Creativity: Muse or Minx?!
Creative people are often labelled as being of an unusually emotional disposition: the tortured artist; the mad genius; the melancholy virtuoso. But is there any truth behind this picture of the emotionally volatile artist?
A look at our biology tells us that yes, there is indeed an anatomical basis for this ‘moody’ moniker. It also explains the tendency towards addictive behaviors - another sobriquet that is often hung around an artists’ neck. So while one’s upbringing can play a role in holding up the ‘nurture’ side of the creative argument, Nature will have already auditioned and cast the unsuspecting artist-to-be.
The Creative Brain
If we were to ‘pop the skull’ on any creative individual out there, we would find that there are some structural and functional differences in brain anatomy that allow for that creative Muse to rise. However, Nature likes to create a tensile balance between opposing forces, so wherever there’s a Muse, you’ll also find a Minx!
Let’s trace the origins of this feisty pairing in the inner realms of our brain.
The Filter
The world is a noisy place. We live in a maelstrom of sights, sounds, smells, tastes, temperature changes, tactile sensations, toxins, and more to which our bodies must constantly adapt and adjust. If we were to allow all this sensory information into our conscious minds then we would be totally overwhelmed.
Fortunately, our brains have a filter, known as the Thalamus, that sifts through all this sensory information and only lets through what it deems essential for us to know. This allows us, for instance, to walk through a highly stimulating environment, like Times Square on a Saturday evening, while still being able to concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other and not bumping into other people. Without this filter we would likely be found crouching down in a ball with our hands over our ears and our eyes squeezed shut.
In order for the Thalamus to do this signal filtering work, it requires a chemical known as Dopamine which it absorbs via receptors on its surface. The more Dopamine receptors the Thalamus has, the better it will be at filtering the sensory noise.
What research has shown is that creative people have a lower density of these Dopamine receptors on the Thalamus, rendering them less able to filter the sensory input. In other words, being creative is a noisy place to live!! We see, hear, smell, taste, and feel everything more keenly, and find it hard to focus on a narrow task without becoming distracted.
For the Muse this facilitates:
Wonderful divergent and lateral thinking
The ability to hold many thoughts in our head at once
The building of connections and patterns between thoughts
Exquisitely sensitive perceptions
For the Minx, this facilitates:
The constant “la, la, la” of an ear-worm on loop
The intrusion of distracting thoughts when you’re trying to work (“Why doesn’t glue stick to the inside of the bottle?”, “Oh look, an ant!”)
The inability to focus on a conversation in a restaurant because your mind is tuned in to the annoying voice of the person at the next table or the intriguing bass line of the music playing in the background
Being labelled by others as being distracted or not paying attention when we are actually being hijacked by a web of tangential thoughts (“Oh look, an ant!”)
For creative people, there is no background noise, it’s all foreground - and this makes for a very noisy place to live!
Addictions
When the world is this noisy, we are always in need of respite - we’re in constant search of a volume dial that will just make it all go away. The magic chemical that we are unknowingly looking for is the aforementioned Dopamine - the body’s natural ‘happy pill’ that is the key to the filtering process.
However, even though there may be plenty of it in our system, creative people just don’t have enough receptors to soak it all up. It’s like having a raging thirst but your drinking cup only has a straw the width of a fine needle - you can never quite quench that thirst.
In the absence of being able to absorb our own Dopamine to quench that thirst, we go looking for it from external sources. The world provides us with many substances and behaviors that can increase our Dopamine levels. Some of the more innocuous ones include certain foods, exercise, and healthy physical contact, but the list also includes alcohol, drugs of abuse, and the now ubiquitous electronic devices such as smartphones.
Addictions in the creative population are therefore really just a manifestation of Dopamine hunger. We need to dial down the noise but access to our inner Dopamine stores is highly restricted, leaving us in a state of agitation. In frustration, we turn to the Smorgasbord of Dopamine options that are available to us in our outer world for relief - the Minx has outwitted the Muse.
Mood Swings
The features of brain anatomy and function that have been shown to be associated with creativity are also shared by those with diagnosable mood disorders. These include conditions such as Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder which occur more frequently in the artistic population. Cycling between manic and depressive phases reaches extremes in Bipolar Disorder but is also experienced by many creatives, though perhaps in a less dramatic way.
The extensive list of famous composers, musicians, artists, and writers that were tormented by mental health challenges demonstrates this fine line that the creative disposition treads with regard to mood stability, and many would say that it is even a prerequisite for artistic brilliance. The pendulum swings between Muse and Minx allowing us to draw experiences from the inky darkness and pull them into the glorious technicolor of the light.
Research into some of the great classical composers who were known to have suffered from depressive illness has found a correlation between the swings from depression to euphoria and the proliferative phases of composition. Typically, the rich period of writing tends to occur during the upswing that naturally follows a depressive phase.
This shows that the low times, when the Minx is running the show, are actually the fertile soil that allows the Muse to rise. The Muse requires the Minx in this symbiotic dance. In fact, it is a common experience for those that have opted to take medication to steady the ship, when the peaks and troughs are too much to bear, that they also lose touch with the Muse.
Just as the beautiful bright stars in the night sky require the darkness of the background to shine, creativity also requires contrast for its very existence. The experience of joy owes its potency to the existence of sorrow, the yearning of a minor key exists in the pull away from the major, grief is borne of a love that has lost its direction. Surviving the creative disposition requires an emotional elasticity that allows us to bend but not break in the pull of these extremes.
To thrive in one’s creativity, one must:
Understand that it has a biological rhythm that must be observed
Make friends with both one’s Muse and Minx and learn to mediate between them
Acknowledge the value of the darkness and build strategies to ride this phase
Recognize addictive tendencies as Dopamine deficiencies and find alternate sources
Seek help from a professional who understands the creative mind
Creativity is a dance between the Muse and Minx so, like any dancer, one must develop flexibility and learn the choreography - or better yet, create one’s own!
The Big Picture
Creative people are often saddled with the label of being moody or emotionally volatile. The moniker of the ‘tortured artist’ is ever present and behaviors such as addictive tendencies are often expected and accepted. However, there is a biological basis for creativity that drives many of these tendencies that helps to explain the creative condition. Understanding the biology of creativity reveals the reasons why many artists feel torn between the Muse and the Minx, and provides strategies for managing the creative mind.
Want to learn more? Check out Jennie’s online courses at BecomEmbodied.com