The Meaning of Creativity

Creativity comes from the Latin word creâtus,  which means ‘to make’.  Most of the time when we think of inspired individuals we think of artists, writers, musicians, inventors and celebrities.  We tend to look at these people and say they’re creative and we’re not.

But, if we really look at the word, it’s obvious we’re all creators.  We all make things and cause things to happen.  And if you look into quantum physics and the universal laws of attraction, you’ll find we’re causing things to happen absolutely every moment of our lives, with every thought and every feeling.  Much of the time - we’re constructing our by default - going about our days on auto pilot.  But we ARE designing them nonetheless.


Creativity is closely linked to being happy.

When we’re happy - we have lots of energy and we get a lot done.  When we’re not happy, we tend to be couch potatoes or wander around without the motivation to do much of anything.  We procrastinate.  We don’t seem to have the energy, desire or will to even do things that might make us feel more productive and happier

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Top Five Ways To Be More Creative

1)  Do something silly!
  
Put a patch over your right eye.  The right eye is connected to the left side of our brain which is more analytical, logical and literal.  Patching this eye helps quiet the left side of the brain allowing the right side to be heard.

Jump up and down.  Stand on your desk or bed.

Put on a song and dance to the entire song.  Move your hips in figure eights - act like a monkey - do the twist.

The point is to stop taking yourself so seriously.  Hopefully you’ll make yourself laugh and help yourself to stop thinking you have to do things a certain way - “the correct way”


2)  Go to an environment that makes you feel good.  There are generally two kinds of productive environments - energetic and peaceful.  Remember to take a notebook or a digital recorder with you in case you’re inspired.

If you’re most fed by peaceful environments - go to the library or a quiet place in nature, a museum or a church.  

If you’re fed by energetic places - try the local coffee house or restaurant, sit in well-traveled parks or go to the mall.

3) Try brain-storming an idea with a friend or a colleague

Not everyone invents well by themselves.  Many people like to work collectively.  They’re fed by partners, friends and associates.  Sometimes the way to make something happen is to join a group of like minded people.


4)  Quiet the “shoulds” and the negative voices.


No one works well when they’re constantly criticized.  Many of us have those critics inside our brains and we find it hard to turn them off.  Sometimes, it’s enough just ignore them for a period of time.  Literally tell yourself - “I’m not going to listen to you (the critic) for the next hour and then in an hour, I’ll listen to everything you have to say”

5) Take some action - ANY action

We’ve all been taught this idea of meditating and being the Buddha under the tree - waiting for enlightenment (or in this case inspiration).  If this works for you, great.  But for the rest of us - sometimes it’s best to find direction in direction.  DO SOMETHING.  Pick up the pen and write or draw circles.  Type whatever happens to be going through your mind at that moment in time.  Take a walk.  Go on a drive.  Cut out pictures from magazines.  At the very least, you may discover that this action isn’t the one you want to be doing.  Then take a different action.  But keep trying new things.
          

No matter what techniques you use to build your masterpiece.


    Don’t give up.


Just keeping doing.  When you’re tired, rest.   Then after you’ve rested, have another go.

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12 Creativity Techniques

12 rules to help you overcome your limitations.

1)  You are not the best judge of your work.  It’s good to strive for satisfaction in your creative endeavors.  But remember you are often your own worst critic and you are too close to your creative works.  Have you ever written something and read over it so many times that the words start blurring together.  You’ve run spell check several times and it’s come out clean.  Then you have a friend look at it and instead of “He crossed the room”, you have “He crossed he room”.  And you never noticed?  You know what you meant to write or say, and you think you’ve said it.

2)  You’re friends, family and teachers may not be the best judge of your work.  I’m not saying don’t show your work to these people.  Depending on your relationships you may get some well earned support to continue in the process or some constructive criticism.  Occasionally, someone close to you might be unduly critical of you for numerous reasons, jealousy, envy or competition being among them.

