Expanding creativity with empathy
Innovation without exhaustion
*This post is in cooperation with Communion Arts, read the full article at the link below.
I read a book some time ago during a series of drives back and forth, two hours one-way, between the Omaha Eppley Airport and our home in Norfolk, NE.
The book was a curated collection of encouragement toward noticing. I do not know that I thought this book would be a good or necessary read, but something in the Libby app called out to my spirit to consider this as a possible #goodread. It was, for me, in fact a #mediocreread. By the seventh passage about birds, I had my fill.
Feeling and seeing are both the greatest blessing of the creative, as well as our greatest burden. If art was made from noticing alone, we would all be set. But art is made from processing as much it is from noticing. Sometimes, noticing can drown your soul. Disappointment is as present and powerful as beauty. The psychology of creativity exists within the same dualities we live in each day. There is mental work, and a mental load, to being a noticer. As creatives we find ourselves in the (good) work of processing all there is to be noticed daily. As embodied people, it behooves us to notice our bodies bear the load of noticing, even as they continue to bear the heavy burden of their backstory.
Redemption comes through empathy:
God feels for us and with us.
We are not alone in the million good and challenging details of our lives.
Empathy is an antidote for much of life.
I have good news, friends, empathy is also a companion, a schoolmate, and a partner to innovation, creativity, and refreshment as well (Bellis et al., 2023).
We need not be exhausted in empathy, in fact, it can engage our creativity rather than famish it. The difference between empathy that exhausts and empathy that drives creativity includes:
seeing through each other’s lenses, when we as humans are given to avoiding or arguing another’s lens (both take far more energy than we expect)
finding bits of sense to feed us when the problem in front of us or the world as a whole doesn’t make sense
noticing and bandaging our wounds of cognitive pain in confusion rather than experiencing an internal bleed of confusion and ignoring it until we bleed out into burnout
finding the difference between resonance and reaction
To read more on the link between creativity and empathy through the lens of research, connection, and sense-making, read more at the link below.
Up next:
*paid subscribers will receive notes on a self-coaching model for engaging with and resolving challenges from one of my recent doctoral papers and later this summer my recent research on relationship, connection, and coaching and mentoring through and in ADHD and other forms of neurodiveristy
*articles to come on the oddity of “grief low self-esteem” and a preview to my upcoming year long series on different aspects of and kinds of intimacy
Upcoming Events:
Finding Hope in Restorative Mental Health: 4 Essential Types of Resilience - August 9th, 2026, Cornerstone Lutheran Church, Carmel, IN
Emotions and the Gospel: Laying a Foundation and Framework for Mental Health Awareness In and From the Church - September 22-23, 2026, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, MO 36th Annual Theological Symposium
Night of Hope - Sunday, Sept 27, 2026, Auburn, Illinois
Moderator, Lutheran Bible Translators Scripture Literacy Summit - Zoom access anywhere, 10:30am-1pm CST
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