Navé is fond of saying that creativity is a species imperative.
I agree. As some of you may have heard me say, the first quality to emerge in my psychotherapy clients was almost always that of creativity. Not everyone came in as an artist but many left as one. For some the canvas they painted was their own personality. Others blossomed into the artists and artisans they had always longed to be. For some it was the art that mattered and for others it was the process of creating.
Just like the characteristics of any given medium impose parameters on the artist, our assumptions about art and the creative life provide limitations within which we work. Sometimes those parameters leave us constrained, unable to access the creative flow within us. Other times the lack of parameters leaves us adrift without focus, commitment or purpose.
When our emerging definitions provide healthy limits within which to operate we can delve deeply into our creativity, fulfilling more of our potential than when we define our boundaries too narrowly or have none at all.
Each of us will have a unique and nuanced definition of what it means to be creative and to live a creative life. If you’re like most creatives it is also an evolving and transformative inquiry that continues throughout our lives. Often that evolution happens quite naturally. Other times we may inadvertently lock ourselves into definitions we have since outgrown.
What matters is that you have a definition and a vision to inform and guide your creative pursuits while at the same time making room for your personal parameters to evolve.
Some questions worth considering are…
What is a creative life?
How do you define creative success?
Where do you derive your satisfaction in the creative process? Is it the end result? Or is it the process?
How much value do you derive from how others see what you create?
Do the parameters you’ve defined allow you to feel challenged creatively or are they smothering you?
I’d love to hear your thoughts so feel free to share your responses below.
Talk soon,
