the organization. What we may not realize is that we are not only not very popular when we do that, but we are also chaining the spirit of everyone trying to create on the project. When you are developing and producing creative content, that’s a pretty big problem.

Thankfully, once you are aware that a negative mindset can be “flipped” in a more positive direction through the use of afformations, you may choose to turn this situation around to keep the creative spirit on your project unfettered. In my case, I realized that I would be better served if I focused on developing thought habits with limitless possibilities. Everyone involved would have more fun and be able to work from their most creative perspective.

What did I start doing? Afforming. “Why do I search for the most creative solutions for the show?” “Why do I become aware of creative requirements as early as possible so I have enough time to search for them?” “Why do I notice all the possibilities around me?”

The next time a situation presents itself that triggers my old habits, instead of responding with a constricting answer, I think about my new afformations and begin to look for a solution that will enable us to be both creative and financially responsible at the same time. The reward for this response is different. We feel more expansive, sharing our part in the creative process together.

This is not a one-time fix. Every time this situation (or one like it) comes up, I have to remember to choose the more positive, supportive response. I have to remember to ask those questions or the old habits will surface by default. However, I am finding that each time I catch myself in older patterns and apply the new techniques, it gets easier. The newer perspective comes more rapidly and I can utilize it with the desired results more readily.

If you are experiencing this type of automatic reaction, you may want to learn more about afformations and the Power Habits system. I wholeheartedly recommend it. You can find out more about my book Rainbows Over Ruins, and the creative thought process at my website www. susansherayko.com – and there is an affiliate link to Noah’s work as well.

To Your Success,

Susan