Ways to Feed Your Creative Side!

     Creativity is a quality that we all share, though it is not a thing you can hold onto or pin down - is an ever-changing, unpredictable, fleeting flow. Even so, it is a state of being which we can all attain in our own way. Most commonly, creativity is something we use every time we face and solve a new problem.

  

     Unfortunately, creativity is often portrayed as a rare gift or something that just happens randomly. Of course, some people might have an intuitive knack for being creative on command (think of improvisation performers), and we may also have the unexplained eureka moment once in a while. However, it is important to remember that there are ways to train yourself to be creative. As Pasteur said, ”Chance favors the prepared mind”.

Here are some ways in which to consciously awaken your creative side and to apply it in your everyday life, as explained by Ernie J. Zelinski:

1. Decide to be creative
2. Imagine different solutions to the same problem
3. Write your ideas down as you go
4. Analyze those ideas carefully, especially the ones you think aren't good
5. Define your objectives
6. See problems as opportunities
7. Look at the obvious
8. Take risks
9. Have to courage to act differently than others
10. Be unreasonable
11. Have fun and allow yourself to be a little crazy at times
12. Be spontaneous
13. Work in the present
14. Rethink the way in which you see others
15. Question rules and ready-made ideas
16. Slightly delay your decisions
17. Be tenacious
18. Ignore all principles of creativity that don't apply to your life

      Furthermore, Creativity is not just full of paradoxes, it thrives on them. As Michael Michalko points out:

To be creative, a person must:

• Have knowledge but forget the knowledge
• See unexpected connections in things but not have a mental disorder
• Work hard but spend time doing nothing
• Create many ideas yet most of them are useless
• Look at the same thing as everyone else, yet see something different
• Desire success but learn how to fail
• Be persistent but not stubborn; and
• Listen to experts but know how to disregard them
  

      Creativity does not belong solely to the good artist, but also to the innovative scientist and the hilarious comedian. It is touching like the great work of art, useful like the new technological advancement, and exhilarating like the good joke.

      So, no matter what, stay creative! As Edward De Bono said, “There is no doubt that creativity is the most important human resource of all. Without creativity, there would be no progress, and we would be forever repeating the same patterns.”

Matt Sabourin

Art Monaco 2012