Are you a creative person?
Creativity is an aesthetic concept, it is an idea that can be seen, heard and felt. In other words it involves seeing, hearing and feeling. Creativity is a spark of imagination...
by Dr. Veena Shekar, [veenashekar@chitralakshana.com] she is an art-historian and web designer. A voracious and avid reader of various subjects, Veena Shekar developed a keen interest and passion for art and art related subjects. This passion was enhanced further when she went to Paris in 1990, where she studied a few art courses. Her two years stay in the art-loving country immensely helped her pursue her career in the field of art-history. Shekar holds a double post-graduate degree in English Literature and art-history and a post-graduate diploma in Journalism. She was awarded doctorate for her thesis " A study of historical paintings of karnataka between 1780 and 1830" in the year 2002. She is currently working on the manuscript for publication. As a visiting lecturer at many art institutions of Bangalore, Veena Shekar’s contribution to art in general is note-worthy. She has been contributing to various magazines, newspapers and journals on human interest and art related topics and has designed a few art related websites worthy of mention.She is presently residing in Bangalore, India.
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Updated On: 3/23/2007

Am I creative? As we ask ourselves this question we will realize that this is perhaps the best exercise we could have to rejuvenate our energies. Every one of us is creative. Every living, breathing human being has the potential to be creative. “It comes with the territory of being a human being”. Whether one labels us as creative or not we have the urge and the need to be creative. And we certainly are not talking of creating a flying machine or an atom bomb. The reference here is to simple everyday creativity that involves novelty, fun, and happiness and that which is not the same as routine.

Creativity is an aesthetic concept. It is an idea that can be seen, heard and felt. In other words it involves seeing, hearing and feeling. Creativity is a spark of imagination. It was the creativity inside the Spanish artist Picasso that made him remove the seat of his bicycle, and place the handlebars above it and call it ‘the bull’s head’. It appears very simple. But it is really not so. It is only a great stroke of imagination that could have achieved something as excellent as this. Nor is Marcel Duchamp’s ‘fountain’, in which he merely inverts the toilet commode. 

We should recall how as children we often would look at clouds and imagine them to be strange faces. Often mountains and tree barks resemble human forms. These are part of creative imagination at the basic level. So creativity in its initial stage is just a thought. When the thought evolves into an idea and when the idea is executed it become a creation. However, not all things made turn out to be unique creations. Here we have to understand the difference between making and creating. While everyone can make only a few can actually create. What is essential then for creating is originality. Now, this originality lies in looking at the same thing as everybody else but thinking differently as Picasso did. This thinking of what nobody else has thought of before is what makes us original. So, originality is the basic criteria for anything to be called creative. 

While all have the basic creative urge only some succeed in truly being one. How is it that some are more creative than others?

• Some people act on their ideas immediately while others ignore them. Ideas always come to us and many times in a flash. It may not be possible to act immediately. Instead we could write them down in a diary and look them up later.
• Some people are encouraged to express their creative ability more than others. Most of us have the tendency to act only when motivated. We often need to be told that we are the best to get us going. 
• Many times a talent in a person goes unrecognized. Most parents do not think highly of the talents of their children if it is not academic. They rather want their children to grow up according to their likes and interests. 

These always act subconsciously in our minds and hamper us from doing anything creative. Many people also find excuses of lack of time, or being more involved in their profession such as medicine or science. A person who is creative in his profession can also be creative in other areas. The best example is that of the great Renaissance master Leonardo Da Vinci, who tried his hand at everything. He was famous for his scientific theories as well as his artistic innovations. Leonardo actually anticipated many discoveries of modern times. In anatomy he studied the circulation of the blood and the action of the eye. He made discoveries in meteorology and geology, learned the effect of the moon on the tides, foreshadowed modern conceptions of continent formation, and surmised the nature of fossil shells. 

