Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will. George Bernard Shaw During a recent conversation over lunch, a colleague swore she absolutely wasn’t creative in any way whatsoever.
“What do you mean?” I asked, bewildered because that’s not how I think of her. As executive director of a national charitable organization, she oversaw paid staff, directed innumerable volunteers, planned publicity campaigns and fundraisers, answered to a board of directors and annually administered hundreds of thousands of dollars. “How can you possibly be so sure?”
“I can’t draw, make music or do anything creative at all,” she said.
“Wow!” I said. “That’s not what creativity is about. It’s so much more, way above and beyond what you think. It’s about innovative thinking and doing. It’s about creative problem solving, figuring out creative solutions to issues and challenges. As a matter of fact, I consider you to be very creative ... Let's prove it.”
I whipped out a copy of the first draft of a Creativity Quotient graph I’d just completed (and just happened to have with me). Its primary purpose is to test my theory that people are far more creative than what they think. (I believe they just don’t understand the meaning of creativity, acknowledge their own or give themselves credit for it.) Curious about the process and its results, my friend agreed to fill in her responses to the ten categories and 50 sub-categories. Sure enough, she scored a total of 83%. She was quite surprised, pleased - and still a bit skeptical. It’s difficult to let go of an opinion years in the making, even if unsubstantiated. [1]
I then attempted to explain my definition of creativity and its overall ramifications:
What exactly is a Creative X-Spot ®? [2]
This is the very essence of our creative potential. Free of skepticism, self-doubt, prejudice and bias, it's the child-like core within us where anything is possible. It’s from this source that art is created, inventions sprout, theories formulate, ideas spring and solutions unfold. In its purest form, our Creative X-Spot® is the core of our creative potential. It is comprised of three key elements: (1) Imagination, (2) Passion and (3) Creativity. When each of these elements is fully accessed, they unite and soar.
Imagination
Imagination is the component within our minds that escapes into the whimsical, the flights of fancy where the impossible is possible. Imagination is defined as the “formation of a mental image of something…” and “the ability to confront and deal with reality by using the creative power of the mind…” [3]
“What do you mean?” I asked, bewildered because that’s not how I think of her. As executive director of a national charitable organization, she oversaw paid staff, directed innumerable volunteers, planned publicity campaigns and fundraisers, answered to a board of directors and annually administered hundreds of thousands of dollars. “How can you possibly be so sure?”
“I can’t draw, make music or do anything creative at all,” she said.
“Wow!” I said. “That’s not what creativity is about. It’s so much more, way above and beyond what you think. It’s about innovative thinking and doing. It’s about creative problem solving, figuring out creative solutions to issues and challenges. As a matter of fact, I consider you to be very creative ... Let's prove it.”
I whipped out a copy of the first draft of a Creativity Quotient graph I’d just completed (and just happened to have with me). Its primary purpose is to test my theory that people are far more creative than what they think. (I believe they just don’t understand the meaning of creativity, acknowledge their own or give themselves credit for it.) Curious about the process and its results, my friend agreed to fill in her responses to the ten categories and 50 sub-categories. Sure enough, she scored a total of 83%. She was quite surprised, pleased - and still a bit skeptical. It’s difficult to let go of an opinion years in the making, even if unsubstantiated. [1]
I then attempted to explain my definition of creativity and its overall ramifications:
What exactly is a Creative X-Spot ®? [2]
This is the very essence of our creative potential. Free of skepticism, self-doubt, prejudice and bias, it's the child-like core within us where anything is possible. It’s from this source that art is created, inventions sprout, theories formulate, ideas spring and solutions unfold. In its purest form, our Creative X-Spot® is the core of our creative potential. It is comprised of three key elements: (1) Imagination, (2) Passion and (3) Creativity. When each of these elements is fully accessed, they unite and soar.Imagination
Imagination is the component within our minds that escapes into the whimsical, the flights of fancy where the impossible is possible. Imagination is defined as the “formation of a mental image of something…” and “the ability to confront and deal with reality by using the creative power of the mind…” [3] When unencumbered by any restraints, imagination takes wing, allowing entry to the full potential of the human spirit. It’s from our imagination the inconceivable comes to be. Our imagination nourishes development of logical thinking; ability to problem-solve; creation of inventions, political systems, philosophies, music and art movements; and exploration of mathematical and scientific principles.
Passion
Passion is defined as, “a powerful emotion.” This is the part of us that embraces a state of being that is so all-consuming and encompassing that we disregard the physical objects and events around us. We’re so totally absorbed by a thought or task that time and place have no meaning. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience focuses on this concept. When I’m deep into creating art or writing I know exactly when I’m into the flow: I'm totally enveloped by the feeling that some people describe as being in a ‘zone’, ‘buzzed out’, ‘captivated’, ‘entirely engrossed’ or "a state of ecstasy".
