Creativity is Curiosity
As I was cleaning the house recently, I had a great idea for this letters series. Before I could record the idea it had evaporated into thin air. I have been chasing that idea for days, it has grown in significance the further I get from it, even though I can’t remember any details except that it was great. It is a strange thing, to capture ideas. Ideas often come to you at the most inconvenient and least creative times. I have been a little distracted from my creative endeavours over recent days, but in my unconscious mind, the ideas seem to appear like butterflies floating past my inefficient net of a brain, catching them briefly and inadvertently letting them slip through the net, distracted by something else momentarily.
Speaking of butterflies, that seemingly unconscious metaphor I just used, is most definitely inspired by the abundance of migrating Caper White butterflies which have been blown from the Great Dividing Range to the east coast in recent days. I adore butterflies, and there is nothing more mesmeric than watching vast numbers of butterflies floating in the breeze. This massive migratory wave only occurs every 6-10 years. I was lucky enough to see the last one in Sydney in 2016. But I digress, you see, distracted again by butterflies and metaphors. Back to creativity. It comes as no surprise that my creativity is almost exclusively related to nature. My writing is essentially one giant nature metaphor and any other creative explorations relate to nature somehow. As obvious as it may seem, nature as a metaphor is a simple truth for me.
Despite the easy access to my creative inspiration in my current home surrounded by ocean and bush, creativity won't necessarily naturally arise just because of my environment. The creative process is different for everyone. It can be a source of great pleasure and satisfaction it can also be a source of deep frustration and self-doubt. Much like nature, creativity is not static and is unpredictable. But you can develop creativity as a practice like a muscle routinely flexed the more you create, the easier it becomes. A simple, regular act of creative thinking in whatever form it takes.
Creativity is about wonder, curiosity and imagination. Not all artists are creative and not all creatives are artists. Creativity is not exclusively related to art, it is about finding, exploring and seeing the possibilities for new and different ways of doing things. Everyone has the capacity for creativity, and to use curiosity to inspire and evolve their thinking. Our narrow view of creativity is restrictive, we see creativity as belonging exclusively to artists, role model creators in our lives are those that are successful in careers dedicated to art, and those that suffer for their art or with it, we see that creativity is for some people and not others, we see that creative expression must be shared to be valid, that earning a living from creativity is almost impossible etc.
We celebrate creative thinking in these restrictive forms, and there is creative gate-keeping and commercial interest in presenting creativity in exclusive and elusive ways. This limited thinking around creativity is…well…oxymoronic! And yet it exists, preventing so many people from exploring creativity and its infinite potential.
Naturally, even successful artists and people who make a living in creative ways struggle with creativity. It can be elusive, and our busy lives can get in the way but a dedicated space to have fun and explore creativity is accessible to anyone. Julia Cameron speaks about creative/artists dates in her book The Artist's Way, carving out solo time each week to explore creative ideas and forms and enjoy creativity in whatever way you want. It is a simple clever practice. I am a devotee of one of her other brilliant daily practise of creativity, the Morning pages. This is free-writing/journaling first thing in the morning before you start your day, with no agenda other than to let your mind wander onto the page and observe what arises.
There are so many ways to be and explore creativity, and scientifically there are a squillion studies to support the many benefits of creative thinking. Creativity is not for the few, it is for everyone. If you struggle with the idea of not being creative or not being good enough to explore an idea or dream you have had to create something, embrace it. If you are stuck, my failsafe method is to go into nature, find inspiration and bring it back to your creative practice.
Creativity is generative, healing, ever-evolving, and ever-changing, it's a practice of self-care, of exploration and wonder.