Through language, whatever language our native tongue may be, were blessed with a wonderful, rich, detailed way of communicating with others and expressing our own diverse range of feelings.

Sometimes though, its just a simple single word and its connected ideas and associations that can be so powerful, and make such a difference in our creative lives.

Here are some that can be the most significant. What do they each mean to you?

Confidence Confidence can often be the fine line between one person achieving all they want in their life, and another person - from an apparently similar background, and with the same kind of opportunities achieving far less and feeling theres constantly something missing, a crucial element that if only they had, theyd be able to do so much more, and with much greater ease.

Confidence often begins though with an unproven belief. Confident people havent already tried every possible experience in the world and being fantastically successful. Its often simply through acting as if youre confident having a calm, assured demeanour, smiling, walking with your head held high that people treat you with more respect and as if youre highly capable of anything, and this in turn naturally feeds your confidence and helps it to grow. Consistent confident behaviour nurtures and strengthens confident beliefs.

Permission Permission we often seek from others, whether its an organisation we belong to or an authority that in some way governs our lives. But the most powerful and influential person we can ever gain permission from permission to be ourselves, permission to live up to our creative potential, permission to be accepted and loved, permission to be happy is us.

It is only when we can say to ourselves - Yes I accept you and support you completely in pursuing your true identity and finding your place in the world that we can begin to make real progress in our lives and become the incredible creative person each of us is capable of being.

Calmness - Being calm, and having calmness in our lives is essential for many reasons. The ability to be calm in any situation is something that enables us to overcome that which we fear we may not be able to.

As creative people, periods of stillness and calmness are the times in which we can reflect on all weve achieved and created, recognise and build upon our abilities and potential, and plan for the next project or phase in our creative lives.

Also when we stop to be calm, were able to appreciate our surroundings and the tiny details of the world around us. We are sensory and sensual beings, and ultimately all of our experiences first come through our senses, therefore so too does all of our creative inspiration.

Security Security for many means financial security, having enough money to get by, not being in debt, and the peace of mind that comes from this. It can also represent having a safe place to live, somewhere we can retreat to and rest and recover when the worlds become too intimidating or overwhelming.

Security also can refer to what we feel in our relationships, feeling loved and wanted and that we have a future.

But when we look more deeply we realise that true security comes not from having a lot of material possessions or wealth, or a nice house or a loving partner, but ultimately from knowing, and believing, that whatever happens in our lives, we have the resources, the strength, the courage and the creativity to overcome it, and to continue to grow and evolve as a person.

Enough Enough is the amount that we can be content with. When we have enough, when weve done enough, we can rest with some sense of peace of mind. But how much is enough? This is where it can cause us stress and confusion. Constantly striving for more, growing and developing and challenging ourselves, is natural and healthy up to a point.

But when does enough become a distant concept that we continually chase but never quite reach? When this happens, because we are always looking towards this state of enough that we havent yet attained, it becomes easy to lose sight of all we have gained and achieved in our creative lives, and all the positive things around us. Accepting I have enough and Im good enough is a crucial part of being at peace with ourselves and freeing ourselves to be all we can.

What are your own reactions to and thoughts around the above words? How important are they in your life? What impact do they have on your creativity?

What other words and ideas have a major role in your life? Pick your own five words that have a significant influence, and consider for each how your ideas and beliefs around the word may in fact be holding you back. What else you can do to alter your perspective and free up your creativity?

Copyright 2006 Dan Goodwin.