Stunted Creativity
I just heard this great quote (my paraphrase):
"Many people in the workplace see creativity as something that has to wait until their free time, something to save for evenings and weekends. The '9 to 5' image is not who they really are. They are giving up soul and spirit. They often feel as though they are selling their soul to the workplace, and as a result, their creativity is stunted so that when they finally are off the clock, their creative well is dry."*1- How do you define creativity?
2- According to your definition of creativity, do you consider yourself a creative person?
3- Do you see creativity as a luxury or a necessity in your life?
4- What keeps you from being creative?
*Creativity: Touching the Divine
paper lantern of the day Monday, December 04, 2006
5 Comments:
Great reminder that creativity can be a part of everything we do. It's up to us. Right now creativity is my life, but in my last job, I died a little each day. I didn't see how creativity could be a part of that life. Maybe I just personally didn't have the type of creativity needed. Maybe my myopic vision limited me.
My son and I actually talked a bit about this today.
1- How do you define creativity?
Expressing myself, by God's grace, for His glory. We are created by the Creator, in His image, therefore we are ALL creative. I think people can define it too "in the box" and reject what God has given them.
2- According to your definition of creativity, do you consider yourself a creative person?
Very.
3- Do you see creativity as a luxury or a necessity in your life?
Definate neccessity.
4- What keeps you from being creative?
Clutter. Stuff clutter, mind clutter, disorder, lack of consistent schedule.
The whole war against myself. I am creative...see E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G. with creative purpose and then am to completely overwhelmed to be able to create. Must. Lose. Clutter.
Somehow this reminded me of how we compartmentalize faith as well. Hmmmmm, NEVER thought of this relative to creativity, though.
Out of time to answer questions...doggone it! You require me to THINK! LOL.
Heather is a creative floor mopper. (Told me so herself) Sometimes it just takes some pumping 80's music and an old pair of socks to get the job done, don't it? And that, my friends, IS creativity.
Roberta. sigh. Birds of a feather blog together.
Clutter... hmmmm... yeah. I've noticed that I spend a lot of my time organizing and reorganizing my "stuff" so I can somehow be more creative once it's organized. Then, oops! Time's up! I spent it all organizing. (While there IS something to be said for finding things quickly, one can go a little overboard.)
Therefore I,
A)don't really organize my stuff that much. Basic organization, yes. And then I'm done.
b) grab a bunch of the clutter and combine it all together to see what happens. Designs and ideas come to me that probably never would have if I'd kept everything neatly alphabetized and arranged according to color family.
Robin is thinking deep thoughts on that last statement of mine. ;) No ma'am, my spices are not alphabetized, nor are my sweaters and jeans segregated. But then again, I do not name my Christmas trees either.
So swings the pendulum between OCD and razzle-frazzle brain.
Yeah, I agree with you that we also do the same thing with our faith journey. Sunday mornings and women's Bible Study are "on the clock" spiritual hours, but that argument with our spouse on Thursday evening is somehow not on the spiritual time sheet. It's difficult for me to contain the aspects of life and keep them from spilling over into each other, except spiritual matters. For some reason, it's very easy to set up a "no God zone" where He is just plain not invited.
And, like creativity, I find that my spiritual well runs dry when it's not being constantly primed.
1) I like Roberta's definition of creativity. She covers the bases really well.
2) Yes, I am.
3) I see creativity as BOTH a necessity and a luxury in my life. It's in the fiber of my being, so it permeates everything I do. But at the same time, developing it, exercising it, enjoying it in the way that I would truly desire, is often a luxury. What keeps me from creativity? The tyranny of the urgent. Life. To-do lists and agendas.
I think creativity is vitally important to an individual, to a society and to a civilization. It bothers me that the arts are the first thing to get booted out when schools have a budget crunch, because I think that the arts are what really help develop holistic thinking and problem solving skills. (Besides the fact that I'm an artist so, ya know, it rubs me wrong to see them go.)
It's only been in the last 6-7 years that I've realized I'm a creative person, and I love it! Here are my thoughts.
1- How do you define creativity? I agree with Roberta and Erin.
2- According to your definition of creativity, do you consider yourself a creative person? I'd say I'm a creative person.
3- Do you see creativity as a luxury or a necessity in your life? Creativity is definitely a necessity in my life. When I start to get down for some reason, doing something creative lifts my spirits. Anything from painting, so sewing, making things, or decorating. It's also a luxury when I can find time.
4- What keeps you from being creative? Time and the busyness of life keep me from being creative. Seems there's always so much to do. I've also realized that when I'm not around other creatives I don't feel creative and I begin to doubt my creativity. Being around other artist's and designers inspire and energize me.
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