008: Artful unfurling
Honouring the timing of your creative emergence
And the day came when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.
—Anaïs Nin
There’s a moment in every creative journey when remaining closed becomes more painful than opening.
In her essays, the French-Cuban writer Anaïs Nin captured the experience of this exquisite threshold: that tipping point when the protective layers we've wrapped around our creative Essence begin to feel not like shelter, but confinement.
You know this place, don't you?
The tender space where your unshared work pulses with possibility, like a flower bud swollen with yet-unseen colour. It feels as though your creativity strains against its casing, no longer content to remain hidden. It might be the writing that haunts your thoughts in the daytime, or the designs that visit your dreams at night. This unshared wisdom circles endlessly in your mind—all seeking release, expression and visibility.
But fear holds the bud closed. Fear of judgment. Fear of rejection. Fear of being seen too fully, too vulnerably, too soon. This has characterised my approach to creativity, too, something I realised during my first writing retreat, when I was too afraid to share my writing with the group (you can read about this experience here).
The Essence-aligned approach
While others advocate forcing the bud open ('just ship it’, ‘feel the fear and do it anyway’, ‘push through resistance’) I believe in a fundamentally different approach—a methodology that honours the natural intelligence of creative unfurling.
Unlike approaches that treat creative blocks as productivity problems to be conquered through willpower and discipline, I recognise that resistance to visibility carries a deeper wisdom—one made up of something essential. Your creative Essence knows its own pattern of unfoldment and the conditions necessary for its blossoming.
We need to cultivate a profound respect for the organic nature of our creative emergence.
I don't subscribe only to mechanical solutions for creative challenges. I take into account what is on the inside. And when I work with others, I guide them into a process of Essence-aligned visibility: a way of creating whereby expression unfolds not through force but attunement.
Think about the wisdom of a magnolia bud. It doesn't question its timing or compare its opening to the cherry blossoms down the street. It doesn't berate itself for being too slow or too cautious. It just waits for the precise confluence of conditions—the perfect soil chemistry, the right temperature, the optimal light—before beginning its meticulous unfurling.
Your creative hesitation has the same intelligence.
When you've struggled with visibility—declining opportunities, hiding completed work, postponing launches—you might have been labelled (or labelled yourself) as ‘self-sabotaging’ or ‘perfectionist.’
What if your pace isn't pathological but protective? What if your creative Essence is just waiting for the right conditions before revealing itself?
This recognition forms the cornerstone of how I approach creativity. Rather than overriding these natural creative rhythms, I decode them—and support others to do the same. Rather than pushing through resistance, I cultivate a deep listening to the rich potential this waiting can offer.
The art of gradual unfurling
Just as a tree comes into leaf little by little, your emergence into visibility follows its own sacred geometry.
Taking a more Essence-aligned approach involves:
identifying the unique visibility threshold—that precise edge where growth meets safety
the art of what I call ‘creative titration’, in which tender creativity is exposed to the air, and the world, in carefully calibrated doses
creating the specific conditions under which your particular essence naturally flourishes
distinguishing between protective fear and essential caution
identifying and establishing psychologically safe spaces in which creativity can be developed and revealed.
All this stands in stark contrast to the ‘just push through it’ methods that ignore the wisdom of your creative system. It dispenses with the painful cycle of forced exposure followed by protective withdrawal.
Transformative unfolding
When you align with your natural creative rhythm, something extraordinary happens. Like a time-lapse video of a flower opening, your creative emergence becomes both inevitable and breathtaking.
I know this for myself.
And when I’ve worked with clients using this approach, they report not just increased creative output but a fundamentally transformed relationship with visibility itself. The weight of ‘should’ transforms into the lightness of ‘want.’ The fear of being seen shifts into the joy of being known. The dread of completion evolves into anticipation of connection.
One client described it as ‘finding the secret key that unlocks my creative flow without triggering my alarm systems.’ Another said: ‘for the first time, sharing my work feels like an extension of creating it, not a terrifying separate step.’
This transformation happens not because they've learned to override their protective instincts, but because they've learned to respect and work with them.
Moving into a gentle opening
As you consider this Essence-aligned path to visibility, I invite you to notice: where is your creative bud preparing to open? What first petal is ready to unfurl?
Perhaps it's sharing your work with one trusted ally. Perhaps it's completing that project without immediate plans to distribute it. Perhaps it's simply acknowledging, in the privacy of your own heart, what you really want to create and express.
Whatever that first gentle evolution might be, honour it. Your creative Essence knows its own timing. Your creative bud already contains its perfect pattern of blossoming.
