Opportunity in hardship or upheaval

I like to read Professor Jeff DeGraff’s work, follow his thinking. In a LinkedIn article (link below), he discussed how: ‘The author Marcel Proust observed, “The man of genius can give birth to works that will not die, only by creating an image, not of the man he is, but of the examples of humanity he carries within himself.” In other words, we draw forth our creativity from our experiences with others, good, bad, or indifferent.’

I think we become aware of ourselves, our deeper needs, and our relationship with our environment when the system presents us with a boundary or trauma. Our ability to think creatively, collaboratively, to find a solution, is frequently borne of difficulty, adversity, existential threat. Necessity is the mother of invention.

But sometimes our needs are deep within us, hidden even from ourselves. They exist only within our subconscious, until we feel comfortable enough to explore them, feel the need to air them.

I recently watched the Danny Boyle movie 'Steve Jobs', where, towards the end of the movie, focus was given to his mindset. In the movie, Jobs, increasingly conscious of the impending end of his life, explored with John Sculley, one-time Apple CEO, here in a coaching role, the developmental narrative of his infancy and childhood. The implication was that frustration from those early experiences had driven his ambition. The formative influences of his infancy spurred his creative, innovative purpose.

In psychology, we call the transformation of unproductive desires into more helpful actions ‘sublimation’.
Sublimation is a healthy defence mechanism, transforming unhelpful impulses into constructive activity.

It can be helpful to pause, reflect, think about what is really going on, deeply inside of us, or our team. To think about how to make the most of the deep impulses that we harbour.

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6680884199634866177/