Today we discuss Creativity – such an interesting topic! Did you know creative people tend to be more open to new experiences, are more self-confident, more ambitious, self-accepting, impulsive, driven, dominant and hostile compared to people with less creativity. Hmm – have a listen to the chat and leave us your thoughts.
What is Creativity?
Creativity requires both curiosity and imagination as well as a critical ability for evaluation. Creativity produces the new ideas which form the foundation for innovation which creates new products or services. My interest in creativity centers around the capacity of the creative arts to remove roadblocks to learning and life performance.
Art is useless!
I remember a distinction between Art and Craft is that Art is useless. In contrast, an item made by a craft is useful. While Art may well be useless, the process of creation can be transformative for the artist and powerfully moving for the viewer.
The creative block
Many of my clients find the challenge of a blank piece overwhelmingly difficult. The adult who can’t draw, the child who melts down at the first mistake and the interior decorator imprisoned by their little boxes and straight lines. These patterns always reflect the constraints in their lives.
While 80% of those surveyed by Adobe felt that unlocking creativity is critical to economic growth, only 25% believe they are reaching their own creative potential. [1]
Dislodging the block
My father was an artist and earned his living as a teacher. His classroom at Dover College was the station of last resort for those students which other teachers had failed to inspire. A large blank piece of cartridge paper on a wooden easel marked the start of each art student’s journey with Mr Armytage.
For some – the more troubled souls, that paper remained untouched for perhaps a whole term. That blank sheet stared back at them, week after week. But eventually even the most stubborn picked up a brush. In that moment, the act of putting paint on the paper triggered widespread changes in their life. The creative act of drawing, painting, modelling or sculpting has the power to gently dissolve roadblocks and sabotages in your life.
Music to untangle blockages
In my practice, I use music to dissolve the blocks in my client’s lives. The music gently meanders through the nervous system to seek out the tangles in your limbic system. Rather like water flowing down a dry streambed after a drought, it does need to know how long the boulders have been there, it simply finds its way around to the hollows where the fish survive and the seeds have fallen.
Connecting the dots …
Steve Jobs famously said that “creativity is just about connecting things.” You are most likely to get your best ideas when you are relaxed and your mind is empty. A 2014 study by Kaufman found that 73% get their creative ideas in the shower.
Our top three tips to unlock your creativity
- Empty yourself, educate yourself and immerse yourself in experiences
- Experiment and explore. Unlock your childish curiosity, trust your intuition and welcome your daydreams
- Evaluate the possibilities you find before you finalise your solution
If you would like to take the next step with Harry Armytage, complete the listening scorecard here
Sally has been most creative – you can download her Wellness Journal here
To find out more about what Sally Estlin does, head here
Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash
[1] : Adobe study on creativity, 2012 [2]: Seven surprising facts about creativity according to science