3)  Turn off the inner critic.  This technique is very important.  Focus on the process and less on the result.  Focus less on judging your work and more on producing.  Ultimately, your work will be judged, fairly and unfairly by many people.  There’s an old like “Opinions are like assholes, everyone has them”.  And whatever you do don’t compare yourself to others.  You have your own unique journey and you are exactly where you need to be at this moment.  I know that can be difficult to swallow, especially if where you are right now stinks but if you can - just relax, it’s all going to change anyway.  And you can take steps to go in the direction you want.

4) Fail and be willing to fail again.  Did you know that most billionaires have declared bankruptcy at least once?  Or that for every sales call that a salesman makes, they usually get 40 Nos before they get a Yes.  If you’re not will to fail, look stupid, feel embarrassed or slip and fall it’s unlikely you’ll end up an Olympic skater.  Babies don’t come out of the womb making whole sentences, they start with gibberish - do we yell at them when they say duhduh instead of dada?  No, so allow yourself to fail, you’ll never win or get any better if you don’t.

5) Take Risks.  Move out of your comfort zone.  Closely related to being willing to fail is being willing to take risks.  Obviously, you’ll never fail if you don’t take risks.  And on top of it, if you don’t take risks, there will be times you won’t meet new people, won’t take that new job or even look for that new job or even think about changing your hairstyle or trying Ethiopian food.  The world can be scary or exciting or a mix of both.  Challenge yourself to take small risks and as you do you may widen your comfort zone and then you can take smaller risks outside of that.

6) Dream Big.  It’s the most energizing.  If what you are seeing in your minds eye doesn’t excite you than you aren’t dreaming big enough.  If it excites you but you think “Oh that’s too big, I’ll never get there.  Make that dream the one you use.  Infuse it with all your imagination and it will in turn get those creative juices flowing.  Work towards it - trust it.  If what you really want is a Ferrari and you don’t have the money for it or any car, but you think well I can eventually make enough to buy a Toyota, trust me you won’t be motivated enough to get the Toyota or the Ferrari.  Dream BIG.

7)  Cut things up into manageable bites.  Sometimes when you have a big dream and you have no idea how to get there it’s helpful to dream about the various ways you could get there.  Create some action steps that will take you towards it if not all the way there.  This creative technique keeps you from being overwhelmed and at the same time allows you to see progress towards something that you desire.

8) Take Action.  We can all fantasize about being famous, creating that wonderful poem/song/story, buying that dream car (or house) or ______________ you fill in the blank.  But then we go home, sit on the couch and watch TV.  I’m all for relaxing and watching TV, but if that’s all you ever do, you’re dream should be changed to being a couch potato.  I have a friend who is a best selling novelist.  She’s very prolific and has her own process, it starts will writing a few pages every day.  Some of these she keeps, some of these she edits out but no matter what she writes every day, it’s a creative technique that helps her get towards her ultimate goal, the novel.  What if you hate what you write?  See #’s 1, 4 & 5.

9) Finish something.  I’m not saying you have to finish every project you start but ff you never finish any project or you abandon them half way, just take the risk and take something toward completion.  Sometimes, when you got back to a project you stopped along the way, you will have new insight into it and can then finish it in a way you never dreamed when you started.  It may end up better than you thought, whether or not it does completion, in itself, is a good end.  It creates a void where there once was clutter and allows you and the universe to work together to fill this empty space with something new.

10)   Have fun and enjoy yourself.  Don’t work all the time.  Strive for balance.  This one is the most difficult for people like me, I’m a workaholic.  I like to be busy, create lists and check things off.  Even when I’m home watching TV, I’m generally working on some project.  So don’t underestimate the value of goofing off, laughing and being silly.  If you allow yourself those times, you’ll find yourself having more to offer when you start your creative project.

11)  Surround Yourself with other creative people.  Even if you’re the loner and the most introverted hermit there is.  Find a group that has a forum online, or meets four times a year where other people that do what you do get together, to bitch and share their triumphs and defeats and stories.  Just as work breeds work.  Creativity energy feeds itself.

