Forgot to add: I saw a recent interview with Seth Godin where he expounds on the voice of resistance from The War of Art by S. Pressfield; the voice of resistance, he says, is the voice of the lizard brain.

When I heard that I pretty much screamed Oh. My. God. It all makes sense now. The terrified survival-oriented lizard brain shuts down all creative thought, literally, because the lizard brain can't *do* that. The key is to remove the fear and get out of lizard thinking. So whatever it takes to do that, get to a feeling of safety where creativity can happen.