Children are naturally creative. Think of all the ways a child can take an ordinary object and turn it into something extraordinary. Like how a tattered t-shirt can become a magical cape that makes you fly, how a sandcastle turns into a mystical land full of castles with dragons and princesses, or how an imaginary friend stirs up adventures to pursue.

When we are childlike, we give ourselves the space to play with new concepts, to see things from a shifted perspective, or to imagine something entirely new. As adults, we express less creativity than we did as children because of: 1) having years of exposure to the “usual” or “accepted” approach, and 2) being limited to the practicality and logic of our adult minds.

There is a lot of creative value when we approach the world with childlike wonder and imagination. So how do we maintain the creative spirit as we grow up?

There are some key characteristics that are more abundant in children and add to their creativity. When we can recapture some of these characteristics and apply them to our creative process, we help open our minds to more imagination and creativity.

Characteristics of Childlike Creativity

• Curiousness
• Playfulness
• Imagination
• Open-mindedness
• Adaptability
• Questioning
• Spontaneity
• Wonderment

“The best place to go with a child is in their imagination.”  Amie, age 16

3 Ways To Recapture Your Childlike Creativity

1. Let Your Imagination Run Wild
An active imagination is at the heart of creative thinking. For the young child, fact and fantasy, dreaming and waking, wish and reality, are all without clear distinction. In a child’s world it’s finding how a t-shirt can become a magical cape; in an adult’s world it’s looking at how to make a man fly, cure disease, or walk on the moon.  When you let your imagination loose without the confines of the common approach, you open yourself up to new ideas and creative possibilities.

2. Be Curious and Open-Minded
Believe no idea is a bad idea—consider and be open to anything. Curiosity and open-mindedness prevent stagnation in creative enterprises; without these qualities, some creative longevity is lost.

In Rob Eastaway’s book, “Out of the Box: 101 Ideas for Thinking Creatively” he says that there are three stages of life:

From 0 to 4 years old is the “Why not?” stage.
From 5 to 11 years old is the “Why?” stage.
From 12 onward is the “Because” stage.

When we remain curious (why/why not) we keep our minds open to new perspectives. As we get older, we enter the “Because” stage and start to lose the “curiosity and wonder about the world that leads us to ask those crucial questions, “Why?” and “Why Not?”

3.  Think Outside the Box: Embrace a New Perspective
As adults it is easy to get trapped into seeing things from one perspective—mostly because we are exposed to the usual approach and how things are normally done. When we can look at things from a different perspective, we can see a new way to do things—this is where innovation happens.

I just read a story about a little girl who was watching her sister’s dance recital. After watching the ballerinas dance on their toes for a while, she turned to her mommy and wondered, “Why don’t they just get taller ballerinas?”

To help gain a new perspective, ask yourself:

• Is there a new way to approach this?
• What hasn’t been tried before?
• What am I not seeing?
• Who can I talk to that might have a fresh perspective?

The greatest thing about creativity is that there is always room for new perspectives and learnings, no matter what age.

• A pen and paper are all you need to create a new world. Michelle, age 13
• You should never jump out of a tree using trash bags as parachutes. April, age 10
• Childhod is not preparation for life. It is life.  James, age 9
• I like to draw because it makes my mind flow. Todd, age 10
• You can travel inside a book. Jameson, age 8
• You should never surprise a cow when you are behind it. Stefanie, age 12
• You shouldn’t try and test a nine-volt battery with your braces unless you’re looking for an easy way to melt all the rubber bands.  Chris, age 14
• One of the best ways to find out about a person’s character is to play Monopoly with them. Ellana, age 15
• My puppy still has bad breath even after I gave her a Tic Tac. Kelly, age 11
• Reading what people write on desks can teach you a lot. Tiffany, age 13
• You can’t trust dogs to watch your food. Patrick, age 10
• You should always listen to older people. They are like living history books and can teach you so much. Cindy, age 13
• You shouldn’t jump down stairs with your hands in your pockets. Philip, age 11
• No matter how hard you try, you can’t baptize cats! Laura, age 13
• Quotes taken from “Wit & Wisdom” by H. Jackson Brown, Jr. – Rutledge Hill Press

]]> http://imagineoutloud.wordpress.com/2009/06/30/how-to-be-more-creative-3-ways-to-recapture-your-childlike-creativity/feed/ 0 lafilbert http://imagineoutloud.wordpress.com/2009/06/23/make-the-most-of-life-dont-take-today-for-granted/ http://imagineoutloud.wordpress.com/2009/06/23/make-the-most-of-life-dont-take-today-for-granted/#comments Wed, 24 Jun 2009 05:57:58 +0000 lafilbert http://imagineoutloud.wordpress.com/?p=117 ]]> If we don’t penetrate the profane and common—the ordinary—we risk living only on the surface of life and miss out on the richness, dimension, and beauty it has to offer.

