Creativity is not a simple phenomenon – or rather it was when we were children - for who hasn’t observed the ways children endlessly invent, creating new scenarios, words, descriptions, characters and imaginings? It ‘s quite another matter for us adults, conditioned and educated to be responsible, respectable and take life seriously. Our natural ‘play’ muscles have very often withered and died and our ‘fresh’ and ‘lively’ approach to life, with it.
It is through the creative act that the self is ‘renewed’. To be creative requires that we shake off our inhibitions and preconceived notions of what life holds for us and those we love and instead we become an adventurer. We literally venture into the unknown to discover something about ourselves and life.
And yet despite living in the most abundantly creative era in history, where we have greater access to products, information, experiences and ideas, than ever, many of us feel constrained, weighed down, confused and wasteful. There’s certainly more ‘stuff’ in our lives but we no longer have any meaningful part in its creation, other than purchasing it. We have let the ‘specialists’ create it for us - and what with global markets and cheap resources and labour, it doesn’t make ‘economic’ sense to even attempt making it. As familiar and predictable as it sounds, we’ve become the passive consumer and surface observer of life, never really getting down, deep and dirty. The service economy, clear, logical and highly organised, has become the pristine, centralising force in our lives here in the West and many of us have been left with a feeling of sterile emptiness. The irony being of course that the more ‘we have’, the less fulfilling our lives seem ‘to be’; stuck in the game of constant searching for more and never being satisfied. We trick ourselves into believing that when we have more of the something that is perceived as desirable, then we’ll be happy. For most, it is the mantra ‘when I have more money, then I will be happy; money perhaps representing freedom and opportunity or proof of value and success. We constantly forgo happiness right now, in the belief that it is only attainable in the future.
Paradoxically, the reverse seems to be true. It’s only when we get clear about who we want ‘to be’ in the world and the values and vision we want to embody moment to moment, can we then efficiently access the resources in the world in support of who we really are. So instead of working ‘to have’ experiences and things that might make us ‘feel’ happy or content when we’re not at work on something, we work at what we want ‘to be’ and ‘stand for’ in the world, all of the time. I’m talking about congruence; rediscovering and honouring our values, being flexible and imaginative, resourceful and co-creative with one another. As our own recent governmental elections have highlighted, it is a time of change, flexibility and cooperation – of liberals and conservatives. Could it be a time for a new style of innovative government altogether, with greater accountability to its peoples?
And yet in the business world the need for innovation is well understood. Business leaders are frequently heard stressing the importance of creativity and innovation for the future of their companies. Never has there been a time when resting on your laurels - doing the same thing but just a bit faster or cheaper, been more hazardous. Overnight a competitor can sweep your clients away with a dazzling technical innovation, creative partnership or innovative delivery system. Not surprising then, that there is a profound recognition that the creative, entrepreneurial spirit must be nurtured and encouraged for business to thrive, let alone survive. Business is being called to transform itself from a creature of steady, methodical progress to one of bounding insatiable adventure. Of course tv programs like the Dragon’s Den and Alan Sugar’s Apprentice have gone some way in educating and Inspiring the public in the ways of successful, strategic and innovative business enterprise.
However the creative vision for business is not reflected in our schools and colleges where much emphasis in the curriculum, especially secondary education, is still on the Left brain logical, language and numerical ability of its students. Although more creative learning is being suggested, such as ‘Independent learning and research’, many students in my experience of secondary education, just log onto the internet and do a web search to get their material. They may stretch out of their comfort zone and read a book or magazine stocked in the school library but more active research on the streets, face to face, with family members, neighbours, local business owners, community organisations and friends is rare. Traveling outside the local area to visit specialist educational institutions to delve deeper, on their own initiative, is rarer still.
The left and right brain
Most of us are aware of the left and the right brain and that they have different evolutionary functions. As is commonly known the left brain controls the Logical functions of our intelligence, ie the ability to contrast and compare as in analysis, language, numbers, lists and relates to linearity and sequential ordering and structuring of information. Consequently it’s often known as the ‘academic’, ‘intellectual’ or ‘old business’ brain which deals with the compartmentalising, storing and recollection of precise information. The right brain activity in contrast is intuitive, holistic and artistic. In particular it governs rhythm, imagination, spatial awareness, dimension, colour and the ability to see the ‘whole picture’. It is this ability to grasp the ‘whole picture’ and imagine new scenarios and ways of doing and being that is the gift of the creative brain in any field.
Recent research has confirmed that our ability to excel in one intelligence or another is learned and habitual. Therefore if we are trained in say, the right brain intelligences that relate to creativity, a person’s skill and strength dramatically improve in that area. However the additional insight that grew out of this research is that by improving a person’s aptitude in the right brain intelligences, their left brain intelligences also increased. So for example if you were to study painting and learn to drum, you would find that your logical and academic abilities would also improve…..What’s more, by combining the elements of the two hemispheres, amazing increases in overall performance are achieved.
We have been conditioned to think that the ‘creative’ is similar to the ‘mad scientist’ living in chaos and disorder, chancing upon their creative discoveries. Having met many hundreds of creatives from every field of the Arts I’ve found quite the opposite. The most successful creatives are those who have the ability to imagine and daydream AND then refine and sort through their ideas so that they can actually manifest them on the physical plane. Simply put – they get their projects off the ground because they have learnt to direct their left brain faculties to support and complement the right brain creativity.
This research supports my belief that everyone is creative and capable of expressing something profound and beautiful about life, which we can then see mirrored in ourselves. Whether it be prose, music, dance, calligraphy or any other of the many decorative and performing arts, or taking a creative approach to gardening, cooking, decorating or dressing up, we can all express ourselves uniquely. Whether it is the way we physically touch another, speak our truth or simply wash the dishes we can express ourselves creatively. Each of us can become creative in our own way continually inventing and seeing the world afresh.
It is for this reason I am so passionate about creativity and the wonderful spectrum of colour and life it has to offer us. It is why I proposed teaching the power of sound and movement as creative catalysts at the Sunflower Retreat Centre, Italy in June. It is why I co-facilitate the Creative and Vision Quests here in Hampstead.
When you become creative, when you allow creativity to happen through you something of the beyond comes in contact with you. The small thinking, protective, self-conscious self disappears to reveal something more radiant, alive and free. You are in harmony with the natural rhythm of the universe. You are in harmony with your nature and thus all of nature. Which is why the path of creativity is so rewarding and nurturing of the spirit. It is why it is simply a joy to create, creating consciously, in and of the present.
That does not mean that you have to restrict your creative urges to a strictly ‘creative discipline’, rather it is an attitude that one embodies. If one is creative in the day to day stuff of life we are excited, open and receptive to life. When we introduce an attitude of being creative and inventive in everything that we do, life transforms - it becomes a loveable adventure. Work becomes play instead of a labour. When we see the beauty and mystery in even the most mundane of activities we are fully alive and in love with life. As it is said, life is made up of the small things and when we learn to love the small things, the small activities, everything becomes sacred. As the familiar proverb goes ‘’ before enlightenment, chopping wood, carrying water, after enlightenment, chopping wood, carrying water.”
