Creativity is Within You
by Lynn Marlow
Creativity is within you. Creativity is your birthright, it is your voice, it is your definition. Your creative expressions define your space, your home, your image, and your life.
Creativity may be that still, small voice that urges you to take a risk, to do things in a slightly different way.
Creativity may be disguised as your everyday tasks, the domestic arts, such as cooking, decorating, or gardening, where your talents have room to be noticed. But no one thinks of that as art, do they?
You think you’re not creative? Think again. Anyone who raises a child, plants a garden, plans a meal, or throws a party is creative. Anyone with a desire to quilt or crochet, to write or paint, to sing or act, to sculpt or design, has creative energy within them, whether they consider themselves creatively talented or not.
Creativity is an essential human energy force, an instinct that develops and sustains us as a species. If you haven’t found the source of your creative flow, it’s not because you don’t have one. Everyone does. It’s because your creative spirit is dormant, waiting to be acknowledged, trusted, nurtured, and liberated.
Creativity may be something you think is past, a vestige or your younger, freer days when you could express yourself with abandon - or wished you could. Creativity may be bound by a mountain of work responsibilities, by bosses who are too invested in being in control to recognize the profound talents of their employees. Creativity may be bound by the responsibility of care for others, the demands of parenthood or caring for sick parents, which don’t leave time to pursue your own interests. Creativity may be bound by the fog of a vague unhappiness, the feeling that something isn’t quite right, and the lack of energy to do something to change it.
Perhaps you’ve never had a significant person in your life to encourage you, to give you positive feedback, to push you to take risks. Maybe you’ve been locked into perfectionism, believing that the only worthwhile creative expression has to please the whole world.
The essence of art is risk. It’s the risk to express your own personal vision, knowing that not everyone will “get it.” It’s the risk to explore what your eye, or your hand, or your body, or your mind can do without harsh judgment and pessimism. It’s taking the risk of knowing that your voice, your vision, your art has a place in the world, and has something to say.
You don’t have to be an “artist” to be creative. And awakening your creativity doesn’t mean you have to become one (although you may be surprised...). Awakening your creativity means expressing yourself, your likes and dislikes, your unique ideas and visions, becoming much more of yourself within your own life. Creativity is your third dimension, bringing you out of the fog and into full, vibrant, joyful life. Creativity enables you to know who you are and what you passionately feel and believe, and enables you to put those beliefs and passions into effective, engaging action.
Here's the Coaching Bit —
The next time you visit a museum or gallery, pay attention to your own personal, immediate response to works of art. Notice that not everything pleases you. Some things you may find to be hideously ugly, or pointless, or tacky, or even offensive. Other things may compel you, and keep drawing you in, even if you don’t know why. Other things may take your breath away. And if you’re visiting the art work along with a friend, notice that her reactions may be very different from yours. The work strikes each person differently. Your response to it is in your gut - sometimes immediate, sometimes unpredictable, sometimes overpowering. And that’s art.
When you feel that visceral connection to something – anything – you are aware of your essential self. The path to creative expression starts with this awareness. Keep practicing. Keep asking yourself, “How do I really feel about this?” And take the time to listen for the answer. Before long you will know more about yourself than you knew before. You will quickly experience yourself as a more defined, more vivid human being.
And from knowing yourself, it is only a short leap to wanting the rest of the world to know you, too. Send
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