Creativity is one of the last remaining legal ways of gaining an unfair advantage over the competition.
-Ed McCabe
Tag Archives: creativity
What is Play?
Happy Monday! As we start our work week, I wanted to remind us all of the importance of play. What exactly is play?
Play is light hearted and enjoyable. When it stops being fun, people stop playing. It is voluntary yet it operates within given boundaries. It is trivial although the outcomes are often highly significant. It is completely absorbing, the opposite of repetition and routine. And finally, it is necessary in order to live a meaningful existence.
We can (and should) grow up but we should never stop playing.
The Artist Personality
“In the artist of all kinds I think one can detect an inherent dilemma, which belongs to the co-existence of two trends, the urgent need to communicate and the still more urgent need not to be found….”
― Don Richard Riso, Personality Types: Using the Enneagram for Self-Discovery
The Creative Bug
“Everyone is born creative; everyone is given a box of crayons in kindergarten. Then when you hit puberty they take the crayons away and replace them with dry, uninspiring books on algebra, history, etc. Being suddenly hit years later with the ‘creative bug’ is just a wee voice telling you, ‘I’d like my crayons back, please.”
― Hugh MacLeod, Ignore Everybody: and 39 Other Keys to Creativity
Creativity by James Taylor
The other night I turned on the television and Oprah’s Master Class was on. It’s one of my favorite shows. She was interviewing music icon James Taylor.
As I watched, I heard the singer/songwriter describe his experience with creativity and one comment stood out above the rest. He said, “When I’m writing music, I never really see myself as the writer of this song. It’s more like I’m just the first person to hear it.”
What James is describing perfectly captures the spiritual element of creativity which I find so fascinating.
To truly create, we must be fully present. When we’re fully present, we’re closest to God, as God only exists in the Present. God is the present (moment), and as we access it, He gives us the gift of inspiration. So when we’re engaged in the creative process, we’re actually receiving gifts from God, the Divine Creator. Our only duty then, becomes to share those gifts.
A Whole New World
What if we began to look at the world around us with the eyes of a child? Bright, curious, and wide open with wonder.
Would the world we see be different? Would we?
I recently decided to carry out an experiment of my own by observing normal every day objects, with the sense of raw wonder at which children are best.
You can read my observations below. However, I can tell you that what I learned, at the very least, is that approaching the world with awe leads to greater appreciation for your surroundings. And we know from science that greater appreciation directly and positively correlates with a happier life, and improves over-all well being.
The point is, with gratitude comes deep joy. When we begin to look for the beauty and creativity in normal every day objects that we would otherwise over look, it becomes evident that opportunities for joy and inspiration exist all around us. And what we look for, we find.
Tree:
It’s fall here and tomorrow it will be winter. The leaves have turned a deep red. As if they’re bleeding over the loss of one season while simultaneously preparing for the next. There is always opportunity in loss. And this tree knows. Despite the changes, it stands tall and firm. Steady and unshaken. It trusts, in itself and the world, that there is more to come. That its story is not yet finished.
Rock:
Perhaps it has always been right here. Its position unobstructed by changing surroundings. Unnaturally white and large for its atmosphere, it basks in the sunlight and waits. It glimmers in hopes of catching the eyes of those passing by, as if it’s trying to give us a gift. Oh the stories this rock has to tell, if only it could speak. Perhaps it was brought here by man. No doubt perplexed by the reason for its relocation, but nevertheless accepting of its new role. People step on it, creatures use it for shelter, and some days it isn’t used at all. But it’s still there. It’s confident enough to just be.
Flower:
Or how about this flower. It doesn’t care that I don’t know its proper name. It doesn’t even mind that it stands virtually alone. One of the few plants in the area blooming as others die off. It happily continues to grow, so it won’t be like the rest. As long as it’s growing, it’s alive. And this flower most certainly enjoys being alive. As I watch, the wind grows stronger and the flower begins to sway. The two appear to be working together. The wind makes music so the flower can dance. It doesn’t seem to mind that it has no audience. It dances anyway. A carefree flower, no doubt.
I hope that these observations have inspired you to approach the world with a new pair of eyes. Or rather, to see the world with your own eyes, as they once were when you were a child. Doing so truly does open us up to a whole new world.
What is Creativity?
“I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.” – Einstein
Creativity.
What is it? And how do you know if you’ve got it?
It seems we’ve drawn a somewhat murky line in the sand when it comes to what constitutes creativity and what doesn’t.
In this video, I dive into the elusive nature of Creativity, breaking it down and proving that it’s not as elusive as we like to think.
Creativity is what happens when you embrace your natural childlike curiosity and ditch your developed need to act like an “adult” and always do things “right”.
Let me break it down for you because it really is as simple as a first grade math equation:
Add childhood sense of wonder, subtract grown up fear of failure and you’re back to the core: you.
That’s right, you are creative.
Learn more at http://www.whitneyanthony.com
Reawakening the Creative Child Within (A Poem)
When we’re young, the world is our oyster.
Hurt and humiliation are two things we don’t fear.
Imagination is our kingdom and every moment counts.
Ah yes, when we’re young, creativity abounds.
As we grow up they say, “Fall in line!
Get good grades! Be on time!
Find a job! Pay your bills!”
All things that stifle creative wills.
When we’re young, our sense of presence lasts.
There’s no anxiety about the future. No dwelling in the past.
It’s this innate presence that lets our creative juices flow
but we block it and build dams around it every year we grow.
Now I can hear the sound, traveling through your eyes
of broken dreams and emptiness
as your inner child cries,
“Gimme ink and paper, crayons, brushes, and blank space.
Gimme songs to sing and lightening bugs to chase.
Gimme wood to carve, clay to mold, and games to play.
I’m jumpy and I’m restless. Can I come out today?”
A Short Poem on Creativity
I think everyone should create;
Sing, dance, draw, write
Paint, build, weave, invent
You’re the only one who can shine your light.
God didn’t create us because He was lonely and needed us. Just as a songwriter doesn’t write a song because he needs the song.
A songwriter writes a song because he needs to communicate himself.
So it is with God, when He created us.