Creativity: This Plant That We Must Protect And Cuddle

Creativity. This name that we have heard so often, this word so used by some, specialists in the field or not. But are we sure what this tool involves in our daily life?

We have always considered it a heritage of childhood and adolescence. However, we would be making a very big mistake if we drove out of our lives a capacity that nourishes us with different ideas, particular activities and gives us the strength to be remarkable people.

Creativity increases the possibilities of solving problems

Very often, creativity is devalued or is seen as “a fool’s business” or great geniuses for which it was essential. Fortunately, little by little, we are able to popularize this ability that we actually find in each of us: in some, it is a little more sleepy and in others, a little more awake.

People who have awakened creativity make use of a very rich inner mental world, in which the imagination directs and governs the solution of problems or interesting questions. These people are able to accumulate an infinity of alternatives and different possibilities or paths when faced with the same “problem”.

“ Logic will take you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere. “

-Albert Einstein-

To be creative, we must be permissive with our ideas

Creativity comes from the verb “to create”, and to create is nothing more than the act of inventing or creating a new thing. It is not only found among painters, draftsmen, architects and musicians as we are used to believe. A creative person is one who succeeds in finding original solutions to the problems that arise on a daily basis. The one who asks or asks questions that no one had ever thought of is too.

Many of these people were able to develop their creativity during childhood thanks to the people who participated in their education and who called upon and strengthened their creativity. As an example, let’s take a child who draws a sheep with wings: we know sheep don’t have wings, and it’s even funny to say that.

This is so, sheep have no wings. OK. But what’s the problem if a child draws it this way? Why should we censor his particular “work of art”?

Creativity feeds on rewards, not punishments

Especially in childhood, the process is most important, not the outcome. One should not be in a hurry to qualify the artistic expression or the ideas of the child with words like “good” or “bad”. By doing so, we punish his spontaneity and, therefore, we encourage him to abandon it. If I give my child the freedom to use his imagination in his drawings, he will be able to create other possible alternatives to those that already exist.

This will allow him to develop his ability to imagine and express himself spontaneously. The moment we interfere and interrupt this mark of creativity (“sweetheart, you know that sheep don’t have wings, you didn’t draw them well, I’ll help you erase them”) and do from this interference a habit, the child will cease to express himself in an innocent manner.

“Creativity involves breaking away from established norms and looking at things another way.”

-Edward de Bono-

Let’s strengthen our ability to create solutions!

On the other hand, if I reinforce this inventiveness, this funny idea, I can help him to continue to express what his bubbling imagination wants to offer to the world: “This sheep must be free: he wants to fly!”, “Awesome, like that you help him to fly! ” or “Where does this sheep want to go?”…

“Nothing is freer than the human imagination. “

-David Hume-

All these expressions validate and enhance the child’s way of expressing himself. Using them is a good way to pull on the thread of this ball formed by the imagination, which seems endless to an adult’s eyes.

Being ingenious is not a fool’s business

Many creative adults were given permission to express themselves freely as children, and their authenticity was enhanced. On the other hand, the childhood of people who are now not creative was probably marked by the censorship of these types of manifestations which differ from what is expected or from common sense.

Let us put ourselves in these people’s shoes: if, during their childhood, they did not learn to value what will be useful to them in their adult life, they will eventually learn that it is “a business. crazy people ”and that expressing these kinds of ideas freely can lead them to be taken for unreasonable people.

We live in a world where self-control is put forward and where, in a way, spontaneity is censored. Creativity needs this spontaneity to survive, it needs contact with reality and even to be a source of errors, so we will prevent it from remaining in a corner of our interior like an old object.

Basically, very often we face the fear of trying, of making mistakes in trying and the consequences of our authentic expression. A fear that grows when one occupies specific workstations or when one experiences various situations …

“There would be no creativity without the curiosity that brings us to life and that makes us patiently impatient in the face of the world that we did not create, that we make grow with something that we create. “

-Paulo Freire-

We are born free to express our most whimsical ideas

There is nothing further from the truth than to say that being creative means having a very rich internal world full of alternatives to each of the obstacles that we encounter on the path of life. That means being able to count on a set of resources, with varied colors and multiple textures …

We are not born structured and hermetic, we are born free and with immense power to develop what is ours and what we were born with.

“Creativity is not just for artists, it must be open to everyone. The creator tries to bring new points of view, new ideas and visions so that people can then decide if it seems interesting to them or not. “

-Philippe Starck-

Let’s not be afraid to develop and unleash such a beautiful thing: you will discover yourself by doing things you never thought you could do.