When are you most creative?
This question assumes that you are creative. Not everyone views herself this way. Over the years, friends and students alike have said to me, “But I’m not creative.” That statement is a falsehood. To be human is to be creative.
On a foundational level, we create calendars in an attempt to manage time. We create systems in an attempt to manage responsibilities. Most significantly perhaps, we create our own experience. We do this from a very young age, and though we often forget, it continues to be up to us to cultivate our own state of being. (Here I think about that heart-blasting movie, Life is Beautiful, by director Roberto Benigni.) It is no accident that we use the word “create” when we talk about creating lasting memories or creating meaning in our lives.
I like to think of creativity as a muscle we must exercise in order to keep it limber and strong so that it will engage when we need it. Because we do need it, desperately. Creativity is the way we move through the world as problem-solvers, empathizers, inventors, meaning-makers. It is also the way we connect with our very soul.
Do you paint? Do you build things? Do you raise children with imaginative gusto or bring romance into your 40-year marriage? Do you host memorable gatherings for friends? Do you bring new ideas to clients or find animals in the clouds? What makes you feel alive and connected to some thing larger or deeper than yourself?
If you are thinking: Nothing. Or, I don’t know. Take heart and take notice and take charge. This is not about doing something right; it could be about trying something new. To create is to celebrate the life-giving force that made you and is inside you. When are you most creative? How might you be?
Anonymous
May 6, 2018 at 2:52 pmWhen someone asks for help…I don’t paint or wirte songs but I can often come up with creative ways to solve a problem.
Anonymous
May 6, 2018 at 7:49 pmWhen I least expect it and when I’m uninterrupted. So usually ends up around midnight to 3am.
Anonymous
May 6, 2018 at 7:59 pmI am most creative in any given moment when I am present and in a space of gratitude and love. It is from this place that I see the most beautiful creations come into this world. Be it an early morning meditation or late night journal, an inspiration while walking at radnor, talking with my plants or my children or husband. It is from this presence that I most tap into the creativity that is present for all of us when we listen.
Anonymous
May 6, 2018 at 8:04 pmMight sound strange, but I have my most creative ideas while showering.
Anonymous
May 7, 2018 at 4:57 amI find I am most creative when I don’t try to be. Sometimes the best results come when you stop trying too hard.
Anonymous
May 7, 2018 at 9:30 amWhen I am disconnected and out in nature.
Anonymous
May 7, 2018 at 11:11 amI had no idea the creativity required to raise young children! It seems there’s always a new strategy needed to cope with behavioral developments plus the games and role play. I talk the stuffed animals of my youngest child at night. Each one has a voice and personality. That may be when I’m most creative—and tired.
Anonymous
May 7, 2018 at 11:13 amMorning. Coffee in hand. Already run and showered. Empty house. Clear strategy for tackling a work project. Uninterrupted time.
Anonymous
May 7, 2018 at 8:28 pmNothing gets my creative juices flowing like reading…books, paper, poems, magazines, whatever.
Anonymous
May 7, 2018 at 9:21 pmIn the morning…and when I’m ovulating : )
Anonymous
May 8, 2018 at 6:00 pmWhen I finally relax enough to let me be me.
Varina Willse
May 13, 2018 at 5:19 pmI am most creative when I am outside by myself.