You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.
~ Maya Angelou
Creative energy begets creative energy.
It’s true! As cliche as it may sound, Maya Angelou was right. It is unending and ever growing so long as you take it out for a stroll on a regular basis. It’s like a muscle. The more you strengthen it the more, well… the more it strengthens!
Few of us would call ourselves, “artists,” (yes envision my air quotes and eye rolls as you read that) but few of us would either say that we never had an original idea. Creativity, as an innate human characteristic, has been at the center of major human catastrophes through history, and it’s been at the center of major periods of progress. It shows up in the kitchen, in the woods, in the studio, and even in the bathroom (don’t tell me you don’t have moments of inspiration while in the shower). It’s everywhere all the time.
We have simply forgotten how to call upon it.
Like with any skill, calling upon our innate creativity can be learned and developed. It can be honed and shaped until we wield it like a tool, or super power… yeah, a super power. Creativity is sort of like a super power now that I think about it, and if there’s one thing I know, it’s that super powers like attention. They like it when we use them often and when we present them with challenges that change and morph. They like variety and suspense, risk and novelty, and they like to know that they will get those things consistently.
It may not seem like a logical match – consistency and novelty, risk, and suspense. But sometimes logic is overrated, especially in the realm of creativity.
In December I embarked on an experiment in consistency, novelty, and logic. I enrolled in a course in which I would create one art journal page per day between December 1-24. It was to be a daily routine in which I would take the offered prompt and make of it as I wish. It was initially seen as a means of slowing down during a frenzied time of the year, and do something “just for me.” I was intrigued by the idea of creating a consistent art practice that was truly just for me, and not intended for anyone else’s eyes (ahem… social media). The surprising level of freedom that came from knowing I wasn’t trying to create a masterpiece or even something that looked good was more than liberating. It was something of an epiphany.
Create for myself? Allow for the process to be messy and the end product ugly?
What a concept! For each day that followed, I shed more and more of my concern about the outcome of the page, and found myself more and more absorbed by the process.
It’s easy enough to say we ought to trust the process. It’s a wholly different thing to actually do it.
Of the pages from those initial 24 days of art journaling, I think there was only one that I thought would be “social media worthy,” but all of the pages screamed freedom and self and process. It reminded me of what drew me to creativity and art as a child – from words and dance as a preschooler though young adulthood, to paints and pencils as a less young adult. It was the self-discovery and the process of making something out of nothing; the satisfaction that came from knowing my creations were unique to me, my space in time, and my experiences.
Creativity should be messy. It should be beautiful and imperfect and really messy. It can be for others, but it should begin for ourselves. It’s wholly individual, yet utterly universal. It says what words cannot always articulate and it is so much more than a finished product.
I’ve seen glimpses of the super powers that reside in me, and in those who have generously shared more intimate moments of their creative process with me, and I am both humbled and pretentious about the whole matter.
Know that creativity is in you, and the world would love to see it. Flex your creative super powers and see what happens! And if you want an encouraging nudge to start you along your journey, consider looking up Kasia’s courses. Her encouraging and un-intimidating approach is sure to offer you an opportunity to unleash your inner artist, bashful as s/he may be in the beginning.
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