Too often, we miss promising moments because we do not recognize them until it’s too late.  We rush by so fast that we miss the beauty and texture of what life and the world has to offer. When we are able to appreciate the ‘little things’, it not only transforms the monotony of daily life, but takes our life to a whole new level. And, not to be morbid, but we never know how long we have. Just think of the people on the DC Metro rail train that crashed yesterday…I bet you most of those killed didn’t think when they woke-up that morning that they would not see tomorrow. We can’t take it for granted that tomorrow will be there for us…so let’s make the most of today.

Enjoy this little video I put together and posted on You Tube.

Perhaps they are reluctant to follow their dreams or try something new because of fear of failure or from uncertainty about what might happen. They mask their true selves because they are afraid to stand out and want to fit in. They lack the immense hunger, drive, or desire needed to explore and venture out into unchartered territory. They do what others might expect them to do, follow the crowd, or construct their life based on what is normal and common.

Living in the land of the known is simply making a choice to stay imprisoned by fear—where a part of you slowly dies because you limit your ability to become more of who you were created to be.

Living in the known is one of biggest blocks to reaching your true potential.

It is in the unknown where new possibilities exist. It is a space that allows us to explore possibility, step-into into our gifts and talents, and use those gifts and talents to contribute something spectacular.

Life in the Land of the Known vs the Land of the Unknown

Think of a world where on one side is the Land of the Known and the other is the Land of the Unknown. The only thing separating these two lands is the Great Big Pond.

The Land of the Known is relatively safe; there is minimal risk and it is predictable, common, and ordinary. In fact, most of the people here tend to do the same ordinary things. This is where you will find a lot of people doing what they’ve always done, because that’s what they always do.  They think small. They don’t see what else is out there in the world. They settle for less than they can be. But overall, it’s a nice, ordinary place to live and there are a lot of satisfied and even some happy people there. The sad part is the people don’t know what they are missing because they’ve never left the comforts of their home.

The challenge is to get to the Land of the Unknown you have to cross the Great Big Pond.  While most people in the Known believe there is something better out there for their lives, they know that crossing the Pond takes a lot of effort and can be difficult at times. It takes courage, commitment, and a willingness to face some fears. Many never cross the Pond because they are fearful and afraid of all the challenges, obstacles, and uncertainties that might come up. Plus, they rationalize that life in the Known is pretty good after all.

However, once you cross the Great Big Pond you see that life in the Land of the Unknown is very different. It is more beautiful than you could have ever imagined. The people living here just seem so much more alive and vibrant—they are all very unique, yet extraordinary in their own ways. They each have their own unique  story about the risks and challenges they took to get here,  but they all share the benefit of living a life that they were destined to live. In the Unknown, they have been able to discover their true selves and have been able to largely contribute their gifts and talents to the world. In fact, all of the people that reach the Land of the Unknown say that they wish they had the courage to come over here much, much earlier because their life is better than they could ever have imagined.

THE LESSON?
It is on the other side of your fears that you will discover what you were meant to do and who you were made to be.

“Fear not the unknown for it is where your greatness resides.”

The motto in the Land of the Unknown:
“May you shine so brightly that, at the end of your days, all will pause and say, “Ah, there was one who lived life fully and completely.”

The Discipline of Pruning
Just as it is healthy to prune trees so that they may grow, we also need to prune our lives so that we can make way for new ideas, growth and opportunities. Pruning involves cutting off the superfluous branches in our lives. And pruning doesn’t just involve cutting off the dead branches—it involves cutting off some healthy branches as well.

