The Creative Mind

Creating may often include anxiety and other sorts of fear. We need to develop courage and learn how to deal with these feelings to be more fully creative.

One idea from Eric Maisel: “All day long we’re supposed to get things right: pay our bills, pick up our kids, and so on. It is very hard to move from this everyday mindset to a creative mindset where huge mistakes and messes are permitted and even welcomed."

Many people with exceptional creative abilities have used drugs and alcohol, as self-medication, or as a way to supposedly enhance thinking and creativity.

A Medical News Today story reports this is a “dangerous myth” – and drugs can actually stifle creativity.

A little blatant self-promotion: This is a new cover I made for my main book: "Developing Multiple Talents: The personal side of creative expression."

One of the quotes on the front page of the book site: “If there is one word that makes creative people different from others, it is the word complexity. Instead of being an individual, they are a multitude.” - Creativity researcher Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.

See reviews and excerpts by following the link above.

Creativity coach Eric Maisel provides in an online course real answers to challenges that confront you as an artist, both personally and in the marketplace.

On living a creative life: "Get a clear picture of what it takes to deal with the emotional ups and downs and practical realities of a life in the arts. Learn how to make solid sense of the challenges of your own personality, the challenges inherent in the work of creating, and the challenges of culture and marketplace." [Photo: glass artist Ginny Ruffner]

How much we develop creative talents is impacted by many things. And some people - successful in other areas - feel a deep frustration if they don't create.

Psychologist Eric Maisel notes that for creative people, not creating can lead to depression.

“Art is never finished, only abandoned.” - That quote (attributed to both Leonardo da Vinci and Picasso) is most likely about the process of creating a piece of work – but what about abandoning even the attempt to create something: a painting, novel, smart phone app, new business, or anything substantial?

Of course there are conditions – such as extreme poverty, physical and mental ailments, living as a refugee – that affect how much opportunity people have to do work of various kinds, including creative expression.

And what if your talents and intelligence have gained success for you in an area that is not particularly creative, but still, deep down, you have a passion to create?

“The practice of any art isn’t to make a living, it’s to make your soul grow.” - Kurt Vonnegut

Shyness, introversion and high sensitivity are different, but can overlap and interact. There are many resources for helping us thrive with these traits.

[Photo from video: "Susan Cain: Networking For Introverts" – with Marie Forleo.]

To be creative at times feels like an almost effortless flow, but creative work may also require a high level of courage and boldness.

David Kelley initially imagined that the d.school he founded would help law school students become more open-minded lawyers, and MBA students more innovative business people. And that has been true.

Psychologists and creativity experts think curiosity is a fundamental aspect of facilitating creativity.

Psychologist Todd Kashdan says, “Curiosity has been neglected, even though there are few things in our arsenal that are so consistently and highly related to every facet of well-being — to needs for belonging, for meaning, for confidence, for autonomy, for spirituality, for achievement, for creativity.”

Many multitalented people are accomplished and active – even exceptional – in more than one area of creative expression.

Margaret Lobenstine writes in her book “The Renaissance Soul” about people – often gifted and talented – whose main career choice is “Please don’t make me choose!” and whose underlying passion is to “constantly redefine our passions.”

If you are a creative person, you are compelled to some extent to engage your mind and talents in doing creative work, despite setbacks and frustrations.

"Are young Americans losing their creativity? Research in recent years has suggested just that, seeming to show that they're less creative now in decades past--despite the fact that intelligence, as measured by IQ tests, continues to rise. Now, though, researchers have discovered that the dynamics of creativity may not break down as simply as that."

Beliefs can be casual thoughts, but also ingrained attitudes about life and abilities, and affect how much we develop creativity and pursue other interests.

Stephen King recalls his high school teacher’s critique of his writing: “Why write junk like this… You’re talented. Why do you want to waste your abilities?” King goes on to admit [in his book "On Writing"]: “I have spent a good many years since — too many, I think — being ashamed about what I write."

Author David Burkus addresses many of the myths of creativity, which often get in the way of personal creative work, and business innovation.

"We say we want more creativity, but when we are presented with new ideas, we have a hard time recognizing their utility. This is something I see in almost all organizations.”

Author and consultant Michael Gelb provides strategies for enhancing creative thinking, based on Edison and Da Vinci as well as research.

Gelb comments, “Thomas Edison is the best example for those who wish to nurture the spirit of innovation in an organization.  More than the light bulb, phonograph and motion picture camera, Edison’s greatest invention was the process of systematic innovation."

Many artists use creative expression to explore and express pain in life, but does creative work itself have to be painful for most of us?