Footprint October 2007

Creativity is trying things and see if they work

When we block our creativity, we lose touch with our joy and liveliness. And when we lose touch with our inner selves we often try to fill up the loneliness for our creative selves with money and things – which quite never do the job. Nothing can replace creativity in our lives – not work, not love, not children, nothing. Creativity is usually tapped when we are alone and we can not find our creative selves unless we reduce some of the clutters in our lives. We need to be quiet and have an uninterrupted stretch of time. No agenda, no deadlines, no needs of others impinging upon us. No one else will arrange quiet time for us, we have to do it ourselves. And we have to be the ones getting rid of everything that stands in our way to feeling that we have all the space in the world to express ourselves.

We are creative by nature and there are an infinite number of ways we can be creative. Watching TV, listening to music on our CD player or viewing movies can be a way of getting inspired by consuming artistic work of others. But it can also be an easy way of avoiding creating anything ourselves. Turn off the television and turn on your own inner artist. Make sure you don’t turn into a cultural couch potato who take in the effort of others but don’t create anything yourself. As we are doing the activities we love doing we have to remember that we are not doing them to get applause from others. Your primary audience is you. Don’t let criticism cripple you.

Creativity takes courage, because when we create something we open up a part of our inner selves and get vulnerable. People can criticize us and it is always safer not to take that risk. However, if we do not express our creativity we usually feel frustrated and irritable. We have a feeling of not being fully alive and that there is much more in this world to explore. All of us have areas of creativity and each of us has a unique creativity that is especially related to our talents and personality. Creativity is more than mere inspiration. It is also hard work and discipline. There are plenty of reasons why many of us are blocked and we often forget that we are created to create. Thinking and perfectionism are our biggest enemies. Creativity is not about doing something outstanding, it’s about doing. We can’t try to do things; we simply must do things fearlessly with an open mind and an open heart. We have to be willing to go to any lengths and try out new things and see if they work.