Nothing encourages creativity like the chance to fall flat on one’s face. ~James D. Finley
Creativity takes courage. ~Henri Matisse
Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try! ~Dr. Seuss
I live a creative life. I don’t think – no, I know – I would not be happy living any other way. I do not think in a linear way and I am not the most pragmatic of people. I have my anal/stubborn periods that keep me fixed and inflexible. I do try to work on that. It is not an easy lifestyle due to the fact that there is not always a lot of money in it. That makes it hard especially for people who are very concerned with security and providing for their families. Still, it is my feeling, and my opinion, that living a creative life is a great way to live.
Not everyone embraces this way of thinking. Many have trouble wrapping their heads around the concept of living a creative existence. That’s all fine and good, but why do they have to put judgment blocks and hamper the creative process? Albert Einstein, one of my favorite people to quote as you well know, said “Great spirits have always encountered opposition from mediocre minds.”
A number of corporations and businesses get locked down into the numbers game. Schools, supposedly a hotbed for critical and creative thinking, or often anything but that. Too many school systems are playing the numbers game as well, although this has nothing to do with income but staying the course and remaining open. It has little to do, and very little regard, in what students are actually learning.
Over the next couple of weeks, I will be having some guest posts from people with various areas of education and business. They will be discussing what creativity is for them, and why creativity is important. To be fair, I would also like to find people with the opposing view. I really want to see both sides of the picture. What works for me does not always work for another. I understand that. What I’d like to try to do is put myself into other persons shoes.
I just hope that they would like to try my shoes on.
Photo by Ian Crowfeather
Have you tried to look through someone else’s POV?
bornstoryteller 
Nov 05, 2011 @ 14:46:42
This sounds exciting.
Nov 05, 2011 @ 14:49:18
Thank you JR. Now I hope all the people who promised they would write something will come through.
Nov 05, 2011 @ 14:57:00
I spent my working life with traumatised children, using play to help them explore terrible things safely. And then, sometimes, I had to tell the Court what they had told me – and once that meant going into Court with a doll to show the judge just how this child had expressed herself. (It worked, though the solicitor was less amused when I said I’d bought the doll because I thought she’d like a day out!)
Good luck with this. Empathy is vital – not just in creating characters, but in living together.
Nov 05, 2011 @ 15:33:53
Jo, thank you. Thar sounds like it would have been amazing to be there.
Nov 05, 2011 @ 18:25:06
Oooo! I can’t wait to read these posts coming up. 🙂 Great posts as always!
Nov 05, 2011 @ 18:27:32
Thanks Maureen
Nov 05, 2011 @ 18:50:26
I agree with you on a creative life being the way to go. When you are as poor as I have been you must be creative just for survival. When something breaks you can fix it, if you get a little creative or go without because you can’t afford to buy a new one. I look forward to reading the up coming posts.
Nov 05, 2011 @ 18:58:42
See? There are a lot of ways to be creative. Glad you said it all in the past Jan. Thanks
Nov 06, 2011 @ 01:19:17
Creativity is the most fun you can have without going into illegal activities. It’s a way of channeling energy and thought processes into new paths and generating a unique form of excitement and stimulation that is unlike anything else humans can experience. Necessity is often the mother of invention, but so is a mind that just doesn’t remain satisfied with the status quo. Some minds just don’t see doing nothing as a worthwhile endeavor, no matter what the nothing is (for me it’s ironing). To avoid the sensation that my brains are dripping out of my ears and dribbling down upon my shoulders, my thoughtful mind goes exploring, looking for links and overlooked observations.
In the course of a day, we encounter the ordinary and the expected so many times that our brain is almost asleep most of the time. It is when we trip over the not-ordinary and unexpected that our brains wake up and shout, “Hey, what is this?” The sequential response might be fear of something different, new, not understood or it might be curiousity that seeks an explanation that makes the new thing understood. Or it might be the creative mind that caresses the newness and seeks to adopt it in a million new ways, taking advantage of the differences from our ordinary, looking for ways to add challenge or joy to the unexpectedness.
We invent, too. Sometimes we take the old and manipulate it into something new. Some are able to come up with something nobody ever saw any part of before, a completely new thing based upon a new concept or fabrication that has no precedent. We need both methods of invention. Today’s technology demands it. The mind that bores itself too easily demands it, is addicted to it.
Sometimes I think creativity is the mind’s way of scratching its invisible “itch.” We don’t think about it, we just do it–create. It is a way of being, like breathing. And heaven help us if we ever stopped breathing!
