Post by Tela on Oct 25, 2011 8:34:45 GMT -5
Some Thoughts: Inspiration and Creativity
Let's explore what creativity really means. Merriam Webster dictionary www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/creativity defines it like this:
1 : the quality of being creative
2 : the ability to create
Not very helpful. Let's look at the synonyms:
cleverness, creativeness, imagination, imaginativeness, ingeniousness, ingenuity, innovativeness, invention, inventiveness, originality
That's a little better.
What does it mean to us, personally, though? I'll tell you what I think. Let this be a springboard for your own thoughts. Share your thoughts. What does creativity mean to you? Maybe understanding our own thoughts on creativity will make it easier for us to tap into it.
I love children. I especially love to watch them during those magic years when they play make believe for hours. I think it begins around 3 and, if lucky, lasts till around 10. Have you ever secretly watched a child while they were playing quietly by themselves, invoking voices for characters and bouncing toys around in action? Have you been in enthralled, with a smile on your face, as you listened to an excited child describe the grandiose story behind the scribbles on their piece of paper? That is creativity for me. It is trying to translate the world, as we see it, into something of our own making.
Did Lord of the Rings make you want to make elfin jewelry? Did a great novel make you want to invoke the style and feeling of it with a heroine's gown of your own design? Did a painting make you want to use a certain color palette to express yourself with? Yes, I am describing being inspired, but you can't create or be creative without first being inspired.
It is one of the sad facts of life that most of us lose that ability to be as creative as a child. At some point, we realize that we have to deal with the real world and not reinvent it to suit us. But, don't we still get lost in a good book, movie or painting? Don't they sometimes reorder our world, if only briefly? After experiencing them, don't we have a lingering feeling invoked by them? Do you, like me, want to capture the essence or feeling of the thing? How about a bead or rock? Aren't we often inspired by them, too? Doesn't our admiration for them make us want to transform them to fit into our vision for them? To me, that is creativity. It is the ability to remake that which inspires us into something which describes the object through our own vision for it, with the talents that we each have. We put our own unique stamps on things.
As a child, the world is new, fresh and exciting. Everything is inspiring. Children are easily moved by the things we take for granted. Creation and creativity is easy for them because they haven't learned to accept everything at face value, rather, they see the world through their own set of filters and when it comes time to create, they have no issues with self consciousness. They go with the flow. I like to think like a child. I try to remember when a sunlight field of wildflowers was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. Or, when a rock that I picked up was transformed by my mind's eye into gold and diamonds. True, it was quartz and fool's gold, but nobody told me that. It could easily become a throne worthy of Queen Barbie. Now, I would feel a little silly being so easily duped and I don't play with Barbies anymore, but I am still enthralled by rocks.
Let's explore what creativity really means. Merriam Webster dictionary www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/creativity defines it like this:
1 : the quality of being creative
2 : the ability to create
Not very helpful. Let's look at the synonyms:
cleverness, creativeness, imagination, imaginativeness, ingeniousness, ingenuity, innovativeness, invention, inventiveness, originality
That's a little better.
What does it mean to us, personally, though? I'll tell you what I think. Let this be a springboard for your own thoughts. Share your thoughts. What does creativity mean to you? Maybe understanding our own thoughts on creativity will make it easier for us to tap into it.
I love children. I especially love to watch them during those magic years when they play make believe for hours. I think it begins around 3 and, if lucky, lasts till around 10. Have you ever secretly watched a child while they were playing quietly by themselves, invoking voices for characters and bouncing toys around in action? Have you been in enthralled, with a smile on your face, as you listened to an excited child describe the grandiose story behind the scribbles on their piece of paper? That is creativity for me. It is trying to translate the world, as we see it, into something of our own making.
Did Lord of the Rings make you want to make elfin jewelry? Did a great novel make you want to invoke the style and feeling of it with a heroine's gown of your own design? Did a painting make you want to use a certain color palette to express yourself with? Yes, I am describing being inspired, but you can't create or be creative without first being inspired.
It is one of the sad facts of life that most of us lose that ability to be as creative as a child. At some point, we realize that we have to deal with the real world and not reinvent it to suit us. But, don't we still get lost in a good book, movie or painting? Don't they sometimes reorder our world, if only briefly? After experiencing them, don't we have a lingering feeling invoked by them? Do you, like me, want to capture the essence or feeling of the thing? How about a bead or rock? Aren't we often inspired by them, too? Doesn't our admiration for them make us want to transform them to fit into our vision for them? To me, that is creativity. It is the ability to remake that which inspires us into something which describes the object through our own vision for it, with the talents that we each have. We put our own unique stamps on things.
As a child, the world is new, fresh and exciting. Everything is inspiring. Children are easily moved by the things we take for granted. Creation and creativity is easy for them because they haven't learned to accept everything at face value, rather, they see the world through their own set of filters and when it comes time to create, they have no issues with self consciousness. They go with the flow. I like to think like a child. I try to remember when a sunlight field of wildflowers was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. Or, when a rock that I picked up was transformed by my mind's eye into gold and diamonds. True, it was quartz and fool's gold, but nobody told me that. It could easily become a throne worthy of Queen Barbie. Now, I would feel a little silly being so easily duped and I don't play with Barbies anymore, but I am still enthralled by rocks.
I'm so very glad you had a late Spring and blossomed all over again. 
as I am learning he isn't creative in that way!!