Steps to Living Creatively
Steps to Living Creatively
No matter how old you are, you have come a long way. It's hard to imagine how much truth is really tucked into that statement.
We are always on the threshold of new thoughts and ideas about the perceptions of who we are. I mean who we really are inside. All too often we betray our contemporary thinking and future by spending too much time on our past.
Steps to Living Creatively: They can be pretty steep at times but OH so worth the journey! You're probably thinking it's totally a cerebral activity; and yes, there certainly is a lot of brain power and usage needed. It's important to understand that you don't need a high-toned scholarly education to be and live creatively. Everyone is brilliantly creative from the day we were born otherwise we would never navigate our way through life.
5 Tips to Living & Being More Creative in Your Life
Here are 5 tips to living and being more creative in your life. I could provide you with a whole bunch more, but if you can nail these five, you're well on your way to changing how you think about being creative.
Number One: If you think you are not creative, you will be right almost 100% of the time. Creativity starts with our thoughts coupled with our imagination. Everyone has an imagination. During the course of a day, and even into the night we imagine all kinds of stuff, some good, some not so good. But nevertheless, we’re using our imagination. If you can shift as little as 10% of that energy towards creating thoughts and ideas that are about making and building, you will have taken the first step, and one of the most important ones. What do I mean by building? It’s the process of making anything with your hands, using your mind as the director. It’s also important for you to complement yourself all along the way as your idea becomes a tangible object. What you create can be as simple as the perfect baloney sandwich with all the trimmings or it could be a craft project, either way you’re being creative.
Number Two: Don’t be blindsided by criticism, either yours or someone else’s. Never take the time to ask for somebody else’s opinion of what you created. Everyone loves to give opinions and more often than not, they could be not all that encouraging. When it comes to creativity, keep your own counsel. All forms of creativity are a brilliant use of your mind and helps all of us grow collectively.
Number Three: Living creatively starts with the attitude you have towards yourself. Sometimes we get all caught up in admiring other people's creativity. A tour of the Louvre in Paris is wonderfully invigorating and inspirational. But I can assure you everyone that walks through that world-class museum thinks to themselves, “I could never be that talented or be that creative.” And they’re probably right. I know that’s how I felt. Interestingly enough, when you admire other people's creativity, it truly inspires your own. It’s like a mental tonic. It’s the elixir that shows all of us what can be achieved.
Number Four: All of our minds have a serious problem. We don’t spend enough time thinking and living encouraged. We spend too much time chewing over and analyzing what’s behind us and what’s in front of us. Very rarely is it all that productive and often robs us of some inner peace. It also is a curse to creative thinking because you’re trapped in those repetitive thoughts. I discovered, as you will too. If you concentrate on something you are doing creatively, all of your daily cares of the world will simply evaporate. And that is a good thing for your heart and soul.
Number Five: The two most important things in your life that will bring happiness and success is you always should be a blessing to others. Especially everyone you know and meet everyday. The second is thinking positively about yourself, especially in a creative way. Even though we all think that creativity is all about being artistic, it is not. Of course, in order to compose a world-class composition you have to be very creative. But rarely do we think about all the little, tiny steps taken to achieve that goal, and every one of those steps is interlaced with daily creative thinking.
Start your day the minute you get up by saying to yourself, “This is going to be an amazingly creative day and I’m glad in it.“ To all of you living creatively, rather through art or writing, or any other form of creativity, like cooking or craft making, become a blessing to all of those you know by encouraging them to be creative. Remember, it’s great to start that form of encouragement to your children, or your grandchildren, or all of those you have the opportunity to teach. Be sure and share your creative experiences and how it has brought joy into your life.
“Lucky for me I discovered at an early age that nature is the arbiter of all we see and hear creatively.”
Rod Jones Artist-Writer