12)  Break the rules.  This is the most important rule of all.  I had a teacher who once said, “You can break the rules - once you know how to use the rules first.”  Think of the above creativity techniques as rules or guidelines if you prefer.  Try them, use them, get good at them and then if a rule doesn’t serve you, throw it out the window and don’t use it.   But experiment with them first before you dismiss them with “they don’t work”.

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Bipolar disorder and creativity

Bipolar disorder and creativity - there does seem to be a link.

Kay Redfield Jamison has certainly makes a very strong case for a correlation in her book Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament. From personal experience, I know many artistic people who suffer from various mood disorders. And the history books are filled with famous creative people who have displayed symptoms of such.

It begs the question:

“Is it having a mood disorder which makes you more creative” or is it that “People with mood disorders are accepted in artistic circles”.

Having lived most of my life in artistic circles, I can say with little doubt that artistic circles are more accepting of differences. The arts has long been a haven for misfits and people who display unusual or extreme behaviors as well as people who have unusual talents, thoughts and extreme beliefs. So it follows that a person suffering from bipolar disorder could be drawn to a community of people who would accept their erratic behavior of highs and lows. I know it was true for me. Having bipolar disorder and creativity, the theater was the only place I found where I could be myself and feel accepted.

Also, the performing arts ask and encourages its members to delve into the heights and depths of their psyches so that the may create more profound work. Historically there is the idea of the mad genius, the eccentric artistic temperament and the suffering artist. Even those in the arts who don’t have a mood disorder often attempt to cultivate the unusual in themselves or look for the extreme in order to create. Thus it makes sense that if you brain chemistry makes you think and act differently you could find a home inside the arts.
But is there a relationship to bipolar disorder and creativity?

Does being bipolar make you more creative or artistically productive than someone without?

There are some studies that think yes. One such study put forth the theory that when a person is in a manic state they have a tendency to be extremely productive and may linguistically arrive at more interesting word choices or rhyming schemes that might not occur otherwise. And alternatively, after the productive period of mania, the low period for the artist might then allow them to be more critical of their work product and cut or revise things they might have left in without the lower state.

And while we will probably never have an empirical study that bipolar disorder and creativity are definitively linked, (After all art is subjective and there’s still no medical test determining bipolar.) we can say that many people who suffer from bipolar disorder are often creative people as well. Perhaps it is also the nature of people in pain to look for ways to alleviate their suffering. The creative arts can be used as a way through that pain, as a means of expression and self-therapy. Creativity can soothe a tortured soul.

Since we’ll never actually know for sure whether bipolar disorder and creativity are linked, we have to ask ourselves the following two questions:

1) Are all people with bipolar disorder going to be creative geniuses? Certainly not.
2) Can you be a creative genius without being bipolar? Yes, you can.

So whether you suffer from a mood disorder or not, you can use creativity to help you enhance your life.

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Pro-cras-ti-na-tion

Procrastination.  It is a creative killer.  We procrastinate writing, exercising, eating healthy.  All sorts of things because at that moment in time, we don’t want to do the thing we think we should do and we have other things that we either want to do more.  Or that are things we do instead of doing what we want to make ourselves do.

Example.  I’ve done everything I can think of today to put off writing.  I’ve:

-  Done errands.
-  Organized files.
-  Worked on other projects.
-  Surfed the Internet; and
-  Done research.

All because I am procrastinating writing.  In fact, to a degree even writing about the procrastination is part of putting off writing about the topic I have set myself to write on.  Which is, or course, inspiration and creativity.

But since what’s really going on is procrastination why don’t we tactile that subject.

Now generally, I’m not a procrastinator.  I do work best under deadlines.  I like them.  I find them motivating.  But if I want to do something or am committed to it.  I do it.  Why then would I put off writing about something I love to talk about…

And I think what it comes down to is fear.  I hear those thoughts in my head:

“Who do you think YOU are writing about inspiration?”
“What makes you an expert on creativity and inspiration?”
“Why would anyone be interested in what you have to say!”

