I love working with creative clients…both the one’s who realize they are creative AND those that might not realize it when we begin. I know in my heart that we are all born as creative beings. That’s why it’s vital for any and all of us to learn to cultivate the 3 P’s of Creativity!
Somewhere between childhood and adulthood, many of us are taught that we are not creative or that creativity is not as important as other skills.
Oh how wrong this is!
This is simply not true! But I can relate to not feeling creative…I would even go so far as to say I have experienced “Falling out of Love” with my creativity. This happens when we try to be creative, we pressure ourselves into thinking we have to do, create or invent something specific.
When it comes to creativity, remove the words TRY, DO and INVENT from your vocabulary.
Replace them with the three P’s below…
I personally experienced creative burn out after 15 years of commercial design in the textile industry. I choose to leave because I wanted to fall back in love with the creative process and find my personal creative voice again, which I’m still in the process of re-discovering and it will take as long as it takes…maybe the rest of my life!
I recently had several ah-ha moments about my own creativity…one was while I was meditating and it’s something I’ve heard other people talk about but at this moment it clicked for me and I realized I am not responsible for my creations, I do not own them, my ego doesn’t get to be proud of them or disappointed by them…my creations move through me-they do not come FROM me. I also realized that I can let go of any LABELS of who I am (artist, designer, craft person etc). What a release! I felt a huge burden had been lifted from my shoulders.
I am now truly free to use and further cultivate the 3 P’s of creativity. These are the aspects of creating that I cultivate and without them I am lost:
Practice-I practice creating, creating is my practice!
Patience-I am patient with my creations-they can not be rushed or judged!
Play-Creativity is Play-release the outcome and experience the playfulness of creating again, like a child!
There’s one more P I think I should mention here…Perfectionism. This one thing can KILL creativity faster than a hard freeze on a tender plant so PLEASE don’t hold your creativity to any type of perfectionism. Learn from your mistakes, keep it playful, keep your patience and keep practicing!