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?