This Automatic Reaction Interferes With Your Creative Problem Solving But You Can Learn How to Manage It.

In 2009, I was watching CNN, when a plane went down in the Hudson River. Later footage showed people on the wing, waiting to be rescued and later, the announcement was made, “Everyone survived.”

I burst into grateful tears. What a miracle, and it was all due to the decision of one pilot: Captain "Sully" Sullenberger.

The plane collided with a flock of Canadian geese. What followed was horrific. The cockpit windshield revealed squawking, panicked birds, a scene out of a Hitchcock film. Four ten-pound birds were caught in the turbines of the engines and the noise was terrific. The smell of burnt feathers filled the air, and the plane let out a shudder and dropped in altitude.

According to numerous sources, Sully’s first thought was typical: “This can’t be happening to me.” But he turned that thought around in an instant to, “This doesn’t happen to me.”

At that moment, all of his experience, expertise, and instincts rose up to get him through the crisis.

"I never had any extraneous thoughts in those few seconds that we had," Sullenberger said. "I didn't allow myself to and I didn't have any inclination to. I never thought about my family. I never thought about anything other than controlling the flight path and solving each problem in turn."

He had many problems to solve: where to land, how to land, what to tell the passengers. (“Brace for impact” was chosen because it provided a specific directive and a vivid expectation of why the bracing was necessary.) All of those decisions turned out to be the right ones but imagine if he’d gotten hung up on the thought, “this can’t be happening.” 

Hopefully, you’ll never face that kind of grave emergency, but as a creative you’re bound to experience other difficult situations, and the quality of your thinking will determine the outcome.

The mind state that hampers us most often is resistance.

The other day, I was pushing my grocery cart in the store when the wheels seized up. The anti-theft feature on the cart malfunctioned, and it was almost impossible for me to move it. That’s what happens with resistance. For a time, it paralyzes us.

Imagine you’re working on a creative project and it’s been going beautifully, but, suddenly you come to an impasse. Your first thought is usually a resistant one: This shouldn’t be happening.

When we resist, our programmed mind dominates, muffling information from the creative mind. The more we resist, the more our programmed mind entraps us. It’s like struggling in quicksand.

 Like Sully, we can acknowledge the resistance and change the thought to, “This is happening, and I can deal with it.”

 When disaster struck, Sully became extremely present. free of extraneous thoughts that would hamper his performance. Very often, disaster temporarily stuns our programmed minds into silence and Sully took advantage of that quiet window. He plunged into a flow state and knew exactly what to do.

  Pilots are trained to respond to emergencies with simulations and likewise, you can train your mind with smaller problems so you are able to easily weather more challenging situations without the interference of resistance.

 The first step is recognizing the resistant thought. Likely you have hundreds a day so this takes practice. Take note of all the things you resist all day: the weather, tasks, people’s comments etc. and see if you can’t lean in.

Resistance practice is similar to learning a golf swing. At first, managing constant resistance feels artificial and awkward but eventually the process becomes more fluid.   

 But what really gives us trouble are the bigger problems Let’s imagine you’ve gotten unexpected critical feedback on our creative work.

1.     Your first thought is probably, “They’re dead wrong.” Maybe that’s true, but, all the same, there’s no wisdom in that thought. It’s just resistance. and you need to recognize that.

2.     Relax and be present, which might mean dropping into your body to follow your breath, listening to the sounds around you, or noting what your feet feel like your shoes. (In other words, anything that takes you out of your head.) This prevents you from following the resistance and believing any erroneous thoughts it might generate like, “They are jealous of me” or “What do they know?”

3.     Acknowledge that you’re uncertain about what to do with the feedback. That creates an opening that allows insight.

Dealing with your resistance takes practice and you won’t be able to do it every time. If you get ensnared in the resistance—and you will— I have a few hacks.

1.     Knowing that this too will pass. Sometimes the resistance will lift of its own accord, and it’ll be sunshine once again.

2.     What am I grateful for? If you can think of one positive thing about a situation, gratitude can get its foot in the door and relax the grip of resistance.

3.     Humor. Can I find any in the situation?

4.     Service. Can I do something for others that will distract me and allow for insights?

5.     Long walks. So much resistance can be dispelled by hitting the sidewalk.

6.     Ask for a solution and wait, not thinking about it anymore, with a pleasant expectation of an answer. Or ask for a solution and free-write for a while. This last one is my favorite resistance breakers.

Adyashanti, a spiritual leader and author of The End of Your World says that writing about resistance familiarizes us with the thought patterns that causes it and keeps it in place.  For instance, if we’re freaking out over critical feedback, it probably stems from some childhood programming about perfection or failure. Once you frequently recognize that sort of thing, it’s much easier to drop.

What are your ways of relaxing resistance?