Getting Creative: Why & How
The blog is now a month old. When I started, I was unsure of exactly how it would evolve. I am still unsure. But that’s fine. I’m happy to remain open for now, while it finds its form.
I began with a concept “Inspired Living” and a passionate belief that the techniques and approaches we bring to creating a book or a work of art are key to creating a more balanced, authentic and joyful life.
Many people urgently need to reclaim the creativity that has been squeezed out of them by school, jobs, family, personal habits and social mores. That doesn’t mean that everybody should go off drawing pictures or writing songs (though would that be so bad?). It is more about developing creative approaches, attitudes and strategies for life.
And about balance. Balancing our focussed, productive, “doing” energies - the kind of energy driven by our egos and encouraged and rewarded by our society - with more diffuse, inspired, “being” energies that often lie dormant within us.
Many people are so constrained or damaged in this arena that they don’t even know how to begin.
When I give talks on this topic, there are always people in the audience who say “But I’m not creative”. They are wrong (I don’t tell them this; but instead give them an exercise that proves it).
Every single human being is born with a creative drive within, the drive to make. To make things, words, relationships, stories, pictures, medicine…
This drive has been as critical to human survival and evolution as our drive to eat or have sex. It’s that fundamental.
The creative urge is also evident in our need, in the old phrase, to “make something of ourselves” - to become better, more effective, human beings as we progress through life.
Recent neurological brain research has shown how the analytical and creative sides of the human brain are designed to work together. When we equally use the right (creative) side of our brain along with the left (rational, analytical) side, each multiplies a thousand-fold the efficiency of the other.
When we neglect creative activity, when we are too rigid or busy or controlling, we dilute all our intelligences — emotional, spiritual and intellectual.
It’s the only part of the body where we do this. Think of trying to walk using only 50 percent of your capacity – with your right foot tied up. You wouldn’t get far. It’s the same with your brain: when you use only one side, you are grossly disadvantaged. Using both sides, your potential increases exponentially.
This is a message that educators are struggling to absorb. School and the way it is structured - timetables, examinations, obedience - privileges left-brain activity from middle-school on.
As children in kindergarten, we use more than 95% of our creative faculties, in junior school that drops to between 50% and 70%. By the time we are mature adults, a focus on left-brain activity has whittled us down to using less than 20% of our creative, right-brain capacity (and in many cases, much much less than that).
The good news is that our creative potential doesn’t go away, even when it hasn’t been used. It’s like an underground steam, always there, ready to be tapped.
According to inspired creativity tutor, Julia Cameron, author of The Artist’s Way, The HOW of creativity, is Honesty, Open-mindedness, Willingness:
“Honestly, what would you most like to create in your life?
Open-minded, what oddball paths would you dare to try?
Willing, what appearances would you shed to pursue your dream?”
Finding and living the answers to these questions is what this blog is about.
I’ve found (over the decades…boy doesn’t that make me sound old…) that as you say, creative people are not just creative in one specific area. They tend to be creative across many functions of their lives. Their artistic output is just the most visible aspect of that creativity.
Caveat: So long as they have techinical skills trained, or explained or are capable of picking them up on their own.
The myth that artists make lousy business people, for example, stems from the observed fact that many artist stumble in business. I’d attribute that not to a flaw in them, but that they never learned the tools of business the same way they learned about the application of sizing, the stretching of canvas, or intaglio.
The impression of creativity as omnipresent (in some…) is an important point to get across because we have a cultural predisposition to saying that someone is “creative in [that]” only.
Doug
http://www.dougist.com
One thing I would really like to know your opinion on is whether you find creativity of a divine nature (divine inspiration), or just as a practical tendency of the human being, the tendency to regain equilibrum through the reproduction of the myth of creation.
Oh boy, I needed to see this - I am drowning in chores and right now the only way to get through them is to dress ‘em up as something fun. I’m always scared when I do this that whatever creativity I have will be bled dry, but maybe I’m strengthening it like a muscle - I’m kind of hoping I have a bit of imaginative stamina left over for doing the things that really are fun
It’s my first visit here by the way - hi!
Hi Doug,
I agree and I think we need an awful lot more creative thinking around creativity - how it works and how it can be extended and adapted to zones traditionally considered outside its terms of reference — like money and business.
Ana
Thank you for your important question — this is a really big topic which I’ll be exploring in a blog post soon. The short answer is nobody knows for sure and I don’t believe we ever will know but in essence, it doesn’t matter, because we can develop and extend our creative capacities whatever we believe. However, I do think that our beliefs around this hugely influence the type of art that we produce.
Hi Bird,
and welcome to “Creative Living”. What a great strategy — and no, it doesn’t bleed anything dry. Creativity is like love: the more you give, the more you have to give. So pretend away!
Congratulations on your new book!! Sounds important. Love the themes of your life and blog……
Thank you.
Hellow Beautiful Orna!
I was so deeply touched by your comment on my site. You are an amazing thinker and feeler, it comes from deep down and pours out of you true and clear. Just like you did that day on Dereck’s site. I love when someone is like that. I breathe easier and feel happeir.
I am sorry you are not feeling well. I think it was Gahndi who once said that most deeply wise people have suffered; it’s what makes them so wise. And YOU are very wise. Be gentle with yourself. I often forget to do that when I am struggling in any form. You are a truly remarkable woman. I am sending you much love, compassion and warmth. Robin
PS I really enjoyed this post and the comments and questions here. I really LOVED this line and agree 100%:
“Every single human being is born with a creative drive within, the drive to make. To make things, words, relationships, stories, pictures, medicine…”
Hi, Orna,
Sorry to hear that you have not been well.
I’m afraid that sensitive people tend to suffer more than others.
Hope you defy the trend and get better soon.
Regards
Larry
Hi Martha — Welcome to the site and thanks for the kind comments. It was certainly an important book for me. It took years to research and write, as I wanted all the dialogue by the real life characters like Yeats, Maud & Iseult Gonne, Ezra Pound etc. to be accurate — which meant reading everything they wrote. I really enjoyed the process but it was a labour of love.
Robin — you are soooooo generous always. I know you walk your talk and are creating all sorts of wonders “Naked in Eden”.
Thanks for the good wishes, Larry. I am doing well. Hope your writing/editing/agent hunt is coming along well.