And then I can argue with that voice in my head which is in it’s own way just another kind of procrastination.

We can distill it then.

    FEAR = Procrastination.

Fear that keeps us from doing what we want to do, what we’ve decided to do, even sometimes what we enjoy.  Fear of rejection, that our worse fears will be realized and we’re not as interesting or our ideas aren’t as valuable as we think they are.  Either we’ll write something we don’t like or we’ll write something others think sucks or worse - both.  It’s the “I’m not good enough syndrome”.

And once in the “not good enough” place, I’ll often look to those I admire to inspire me to new heights.  So, I look to famous people.  People who’s words have inspired millions.  The classics.  Did you know that all the classics are available online at http://www.online-literature.com.

Completely, for free.  You can just read them.  Like at a library.  So I took a little time and read a bit, thinking I might be inspired.  And yes, some very inspiring words.  But they didn’t prompt me to DO anything.

In fact, the reading and looking for inspiration could be thought of as procrastination.  And if what I want at the end of the day is to have been inspired to some creative action (i.e. writing, exercising, dancing, singing, doing my vision boards, decorating my living room - whatever), I need to not only be inspired but have the motivation to DO something.

Goal setting is a great way to get motivated and inspired.

To learn insider secrets and powerful goal setting strategies, visit SMART Goals to discover how to create a road map to achieve your goals for your personal development and self improvement.

I found myself remembering my father saying “Find direction in direction”.

I was very depressed one summer in the middle of college and I said to my dad

“Dad, I don’t know if I’m doing the right thing with my life.  Maybe I shouldn’t go back to college, I feel like I should go sit under a tree and figure out what I’m doing before I continue on.”

And my Dad said “Would you enjoy sitting under a tree and thinking?”
“No, actually, I’d hate that.  It’s just that in so many of the stories I read that’s what people do to FIND themselves.  They go sit under a tree and meditate.”

“Well of course, you can do that.  But I think people often find what actions they want to taking while they are moving instead of sitting still.  At least then, you’ll be able to say to yourself ‘This thing I’m doing now, I don’t want to do this’.  Or you may find things you really like and do more of them.  Then at least you have something to compare.  You can find direction in direction, while you’re going about your life.”

So, at the risk of sounding like a Nike ad, “Just do it”.  Like I did today.

**  Just write words on a page
**  Start walking in some direction
**  Introduce yourself to someone knew
**  Take some action towards something you want

At least then you’ve started and you’ll be able to see if this something makes you feel good or feel bad.  Then you can compare and evaluate along the way.  Once I’m finished writing this blog, I can go back and read over it, edit it, roll it into a ball and start over.  Either way this action leads to other actions.  And, as I enjoy writing, I have to admit I feel better now that when I was talking to myself in my head about procrastination.

So, I wanted was going to write a blog about inspiration and creativity.  And what I did instead was write a blog about the barrier to those - procrastination.  In the process I got through my barrier and ended up feeling kinda creative.  Go figure.

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The Famous Artists, Suffering and Creativity

Artists have long ‘suffered’ for their art and have believed that the two were linked.

Certainly, throughout history there has been this idea of the mad genius. And the notion that one must suffer to be great has been propagated for centuries. Recently, the opening episode of the television series House examined these same issues that many creative people have wrestled with. Must one suffer for their art? Would Van Gogh have painted the Starry Night had he not been in pain?

The Great Violinist

There was a young male violinist, David, who played very well. He went to the most prestigious music school where his notable teacher told him that yes, he was a technically proficient and advanced student but his music had no soul. The teacher said to David, “You will never be truly great and your music will never be able to touch people’s hearts until you have truly suffered for your music.”

So, David took on this task of suffering so that he might be truly great musician. The young man traveled and played for free for anyone who would listen. He begged for food; stopped caring for his body; slept in the streets and let his hair and beard grow wild.