Recently I was talking to the owner of a vineyard about pruning—he said that he often prunes the healthy vines from his trees because it allows for the other vines to grow even stronger and healthier—by having less branches, it allows for more minerals and nutrients to go to the grapes on the remaining branches, thus making better wine.

Not all the things in our lives that need to be pruned are obvious, or are even necessarily a bad thing. I have a friend who is involved in a variety of athletic activities that take up a lot of her time—one night it’s track practice, the next night it’s a kickball team, a few times a week it’s rowing practice. And while all these activities are ‘good’ activities—it takes time away from other areas of her life. She is spread so thin in many areas that she can’t concentrate on fully growing one single area.

Distractions aren’t always obvious. Many distractions are little things that don’t seem to take up to much time and may go unnoticed, but when we combine a lot of those little things over time it can make a huge difference in our lives.

Pruning gives us the opportunity to re-evaluate where we should be spending our time, and gives ourselves the space to open up to areas that can make a bigger and better difference in our lives. The Discipline of Pruning helps us cut back to grow more and create the results we most desire.

How to Prune
It is up to us to be aware of the distractions or obligations we schedule in our lives, and to decide which ones should be pruned.  Besides cutting out certain habits, activities, or obligations, one of the simplest ways to prune our lives is wisely using the words “yes” or “no.”

The book, The Power of a Positive No, says that if you learn how to say “no” skillfully and wisely, you can create what you want, protect what you value, and change what doesn’t work.

By saying “no” to competing demands for your time and energy, you can create the space for the people and activities that matter to you most.

What are you missing out on because of distractions in your life? What can you start pruning today? What could you say “no” to? How will these decisions change your life?

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.”

Some Statistics about How Distractions Negatively Affect Us

• 59% of Blackberry users check email the second it arrives, 83% check it while on vacation, and 53% even check it when they are in the bathroom.
• A study at The British Institute of Psychiatry showed that checking your email while performing another creative task decreases your IQ in the moment 10 points. That is the equivalent of not sleeping for 36 hours—more than twice the impact of smoking marijuana.
• Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that distractions are a contributing factor in 8 out of every 10 police-reported traffic crashes, or an estimated 4 million crashes per year.

So what keeps me coming back year-after-year to run and train for another 26.2? It’s the journey. It’s the amazing friendships I’ve made along the way—the people I’ve met running that have now become some of my best friends. It’s the pride of having the identity of being a “marathon runner.” It’s about getting to meet others and listen to why they are running a marathon—like a man I met who ran an entire marathon in a seven-foot rubber rhino customer for charity, or the daughter running in honor of her mother’s losing fight with cancer. It’s how a spectator, a mere stranger, inspired me to finish by cheering encouraging remarks as I ran by (and how they’ll never probably know that they were the reason I didn’t give up), or about the tears I shed from being so touched as I ran by loved ones excitedly cheering on their runners in the pouring rain and cold four hours into the Alaska marathon.

Running a marathon is what you make it—you can remember it as ‘grueling, hard, losing toe nails, or getting up at 6am on Saturdays (yes, all true), or you can remember it as “an incredible moment in your life where you were dedicated, committed, working towards a goal, spending time with fellow runners, and stretching yourself more than you thought you could.” It’s not always easy, but it’s worth it.

But mostly it’s about the memories that come from all of this that will last a lifetime. It’s about running the Alaska marathon with my best friend—and being mesmerized by the awe-inspiring beauty of the course, getting soaked in a torrential downpour the last half mile, or getting attacked by a huge grizzly bear along the course (just kidding about the bear part!) It’s about giggling to myself during the entire Copenhagen marathon after noticing “Pace Setters” are called “Fart Holders” in Dutch—and they even have it written in bold letters  (FART HOLDERS) on the back of their shirt. It’s about the time spent with friends during training—the breakfasts after our longs runs, complaining about our running injuries, or running with friends on the beach during sunrise. It’s about sharing in the pride and excitement when someone qualifies for Boston, or gets engaged during the Great Wall of China marathon. It’s to know I’m living life to the fullest—to be part of the 1% that crosses the marathon finish line.

No extraordinary experience can be obtained ordinarily. The journey of the marathon runner is definitely no ordinary experience—and the memories, friendships, and experiences that have come from this journey are indeed beyond extraordinary. Choosing to run a marathon has been a life-changing experience that I am beyond grateful to have created.

