Dr. Kim Hermanson

Facilitating Creative Breakthroughs

beginner's mind

Six ways to break your creative blocks

  1. Give yourself both internal and external space. Creativity needs space.
  2. Pursue what’s important to YOU. Creativity is intrinsically motivated.
  3. Embrace your full vision. For your creativity to flourish, it wants your biggest vision.
  4. Weed out the things and situations that you find draining or dull, and instead feed yourself with things that are beautiful and nourishing.
  5. Give yourself freedom from what others might think, create your own world. Creativity is inherently subversive.
  6. Be a beginner. “Not knowing” is the starting point for the creative.

Click here to read the full article in Greater Good Magazine:

It’s impossible to learn if we already believe we know.

The ancient Greek philosopher Epictetus said, “It is impossible to begin to learn that which one thinks one already knows.”

When you know something in your mind to be true, is there open space in your mind for another view? Not likely. When we’re certain that we “know,” we’re at risk of trouble, because we now have something static rather than something that’s fluid.

Certainty is a closed loop.

What we need to do is find a way to-know-and-not-know at the same time–hold what we know in one hand and hold the other hand open. We are fully aware of all the expertise and information we’ve acquired, but we’re not letting it close our minds to other possibilities. We are holding one hand open to other ways of knowing, other things that we can’t come up with on our own.

Keith Haring said, “If there is no mystery, there is only propaganda.” We need mystery for the expansion of our knowing to happen. 🤫

Greater wisdom comes through when we admit we don’t know and stop trying to figure it out. 


My love for teaching began when I realized that I could be a learner when I teach. And in fact, I was a better teacher when I held that position.

It’s amazing how greater wisdom comes through when we admit we don’t know and stop trying to figure it out.

The first time I do something, I rarely do it very well. Holding a learner mindset makes all the difference. We humans are designed to be learners… we’re designed to experiment, make mistakes, try new things, fail, fall down, and try again.

A learning mindset is courageous. It takes us into unknown places with unknown outcomes.

Learning is messy. Messy means we’re human, we make mistakes and we have no idea how it’s going to turn out. We never have absolute control. But we can investigate what is before us: What is this situation asking of me? What, or who, do I need to pay attention to right now?

Excerpted from Getting Messy: A Guide to Taking Risks and Opening the Imagination for Teachers, Trainers, Coaches and Mentors by Kim Hermanson

We get to the true heart of who we are when we do our most creative work.


When we do the most creative work that we can possibly do, we get to the true heart of who we are. 

Creating requires openness, flexibility, and ‘not knowing’:

  1. Hold beginner’s mind: Step back from what’s happening so you can see what wants to emerge.
  2. Work with what’s available: encourage what’s under the surface to come forth. 
  3. Admit you don’t know: it opens up space.

Check out my new article in Greater Good magazine: 6 ways to break your creative block.

“Creativity is an intelligence. When we respect its needs—for freedom, not knowing, beauty, a big vision, intrinsic motivation, and space—it will flourish.”

1. Creativity needs space, both internal and external
– How can you give yourself internal space? If something is on your mind, take care of it before diving into new creative work.
– How can you give yourself external space? How can you give yourself the physical space to create?

2. Creativity is intrinsically motivated
– In this moment, what feels important to you? What does your heart have to say? Do you have a long-standing desire that won’t go away? That’s a directional pointer.
– Many creativity experts have suggested automatic stream-of-consciousness writing as a way to tap inspired ideas.

3. For your creativity to flourish, it wants your biggest vision
– Big visions are just that—they’re bigger than you. They’re bigger than your mind knows how to immediately solve. Be honest with yourself: What is your full vision? Don’t make the mistake of leaping too soon to the practical questions of how it can happen. Let yourself dream big, and then look for the next little action step or inquiry to take you deeper.

4. Creativity is nourished and fed by beauty
– What in your environment, situation, or relationships feels draining, ugly, or dull? Weed those things out.
– Make a list of five things you can do this week that would feel beautiful or celebrate beauty. Then do one of them. (Better yet, invite a friend to do this exercise with you and then share what you each discovered.)

5. Creativity is subversive
– How can you create your own “world”? Is there a medium or terrain that intrigues you? Take a little action step to create a make-believe world for yourself.
– Where (or how) do you need to allow yourself freedom from what others think? Close your eyes for a moment, take a few gentle breaths, and let your heart tell you. What pops in? This is your creative edge. It’s yours alone to traverse.

6. Not knowing is the starting point for the creative
– How can you work on your project from a state of not knowing? How can you set aside what you know and look at it with fresh eyes?
– How can you let yourself flow like a river? How can you let yourself flow and not know?’

Read the full article here:  https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/six_ways_to_break_your_creative_blocks