Artists are called creative because they often work with materials that have no shape of their own. The artist assigns a form to the material according to his idea as a means of expression. This idea would originally be an emotion or a feeling the artist had. Just as the artist, each one of us human beings has emotions, feelings and experiences and is separated individually. We all act and feel differently to a given experience. We can express our emotions in any manner we like and feel we are good at. When people empathizing with our emotions accept our expressions we are called creative. The process of creativity then becomes an experience of joy. 

Factors that curtail creativity

• Spending more time in popular culture- most of us have the habit of spending hours before the Television (appreciating the creativeness of others) watching movies or listening to music. Involving in similar activity everyday can cause addiction and lessen the scope of learning new things.
• Fear of rejection- it is often the fear of rejection that restricts us from expressing our ideas. I know a lot of people who write poetry but never show it to others.
• Stress and routine- stress from routine everyday activities and daily routine can also put us off from doing or thinking anything new.
• Beliefs- Beliefs or preconceived notions from childhood curbs us from accepting new ideas, new thoughts or theories.
• Self criticism-We always expect the best from ourselves. When I asked my Doctor friend why he doesn’t paint, he answered immediately that he was a lousy painter. He had come to a conclusion about himself even before trying.

These are but a few factors that curtail our creative behavior. Above all, lethargy and the tendency to relax or expectation of a splendid response to one’s new idea and not getting one could also be a major reason. When we are creative there is no guarantee that the world will acknowledge us, but it would provide the satisfaction of living a creative life. Creative ability is such that it can be learned, improved upon and increased over time. So here are a few ways to boost one’s creativity.

Tips to boost one’s creativity

• What do you normally do in your spare time? Read books? Watch a movie? Play tennis? Well, for a change try writing poetry or take some colours and paint. I have seen parents, coming out with fantastic creations when their children stuff some coloured clay into their hands and insist they create an animal for them to play. 
• When you have decided to paint you will realize how exciting an experience it can be. Here are a few guidelines you could follow- Look around you, observe everything.
• Experiment freely, shred your fears.
• Don’t anticipate too much from yourself- Johann Benthin my art tutor often used to tell me that I expect too much from myself and that was the greatest hindrance to my career as an artist. That is probably the reason why I became an art historian instead. No one expects you to paint like Rembrandt or Monet. So be you.
• Don’t keep your ideas pent up inside you. Let them come out. The baseline for creativity is expression. When you speak your thoughts openly and legibly you become a great orator. When you write down your thoughts you become a writer. Try to write about a simple incident that happened in your life. You may be surprised to find that you can do it quite well.

How often have you come across an idea that rested in your mind for a long time being presented by someone else? When ideas emerge, you need to express them immediately, in whichever medium you choose to express. That should be a guideline. For the great scholar Rabindranath Tagore merely expressing his thoughts and emotions via poetry or novels was not enough. Today we know of him as a great painter as well. The Indian poetess Kamala Das turned into a painter overnight, as she could not express her ideas in one medium alone.

• Motivation- from self and from others.
• Always try to provide a novel response to a problem.
• Generate ideas in public.
• Surround yourself with people who will encourage you and appreciate your efforts.
• Try and have varied interests and travel often to unseen places.
• Spend more time with yourself –meditate and relax when in stress.
• To boost creative thinking, many psychologists have suggested brainstorming. This is known to solve many problems and generate new ideas. Brainstorming is a group technique for generating new, useful ideas and promoting creative thinking. It can be used to help 1) define what project or problem to work on, 2) to diagnose problems, 3) resolve a project by coming up with possible solutions and to identify possible resistance to proposed solutions.
• Draw doodles-this can be a very interesting exercise. Doodles are scribbles or lines on paper that can take meaningful shapes as you play with them. By adding some lines here and there, your scribble would suddenly take on a meaningful form of an animal or a human. Try it out.

So this is all about being creative. Gear up then for a new start that is fresh and invigorating. Life is learning and creative learning can make life more fun and more interesting. So, when we are capable of making our life and others interesting, then why not?

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