You’ve Got the Spark
I visited the Westin Maui Hotel recently and was awestruck by its grandeur. The art objects were lavishly impressive and I was especially drawn to the pairs of animals that abounded the hotel — bronze antelopes at the main entrance, cloisonné zebra along the way and other wooden mythical creatures along the walkways. They surely had a grand time with the layout and I sure would have liked to have a chance to do something on that scale myself.
In our discussion of who we are, thus far I have looked at the “observer”, peace, and love. The park that inspired the Westin Maui brings attention to creativity and its source within us all.
Everything that exists was created in some way. Remember the Latin derivative of “nature” is “nasci” or “to be born”. Nature is by definition creative and gives birth. You can watch the changes of the forest or the growth of civilization and you can observe creation in action.
Some people, when you see something like the Westin Maui, don’t consider themselves creative. Yet if we are part of nature and nature is creative, then we are also creative. Childbirth is one of nature’s most wondrous creative processes. Of course, some of us are more talented at things like art and architecture than others, but all of us are creative in the very lifestyle that we live. All the ways that we are, the clothes we wear, the food we eat, the way we speak, and the friends we make are part of out creative expression. We are truly creative and may take for granted our innate ability.
For me, creativity is simply an ability to put together things in a way never thought of before. All the things to be put together are out there. When it comes to the area of art, for example, certain technical skills and materials are out there. What happens in creativity is that we develop a familiarity with the technology and the materials and we then proceed to come up with your innovative thoughts. The same could also be said about creating a family. We come with our skills of parenting from our own upbringing and from our education, and we combine those with what materials we have to work with, our finances, our children and spouses. We then generate a unique twist of a familiar pattern of life — the family.
If we claim our birthright to be creative, then we realize that we have incredible power to help us in our daily lives. Whatever situation we find ourselves in can be dealt with through our creative devices. Sure sometimes you may not think you know enough about a particular situation. Your job then becomes to be creative about ways to get more information or to gain more experience about that situation. Then you can proceed to find a creative solution to your dilemma.
Being creative is first seeing that you are capable of finding an answer to what ails you in life. In future articles we will discuss more about how you can create a better ability to be creative, but for now, knowing that you are creative already and can apply it to all areas of your life is an important first step.