What is creativity? Can anyone summon this elusive spark on demand? I’ve grappled with these questions for many years. I certainly don’t have answers but can offer suggestions.
Creativity is intangible. You can’t touch it or capture it in a bottle. I find the whole concept endlessly fascinating. Where does original thought or expression come from? How can some people produce real things – novels, quilts or music – whereas others have ideas but can never bring them to life?
Fear plays a large part. It may be an incentive for us when it engenders a determination to conquer it – I guess this is the ‘pushing through the barriers’ way of looking at it.
Creative people often confront fears every day. These include fears about filling a blank page, fears of having lost essential skills or simply the fear that whatever is produced won’t be any good. Believe me, it’s pretty scary trying to force an idea to come out when it isn’t ready. It’s like having creative constipation.
So how can we work around these worries? There are many tools we can use. My favourite is to just do something. Facing an empty page when writing is often daunting, but the best advice you will ever hear from the experts is to ‘just write’. The finessing can come later, but you can’t finesse a blank page.
I use this active approach with my quilting, too. If I don’t know how to express my idea, I’ll make a small sample of how I think it might work. Usually, my original idea is a flop but I often end up with something that never occurred to me before.
Brainstorming can often trigger solutions. It is possible to brainstorm by yourself – just think about a problem and quickly write down all the thoughts that pop into your mind. Often, thoughts will appear from your subconscious and end up being exactly what you need.
Alternatively, go and do something different and let your subconscious mull over the idea. Being open to ideas and learning to say ‘what if?’ is valuable. Many quilters like to keep a visual diary because it helps them record otherwise fleeting ideas and images. Writers do the same with idea notebooks. Quick sketches, short sentences, lists of impressions and photographs of anything appealing can all be useful for future inspiration.
You can see creativity all around you in everyday life – the way a meal is arranged on plate, how an angry person is soothed with gentle words, or the way flowers in a garden are planted to complement each other. We can all be creative but we do need to believe. Many fears are exaggerated to the point where they become seemingly insurmountable. Breaking them down into smaller parts helps make them less intimidating. It then becomes easier to focus on them one at a time.
Believe in yourself and trust that inner voice. Don’t let self-doubt drag you down. Try a different perspective. If none of these approaches work, just do something – it’s always better than doing nothing!