Creativity - the Real Mother of Invention (and Fun)

Creativity is piercing the mundane to find the marvelous. ~ Bill Moyers

Creativity is the real mother of invention. Not necessity. Necessity may be the alarm clock for creativity, but invention is creativity's baby. Creativity has a lot of babies. Thank goodness. Some thrive, some lay dormant for years, some die <sob>.  Thoughts, ideas, solutions, songs, stories, art, music, innovations, DELICIOUS COOKIES...all are products of creativity. Our creativity is as prolific and industrious and abundant as we allow. If we were to let creativity out to do her thing more often, we'd be living such colorful, brilliant, FUN lives! We're all born with creative souls, so why do we sometimes shy away from creative thought? 

ADULTHOOD: WHERE CREATIVITY GOES TO DIE?

Every child is an artist, the problem is staying an artist when you grow up. ~ Pablo Picasso

Sometimes non-creative adults attempt to murder creativity in children. I don't like those adults much. I feel sorry for them, of course, because someone must have insisted that they relinquish their own creative energy and their lives have surely been duller and dimmer and less colorful since then. But I don't respect people who steal joy from children because their own joy was stifled as a child. Grow, people, grow. Break the negativity cycle! 

I saw as a teacher how, if you take that spark of learning that those children have, and you ignite it, you can take a child from any background to a lifetime of creativity and accomplishment. ~ Paul Wellstone

Some people, when becoming grown-ups, feel that creativity will lessen their ability to thrive in the world of meetings and bills and responsibility. We all know these people. Let's have a moment of silence for them now. 

[2 or 3 seconds of quietude]

The creative adult is the child who survived. ~ U. LeGuin

Every child is an artist, the problem is staying an artist when you grow up. ~ Pablo Picasso

Yet, look around and you'll see that the most successful and happy adults are those who have managed to engage their creative genius. They take chances and try new things and enjoy the creativity of others. They're resourceful and innovative and interested in life. The very best parents are delight in and encourage their child's natural creativity as well as share their own. Creative people are more interesting, more fun, and generally more resilient.  

Creativity is the power to connect the seemingly unconnected. ~ William Plomer

Even when we know and appreciate our own creativity, it can sometimes hide from us when we need it most. How do we beckon our particular Muse when we most need her? Here are 3 quick jumpstarts to try.

1.) BRAINSTORM

There is a road from the eye to the heart that does not go through the intellect. ~ Gilbert K. Chesterton

Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep. ~ Scott Adams

Don't look for the ONE RIGHT ANSWER to anything. There may be many right answers! Look for 10 or more good answers and give yourself 30 minutes to come up with them. The first  idea might come a little slowly, but then you'll find that they come faster and faster once you editing each thought. Giving ourselves a time limit and a goal to produce as much as possible allow us to let go of "rules". We can produce so much when we're not worried about making mistakes. 

2.) PLAY LIKE A CHILD

You see a child play, and it is so close to seeing an artist paint, for in play a child says things without uttering a word. You can see how he solves hi problems. You can also see what's wrong. Young children, especially, have enormous creativity, and whatever's in them rises to the surface in free play. ~ Erik Erikson. 

Do something that engages your whole being. Jump on a trampoline, kick a ball around a field, run barefoot in the grass, swing, hide something and then draw a treasure map, splash in puddles and dance in the rain, build a fairy garden under a tree with twigs and leaves and pebbles. These kinds of activities keep us in the moment, letting us delight in just "being". Creativity awakens in such moments.

3.) DO SOMETHING ELSE ENTIRELY

All profound distraction opens certain doors. You have to allow yourself to be distracted when you are unable to concentrate. ~ Julio Cortazar

All the really good ideas I ever had came to me while I was milking a cow. ~ Grant Wood

It could be a timing thing. Maybe we're too tired to figure anything out. Sometimes we're trying too hard. We may be hungry or achy or distracted by one pesky task that needs to be done. Take a break and give your mind a chance to focus on other things. It'll be like rebooting your computer. 

I could go on and on about creativity; about how it's necessary for life and love and peace, about how it takes fortitude and hard work to carry out, about how tricky it can be to maintain around negative people. There's so much I want to learn about my own creativity and how to inspire creativity in others - particularly children. Onward, onward, down my colorful, zig-zaggy path I go, learning and creating and giving. 

Don't think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It's self-conscious, and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can't try to do things. You simply must do things. ~ Ray Bradbury

Creativity comes from trust. Trust you instincts, and never hope more than you work. ~ Rita Mae Brown

The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt. ~ Sylvia Plath

Creativity is more than just being different. Anybody can plan weird; that's easy. What's hard is to be as simple as Bach. Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity. ~ Charles Mingus

For more ways to grow your creativity, check out these links and books:

Anything written or created by Keri Smith
TED Talks on creativity
How to Get Ideas written by Jack Foster and Illustrated by Larry Corby
And check out 5 classic challenges to Test Your Creativity at 99u.com 

WARNING: Creativity should only be used for good. Evil creative usage will result in bad energy and will come back to haunt you in some way. Honest.