After some years, David was playing on a street near the school. It happened that his teacher was passing by and stopped to listen to this exceptional violinist. David played will feeling. As his bow glided across the violin’s strings, the sound was ethereal, every note conveyed emotion, meaning and melancholy. The teacher wept. When David was finished, his teacher recognized him and said to him softly , “You have grown tremendously. You are truly a remarkable and soulful musician. But for God’s sake, take a bath! No one will ever listen to you if you continue to smell like that”.

The lesson, of course, is one must care for the soul along with the body and the body along with the soul. But still the story does encourage the myth of the suffering artist.

Do you have to suffer to be a good artist?

No. No, you don’t. Sure there are plenty of examples of famous artists who were mentally ill. But we can also find plenty of great and famous people who weren’t mentally ill and who weren’t unhappy who created great art and had good lives. And there are plenty of mentally ill people who aren’t great actors, musicians or writers. As the episode from House stated, had Van Gogh gotten treatment for his mood disorder he may or may not have gone on to paint the Starry Night but he would have retained both his ears.

Perhaps one reason we associate great art with suffering is that the true artist shows us our humanity. And to be human is often to suffer. There is nothing noble in suffering but it is universal and affects rich and old, young and poor, educated and ignorant. If a sensitive individual seeks to show true humanity they may look deeper and allow themselves to be deeply affected in order to express truth. And of course there is the simple fact that many creative endeavors don’t pay well and those who pursue them exclusively may often suffer from the lack of security and comfort that money affords.

If you ask creative people when they are most prolific you will find different answers from each of them. Often their art was a way for them to release themselves from pain. A kind of therapy. A way out of the darkness. And ultimately, whether it was an artists suffering or their joy that produced their work. They give us a path to walk, transcend our normal lives and see beauty in all things.

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Easter Basket Gift Ideas For Everyone

Easter is celebrated by everyone so kids and adults equally enjoy and cherish receiving Easter basket surprises filled with the lovely things especially made for them. Easter Basket Gift Ideas are many, for an adult you can bring together a basket following a specific theme like things related to person’s hobby, favorite sport, depending on the age and likes. It is always preferred to add non-edibles items in the Easter gift basket so that the receiver can memorize you longer or whenever that particular thing comes in picture.

Easter gift baskets are also considered to be the symbol representing Easter and other activities associated to it. Easter Basket Gift Ideas can be put to practice to design personalize Easter gifts for your friends, family and kids. Following the tips on these ideas you can easily make an individual Easter gift basket for each member of the family.

Making Easter Gift Basket for teens of school going age is very easy. You can fill the basket with items which they can use in arts and crafts like colors, paints, coloring books, fancy stationary items and pencil box with most wanted cartoon characters. Adding small games can also be a good option such as jigsaw puzzles, clay, dolls, stuff toys, pool toys, kitchen toys, sea side set and many others. For tots and toddlers who are at the stage of learning what is Easter and why they are celebrating it, try to fill their baskets with traditional colorful Easter eggs. Plastic eggs should be large enough so that it may not cause choking danger. To make it more pleasing fill the eggs with chocolates, toffees, jelly beans and other bounties. Children usually wish to have edibles in the Easter basket, so you set the theme of Easter candy basket or foodie basket. Add different types of chocolates, candies, cookie packs, cup cakes and other packed food items. A foodie Easter basket can also be prepared it you are going on dinner to a friend’s place or a get together party.

Easter Basket Gift Ideas for adults are usually based upon the age, things they like as gifts and most important how useful the basket gift would be for them. For an adult who love gardening you can add gardening utensils, garden wear, seeds of different flowers and plants and even potted plants. He would love to add them in his collection and will always remember you while using them. If the adult is frequent traveler then you can opt for travelling mugs, travel kits and personnel care bag. For an adult replace the chocolates with dry fruits, almond, nuts and raisins. Fill in the empty space with home decors like a wall hanging, key chain holder, file folder, pen set and the list is endless. The main point to keep in mind is the receiver should be pleased to see your gift and how well you present your idea. Always envelop the gift properly and embellish it with ribbon or plastic bows and add a gift card with name.

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