The world waits for your unique expression—not with judgement, but with curiosity and hunger. We need your voice, your singular vision, your distinctive approach to beauty and truth. But we can wait until that exquisite moment when you’re ready.
When will the bud of your creativity begin its beautiful unfurling?
Community inspiration
This week, ‘community’ has been a major focus.
Complementary to my coaching practice, I’ve just started an exciting new consultancy role with the Creative Communities team, in which I’ll be supporting practitioners to design and deliver innovative creative projects across the UK. The focus is on co-creation (something close to my heart!) asking how we can build a strong network of cultural activity that listens to all voices—involving businesses, charities, academics, creative freelancers and local residents in diverse contexts and regions.
Last weekend, I was a spaceholder for a day of creative experimentation and play with Authentic Artist Collective at one of their ‘asylum’ days (for which, read ‘everything-is-safe-to-try’!). The collective has at its heart values of equality, respect and the value of creative emergence, and offers workshops on an ongoing basis. Being a participant at one of these workshops a decade ago was a game-changer for me and an opening into being able to hold my creativity more authentically.
Inspired by how the networks of creatives I know support each other (sometimes in invisible and intangible ways)—and by the powerful impact creative community can have on our individual expression—I published this piece.
Creative inspiration
Books on the topic
The Early Diary of Anaïs Nin, Volume 4: 1927-1931. Nin's writing consistently embodies an approach to creativity that shows how the journey inward must precede the journey outward. This volume captures her years of artistic awakening as she developed her distinctive voice—and it chronicles her struggles with visibility and authenticity.
Other works of Nin’s to check out include her collected essays (especially In Favour of the Sensitive Man and Other Essays, which examines the relationship between creativity and personal transformation) and her autobiographical fiction House of Incest and A Spy in the House of Love.
Finding Your Own North Star: Claiming the Life You Were Meant to Live by Martha Beck. A practical how-to book, in which Beck guides us to reconnect with our ‘essential self’ rather than the social self’—placing the focus on attending to our inner truth before taking action in the world.
Other things
I loved reading this piece, this week, by , which touches on the same fear that, when we hear the call to unfurl, keeps us ‘tight in the bud.’
Memorable quote of the week:
In a society that conditions people to hide their true selves, blooming is a radical act.
— Yung Pueblo
What’s next?
If there’s something you’re longing to create (a writing project, an artistic creation or new venture) but need more courage and guidance, I’m here to support you expand the power of your self-expression.
Here’s how I can help:
Make an appointment for a virtual coffee (free). I hold 3-4 slots every month so we can get to know each other. Perfect if you’re curious about meeting new people and making connections.
Book a 30-minute connection call (free). This is for anyone—whether you have an idea you want to brainstorm, an issue that’s holding you back, or you just want to know more about my work. Think of it as a microdose of powerful coaching that can help point you in the right direction!
Read my manifesto for creative courage (free). Learn about the core principles I work with in my own creativity and business and follow in serial form the journey of how I came to found Wordplay Coaching.
Inquiry of Writing, an intimate group coaching experience. We meet twice a month—in which we use writing as a tool for curiosity, exploration and transformation. Respond to powerful questions, in discussion and in writing; share your experience; get feedback on what you’ve written. Get the support and connection you need to gain clarity about your life and creativity, and develop your confidence. This is currently full but talk to me about joining the waiting list.
Creative Essence 1:1 coaching. Personal guidance to work with you on recognising your survival mechanisms and the fears that hold you back from expressing yourself fully. Twice-monthly deep dives on Zoom plus individualised support between sessions. This is ideal for you if you’re looking for deep transformation and powerful support to make changes in your life or with a creative project.
Hi Rachel! thanks for this beautiful and reflective essay! Have you heard about the organic pattern of li?
It's a concept in Taoism and it basically says that "Li" represents the organic pattern inherent in all things. It's like the underlying order that emerges naturally rather than being imposed from outside.
I read about this for the first time on that effortless living book! This concept stayed in my head for days and even though they talk about nature, like your example of the magnolia bud, I related so much to your writing because I was thinking we all have this "pattern of li" in us, unique, which is our own creative force.
What you shared about forcing the bud open and honoring the natural intelligence of creative unfurling really connects with this idea of non forcing action... in ways I related to my work like that too, creating space for this creative force to emerge from within.
Maybe the organic pattern of li can be a source of inspiration for your thoughts too like they were to mine.
from the book: “In our modern world there are not many people who express their own natural art because their organic pattern of li is polluted with linear systems.