Creative Block

There are conditions that either promote or inhibit the creative self. Many people have a powerful urge to create.  Although an essential part of the creative process involves the beauty and power of the free use of the imagination, many artists simultaneously use the process to repair deficits within their inner selves.
I believe that combining psychotherapy with the creative process allows individuals to mourn, repair and integrate aspects of the Self.  D.W. Winnicott (British psychoanalyst and author of Playing and Reality) declared that it is through play that the child discovers his or her true self and learns to tolerate separation from the parent.  The creative process is the adult version of play. 

"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up."
Pablo Picasso

"Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best."
-Anonymous

"..The arts are not a way to make a living.  They are a very human way to making life more bearable. Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow. For heaven's sake,- Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories.  Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem  Do it as well as you possibly can.  You will get an enormous reward.  You will have created something."
Kurt Vonnegut

"The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity.  The creative mind plays with the objects it loves."
C.G. Jung