There are many obstacles that get in the way of our creativity and ultimately our ability to follow through on our ideas—scattered thinking, over stimulation, lack of focus, stress, being judgmental, presumptive, or self-critical…just to name a few.

One way to overcome these obstacles is to condition your mind to be more present, focused, and thus open to inspiration (it’s hard to be inspired when you are stressed or regularly distracted by lots of external stimuli). The practice of mindfulness is a great technique to consistently use to begin to overcome these obstacles.

Mindfulness has been around since the time of Buddha, but has lately been getting some mainstream attention as a beneficial practice with real tangible results. In fact, just earlier this week, an article about mindfulness was on the front page of cnn.com discussing its benefits in reducing stress.

So what is Mindfulness?
The most basic definition of mindfulness is ‘paying full attention to what you are doing, moment by moment’.

In a nutshell, mindfulness is the practice of being attentively present. It is called a practice in the same way that we say that people practice the piano because it takes time to learn and cultivate. While mindfulness is the simple ability to relax and bring forth an awareness of what is happening in the present, it can be hard to do. Especially in the day and age of reduced attention spans and constant stimulation.

Mindfulness can be highly effective in helping bring calm and clarity to the pressures of daily life, and help direct our minds and bodies to be more focused.

Examples of Some Practical Ways People Practice Mindfulness

• Focus on deep-breathing exercises (i.e. inhale for 4, hold for 8, exhale for 6)
• Consciously direct focus on an ordinary task, like eating a piece of food or doing a chore around the house, and solely focusing attention to that one task.
• Take yoga, tai chi, or other similar classes where you focus on the relation between body, mind, and spirit

So how can mindfulness benefit creativity?
When we can be more mindful in the process of creating—whether with words, music, art, brainstorming, or innovation—we are able to focus with a clear mind and open ourselves up to a space where inspiration and creativity can flow more abundantly.

By being mindful, you are able to put yourself in a place where you can gain perspective. You are focused. You are curious. You discover something new. An idea is sparked. Inspiration strikes. A distinction is made. A perspective shifts. You are able to open yourself up to new possibilities. You are not distracted.

By practicing mindfulness in daily activities, you will begin to condition your mind and body so that you can learn to be focused and have mental clarity in other areas of life as well, including opening up your mind for inspiration and creativity.

Exercise: How You Can Practice Mindfulness

1. Choose one routine physical activity that you perform most days and experiment with doing it mindfully. This means doing just this one activity while you are doing the exercise, for example not listening to the radio at the same time. It is also best to let go of any concern about the results or in finishing quickly. Remain in the present as best you can. What do you notice? What do you feel? Activities you might choose include brushing your teeth, washing the dishes, or some routine act of driving or walking.
2. For one half-hour period during the week, maintain some regular attention of your posture as you go about with some normal activity. Without straining, assume a posture that is alert and upright. Notice what happens to your mood, thoughts, feelings, presence, and degree of mindfulness as you do this exercise.

Article from CNN on Mindfulness and Reducing Stress

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/06/01/mindfulness.training.stress/index.html?iref=newssearch

Music can be a very powerful way to change your mood, channel inspiration and tap into creativity.

1. Music can create emotions or change your state. Music can alter or change your mood or state—for example, there is certain music that makes me feel more creative (lately it’s been Beats Antique), music that gets me in the mood to work out, music to relax to, etc.
2. Music can be a powerful anchor—you can “anchor” in your creativity with music. Can you think of certain songs that brings you back to a particular moment, experience, or person? You can use songs to create anchors that link up certain feelings with a certain song.
3. Here’s a quick tip on how you can anchor yourself to creativity and music. For example, anytime you have a brainstorming session, start playing music that gets you in a more creative or innovative space. And then continue to play that music anytime you brainstorm. After doing this a few times, you will become anchored so that anytime you hear that music, you will be in a more creative or innovative state.
4. Music has a physical affect on you—both consciously and unconsciously. Sound is composed of a variety of characteristics: wave length, decibels, hertz, timber, pitch, vibration, tone, etc. At the most basic level, vibrating sounds form patterns and create energy fields of resonance and movement in its surrounding space. We absorb these energies and they subtly alter our breath, pulse, blood pressure, muscle tension, skin temperature and other internal rhythms. Depending on their wave forms and other characteristics, sound has a variety of impact on us.

