What is Creativity?

For years, even in my old corporate life, I wonder about creativity.  What was it?  Is it a skill or a gift?  Was is a procces or divine intervention?

Wikipedia has a good definition, namely, "creativity is a mental process involving the discovery of new ideas or concepts, or new associations of the existing ideas or concepts, fueled by the process of either conscious or unconscious insight."  But I prefer a simplier definition.  Creativity is the act of bringing an idea into reality.

When I have an idea, it is just an idea.  It lives in my head.  No one else can see or experience it.  The idea is real but that is all that it is, an idea.  However, when I applied action, I begin to do things that will make the idea real in substance.  It can become physical, given sufficient action is taken.

In this broader definition, creativity is everywhere.  Everyone is creative.  When I think about what I want to eat for dinner, I have an idea for a specific meal.  If I just sit there and think about that delicious meal I want, I would end up starving.  It doesn't make itself.  I have to do something, namely cook, order out or go to a restaurant.  So I decide to stay home and cook.  I take out the pots and pans, start the stove or oven, locate the ingredients and begin mixing.  I am active in the creation of the meal.  It would not happen without me.  My idea, my action.  I continue with the cooking of the food and finally place the meal on the plate.  The meal is real.  It was previously just an idea. 

This is an everyday example of how there are instances of creativity in all our lives.  The great novel or painting masterpiece are what I often hear people talk about when referring to being creative.  But a profitable sales strategy, a successful teaching plan, a decorated room, a new mousetrap also are examples of creativity. 

Look around.  Everything we see, touch, experience in our daily lifes from a toothbrush to a Picasso started as an idea.  Creativity is everywhere all the time.  We are all practice creativity.

Don't Worry, Be Creative

The current economic crisis in the US got me thinking about what is happening, how it go to this level, what and how are addressing it and how all of it may or will impact me now and in the future. That's a lot to think about in addition to all my day to day stuff and my daily attempt to create a masterpiece. Throw in my disillusionment of the current presidential election and my head is swimming with thoughts, mostly negative. This is toxic. It is poison to my general well being and it is deadly for creative ideas.

I woke up this morning on the wrong side of the bed. I mean negative, not on the left. I wasn't in a bad mood per se but I was carrying a feeling of despair. It was a heavy feeling. I was unable to work. The creative flow was avoiding me, or rather, I was probably pushing it away. I had other things that I had to do so I shifted my focus. I also started thinking about the economic crisis, as it is being referred to. Can I can control or influence it? Has any of my actions been to blame for it? I concluded that this situation is out of my control. Therefore it is pointless and a waste of time and energy for me to worry about it. I can influence it, or at least its impact on me, indirectly. I made sure that my investments were as sounds as possible given what I know today. Am I to fault? I don't think so. I don't have bad credit. I pay my bills. I don't have a mortgage I can't afford. And I don't give credit to those who are over their heads for whatever reason. I will in the future watch my investments closer so that I invest in companies that do not put money over people in the future. All of this was the rant in my head as I went about doing stuff half ass.

I noticed something after I decided that I wasn't going to worry about this and I would be just fine as this works itself out. My mood lifted and my creative urge returned. I also have a boost in energy as well. I wonder how many other times I have held on to things, ideas, concepts, issues that didn't involve me but yet I took them on. This is definitely an energy drain. A creativity drain as well. Doing my own thing with the confidence that I will handle whatever comes my way so far seems to be the biggest push for my creative side. Non-creative types may not fully understand what I'm talking about today but I'll let them worry about that.

;-)

Love, Sexuality and Creativity

Over the past few weeks, I noticed that the theme of love, sexuality and creativity has come up in conversation several times. The first time I just thought that it was an interesting collection of items that someone considered linked. But when it continued to present itself, I figured I should think about it some.

On the surface, I had a difficult time understanding how these three items were connected. Each seemingly can function on its own. And I think they can. But I also believe there is one element that is present in each, passion. Passion in the sense of an outburst of strong emotion or feeling. All three, love, sexuality and creativity are the result of some form of emotional outburst, an overflow, a extension beyond myself.

