What is creativity?

What stifles it?

Why is it valuable?

How can journaling help cultivate creativity?
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What is creativity?

Being creative is defined as being characterized by originality and
expressiveness, being imaginative, inventive and productive. Perhaps
nowhere is creativity more visible than in young children, particularly
toddlers and pre-schoolers. Everything for them is new, and their little
minds are busy combining new thoughts and ideas as they discover the world
around them. I still remember sitting across the table from my 2-year-old
son who was eating round pretzels. He took a couple bites out of one side
and said, "Look Mom a C." He flipped it 90%: "Now it's a rainbow!" Then he
held it up against his cheek between his mouth and ear: "Or a telephone!"
Lastly dangled it in the air: "Or a fingernail moon." He saw all kinds of
possibilities in that one curved piece of pretzel.

What happens to the creativity?

Studies note that such creativity tends to drop once children have been in
school a couple years. Why? The major contributing factors seem to be fear
and criticism. When a youngster goes to school and draws a completely green
flower, no matter what his reasons for choosing to do so, he is reminded
that that is not how a "real" flower looks and is instructed to do it
"correctly." Most of school is about conforming to the expectations of
others rather than cultivating the ability to think and react in ways that
are unique. The critic inside grows and creativity wanes.

Then there is the fear that arises when classmates begin to think a student
"weird" if s/he expresses views or ideas that are different. Fear of
ridicule will prompt a child to keep fresh and unique ideas inside where
they oftentimes die. Over time, it becomes easier not to have the different
ideas than it is to continually repress them.

Lastly, when a school is subject to budget restraints, what are the first
programs that generally get cut? Arts programs. The very arena where
creativity is nurtured is deemed unimportant and expendable, though some
articles I've read recently show that some are beginning to recognize the
disservice this trend has done to students.

Why is creativity valuable?

Creativity is the seed that produces invention and innovation. It allows a
person to think and come up with fresh solutions instead of settling for the
status quo. For example, I watched a television program once in which an
accident was staged on a city sidewalk. The "doctor" treating the "patient"
who had fallen and hurt her knee, would flag down a passerby and ask the
person to go into the nearby pharmacy and ask for a 2" square bandage. When
the passerby got inside, he was told that the pharmacy was all out of 2"
square bandages. Most people went back to the accident victim and said,
"They're out." Very, very few individuals would go on to request some sort
of substitute, like a larger bandage or plain gauze, adhesive tape and
scissors.

Which person would you rather have on your team if your company were in
danger of going under? Which individual would make a better counselor?
Teacher? Creative people have an edge. They are saved from the trap of
doing the same thing over and over, and expecting different results. If one
idea doesn't work, then they think of another. Creative individuals
oftentimes buck trends--they don't just follow the crowd, but look for
processes that are more constructive, effective or efficient.

How does journaling help?

Creativity is renewed in the journal because of the absence of what stifles
it--criticism and fear. When your journal becomes an arena for honest
self-expression, you are free to explore, take chances and tune in to new
ideas and concepts. Creativity has its roots in being in touch with
intellectual and emotional processes and in listening to, trusting, and
cultivating what comes from within. When you cultivate the habit of genuine
self-communication, creativity becomes part of your daily life.

Once you learn the basics of creative expression, you can apply them in a
variety of situations. Just as a guitarist learns basic chords and then
combines, inverts, and augments them to create new music, so too can you
apply the principles of creativity in not only in artistic endeavors, but
also in solving problems, improving relationships, and making decisions.

Anais Nin, a noted diarist, advocates the concept of the creative person not
as an alienated "artist" but as an individual alive and curious, and always
finding new ways to grow, expand and enjoy the moment. She used her diary
to live her life more fully and deeply.

In a similar vein, you can begin nurturing your creativity by becoming more
aware of the details around you. Our lives are at once ordinary and
magnificent. It's all in how we perceive what surrounds us. We are
important, and our lives are important--those lives are made up of details
that on the surface may appear mundane, but are critical. If the details
weren't important, we could "drop a bomb tomorrow and it wouldn't matter."
(Natalie Goldberg, Writing Down the Bones, Shambhala Publications, Inc.,
1986)

In our journals we can begin to view what we have in a different way. We
make the ordinary come alive, much in the same way the toddler experiences
the details for the first time and delights in them. This is perhaps best
illustrated in where we live. When you live in a place over a period of
time, it grows dull. You stop noticing what is around you. The reason a
trip is exciting is because you get to see a new place in a fresh way. Yet
all those things that are new and fresh to you, are ordinary to those who
live among them. So practice recording details as you look at the familiar
"for the first time."

There are other methods of writing you can use to nurture creativity. Some
are:

* Use your diary to construct practice conversations with people you'd like
to connect with on a deeper level.
* Try altering your point of view and writing about an argument (for
example) from the viewpoint of the other person involved.
* Perhaps you want to capture a childhood event that had a large impact on
your life. In your writing, record the event in the child's voice as it
unfolds, rather than as a memory.
* Sketch portraits in your journal with a view to discovering something new
and exciting about the people you live or work with.
* Write down a problem, list any and all solutions that come into mind. It
doesn't matter if the solutions sound crazy or impossible. It's those crazy
and impossible ideas that sometimes can be worked into top-notch solutions.

In these ways you bring creativity to work in all aspects of your life.

When your creative spirit is nurtured in the journal, you are likely to
discover an added benefit. Your journal becomes a sourcebook for creative
material. The creative process is sometimes very slow and complex; the
final product may not be clear for a long time. Take this experience from
Natalie Goldberg:

"Often I will stab many times at something I want to say. For instance, you
can look in my notebooks from August through December 1983 and see that I
attempted several times a month to write about my father dying. I was
exploring and composting the material. Then suddenly, and I can't say how,
in December I sat transfixed at the Croissant Express in Minneapolis and a
long poem about that subject poured out of me. All the disparate things I
had to say were suddenly fused with energy and unity--a bright red tulip
shot out of the compost."

Goldberg notes that understanding that the creative process needs time and
patience can decrease anxiety. The journal becomes the place to store the
pieces of creative inspiration--like "eggs in a nest" (Rainer, The New
Diary, Jeremy P. Tarcher, Inc., 1978) until you can nurture them to
completion.

After keeping a diary for a while you will be able to see your own creative
strengths. Because you become familiar with the tools of the creative
process, you will bring to all aspects of living the individuality of style
you have developed in the pages of your journal.