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3 • Emotional Blocks - Part 1

Emotional blocks to creativity are those caused by anger, envy, fear, dread, hate, greed, love, lust, and so forth. They are, principally, divided into two major types: the transient blocks which come and go from day to day or week to week, and the permanent ones which were built into our personalities early in life and which probably underlie nearly everything we do for the rest of our lives. Both types interfere with our thinking because they rob us of our concentration, mental energy, and initiative by making us squander ourselves on worries, anxieties, and fantasies over what might occur should our worries and anxieties be realized.

Transient blocks are the lesser of the two types so far as per­manently hampering the imaginative abilities. These can be caused by temporary financial difficulties, problems with chil­dren, an argument with your wife, a lack of recognition at work, worry about the outcome of a decision, and so forth. Finding yourself forced to work with an incompatible personality on your job may cause you to suffer from a temporary overload­ing of your emotional resources.

When you are suffering from a temporary emotional block, your mental efficiency and freedom are impaired. It can happen as simply as this:

Every morning when the boss comes in, he greets you with "Hi, Bill, how're tricks?" But one morning he comes in, and as he passes by your desk he says, "Hello, Bill, what are you up to today?"

Immediately your mind short-circuits: "What does he mean, what am I up to? Do you suppose someone has been talking to him about me? I haven't done anything to make anyone suspicious... who do you suppose has been in there lying to him?"

And from there on, your train of thought leads you to suspect everyone in the office of trying to "get" you, and your mind is completely lost so far as productive thinking is concerned. Worry and fear take over, and frustration at an imagined situation simply freezes the gears for any normal thinking. It isn't until you can invent an excuse to get in to see the boss and make sure that your relationship is still "safe," or until the next morning when he comes by again and says, "Hi, Bill, how're tricks?" that your mind will calm down and permit you to think normally once more. And, chances are, during this period of mental anguish, you yourself may never have realized that you weren't thinking in your usual normal productive way.

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