A tiny spark appears on the horizon and is hard to see, and begins to move closer and closer — like a shapeless blob, and when its more closer, a form emerges — form that becomes real and unexpectedly, you are suddenly within the form.
The memory of the creation fades away, evaporates, dissolves, cause now you are a part of the form itself. This is your reality which is continuously growing and shifting
And then another speck appears on the horizon……
This is the essence of a creative mind, something plops up from nowhere, where nothing previously existed, then takes form and becomes a reality.
Countless definitions of creativity are coined by all and sundry, yet the process of creative thinking is simply the ability to see something not seen before, bringing something out of a new rearrangement of the old. The destruction of the old gives birth to the new.
Creativity is firstly all an act of destruction.
We are all creative. Creative potential is human nature, where in some; it’s more developed, while others feel that they are not creative.
Over the past 10-plus years and working with over 45,000 beings, I have been able to identify 7 self defeating blocks that adversely affect our creative thinking ability.
- Break free of the intelligence trap
- If stuck in your own ego, be prepared to lose your creativity
- Create meaningful space
- Do something totally different – think without any box
- If you can’t see the possibility, it doesn’t infer that it exists not
- Challenge your assumptions or you will be enslaved by them
- Assumptions are the death of the possibility.
I am today going to share my learning’s on the first three.
- Break free of the intelligence trap
Logic is a tool invented for certain uses; not the way reality is dealt at most times, despite our conditioning.
Mostly, I tend to believe that intelligence alone is the tool to solve my vexed problems, challenges, faced, whether in professional, social or societal space. And this has led me to believe that innovation, problem solving, productivity and open communication can be handled by using my brain effectively.
Result: Intelligence trap: frustration, confusion, guilt, blame, anxiety
Creative thinking and logic are two sides of the same coin, and the balance between the two is the mark of a thinker that leaps quantum, not transactional.
“ The action of the child inventing a new game with his playmates; Einstein formulating a theory of relativity, housewife devising a new sauce for the meat, a young author penning his first novel, all of these are, in terms of definition, creative and thus there isn’t no attempt to set them in some order of more or less creative’.
Amusingly, most of us hesitate to recognise the breakthrough in our own lives as creative acts, and on asking them whom do you think are creative people they know, they pop up names of ones who are famous. One in a million would say’ Me, I’. Incidentally this reluctance stems from my deep rooted perception that creative acts are the ones that result in something artistic – like book writing, painting, dancing, singing or a scientific breakthrough.
And some of us harbor a negative perception of how creative people, behave, think or look – in most cases our perception is shabbily dressed, unorganized, sleepy looks etc.
Have we ever felt that elation that comes with solving a problem, when the answer just came to us? It transcends logic. This is creativity, and it occurs more often than I can realize. We are creative by nature. Accept the possibility that you are creative and magic will happen.
- If stuck in your own ego, be prepared to lose your creativity.
The creative side of my nature includes intuition, ideas, dreams, fantasy and invention. Without the creative side of my brain, intelligence would be rather a useless too. My creative side is elusive and delicate. Fear and negativity will send for sure, my creative side in a deep slumber. Hence the creative mind needs constant nurturing. There is a tremendous pay off to paying attention to the creative side of my being, because only by using my imagination can I shift my paradigms and bring forth the invisible.
Remember creative ideas come to intuitive person, who can face up to the insecurity of looking beyond the obvious. Ponder, am I that one.
- Create meaningful space
If my mind is empty and is always ready for anything, it’s open to everything- it’s like a beginner’s mind where an avalanche of possibilities exists, rather than of an expert, where only a few remain.
If I have a glass full of water I simply can’t add anything up in it more. Pour out some and I have created room for more. My mind is much the same- creating or making space allows the creative mind to add new ideas.
I am certain that I can logically and deftly justify my busy-ness. One of the greatest gifts of my mind is too invent, create, conceive reasons for what I am doing. This also is a creative act. But being busy doesn’t infer that I am productive or innovative. I would probably feel guilty at the thought of taking time off. Interestingly guilt is just another form of fear that I have not conquered yet. Look around and we observe scores of people who can easily contemplate or meditate without letting the ’shoulds’ creep in.
Feeling guilty is a learned response.
Am I one of them? Ponder. Examine. Reflect
It takes a real commitment on my part to schedule alone time, but I make the time because I have learnt that the pay off always exceeds my expectations. I need to give myself full permission to change my mind and go back to my ’schedule’, but I seldom do.
If I need to develop my creative thinking, ability, imperative for me is to seduce stop time. I need space to flower, doesn’t mean run to Himalayas or ashrams. I need to choose a style of stop time that fits my life style. For me this is my daily meditation. It means just indulging with my own self for 20 minutes a week. If the family is supportive, I may be able to increase its duration- and also take a relaxing break for seven days every six months.
Remember when you put your breaks on, you are forced o confront yourself. Buy-ness is often an unconscious choice to avoid refection.
Lastly, the first step in changing anything is to know and accept that you have chosen it to be what it is. If you can’t accept this on a personal level, agree to it through your understanding that we are all one. Seek and create change not because a thing is wrong but because it no longer makes an accurate statement of who you are.
The author is an executive coach and mentor, Excalibre
ks.ahluwalia@yahoo.com
