Ravia Gupta
In this fast moving world, where life seems to be getting more and more full and crazy, being busy is not an act anymore and you seem to be struggling quite often to snatch a second to catch your breath, or smell the roses or the coffee, so what is that thing which one must do to sigh some relief is what I am hinting at.
Close your eyes and imagine. I insist…close your eyes and imagine a creative you. Yes, you read it right, a creative you! No, I am not talking about Picasso or Einstein at all. All I am talking about is how creative are you or let me put it this way how are you creative in solving various problems that life brings to you as a challenge each day? Aha! sure you all can enjoy this Eureka! Moment, simply because the answer is NO Big Deal for you and you all have your own unique creative geniuses in tackling life’s most difficult tests every now and then.
There is nothing out-of-the-box when it comes to creativity, however, it’s thinking very much within the box and responding to different problems with the existing knowledge. Creativity is all about divergent thinking and it is for sure not found in some special separate part of the brain, which some may have and others may not.
Creativity is not a personality trait, like IQ. It’s based in everyday brain processes that we use in day-to-day tasks, like while shopping, driving or even while trying out a new recipe. We all have the creative building blocks somewhere unexplored within and it’s just a matter of learning how to put them together in a different perspective. Let’s say if I may ask a housewife how many uses are there of a potato, the response will be very venturesome and creative for sure. Besides, the most common example could be that of parenting. However hectic your day may be, parenting a little child especially can be the ultimate opportunity for exercising creativity.
Psychologists across the globe have observed that people with high IQs avoid taking risks in life and often play it safe, while people high on creativity are much freer, more imaginative, often humorous and look at the day-to-day problems from a different lens.
Anybody and everybody has a potential to shine in different situations, anything we do can be addressed in a creative manner, from household job to personal hobbies to work, etc. It’s just a matter of being able to tap that potential and see where it might fit well to be able to reap you benefits. Approach your experiences with an open mind and cultivate the belief that possibilities and solutions are always within reach, and there you go to handle any challenge. In fact studies have also supported that taking up creative pursuits actually makes people more flexible and less judgmental and what better way of living life without being judgmental!
Dr Robert Epstein of Harvard University claims that greater creativity leads to greater happiness. The creative process, a feel factor, may not be a logical or a scientific one, but it aims at finding solutions to various problems that we encounter on daily basis. And it is this process of creating, which becomes a source of happiness for many.
Most people, and not just the advertising guys, possess intelligence and have natural ability of engaging in fulfilling creative processes. Just because you’ll never be Brando or Balanchine doesn’t mean that you can’t create your life your own masterpiece. The very first step to increase your creativity quotient is believing in yourself. So what if you are new to cooking and your cooking is appreciated only by your servants or dogs! So what if you have never been crowned with the “Ms Original” title to anything you have ever done? Ruth Richards, one of the researchers who coined the term everyday creativity feels that engaging in creative behaviours makes one more dynamic, conscious and most importantly brave.
In an American Journal of Public Health and Psychology Today, Danny Gregory, an advertising executive, claims that creativity isn’t a luxury. It’s the essence of life. It’s what distinguishes us from the mush. And it’s why our ancestors survived while other less adaptive creatures perished. They responded to change by being creative in some way, by inventing a new answer to the chaos perhaps.
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