We are All Born Creative

As we are all born unique, so we are all born creative. Creativity is the spontaneous expression of the soul, as unique as fingerprints, yet as common as fingers. We each have our own way of seeing, sensing and doing things.

The problem is, creativity tends to be stamped out of us by the enormous pressure at home and at school to conform, to be like others. Swamped by our outer life, we cease to hear the creative impulse of our inner life.

Yet our creative impulse continues, if hidden, underground. I taught an intensive four-week course on creativity twice at Iowa Wesleyan College. My objective: to assist students to rediscover their innate creative impulse. They sure did. What they discovered above all was that creativity is a process more than a product, a process which energizes and rewards, all who walk down that path.

In order to free up the creative process, three things are absolutely essential:

First: you have to believe in yourself. Regardless of what others may say, you must risk believing in your ability to create whatever you choose, even if it takes time to prove your ability. History is full of artists who received little attention, if not outright criticism while they were alive, only to be recognized by later generations. Examples: Confucius and Van Gogh.

Second: you must reignite and keep alive a child-like awe of the wonders of the world.

Third: you have to like your stuff. You must create things for yourself, first; creativity is thoroughly selfish. You have to enjoy the entire process, from beginning to end.

With these in place, you are ready for the creative process, which has these elements:

1. Desire: if you don’t desire the process and products, don’t do it.

2. Permission: you have to give yourself permission to create.

3. Let it happen: creativity has its own life. You must let it unfold freely, unafraid.

4. Suspend judgment: you cannot create and criticize at the same time. Evaluate later the relative merits of what you have created. First you must create unhindered. As a writer, I first write without concern about merit; then I rewrite, to hone my words. And I enjoy rewriting as much or more than the initial draft.

5. Create what is there: give ideas a chance to grow and define themselves. Something that initially seems foolish might become valuable later.

6. Learn to wait and be patient: creativity has its own pace; don’t rush or pressure the process.

7. Listen: when it comes, hear and shape as you go. The philosopher Nietzsche said, “When it comes, you don’t ask from where; you just take it.”

8. Continue creating: stay with something until it is finished, finished for that day at least. You can rework it tomorrow.

9. Create every day: creativity thrives when you work in a regular, disciplined manner. If you can create daily and at the same time, your inner process will be ready at that hour to work with and through you.

10. Practice: There is no substitute for the frequency of training, the steady labor of giving birth. As a writer, the more I write, the better I believe I get at it.

11.There is no bad product: just because something may not be ready to be published or placed in a museum, does not mean it is insignificant for you or your loved ones.

12. Enjoy: take pleasure in the process and its products. You are never more alive.