Music Has Creative Powers: It Can Slow Down and Equalize Brain Waves

Music can cause a shift in brain waves, which in turn causes a shift in our state.  For example, certain types of music are known to create theta waves —and typically, peaks of creativity occur during times when we are experiencing theta waves. So besides anchoring yourself to music, you can actually use music to create physical changes.

1. Ordinary consciousness consists of beta waves (14-20 hertz). Beta waves occur when we focus on daily activities in the external world, and when we experience strong negative emotions.
2. Heightened awareness and calm are characterized by alpha waves (8-13 hertz). Music with a pulse of 60 beats per minute can shift consciousness from the beta toward the alpha range.
3. Periods of peak creativity, meditation, and sleep are characterized by theta waves (4-7 hertz).
4. Deep sleep, deep meditation, and unconsciousness produce delta waves (.5-3 hertz). So the slower the brain waves, the more relaxed, contended, and peaceful we feel.

So how can you begin playing around with music to see its’ affect on you? Below is a list of various types of music and the states that it can invoke. Also, if you haven’t tried it yet, check out www.pandora.com. It’s a great, FREE online radio station—you can play around and listen to any type of music, genre, or artist.

I got the list below from the book The Mozart Effect: Tapping the Power of Music to Heal the Body, Strengthen the Mind, and Unlock the Creative Spirit by Don Campbell.

Classical music (Hayden, Mozart) has clarity, elegance, and transparency. It can improve concentration, memory, and special perception.

Impressionist music (Debussy, Faure, Ravel) is based on free-flowing musical moods and impressions, and evokes dreamlike images. A quarter hour of musical daydreaming followed by a few minutes of stretching can unlock your creative impulses and put you in touch with your unconscious.

Rock music by such artists as U2, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Elvis Presley, the Rolling Stones, etc., can stir the passions, stimulate active movement, release tension, mask pain, and reduce the effect of other loud, unpleasant sounds in the environment. It can also create tension, dissonance, stress, and pain in the body when we are not in the mood to be energetically entertained.

Jazz, the blues, Dixieland, soul, calypso, reggae, and other music and dance forms that came out of expressive African heritage can uplift and inspire, release deep joy and sadness, convey wit and irony, and affirm our common humanity.

Salsa, rhumba, maranga, Macarena, and other forms of South American music have a lively rhythm and beat that can set the heart racing, increase respiration, and get the whole body moving. Samba, however, has the rare ability to soothe and awaken at the same time.

Big band, pop and top-40, and country-western can inspire light to moderate movement, engage the emotions, and create a sense of well being.

Ambient, attitudinal, or New Age music with no dominant rhythm (for example, the music of Seven Halpern or Brain Eno) elongates our sense of space and time and can induce a state of relaxed alertness.

Heavy metal, punk, rap, hip-hop, and grunge can excite the nervous system, leading to dynamic behavior and self-expression.

Religious and sacred music, including shamanic drumming, church hymns, gospel music, and spirituals, can ground us in the moment and lead to feelings of deep peace and spiritual awareness. It can also be remarkably useful in helping us to transcend—and release—our pain.

Gregorian Chant uses rhythms of natural breathing to create a sense of relaxed spaciousness. It is excellent for quiet study and meditation and can reduce stress.

Slower Baroque music (Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, Corelli) imparts a sense of stability, order, predictability, and safety and creates a mentally stimulating environment for study or work.

Romantic music (Schubert, Schumann, Tchaikovsky, Chopin, Liszt) emphasizes expression and feeling, often invoking themes of individualism, nationalism, or mysticism. It is best used to enhance sympathy, compassion, and love.

Let’s think about this for a minute. If you find that you are asking yourself questions like, “Why won’t this work,” then you will find answers to that question and most likely not move forward. But if you tend to ask better questions like, “What resources do I have that can make this possible?” then you will find more empowering answers and move to the next step.

So what’s the difference between a great question and a crappy question?

Great Questions Can Help You….

