When creativity takes us off the beaten track

So here I am. Walking on my path. I pay attention. I look around at the terrain. Where is it taking me? I want to get the best out of my journey. I want to learn. I want to experience. I take this journey seriously and I want to be the best traveller that I can be. That means mastering the techniques needed to work well within the landscape. It means choosing the path that will bring the most joy, contribution, meaning and purpose. It also means interacting with other paths that come my way and being prepared to step off my path for a variety of reasons.



We sometimes refer to the ‘beaten track.’ Walking the beaten track means many others have walked this way before us. It means there are ways that others have discerned are worth walking. It means that this track is reliable and will take you somewhere worthwhile. The ‘beaten track’ also means the path of least resistance because others have forged the way ahead before us and so our journey requires less effort. This is at times exactly what we need! It is convenient, an efficient use of our own resources and the ‘beaten track’ can give us a sense of calm as we walk along a known and safe path.

So why would we venture off the beaten track? Why spend time exploring a new path? It is deep within the human spirit to seek adventure, to explore and discover new places and to achieve the impossible. We will not do that by remaining on the usual path. There is risk involved and there is the fear of wasting precious time, but the euphoria, the deep satisfaction and the benefits that the unknown can offer is what keeps pushing the boundaries of human development.

We want to grow and develop along life’s journey. By stepping off our usual path for a while to play; creativity actually offers us the opportunity to grow and develop that we are looking for. We discover that taking time away from our usual path (methods, habits, and learned behaviour) enhances our experience rather than distracts or diminishes.  If we consider play as exploration then as life-travellers we ought to all be clamouring to hop off our well-trodden path! We open our minds to see what other paths have to offer, or we spend time exploring the landscape beside our path for purposes of rest, recuperation and reflection.

Play as exploration does not have an agenda. It is open-ended, and there simply for the purpose of enjoyment or to experiment with what might be. In the field of human development, it becomes clear that play is not only enjoyable but essential to break out of our comfort zones and make new discoveries. I am not simply talking about ground-breaking technology or life-saving medicines out there waiting to be discovered. Play offers us a gentle alternative to our usual systems and is an invitation to another, perhaps better, way.

Play removes the pressure we might feel to ‘get it right’ which is another by-product of wanting to make good choices to live life well. Play restores our joy and increases our energy. Mental wellbeing talks much of the benefits of being in the moment. Look at young children. Play is their whole experience; not just an activity for a small part of the day. And what does it give them? Children learn from play. Children play to grow and to develop. They discover things about themselves; their environment.  Play is not a distraction from life, but it IS their life. They are constantly learning through their exploration of ‘how to do life’. We encourage play in small children and we delight in seeing them learn through play. When does all that get pushed aside? As adults we lose this freedom that play offers as we conform to the pressure to perform.

I want to invite you to consider how play can enhance your learning in both personal and professional spheres. The open-ended, meandering, just for the heck-of-it play is beneficial to our journeys in the way it restores our joy and our mental and physical well-being. But is also offers new ways of looking, and interacting with our world that can surprisingly open up new vistas that are fruitful and satisfying.

How is this connected to coaching?

Coaching can reveal our pain points – where we feel stuck on our journey. Coaching reveals the expectations we have of ourselves and of others, and how this can so often cause us distress when they are not met. When we feel safe and listened to our brain becomes specialised in exploration, play and co-operation. Within a coaching environment, where you have the luxury of looking at your journey and determining what you really want out of life - changing expectation to exploration means that you are free to discover what works best for you through open-ended questions, playing with possibilities and discovering what brings you joy.

Transformational Questions:

·        Where do I venture off the beaten track in my life?

·        How can I structure my day/week to incorporate play?

·        Identify one pain point in my journey.

·        How can I develop exploration to address this pain point?

If you would like to explore this further in a coaching context please contact Anna at digdeepdreambig@gmail.com .