WHAT DOES BEING CREATIVE MEAN TO YOU?

Many people tell me they don't have a creative bone in their body.  That they can't draw a straight line.

Which leads me to the question: What does creativity mean to you? What does it make you think of?

It seems those who feel this way see creativity as about art-making, about being talented at painting or drawing or writing or singing.

Yet creativity is also about activities such as gardening, decorating for Christmas, setting a beautiful table for a meal. 

Think of your friend or relative who is amazing at organizing. Everything has its place in his or her kitchen or clothes closet. The person who is always finding new tools to help them with a project or their job. Are those not creative activities too? The boss with the superb problem solving skills. The friend who always looks amazing in her coordinated clothing and accessories.

Creativity is inventive. It's about play and experimentation, about seeking out and finding new perspectives, exploring new ways of doing. It's about problem solving, releasing limiting beliefs. And it's good for our health and wellness, as we forget about our stresses, slow down and get into the flow of being creative.

We are all born creative. Children are natural explorers and their creative switch is always on. Somewhere as we grow up, we seem to lose that. We're not always taught to keep that imaginative side, rather we're taught to follow what is known. 

"The simple fact is that we are not taught or encouraged to exercise our creative muscles. In reality, we are encouraged to suppress them. This does not mean that most of us are not creative, only that we have never been trained to work on and value our creativity and imagination. When was the last time you invested time in developing your creativity?" 

                           David Usher, Author of Let the Elephants Run 

Children are not afraid to try something new. But as adults fear can hold us back - if we try drawing and fail at it, then we must not be creative. Many creative activities just take some practice, and learning to "see" so we can learn to "draw" takes practice. Yet we talk ourselves into thinking we are not creative.

A recent student in one of my classes felt her art wasn't as good as the others, she even stated she wasn't creative. We identified that she simply needed a refresher on the colour wheel, so she could mix paint colours without getting "mud". She made wonderful leaps after that, and also when trying to paint on fabric instead of paper. She began to see her creative side emerge. 

This kind of exploration makes my heart sing - she was willing to take chances and see where it would take her. Just a bit of guidance was all it took. And she felt a wonderful sense of accomplishment as a result.

I think being creative is really a mindset. It's up to you if you think you're not creative - or if you are!

"Start looking at creative thinking as a skill set that you can master if you invest the time to learn how".

      David Usher in Let the Elephants Run