Nov 06, 2011 @ 07:59:06
’nuff said. Thank you Michele. OK…pack this one up! 🙂 Just a lot of how I feel. Thanks for sharing all this.
Nov 06, 2011 @ 08:02:28
Funny, you were asking about an opposing view. I can think of being against the expression of creativity, but I don’t think there is such thing as anti-creativity. Is it like anti-gravity? Like a negative of a foce of nature? Also, can you be against something that comes as natural to us humans as breathing? What would be the point?
Nov 06, 2011 @ 08:24:10
Gerald, I think I could have worded it differently. You hit it better: those who chaffe at the creative more than creativity itself.
I’ve been told, personally, that my work in drama and storytelling was noting more than playing around and just worthless. Many of them-IN the education field-felt only something that can show direct results were worth pursuing. Those are the types I want with the “opposing view.” Thank you for bringing this up. I might edit it for clarity sake…
Nov 06, 2011 @ 08:36:44
That’s fine.
Your are right. Educators “want” children to be creative, but with pre-set limits. They’re really killing off a lot off creative minds right now.
Nov 06, 2011 @ 09:15:02
As a teacher who loves to use project-based learning to teach my students. I have been told to limit their projects. Since the school district purchased new math, social studies and reading series we are to use the books. I agree students need to learn how to read, write and computate math problems but they can do that just as well by completing research projects, working in pairs and teams. I feel like my whole way of teaching was forced upon me to revamp. I feel sorry for the children since most of the creativity and thinking to learn has been taken away.
In my personal life I am a very musically inclined person and I enjoy scrapbooking. So I am always being creative in regards to music and art.
Great discussion. I am looking forward to reading more.
Nov 06, 2011 @ 09:25:07
Thank you Mary. I do not understand the school systems that feel that taking away creative means of learning is the proper way to go. I hope you can find a way around it. Good luck.
Nov 06, 2011 @ 11:07:33
I consider myself a Creativity Catalyst. Creativity makes everything better…in fact without creativity noting would change. For 38 years I worked in a fortune 500, financial, conservative organization. I was a designer, writer, and eventually responsible for 227 very creative people in the Creative Services department.
Years ago when people from within the organization toured our department they acted as if they were visiting a zoo. The found us creative people fascinating but were afraid to get too close to us for fear of what we might do. It took time and work to get the analytical folks to trust and effective use the creative folks.
I realized many people thought of creativity as a mutant gene. I was baffled as I believe all people are creative. Here is a link to a speech I did to provide insight into creativity.
http://lindagarbe.com/storysampler/storysamp.htm
Nov 06, 2011 @ 11:33:39
Very, very cool. Love the last line: we grunt and raise our eyes!!! Thank you!
yeah…the analyst types, the no nonsense types…IMO, the fuddy duddy types…Set My Creative People Free!!!
Nov 07, 2011 @ 11:35:07
Leading a creative life does pose endless challenges – so it’s lucky creative people like challenges! But I have almost come to believe the people who are opposed or disinterested in creativity are just made that way – and we have to pursue our own paths knowing we might never be able to change theirs. I blog on creativity at http://theintuitiveedge.wordpress.com, and this is an issue that comes up a lot. Looking forward to reading the rest of your series.
Nov 07, 2011 @ 11:43:07
I have friends who feel that they are not creative in the least. They do have trouble in understanding the different way that I think. Never asking anyone to change, all I want is that we try to understand each other and accept that we all function. That acceptance is really what I’m striving for in this series. I’m asking people from various walks of life to comment. I will check out your blog and I hope that you can also leave a link back here so it would be mutually beneficial to both of our readership. Thank you.
Nov 07, 2011 @ 19:05:44
Unfortunately, creativity is often misused – if not abused- as well as misunderstood. Too many writers and artists present their beliefs, opinions, sides, whatever so creatively that the public is swayed into believing they are right or that their message is the truth when it is neither.
I always try to see the other POV whether it be a discussion about politics, religion, work, creativity, etc. As a writer, I believe it’s essential to look at both sides and form opinions accordingly. Perhaps I’m too flexible as I can sometimes become sympathetic to a POV that I don’t agree with. At the moment, I’m staying with an extremely intelligent, well-read, opinionated, everything is either black or white person who is seldom able to see another POV. Unfortunately, this attitude seems to be prevalent at all levels of most societies and cultures. To see the other POV may be considered a sign of weakness or indecision.
Nov 07, 2011 @ 20:27:46
Anything can be used as a weapon, when misused.
Thanks Penelope. Yeah, opening up to all POV…whsa ti wrong with you? cant you see I”M the on that is right? 🙂 been there..hate that