Creativity 1 and Creativity 2

Creativity 1: It’s Always

There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning. – Louis L’Amour

“Each one of us is a blend of life and death. In the most literal sense, our bodies always contain old cells that are dying and new cells that are emerging as replacements. From a more metaphorical perspective, our familiar ways of seeing and thinking and feeling are constantly atrophying, even as fresh modes emerge. Both losing and winning are woven into every day; sinking down and rising up; shrinking and expanding. In any given phase of our lives, one or the other polarity is usually more pronounced.”

“There is no path that goes all the way.” Hang Shen, Daoist poet.

Creativity 2: Question: Creativity = new ideas + new decisions. What else do we call it and where is it used?

Other names for creativity

• invention, innovation, humour, entrepreneurship, surprise
• unexpected, novelty, originality, new, improved, game changer
• personal expression, new uses, new perspectives
• evolution, revolution, incremental change, disruptive change
• improvisation, negotiation, stabilization, facilitation, strategic plan

Where used

• research, product development
• raising children, teaching, budgeting
• relationship building, health and lifestyle
• caring for others, caring for self
• politics, sport, entertainment, media, business
• science, technology, psychology, urban planning
• travel, sustainability, economics, arts
• networking, questioning, hypothesizing, wondering
• speaking, writing, learning, playing
• at home, at work, at school, in community, when shopping, when selling…

 

World Creativity and Innovation Week (WCIW) is April 15 – 21.  It’s a time for you to bring your creativity into the spotlight; to use new ideas and make new decisions that make your world a bit more satisfying – without, of course, causing harm.  What might you do during WCIW in 2011 make the world a better place and to make your place in the world better too?

Related Articles

• Muscles Remember Past Glory (wired.com)
  

  Pumping up is easier for people who have been buff before, and now scientists think they know why — muscles retain a memory of their former fitness even as they wither from lack of use.  hm…Do we have same capacity for our creativity?

• Book Review: Your Creative Brain: Seven Steps to Maximize Imagination, Productivity, and Innovation in Your Life by Shelley Carson, Ph.D. (blogcritics.org)
  

  Your Creative Brain shows how to expand the marvelous human brain to move from ordinary problem solving to great creative skill. Author Shelley Carson’s concept of creativity recognizes a creative idea or product needs to be novel or original, and has to be useful or adaptive. We should be able to apply these elements to any aspect of life to increase our productivity and happiness.
• We Need to Rethink How We View Creativity (futurelab.net)
  

  When we think of creativity at an individual level we think of moments of inspiration, big ideas, free-flowing associations, uninhibited thinking.

• After the Show: The Many Faces of the Performer (psychologytoday.com)
  

  Creativity researchers aren’t so confused. They have long-ago accepted the fact that creative people are complex. Almost by definition, creativity is complex. Creative thinking is influenced by many traits, behaviors, and sociocultural factors that come together in one person (see “Could Michael Jackson Have Created Twitter?”). It would be surprising if all of these factors didn’t sometimes, or even most of the time, appear to contradict one another.