Research commissioned by NASA found 98% of the population test at the level of creative genius at the age of 4 (Land, 2011.)
The chances are you were a creative genius by the age of 4!
Unfortunately, over the course of childhood, that number steadily drops, hitting just 12% by age 15, and only 2% by age 25. All that genius…lost to the world. Where might we be, as a species, if that genius walked with each of us through life, creating radical change?
Umm… that’s exactly why that genius is schooled right out of us. Radical change doesn’t benefit the people at the top right now very much, does it? Imagine if almost every person was innovating and change-making!?!
Personally, I believe that’s how we are best served as a global community and personally in our own lives. But culture is a process of pattern and perpetuation, centered around keeping the relationship structures that comprise it intact.
How you might have lost your inner genius
When we’re taught in school, we’re not only learning specific information, we are learning which information to pay attention to and which to ignore. We’re learning how to think. What to think. What to feel. Who to be.
Important parts of us, like that creative genius, get cut off in the process but they are never gone. They just fall into the shadows. In childhood, parents and teachers show us (and often tell us) we’re wrong, silly and not good enough.
We internalise that knowledge. We embody it. When we hear our intuition sharing something that comes from our genius, instead of listening we say, “shhhhh that’s not good enough! It will never work. That’s the wrong answer.”
We stop having thoughts that could change the world. We start having the thoughts the world tells us to have and we don’t even know it’s happening. It’s completely invisible to us.
How my inner genius overcame my imposter syndrome
Back when I was part of the ScARF panel (essentially a think tank looking at how we came to be who we are now, as a result of huge cultural shifts over the past 500 years, and setting the agenda for the study of that for the next 20 years).
I had serious, serious, serious (times infinity) imposter syndrome.
The rest of the ten or so people there were at the top of their fields. I mean “head of the national museum” and “founder of the world’s first specialised centre for integrative battlefield studies” kind of top.
I was a PhD STUDENT. I felt sick at the thought of it all.
When I asked my mentor, head of the panel, why I was there and how I could possibly contribute, his answer blew me away:
“You have thoughts and a way of thinking that’s unique. A different perspective. That’s why you’re here. Contribution isn’t just what you “know” – it’s about your being.”
Seeing it unfold in real time changed my life. Watching some of the most incredible people I’ve ever been around debate things, and finding myself someone being one of them. It changed the direction of my research.
How to reawaken your inner genius
I wanted to know, where do thoughts, feelings and beliefs come from and how do we attract new ones?
I’ve come to truly believe that everyone can learn to attract incredible new thoughts, feelings and beliefs and to innovate in ways that pay dividends for themselves and others.
These are the primary steps:
- Deconstruct the paradigm first. Assume nothing, believe nothing. Recognise that all things are fundamental constructs and all constructs have inherent biases.
- Use a relational approach to understand your own biases to the best of your ability, and to be present to their impact on your interpretations of the world. Do this at the level of body, heart, mind and soul. Simply working on the level of thoughts doesn’t change much – you are a whole being, not just the mind. The more whole you are in yourself, the more you can allow truly dynamic insights to emerge.
- Learn to ask great questions that work towards a relational understanding of the interaction between things.
- Get in the room with amazing thinkers and be courageous enough to speak what’s on your heart, even though they might judge you for it. It is scary, feeling like the weakest link in the room, but it will grow you in ways you can’t imagine.
- Believe in your contribution. Believe you’re there for a reason. Believe you have to show up, and that hiding is not an option.
- Have an amazing mentor who is your biggest supporter. Not only because they can take you to places you wouldn’t otherwise go, but because they help you become the person who belongs there. Incredible thought partnership is priceless.
That’s how you wake the creative genius back up. It’s not about the paints and crayons, it’s about who you are in the world. About trusting in your intuitive thoughts enough to let them through. And remember…
You are a creative genius. Happily ever after.
If you’d like to learn more about releasing what society has made you into, and becoming who you were always meant to be, check out my international no.1 bestseller Unbecoming: Your Unorthodox Guide to Radical Wholeness.
xoxo,
Dr. Morgana
Ref: Land, G. 2011 The Failure of Success, TEDx Tuscon Feb 2011 available from https://youtu.be/ZfKMq-rYtnc (accessed 13/12/2021)
