Creativity is something that’s always been in the forefront of my mind. What makes us inherently creative beings? What’s the difference between innate creativity and having specific talents in art, music, or some other field? Are there specific things that we can do to enhance or stimulate our creativity? So being curious about this topic, I was intrigued by the recent documentary, The Creative Brain now on Netflix.
The filmmaker and neuroscientist, David Eagleman, indentified three essential aspects to being more creative.
Try something new: Challenge yourself to get off the path of least resistance.
Push the Boundaries: Create something that lies between the not too new or familiar, but somewhere in between.
Don’t be afraid to fail.
As an artist and an art therapist, I have seen and experienced all of these aspects first hand. Art and creativity have been integral to my own process of self exploration, healing, and integration of all the aspects of myself and my life history. As a therapist, I witness each week with my clients, the power of creativity in change, healing, and the pursuit of wholehearted living. Through creativity we are forced to get out of our comfort zones, to be challenged, to take risks, and to push through failures. If we want to grow and change, we have to risk, and with taking risks, we just might fall. It’s in the being stretched or falling where we are fully alive, engaged and inspired, not in the staying safe with the familiar and the known. Rather than just avoiding risk out of fear, how can we employ creative thinking and ask ourselves, “What would I do if I did risk and fall?” It’s what we believe about how we might come back after a fall, that is more important than the fall itself. It’s through the struggle, the risk and falls, and the rising back up that begets transformation.
Questions to ponder:
What risks are you taking currently? What risks are you avoiding and why? How could creativity play a role in transforming the ways you look at risk, falling, or rising up again?