Creativity entails being true to you!

Our theme this month is about creative thinking.

Everything blooms and blossoms in Spring and our minds can go through a similar process, brimming with ideas. I've been doing a lot of brainstorming recently, reflecting on what creativity really means. I believe all of us are innately creative beings. Think about it - most of us could draw before we learnt to write as children. Looking back at my childhood, I remember I used to love journalling, making scrapbooks, drawing and basically doing lots of arts and crafts. So to me the word 'creativity' conjures up images of paintbrushes, paints and perhaps scissors, glue and coloured bits of paper. But creativity is not necessarily only about making art, writing or even snapping photos. It encompasses a lot more. What does it mean to you?

Creativity means approaching life with a fresh and original perspective that others haven't considered. It makes us look deep within and brings to light our true self. Essentially, it entails being unique.

It takes time and effort to find our authentic voice but the search is truly rewarding. One way we can begin our creative journey is to tap into our right brain. In her fascinating book, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, Betty Edwards says,

"Inside each of our skulls...we have a double brain with two ways of knowing...The left hemisphere verbalizes, analyzes, abstracts, counts, marks time, plans step-by-step procedures, makes rational statements based on logic, and looks to past experience to approach a new problem...On the other hand, we have a second way of knowing: the right-hemisphere mode. In this mode, we can "see" things in the mind's eye...This, then, is the right hemisphere mode: the intuitive, subjective, relational, holistic, time-free, reality seeing mode....One definition of a creative person is someone who can combine information directly at hand - the ordinary sensory data available to all of us - in new, socially productive ways."

She adds,

"The art of drawing from nature is also useful, as it sharpens and practices our eye, and thereby also our other senses, teaching us to form a true conception of objects, and to represent what we observe, truly and purely, without any addition from the fancy."

New horizons are awaiting! Start brainstorming and discovering what lights up your heart and sparks joy in your life. Look at the world around you with fresh eyes and enjoy the process as you journey forward.

Sara xo

Quote of the month

"There are no short cuts to any place worth going."

(Beverly Sills)

Tips for Creative Thinkers

For those of you who are visual thinkers, Wordle is a great way to brainstorm your ideas.
Engage all your senses.
Gather inspiration from your surroundings (photos, images, tastes, smells, sounds, words, sayings).
Collect your ideas in a scrapbook or pinboard.