1. Find Inspiration.
2. Gain a new understanding/perspective.
3. Make it happen/Move yourself or another person to action.
4. Move Past Obstacles/Focus on solution rather than  problems.
5. Provide a deeper sense of meaning for your life, mission, art…

Crappy Questions Can…

1. Focus purely on the problem and not the solution—it makes the problem bigger than it really is.
2. Make you feel limited or unresourceful—it puts you in a stuck state where you don’t feel like you accomplish anything, be creative, or make any progress.
3. Create endless loops.  Like, “Why can’t I get this right?”  If you ask questions like these, you can come up with endless answers and never know for sure what things really do mean.
4. Sabotage any future ideas, successes, or visions.

40 Questions to Awaken Creativity

Finding Inspiration
1.    What would I do if I knew I couldn’t fail?
2.    What do I really, really want?
3.    What’s my heart telling me?
4.    What is one of my biggest, wildest dreams?
5.    What inspires me? Where can I go for inspiration?
6.    What do I love? What am I passionate about?
7.    Who can I talk to that can inspire me? Give me new ideas?
8.    What keeps me up at night? What excites me?

Gaining A New Perspective/Seeing the Possibility
9.    What is possible? Is it possible…?
10.   What is a completely different way of looking at this?
11.    What have I not tried yet?
12.    What other way can I use this?
13.    What if…?
14.    What other choices do I have?
15.    What would I do differently if I had no fear?
16.    What is the dream?
17.    What am I building towards?

Making It Happen
18.    What does the end-result look like?
19.    What’s one thing I can do right now?
20.    What resources do I have that can make this possible?
21.    What resources do I need to make this possible?
22.    What has to happen to create this?
23.    What is one thing I can do right now to create this?
24.    What do I have to do differently to make this happen?
25.    What do I need to put in place to make this happen?
26.    Who do I know that is already doing this well?
27.    Who else has the ability to help me accomplish this?

Moving Past Obstacles/What Can I Learn
28.    What can I learn from my mistakes? Failures?
29.    How can I use this?
30.    What is beyond this problem?
31.    What if there were no limits?
32.    What can motivate me right now?
33.    What’s the most resourceful state that would help me right now?
34.    How can I use this the next time I have a similar situation?
35.    What can I find that’s great about this?
36.    Who/What can help me the most right now?

Seeing the Greater Purpose
37.    What is my ultimate mission/purpose in doing this?
38.    What is my legacy? What do I want to be remembered for?
39.    Who do I want to become as a result of doing this?
40.    How can what I’m doing have a positive impact on others/the world?

So become aware of the questions that you are asking—whether consciously or unconsciously. When you catch yourself asking a crappy question, stop, and then force yourself to think of a better question.

If you have other great questions to awaken creativity or innovation, please submit them as a comment!!

As you go through this process, take the time to really ask yourself the below questions. Often times, it helps to ask and answers these questions out loud, and then write down your answers. It may sound strange, but you will be shocked at what comes out of your mouth when you say your answers out loud. Or if you want, find someone to ask you these questions, and as you answer back, they can write down your answers. Some of your beliefs may be unconscious, so you might have to dig a little to find out what they are.

Creative Beliefs Process—Out with the old, and in with the new

1. Identify Your Beliefs. What beliefs do I have about creativity? What other beliefs do I have? What else do I believe? In the past, what have I believed about my ability to be creative?
2. Understand the Consequences. Go through each of these beliefs and write how they have affected you and your creativity. How have these beliefs affected my ability to be creative? How have these beliefs had a negative impact in my life, career, family, etc? What has believing this cost me?
3. Explore Why These Beliefs Are Not True. What is not true about these negative beliefs? Why have I chosen to believe them?
4. Identify Areas Where You Have Been Creative in the Past. In the past, when  have I been creative? What did I do? What helped open up my creativity?
5. Identify Empowering Beliefs About Creativity. What areas of my life can benefit from more creativity? What beliefs can awaken my creativity?  What do other creative people believe about creativity that I can model?

Once you identify your new beliefs, write them down and put them where you can regularly see them. Say them to yourself each day, or say them as you begin any area where you can benefit from some creativity.

Examples of Common Limiting Beliefs
1.    “I’m just not a creative person.”
2.    “I can’t write/I can’t draw/I can’t…”
3.    “I don’t have time to be creative.”
4.    “I don’t think that way…”
5.    “I’ve never been or done anything creative before.”

