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Photo by Mina Ivankovic on Unsplash - Image by @upklyak on freepik

Creativity, some are overflowing with it, others think they don't have any and still others perceive it as a waste of time and energy. Let's find out why we should take the time to cultivate this tool and the powers it hides...

- The status on the imagination -

Some people know how to playfully bounce back from the thousand and one little hassles of life. They astonish by bringing their personal touch to the most trivial acts and everyday things. In a word, they are creative.

Creativity does not require a specific intellect or high-level intelligence. It is a strength that we all have within : we can all make our life a piece of art, through our job, our hobbies, our relationships, the decoration of our home, etc.

Strictly speaking it doesn’t seem to be a « creativity zone » in our brain, even if it is mentioned that our right hemisphere would be privileged. The reason is simple, it's the part of our brain that thrives on music, pattern recognition, intuition and everything related to analogy and emotions, while the left part predominates for language, calculation and logic. However, recent studies show that this division is not as sharp as thought, and that it varies between individuals. What matters is the dialogue between the two hemispheres and not their separation.

- Make boredom an ally -

The creative impulse is generally born of dissatisfaction. Creatives have the ability to be unsatisfied with the status quo, to discuss and question the seemingly natural order of things. Each time we take a step back from our life, every time we rush into the routine, we trigger a creative process.

However, we must be careful not to become arrogant, condescending and think that we know everything about everything. We must remain humble, to be able to question ourselves, and to recognize if another person's idea is better.

Thus, boredom is essential to appreciate the frenzy of our lives. Boring ourselves gives us an opportunity to observe ourselves and have a check point :

It's giving our mind time to digest the information related to the effervescence that preceded ;

It’s dedicating a time of rest for our brain to allow it to wander, to make connections, new links between ideas, to find solutions to problems that we thought were insoluble or inextricable.

In short, boredom stimulates creativity. And being bored is like stepping back to jump better. As with everything, it's a question of balance : we must know misfortune to appreciate the pleasures of life, just as we have to experience boredom to embrace action.

- Changing the way to think -

Creativity is firing on all cylinders, daring to open up to the unknown. The secret : to enjoy and to immerse ourselves 100% in our environment. Creatives let their brain play with difficulty. In business, they come up with new ways to solve problems, and in emotional life, they explore an unconditional way of caring. They feed on very diverse information in order to give the chance to the new or the renewal of the old, to think « Out of the box ».

In concrete terms, Lego blocks in the middle of a room are just a few lifeless pieces of plastic... however, anything we can imagine can be created from these blocks and in a jiffy, they can become a boat, a spaceship or anything else. The brain is exercised and the mind is strengthened in joy when we play with their colour combinations.

- Not silencing it -

Not letting our creativity express itself is condemning us to silence, to submission, to non-action (even when necessary). It leads us to deny our needs, our frustrations, our ethics and our inner selves.

Many therapists teach us how to stimulate it and also draw our attention to what can block it :

Conformism ;

Models/Decisions of others ;

Family myths ;

Inhibition messages ;

Stress ;

Tiredness ;

Perfectionism ;

Self-criticism ;

Fear of being rejected/Not being liked.

- Take the plunge -

Given the enormous amount of knowledge available, it is difficult to admit this truth : knowledge is limited, we will not learn about everything and will not know how to do everything, in a life time. But imagination is unlimited, and we can use it to explore different ways of using the knowledge we already have (and the ones we will keep collecting).

The creative personality always achieves a production, but knows how to detach itself from the result. He/She materializes thoughts and dreams, confronting them with reality and work. He/She is bold, as it needs to expose oneself, to express oneself, to take risks. In no way it is allowed to collapse at the slightest criticism, the affirmation assertiveness is accompanied by the ability to choose, and sometimes to give up. Creative people know how to accept limitations and deal with them : cutting them, trimming them and reshaping them.

But creativity is also focused on concern for others, generosity, altruism. If it aims to improve our immediate environment, it sometimes also has the ambition to change the world and therefore bring our attention to others.

- Breathing life into it -

To create is as difficult as to be free, it does not bend to all our commands nor obey to every word. We do not control it and we do not necessarily control what inhibits it. This requires effort, but we gain an invaluable asset : a better knowledge of ourselves and our limits. This is essential when we want to be able to overcome our barriers and improve ourselves.

It is in our inner wealth that we must draw. Children are naturally gifted, it is up to us not to censor them. The exercises intended to stimulate our creativity have no other objective than to make us reconnect with our emotions, our sensations, our intuition and our story.

Creativity is an obstinate energy : when it is impoverished or blocked, it sends out irrevocable signals (somatizations, depressions, fatigue, etc.) to remind us that something is not working properly.

The eye can see the colours, but while using the imagination the artist brings them together and to life through a piece.

Conclusions

More than a gift from heaven, creativity is a state of mind, an inner disposition, accessible to all. To create, we have to fight routine, take risks, show empathy, open up to the unknown.

Thus, sharing posts with other souls around the world was once just a fantasy. And some film ideas have aroused the curiosity and interest of scientists who have worked on making the content of these same films. As the inspiration for the iPad comes from the movie « 2001 : A Space Odyssey ».

What do you think?