Creativity: WHAT is it, HOW does it Work, and Do we WANT it?

Creativity: What IS it?

Creativity, an essential factor in human development, is the inclination to see and (especially in humans) to imagine possibilities. Inclination, rather than an ability, because creativity requires us to incline or tilt our abilities in the direction of new or alternative, possibilities.

Creativity can be hard to recognize. From the outside looking in, it's hard to tell if that person who's been looking for hours into the distance is a DaVinci inventing a flying machine or just a slacker. Even from the inside, it may be hard to recognize creativity. We may work our brains for hours without results, give up and go to walk off in frustration. We may think we've given up when the creative "Ah-ha!, " pops in to surprise us. Or, too often, there may be no "ah-ha" experience because we tend to discount creative ideas as trivial or impossible. That's where the inclination to bend directions and see around corners helps.

Our creative process may be working while not yet yielding a product. Who knows what goes into your creative process? But we can pay attention to what works for each of us. I'm pretty sure that creativity happens in all imaginable ways ... and in ways, as yet, unimagined.

Where Does Creativity Live?

Everywhere and anywhere. It lives on the streets in graffiti and street art, in home-making, chef's kitchens or campfires, in science and exploration, in all kinds of arts and crafts. Typically, creativity has no set location or career.

But I've also noticed, in my travels, that relatively secluded natural spots, tend to attract creative people, those who like the vastness of ocean, the nearness of nature, and who can easily fill the absence of big-city buzz and stimulation with their own interests, ideas, and activities. Maybe that's because I live and work on one such island. Saturna Island is the southern-most of the Canadian Gulf Islands (between Vancouver and Victoria, B.C.) It's in a lovely and temperate archipelago that joins the San Juan Islands in the USA (off WA). I've written and made videos about Saturna on my website and social media. It's currently the inspiration for this musing on creativity.

Some conditions gently nurture creativity. But necessity also can be the harsh mother of invention. Creativity arises under the necessities of a harsh life as well as a nurturant one. But harsh circumstances are not typically where creativity thrives. To be creative, we must be able to explore, move in new directions, make mistakes and learn from them. If the environment is too harsh, rigid, or demanding, it shuts down these opportunities and restricts creative possibilities.

Do We Really WANT Creativity?

Mountains of papers and books have addressed the question of what creativity is and how to foster it. We seem to value creativity and to want more of it. Maybe so, but maybe NOT. Creativity in the classroom isn't always encouraged when it sidelines the lesson plan. Creativity in business has generally been valued only when it enhances productivity and sales. In bureaucracies and governments, creativity can seem contrary to the ruling system or head of state. Some systems mandate conformity and consistency and stamp out any imbalance (dis-equilibration) that creativity can cause to the status quo. So, some of our systems and some of us really do not want creative thinking, products, or actions to rock our boat.

If our attention is all on the product or outcome (the item that sells, the bottom line, the rules, the forms and conventions to be followed) , we tend to repeat or mimic whatever produces that product. That's OK if the product OK, but it is not typically how creativity works. Perhaps there is no "typically" in the recipe, given all the subjective factors in creative process. But we have learned that some conditions tend to assist and others to resist creativity in many different areas of work and life.

imagining a creative process

Failure and Creativity

Most of us wish to be successful at something important to us. We tend to regard success and failure as opposites. It's unpleasant, and even shameful for some, to experience what we think (and others tell us) is failure. We need to revise this attribution if we care to creative. Because creativity requires an inclination to move in directions not yet fully mapped, these directions are open to mis-steps and mistakes.

Evidence for such insights are being noted by major corporate ventures like Apple and Google. Creative attempts that don't result in the desired outcome might be seen as failures. But these corporate giants have initiated work environments that promote the creative process by encouraging making mistakes and failure. How else, really, to get through uncharted territory? It probably also increases production to work without fear that a mistake may jeopardize your career progress. Just as lightning doesn't strike every metal rod, creativity cannot always be expected to result in the desired product. Edison tried many versions before the lightbulb worked. Mistakes are instructive. We can actively re-think "failed" attempts as telling us something about how to re-align our creative direction. Even unsuccessful attempts can lead us to alternative, possibly fruitful directions and destinations.

Creative Process and Product

Creativity is an open-ended, multi-directional process. We can't be guaranteed a predicted or even a welcome result, but the process opens paths to new possibilities.  In a creative process alternatives remain open. Even an end-product or "mistake" may remain open to creative consideration. That's how a failed glue that didn't stick much became the "Post-it" notes phenomenon!

Imagination, musing, meandering, messing, and digressing seem part of the creative process. The process both solves problems and often sparks new ones. It may feel like sculpting in mud. Or perhaps the process is foggy and incoherent, like walking through dimly lit, unfamiiliar territory.

Allowing some unfettered moments of mind space may stimulate creative process. Certainly, , a level of skill, relevant information, and experience help to spark creative products ac But generating creativity also requires playfulness (a non goal-directed attitude ) and play, an activity valued just for itself in the doing of it. Exploration, and permission to falter helps when taking the risks inevitable in the creative process.

At its best, we can experience the creative process as a vital kind fun or positive energy when fully engaged in seeking a solution to something interesting. And it occurs in all endeavors: science, arts, gardening, the trades. In short, creativity is an asset in all we think, do, and imagine.

Risk Being Creative

From my perspective, I don't think creativity works for us on demand. But I think it can be cajoled. How? By cultivating an attitude of freedom of mind, openness to considering alternatives, different perspectives, little breaks from our usual patterns of doing and thinking. Traveling (real or imagined) can lead to new ways of seeing and thinking. So can risking possible flops in our desired outcome or product.. Maybe our own creative process knows more about the direction to go in than our current attitudes and desires do.

Creativity is Re-generative

Given all the risk-taking involved in being actively creative, why not credit ourselves a little when doing things that don't seem immediately useful but that plow the field for creative sprouts? Writing this post, for instance, seems like one such moment for me, and I wanted to share it with you. Perhaps reading this post has stimulated some of your own creative thinking?

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