Wednesday 9 January 2008

getting creative part II

Being creative - as I mentioned in my earlier blog - is every human's being's prerogative and (in my experience) anyone who thinks they are not creative simply hasn't discovered their natural outlet yet. If this sounds familiar then read on! If you are naturally creative then it's still worth reading and contributing, as there are always more doors to open. In fact the more creative you become, the more creative you can be.

My purpose is to offer you ways that may help you discover some of things for which you have natural flare - for there are always more than one!

Todays tip is this: to be creative means to taste the moment that happening now. Be with yourself. Being creative is NOT the same as daydreaming. Very important fact.

I discovered this when I was going through a traumatic experience a few years back. I found it hard to focus, hard to apply myself to anything. Months went by and I was incapable of doing anything more demanding than automated jobs, things which didn't require my emotional engagement in any way. And then... one day... I picked up a piece of paper and started penning something. I focussed my attention from whatever it was that causing me pain, and applied myself to really engaging. As my creativity flowed - my pain disappeared! When I stopped being creative the pain came back. It was like my creative muscles needed something to focus on, and if I didn't consciously focus it on something good, then it seemed to turn on me and made me feel bad!

That's when I realised that you need emotional energy in order to be creative. The ability to engage with an inspired idea. Mull over it, pay attention. This is why I call it the opposite of daydreaming. Daydreaming is when your thoughts are allowed to drift from one thing to another, with no control and no awareness of anything that's around you. Whereas engaged, creative thinking means you have an enhanced awareness of things around you. the shape of a leaf, the sound of children playing in the street, the pattern on the coffee cup - suddenly the most trivial thing can give you the inspiration you need to find a solution to a problem at hand.