Our biggest drawback is our ignorance of selves; we often lack real understandings about ourselves and our potentials. We certainly are capable of being creative. Yet, many of us confidently feel satisfied with mediocre attainments. The tragedy is as we age we stop believing in ourselves and stop being creative, which in time makes the brain prone to degenerative diseases. As I have argued in my previous articles, creativity is the best form of therapy available to us, because it is a positive force, a force of life. It can even slow down the symptoms of degenerative diseases. This gift of creativity, when truly embraced, not only heals us but allows us to reach the peaks of excellence. We just need to unleash our creative powers.
Yes, we are creative beings by nature. Creativity is our foremost natural ability, only second to eating and sleeping. Yet, many of us ordinary folks struggle to master it. However, although it is not possible for everyone to become a genius, we can ameliorate our competence. What is required is a few basic tools or skills; prerequisites. Perhaps it is these prerequisites that we struggle to master. These tools for creativity mentioned below are not in any particular order:
Introspection
Knowing about the self plays an important part in creativity. It is unfortunate that very few of us manage to truly discover ourselves during a lifetime. The reason is we wish to avoid the uncomfortable truths about ourselves. So it is pertinent that we exercise introspection to truly understand our weaknesses and strengths, as well as our limits. Only then can we further develop our strengths and make better use of our skills.
Intuition
Intuition fortifies our ability to see things before they come to our lives. It also alerts us when we are about to make the wrong choices. Sadly, we overrule our gut-feelings at times, either when under anxiety attack or when our ego pushes us to take action on something which may not be in our best interest. By ignoring our instincts we deprive ourselves of our most valuable tool and asset. The more tuned-in we are with our sixth sense, the more powerful our creativity will be.
Challenge and Competition
Historically speaking most of the human progress, directly or indirectly, can be attributed to challenges and competition. Indeed we are competitive beings and need challenges to fuel our appetite for innovation and invention as well as emancipating us from the corrosive chains of conformity and dogma.
The thrill of competition and challenge excites the brain; the rush of adrenalin, dopamine and serotonin makes it all worthwhile. Since dopamine is a neurotransmitter that helps control the brain’s reward and pleasure centres, creativity is the best activity to convert negative energy into positive energy.
Energy and Focus
Success comes from being focused. Then again, being focused 100% requires some level of passion for what you are doing. Passion for creative work is the most rewarding and supreme healing experience we can have.
To achieve 100% focus, we must attempt to calibrate our external and internal selves into one. That means all other external stimuli which might cause distraction needs to be filtered out. Leakage of energy, intellectual or otherwise, has to be sealed. Emotional outbursts like anger have a negative effect on energy as does stress, thus mindfulness helps. The whole energy and attention whence brought together results in creativity.
The essence of creativity is the reward, to the self, it is unlike any other prize; it is priceless. The joy and ecstasy as well as feeling of satisfaction are immeasurable. There is no materialistic comparison, it is the ultimate prize. Creativity uplifts the mood creates confidence and boosts self-esteem as well as prestige among peers. This motivates ‘the creative’ towards further progress and creativity, leading to mastering the skills we so feared. Once we become addicted to creativity, we overcome our deficiencies and drawbacks. Thus, we achieve the ultimate goal of restoring the mind.