Passion
Passion is defined as, “a powerful emotion.” This is the part of us that embraces a state of being that is so all-consuming and encompassing that we disregard the physical objects and events around us. We’re so totally absorbed by a thought or task that time and place have no meaning. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience focuses on this concept. When I’m deep into creating art or writing I know exactly when I’m into the flow: I'm totally enveloped by the feeling that some people describe as being in a ‘zone’, ‘buzzed out’, ‘captivated’, ‘entirely engrossed’ or "a state of ecstasy".Passion motivates, encourages, directs, and focuses us. Passion's partners are determination and tenaciousness. Passion is what keeps us going in spite of naysayers, roadblocks and even our own self-doubts. Passion is what motivated the late Sir Edmund Hillary to keep on climbing until he reached the top of Mt. Everest, fuels holocaust survivor and Nobel Prize winner Elie Wiesel to carry the torch of memory for successive generations and inspires brilliant and multi-talented Maya Angelou to overcome horrendous childhood trauma through dancing, writing, singing, performing and teaching.
Creativity [4]
Limitless in its range, Creativity is the application as well as the product of our imagination and passion. Application refers to the process we go through while developing a creation. This process can be ethereal such as figuring out philosophical, scientific and mathematical theories. Designing a garden, a home, a car or an airplane is all about creative process.
Limitless in its range, Creativity is the application as well as the product of our imagination and passion. Application refers to the process we go through while developing a creation. This process can be ethereal such as figuring out philosophical, scientific and mathematical theories. Designing a garden, a home, a car or an airplane is all about creative process.Creativity is also the outward manifestation, the tangible outcome, what we produce as a result of our imagination. This can appear in such concrete format as poetry, books, movies, films, art, original recipes, inventions - and scientific and mathematical formulae. It can be original ideas or solutions at any stage, from seed of an idea through development to completion. Prime examples are the countless inventions, theories, artworks, accomplishments and projections of Leonardo Da Vinci.
Creativity is defined as “having the ability or power to create...” and that it is “characterized by originality and expressiveness…” We absolutely don’t have to be involved in the arts to be imaginative. “Creativity comes in all forms and shapes,” I once write on my website’s creativity page. “It's all in your approach. Anyone in any walk of life can have creative aspects to their lives.”
The Curiosity Factor
Our Creative X-Spot® is fuelled by what I call the 'Curiosity Factor'. I've referred before to studies indicating that most children at the age of 5 ask 30 questions an hour and that by age of 7, they ask just only 2 or 3 in the same time frame. Kids believe anything is possible. They want to know everything about everything. We can only speculate as to what happens in the intervening years so that by the time they are adolescents and adults, they’ve lost touch with their Curiosity Factor.
The Curiosity Factor
Our Creative X-Spot® is fuelled by what I call the 'Curiosity Factor'. I've referred before to studies indicating that most children at the age of 5 ask 30 questions an hour and that by age of 7, they ask just only 2 or 3 in the same time frame. Kids believe anything is possible. They want to know everything about everything. We can only speculate as to what happens in the intervening years so that by the time they are adolescents and adults, they’ve lost touch with their Curiosity Factor.In one interview, Jonas Salk, developer of the polio vaccine, said, "It's that curiosity that bursts in childhood, during the period of play and creativity, that reveals what we are trying to say. That's the nature of the human being. That's what is the nature of the human species, as distinct from other species. That's where we see this enormous creativity. Because we are responsible for all that has been created, beyond that which nature has done."
As I see it, if your goal is to always strive to maximize your potential, you should constantly challenge yourself. If you have ever worked or lived with young children you know that any inquisitive child asks one question the most: “Why?” An adult truly in touch with his or her Creative X-Spot ® first asks, “Why?” then “Why not?” followed by “How?”
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As I see it, if your goal is to always strive to maximize your potential, you should constantly challenge yourself. If you have ever worked or lived with young children you know that any inquisitive child asks one question the most: “Why?” An adult truly in touch with his or her Creative X-Spot ® first asks, “Why?” then “Why not?” followed by “How?”
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I’m a visual learner. In order to understand, evaluate and critique a concept, I need to be able to “see” it to imprint it in my mind. So, I often write or sketch the idea out. While developing this concept, I drew some possible Creative X-Spots®. Those Magical MousePaintings™ illustrate this article. -NellieChallenge
Without yet knowing where or what it is, what do you imagine your Creative X-Spot looks like? How would you draw or describe your Creative X-Spot®?
FOOTNOTES
[1] To evaluate your creativity quotient, click here.
[3] Imagination, Passion and Creativity are defined in this article by The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition Copyright ® 1992 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
[4] For a whole lot of definition about individual creativity, click here.
1 comment:
To answer your questions re creativity:
1. Ways to stimulate creative is scanning beautiful scenery, listening to peaceful music and the combination of different colours particularly red and purple at times.
2. To keep the juices flowing is through the ways mentioned and trying different approaches to a task, watching others and then creating your own unique way.
3. Suggestions: Using the three mentioned ways as a means to motivate them to try and do different things. Definitely positive reinforcement will help people to think and do creative things. Nothing like a positive word or pat on the back so to speak to have someone take that extra step to venture forward.
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