Is Creativity a Quirk?

“There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it’s going to be a butterfly.”
Buckminster Fuller

Is Creativity a Quirk?

I grew up in a household where making mistakes were scary. There was definitely a right and wrong way to do things. A free and creative spirit did not figure into our upbringing. In fact for years I was sure I didn’t have a creative bone in my body.

I covered up my imagined lack of creativity by doing well in business. And although I had always started and succeeded at many ventures, reinventing myself to fit my newest interest, I never saw this as being creative because I thought only mastery of the arts – music, photography, painting, sculpting – counted for creativity.  It took a voice other than my own to help me see the truth.

In the late 1980’s I had one of those “aha” experiences that inspired me to start a workshop for woman. What I had discovered was yearning to be shared. The workshop was a hit. One of my mentors came up to me afterwards and said, “Good going. You really know how to create something out of nothing.”  It was then I was able to see that I didn’t lack creativity; mine just looked different.

We all create something out of nothing on a regular basis. If we are conscious of doing this, we are more motivated and have the confidence to do it again and again. Like when we were kids, we are unstoppable. We are naturally charged. If we create unconsciously, however, we probably still do it over and over again but without knowing it—thinking that if any creativity comes from us, it is a “quirk.”

Believe it or not, we are actually unable to repress creativity. It is in our DNA.

I teach a Joy of Writing class at the Kaunoa senior center. I asked the seniors in my class to imagine they were looking into the face of a chimpanzee and to write down what the chimp was trying to say; and, to write their response. I did the exercise along with them. I was as amazed as they were at what came out. We all marveled at the fun and uniqueness of what we were able to come up with having just a pen, a piece of paper, and our imaginations. Where does all this creativity come from? Nobody really cared. We all just felt blessed that it arose—out of seemingly nowhere.

The truth is that creativity surrounds and inhabits us every second of our day. Like our breath, it won’t stop until we die. We create our life in one way or another. We create our life by the choices we make. We create a template, our life story, from where we choose to live, where we choose to work the people we choose to associate with.

It really comes down to whether we choose to be conscious of the fact that we are always creating or whether we choose to create unconsciously. I am remember a teacher of mine saying, “We create all the time. Our minds don’t discern negative creativity from positive creativity. It just continually creates whether we like it or not. So why not direct your mind toward an outcome you’ll enjoy!”

It seems to keep coming back to this. What we focus on we become. Where we put our attention and intention, we create—for better or worse. If we can create simply by focusing our attention and intention, then we’re better off doing it consciously, directing it toward a positive outcome, and enjoying it.

If you need proof of your own creative spirit, consider this just for the fun of it. You can use the exercise I speak of above using the chimpanzee scenario, write someone an email, or just write about anything without stopping for 5-10 minutes. Then, read what you’ve written. Don’t judge what you’ve written just read it with curiosity.  Then ask yourself, “Where did that content come from?” When you wrote the first word, did you have any idea what your last word would be? I’ll bet you didn’t. That is the art of creating something out of nothing. And again, we all do it, naturally.

This process can be applied to anything – the visual arts, your business, your environment. As long as you don’t judge yourself and instead look at your life from the perspective of wonder, you’ll be able to appreciate what a maestro you are.

So if creativity is a quirk, we are all quirky! And like the caterpillar, not knowing what to expect, we have the opportunity of letting the unexpected dazzle us.

Feel free to email Jasmyne with any questions or comments.

Jasmyne Boswell is a Life Coach, Writing Coach/editor and Marketing Consultant. For over 28 years she has been a mid-wife to professionals in all fields, helping them successfully overcome personal stumbling blocks and birth their businesses, practices, and projects. She uses her creative gift with the written word to help bring your ideas into form. Jasmyne can be reached at 808-268-5807 or by visiting www.jasmyneconsulting.com.