Reignite your creative spark! ®
More often than I care to count, I hear it said… “You cannot train someone to be creative, they either have it or they don’t!”
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This idea that creativity cannot be taught or learned, that it simply is or is not, can be extremely discouraging for an enormous chunk of the population who would secretly (or not so secretly) love to explore their creative potential – be it through art, music, writing, science or any other outlet. As a result, many of these people will never sit down and pen their first word, brush their first stroke, nor jot their first note, because they have already prejudged themselves to be lacking “the right stuff.” This disheartening ideology would make them feel stuck with what they have, and no options for growth.
Thankfully, this idea is one hundred percent wrong.
- Creativity certainly is something that can be learned, nurtured and, most importantly, grown. The fact is that every human being is creative by their very nature and exists on a continuum along which we need not measure ourselves against everyone else. All we need to focus on is boosting our own creative superpowers, regardless of how atrophied they might be. Progress can be made quickly with the right mind frame.
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- When children play, they often do so in very original ways. However, with the responsibilities of adulthood, this playful curiosity is sometimes lost, and conventional thought processes often result. A study was undertaken (Zabelina, 2010) to see if adults could recapture the spark of childlike creative thinking. Participants wrote about what they would do if school was cancelled for the day. In an experimental condition, the instructions were identical except that the participants in one group were to imagine themselves a 7-year-olds in this situation. Individuals who imagined themselves as children subsequently produced more original responses. The responses showed a clear difference between how adults view their time compared to children. The control group (adults) consistently wrote about their obligations and responsibilities, such as taking time to study, work out or get some extra sleep. In contrast the group imagining themselves as 7-year-olds wrote mostly bout their desires, such as participating in activities with friends or going to the pet store to look at dogs.
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When reading the study something became really clear to me. Thinking like. Child was not itself the sole catalyst for generating more creative ideas. Largely, it seemed the removal of their responsibilities more than anything else allowed them to think beyond their needs and focus on desires. Curiosity and play are integral parts of original ideas. While framing their day as a child certainly helped primed their thoughts temporarily, simply being open to spontaneity and exploring curious ideas will do wonders to kick start your creative process.
When you play a role of an adult, you take yourself and life very seriously. Spontaneity, lightheartedness, and joy are not a part of that role. – (Tolle, 2005, p. 92)
Don’t let other’s limit your capability, the truth is creativity is an immeasurable quality that anyone can learn to cultivate with the right mindset, habits and willingness to explore.
Zabelina, Darya L.,Robinson, Michael D. (2010). Child’s play: Facilitating the originality of creative output by a priming manipulation. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, Vol 4(1), Feb 2010, 57-65
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