Examples of Empowering Creative Beliefs

1. We are all creative beings.  Creativity is a choice—I have the ability to awaken it within me.
2. The beauty of creativity is that it is an art—there is no right or wrong way to do it.
3. My creativity can increase—the more I use it, the more I awaken it.
4. Creativity is God’s gift to us. Using our creativity is our gift back to God.
5. Creativity is a journey. I embrace the creative process.
6. I need to just start somewhere. The most important thing is that I take the first steps toward doing it.
7. Creativity exists in all areas of life. I can bring creativity to the table in any situation.
8. Practice makes perfect. It’s ok if it’s not ‘right’ right now.
9. God is the ultimate creative being. He loves seeing me explore my creativity.
10. I am more creative than I even know.
11. My creativeness can be a blessing to others.
12. Creativity=Fun. I don’t know what or where this will lead to, but I will try it and have fun in the process. Trying is better than not doing anything at all.

Beliefs of Some Creative Geniuses

1. “I dream for a living.” Steven Spielberg
2. “Change only favors minds that are diligently looking and preparing for discovery.” Louis Pasteur
3. “Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.” Rudyard Kipling
4. “Life is not an exact science. It is an art.” Samuel Butler
5. “I would rather live in a world where my life is surrounded by mystery than live in a world so small that my mind could comprehend it.” Harry Emerson Fosdick
6. “That which builds is better than that which is built.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.” Pablo Picasso

Creativity is the license to explore, to try things out, and to get things wrong. There is no “right” or “wrong” in creativity. There is as much, if not more, to be gained from the journey as there is from reaching the destination.

Creativity can add new opportunities, dimensions and excitement to life. So how do you awaken your creativity?

1. Embrace a Creative Mindset: Transform Your Way of Thinking.

• Creativity is as much of an internal process as it is external. Take “writer’s block” for example. What do you think causes that? There are many internal drivers that have a positive or negative affect on our ability to be creative—what we believe, what we think, what we say, and how we identify and look at ourselves, are major contributors to our level of creativeness.

• One way to transform your inner creativity is to look at the beliefs you have about creativity-both the negative and positive beliefs you have. We’ll talk more about how to identify negative creative beliefs and create more positive ones in an upcoming blog.

2. Expand Your Sense of Possibility: Embrace “What If”

• Too often creativity is hindered by logical, in-the-box thinking, or our ‘internal critic.’

• Instead we need to think big. Think out of the box. Believe that anything is possible. One way to begin to do this is to ask yourself “if I didn’t have to think about how to implement this idea, what would I do or what would I envision?” What is possible?

• Another really great tool to use in brainstorming sessions or when talking through ideas is to begin sentences with “What If, or “Is it Possible…” For example, “what if…we began marketing our product to a completely new audience?” Or, “Is it possible that we could market our product to a different demographic and be incredibly successful?” When you change your language patterns and begin a sentence with “what if” or “is it possible,” it helps both yourself and others become more open to new possibilities.

3. Get Inspired: Tap into What’s Around You

• Discover what gets your creativity flowing. Maybe it’s being out in nature, listening to a certain type of music, going to an artsy coffee shop, or sitting quietly at home….whatever it is, take the time to find your inspiration!

• Be alert. Pay attention to life—you never know what or who might give you a good idea or inspire you.

• Create rituals that get your creative juices flowing.

4. Create a Plan: Imagination at Play

• Begin to play around with how to turn your ideas into reality and come up with an initial plan or design what your end-result might look like. In other words, come up with a basic target so you know where to aim.

• Remember, your plan will evolve, so it doesn’t have to be perfect. Play around with it—you don’t have to figure it all out right away. It will evolve as you embark in the creative process.

5. Just Do it: Take the First Steps

• Every great journey begins with one step. Just get started and adjust and tweak it along the way. It’s art…there’s no right or wrong. It just is. The important part is to just do something—you have to start from somewhere.

Remember, creativity is a process. But the process starts with you-what you believe and then how you create a vision and turn it to reality. The next blog will help you learn to recognize any negative beliefs you have about creativity and how to get rid of them, plus learn how to embrace better beliefs that can awaken your creativity.

The secret of creativity is that those who have gone off in search of it have ended up discovering something bigger than they ever imagined.

This is part of a series about awakening and exploring your creativity.