So what does it mean in practical terms that these things are somehow linked? I think the point is they are not practical, nor safe. These are the results of and the source of emotional outbursts. For love or sexuality or creativity to exist and continue to exist, continual emotional extensions are necessary. That is to say, they are all forms of sharing myself with others. With that, these items have another component in common, vulnerability. Any instance of exposing myself comes with it a sense of vulnerability, whether I'm accustomed to it or not. The result of expressing myself with the vulnerability is either love, sexuality or creativity, or possibly all three. So, I may be concerned how others may react to what I have to say (the vulnerability part) but I still have to say it (the extension part). Piece by piece, over time, by doing this, I think love, sexuality and creativity will grow and flourish allowing these items to survive independent of each other and supportive of each other.

I'm going to look for examples of this in my life and report back.

Too Sick to Work?

For most of this week, I have been suffering from a head cold. It has been a doozy. It has wiped me out, physically and emotionally. I didn't want to work. I just wanted to sleep the day away. It wasn't possible. I tried. When I attempted to take a nap, instead of relaxing, sleeping and recuperating, I laid there wide awake wondering how everything I wanted to do this week was going to be accomplished. I didn't feel creative with a pounding headache. So I focused on the administrative things I wanted to finish up this week. I thought those would be benign enough (remembering my corporate days when I went to work sick all the time) that I could push things forward even if it weren't at the speed things would move if I were healthy. No such luck. I found the administrative tasks annoying. Basically, nothing was going to make me happy. I went back to bed.

This went on for a few days. I would start something, not finish it, go lie down, get up and start it again. I also forced myself to be creative for a bit. I mixed up a color for the next layer of resin I wanted to add to two pieces I'm working on. I followed through to completion. Although I felt a sense of accomplishment, I was disappointed. I didn't like the color selection. It obviously was reflecting my state of mind at the time. It was just a little bit off, like I was. I went back to bed.

This morning, after a restless night of sleep, I felt a little better. Or I should say, I felt I was on the road to recovery to rejoin the living. But even though I wasn't feeling 100% yet, I felt inspired. I felt it was time to tackle something. I was energized but I didn't have much energy. I was encouraged and optimistic but still wanted to go back to bed. I decided to get up and go to work, like it was any other day. I'm glad I did. I added the next layer to the pieces I had been working on all week and although I still don't like the color from yesterday, I thought of a way to incorporate it into the pieces as I continue to pour additional layers. I KNOW that this "off" color will work perfectely when I add the other colors later. The "play" I was looking for will be there, probably better than if I had done what the original idea. I suddenednly began to love the color. I also began a new piece, one I had be "avoiding" becuase the concept seemed challenging. Although it was a challenge, it wasn't as bad as I had imagined. My conclusion is that I was inspired and creative even in my sick state. My ability to create is not dependent on my mood or physical ability. My ability to create is on my willingness and intention to create. Any my perserverance to push through fueled the fire so to speak. I had more to work with today, if that makes any sense. It is kind of like I know and can do "it" when things are not perfect, I can't imagine what I can "do" when things are nearly perfect. It pushed me up a rung on the ladder.

I once heard, and still believe it today, that there are no mistakes in art. Art happens. It is the result of creation. If I take it at face value, it seems obvious that my work this week would be at the same caliber as if I were healthy. But I realized a few things. First, I want to love "my mistakes." Those ugly ducklings that I produce. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and perhaps those "mistakes" are signpost to a new direction that will yield bigger and greater success. I also learned to get out of my own way. Having a cold drained my energy and my resolve. I didn't have to fortitude to do what I envisioned for the piece. I just did something to placate my guilt. I'm glad I did. My guard was down and the result will be a unique color combination I would not have intentionally tried. I want to find a way to drop my guard when I'm feeling better. I want to maintain a resolve to create without putting conditions on the outcome. I want to enjoy all my work, not because I declared it good or bad, but simply because I helped in its creation. But ultimately I learned that I want to create whenever I have the chance. To just keep going. Today builds on yesterday and if I didn't build anything yesterday, where is my foundation for today? That sounds a be heady but I think you know what I mean.