Why Not . . . Be Creative?

Creative types. You could probably name someone right now who you would describe as creative. Hopefully you are describing yourself, but if not, I’d like to convince you today that anyone can be creative. Yes, even you.

In a recent Wall Street Journal article titled “How to be Creative”, Jonah Lehrer explains that creativity isn’t some magical innate quality one is born with, but rather a skill that anyone can learn.

I highly suggest that you take a few minutes and read is article which incorporates recent studies on creativity. After having read it myself, I came up with a list of ways we can all help foster our creativity.

Here’s what I came up with:

1. Mingle with people from other professions, cultures, walks of life. By welcoming new ideas and perspectives into our thought-process we invite more chances for something to spark with what we already know, thus increasing the chance for creativity to ignite.

2. Allow yourself to unwind. Yes, initially it might sound counterproductive, but by allowing yourself to slow down, you allow your ideas to catch fire, to be noticed and give them a chance to be pounced upon.

3. Be dedicated. An artist, those creative types, as they are sometimes labeled, are people who work tirelessly on something without a lot of praise for quite some time. In other words they have a passion for what they are working on that isn’t driven by external praise. In fact, the praise, if they ever receive it, is the topping on top of a creamy, delicious cheesecake.

4. Get in tune with you gut/inner voice. By getting to know yourself, getting to know what your feelings mean, you will become more adept at understanding when you should relax to recharge or push through until you discover an aha moment.

5. Learn more. Become a devourer of the written word. Absorb as much information as possible. Never stop learning. Remain curious, constantly fueling your mind and giving energy and possibility to potential creative moments.

6. Seek “diverse experiences”. Follow Steve Jobs’ advice and constantly be seeking out adventures that are different, new or foreign to you. The information you collect at the time may not make sense, but in the future who knows what could happen.


7. Be willing to be the outsider. Why would anyone WANT to be an outsider, you may ask. Well, as Lehrer points out, when you are an outsider you become more observant and are willing to take more risks because you are either ignorant of the potential pitfalls or have less to lose.

8. Do what you love. It all comes back to following what you love to do, what you could lose time doing.

Always keep in mind, creativity is a choice. It is something that you can choose to be if you are passionate enough about what you want to achieve.

Images: (1) pinterest 

Letting Go

"When I let go of what I am,

I become what I might be.

When I let go of what I have, I receive what I need."

-The Tao Te Ching

It always seems funny to me how life has a way of forcing us to be honest with ourselves even when we try, unsuccessfully, to convince ourselves we are not holding onto something from our past.  For example, running into an old friend unexpectedly and after the meeting becoming overwhelmed with emotions thought to have been long ago discarded and dealt with.   To me this is a sign that we haven’t put it in the past, we haven’t really come to terms with it and moved on in a way that would be beneficial.

I remember quite some time ago on Oprah’s talk show when she discussed how lessons repeat themselves again and again until they are learned.  First they begin as a whisper, with regards to how they will present themselves in our lives, but if we continually refuse to listen or learn from the lesson, they become louder and louder, eventually becoming obstacles we cannot ignore anymore.  Feeling these unexpected emotions is, I believe, a whisper, a way of saying, I think you need to examine why you are still attached in some way, get to the bottom of it, so that you can move past it.

Sometimes I do believe we hang on to things, more so in our subconscious, because we are fearful of what we will be grasping for when we let go.  A perfect example comes from a quote by an anonymous author which states that hanging on to something in our past  “ . . . is much like crossing monkey bars. [We] have to let go at some point in order to move forward.”  And the fact is we don’t know what we will discover or learn unless we reach out with the hand we have freed from being held so long in the past.

Not knowing what we will be reaching out for, or find within our grasp, is frightening. Becoming our best self takes courage,  but we cannot achieve a unique and different life for ourselves if we continually hold on to the life we had.

While I believe letting go is a perfect analogy for letting go of past feelings and relationships, I also think it can be tied to letting go of mediocrity and the following of others.  And that is why I’m going to leave you with one more quote for today that deals with creativity.  Those that have achieved great success in the world of art, design, fashion, music and even business to some extent, have gathered up the courage and let go of the certainties they knew and stepped into an otherwise unchartered path. In doing so, they began going down a path that no one may have ever taken before, but that is what caused them to be recognized and valued in their field.

"Creativity can be described

as letting go of certainties."

-Gail Sheehy

Today, value yourself enough to let go of feelings that are holding you back from becoming who you might have been and proceed forward with courage.  The universe has a funny way of providing for us if at first we have the courage to step forward to show that we want it badly enough.

Have a courageous and beautiful start to the week.  Out of curiosity, what have you let go of that, in retrospect, you now realize was holding you back from who you were meant to become?  I would love to hear. 

Images: (1) Stefani Marie (2) Source (3)  May I Never Be Perfect (4) The Writing Prompter (5) Just be Splendid