p>For me, creativity is “being”. To be or not to be… to be creative, to be a creator, to be creating. It's a way of reaching inside to one's soul or essence to find new ways of “doing”.

Some may call it problem-solving. To live is to create, and vice versa – to create is to live.

Take any task at hand and it can be approached creatively. Doing the dishes by hand can be a creative task, from start to finish. Every aspect of this task can be creative -by choosing the brand, color and fragrance of the cleansing agent (liquid soap), choosing a specific type of sponge, cloth or brush for rubbing the dishes clean, choosing the temperature of the water, the dish towel – color, texture, absorbency, etc.

How the dishes are stacked or put into the water, rinsed and set on a rack to air dry – again making choices, being creative about the process – which items are chosen to be washed first or left to soak? Choosing is key, being creative is the process.

If we think about what we are doing as we are doing the task, we can move into a state of being creative, being aware of creating. Some may call it “being in the now”…or having a “Zen moment”. I think

it is a state of awareness. I like OSHO's books on Awareness and Creativity. His teachings cut deep into the “Essence of Living”.

Anything we do can be approached creatively. Creative thinking may be called “being inspired to do something differently”. It's a “given” because each of us actually will approach tasks creatively if we choose to do so. However, there is a challenge to creative thinking… in being told that there is only “one way” of doing something. That may be OK for numb-mindedness, but even sitting in a small cell, dark and alone can be done creatively.

Try thinking about drawing without having any materials available. Mentally take a pencil and draw anything you choose. Mentally draw on the walls and celing and why not, draw on the floors? Mentally, choose different colors for your surroundings. And, while you are at it , mentally decorate the entire space. The word that comes to mind is IMAGINE. Create a door, create a new world. That's being creative, that's choosing creativity.

Creativity and independent thinking go “hand in hand”. They are soul-mates of the mind. Creativity is a driving force of life, of human nature. To be alive is to be creative. When creativity is lost, so is the soul…so is the desire for living…numbness sets in, one “gives up”.

Sometimes it takes guts to be creative. However, it's worth the effort to tap into “the source”. Life will be more interesting and full-filling. You begin to feel you have something you can do that is uniquely you. This feeling is energizing and propels you onto trying more new ways of doing, more new ways of seeing.

So, first thing to do today – is to be CREATIVE!

Onward!

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 28th, 2006 at 7:03 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.