Creativity tends to immediately stir up thoughts of arts and crafts, glitter and glue, paper and paints, but it’s really so much more than that. More than just a matter of fine arts, creativity is where the physical, spiritual, and cognitive realms all meet and mingle. It fuses together so many of our experiences as humans and awakens something in us that makes us feel alive.
I was fortunate to grow up in a household where creativity of all sorts was encouraged: Music was appreciated and made. There was plenty of time and space for crafting, imaginative play, writing, baking, nature, etc. A few years back, I sat with my mom on her sun porch sipping coffee and our conversation wove its’ way to the subject of creativity. She noted a shift in how we used to create versus how we tend to create now, that creating used to be about looking at what we already had and pairing it with some imagination to turn it into something else. Whereas now there seems to be a different understanding of creativity, as something where we make a list of supplies to acquire from the store, purchase them, and bring them home to assemble. It’s more of a strict recipe or a formula. And my intent is not at all to diminish that, because I know that some find it fulfilling, relaxing, useful, and joy-filled. I’ve had some projects of this variety that I have enjoyed very much. It can offer something of value. But in my own experience, this form of creating has rarely resulted in awakening creativity within me. In some ways, it feels as if we as a culture are experiencing a sort of collective creative atrophy.
My own experience has found that some of the most sincere and authentic creativity tends to come from looking at what we have and imagining new life, new purpose, new beauty. It dares to asks the what if questions. It doesn’t fear a lack of answers. It leans in with wonder. It says things like, Wouldn’t it be wonderful if this existed? Let’s make it so. It’s playful and free spirited. It’s invigorating and frustrating. It teaches us both our smallness and our importance. The creative process is mutually beneficial. The act of creation breathes life into us, as we breathe life into our creation. As humans we crave novelty, because we were meant to participate in it, not passively consume it.
A common misunderstanding of creativity is that it is entirely about some sort of end product. Creativity isn’t solely about the end product, because it cannot be. There’s an element of chaos to creativity. And in its truest form, it lends itself to regular ‘failure’. Things don’t always turn out as we had hoped. Practicing it teaches us to adjust our expectations sometimes. And it teaches us persistence in the things we care about most. Creativity is often about cultivating a spirit of curiosity in us and witnessing how that spirit and the creative process shape us over and over. Though our creation doesn’t always take on the form intended, the creative process is never wasted because it contributes to the formation of us.
I’ve ranted more than intended, but I’ve found the nurturing of creativity to be wildly important and terribly underrated. It contrasts with the ambitions of a world that ever craves clear answers, endless productivity, and only holds space for the ‘best’ of everything. Such a world is hardly a nurturing environment for exploration and curiosity and failure. But they’re essential tools for whole development, progress, and sheer existence.
MIND SHIFTS TO CULTIVATE CREATIVITY
As with most things, I set out to learn about how to cultivate a creative spirit for the sake of our little one and found myself equally in need of that cultivation. As we learn together, create together, grow together, I’m seeking to be mindful and make space for the following things as a starting point for fostering a creative spirit within us both:
- Uninterrupted and Unhurried Play and Discovery
- Encouraging Questions, Wonder, and Curiosity
- Experiencing Beauty Without Having to Claim It As Our Own
- Contentment in What We Already Have and Pairing It With Re-Imagination
