If I asked you were you creative, how would you answer?
Many of us stopped seeing ourselves as creative a long time ago and yet the truth is whilst it might be that you’re no great shakes as an artist or couldn’t pen a poem to save your life, well you might if the situation was that dire, nevertheless you are truly abundantly creative.
You create the most important, most magical thing of all each and every day. Your life.
How much of a priority is this, your life creation? Do you have tools available to change your life?
Does it come first and if not, why the heck not?
Granted there are times when we’re not consciously creating, but conscious or not, creativity is always happening and we’re either being dragged along sometimes through the mire of our creations or, leading the way, with banners of life-affirming creativity flying.
Your current results are an expression of your level of awareness, of your current creative state. Not to be judged but to be noticed.
Are your results what you’d like them to be?
No?
Then are you ready to take your innate creative abilities to the next level? Ready for some creative tactics to boost your creativity and change your life?
Then it’s time to shake things up a little.
1. Entertaining new ideas to change your life
Daring ideas are like chessmen moved forward: they may be beaten, but they may start a winning game, said Goethe.
But what does this really mean.
Look at life as a wonderful adventure, and just as we think mainly from the ideas in our habit, subconscious mind, we act from those very same ideas.
And old ideas lead us to the same old experiences.
Life is set up this way, our actions stem from our subconscious habit mind, which is why we need to stay focused on living an amazing life, from the new amazing ideas we have, so our actions will lead us to amazing results.
It’s time to stop conforming to the expectations of others or your old thought patterns, probably handed down to you in childhood, and allow your wonderful unique genius and creativity to flow.
You might think you’re open to new things, but unless you have new ideas to think from, you’re just in the same place, going round and around in a giant circle.
What we need to do is begin deliberately looking for new ideas.
Ask yourself this:
Am I entertaining new ideas?
Am I creative?
Do I trust my instincts?
If we don’t believe that we have great thoughts from which to think each and every day, then it’s pretty tricky to see ourselves exploring new and different ways of being and doing.
Why bother? We have nothing new to offer.
Ahah but begin seeing yourself as the magnificent creative being that you are, the one who thinks great thoughts and suddenly you’ll find yourself acting accordingly. Remember our actions stem from the thoughts we habitually think.
Seemingly out of the blue you’ll have lots of bright and shiny new ideas, or a brand new solution to a situation that’s been hanging on in your world for ever.
We can never rise above the concept we have of ourselves. Our self-talk is more than a little chat, it’s a self fulfilling prophecy. Speak good things over your life.
To make any deliberate changes you need to begin to create a new prophecy for yourself by reprogramming your habit mind with thoughts of your creativity, your great ideas. A pile of rocks is simply that until someone has the idea to turn it into something beautiful…an architectural joy.
And you Dear Ones are brimming over with brilliance and genius, you simply need to see yourself that way.
New experiences await. How exciting is that?
2. Shake things up
It’s time to not only change our habit of thinking about us and our place in the world, it’s time to disrupt it.
I was at a seminar where Wayne Dyer told of his experience as a small child at school where his teacher was always saying he was a scurvy elephant. Eventually he told his foster parents and since they couldn’t make any sense out of it they naturally went and asked the teacher in question. What she was actually saying was that little Wayne was a disruptive element. He thought that was cool.
And disrupting the routines in our life can be a pretty cool tactic to shake up our creativity.
Get up at the same time every day? Switch it up.
The point is to live. Really live life, not simply follow a routine that we programmed for ourselves until it became a habit.
We want to live more consciously, to unleash more creativity and switch off those automatic, robot like routines that keep us marching on the spot, seemingly moving, but going nowhere.
Take the same route to work or school every day? Find a new one.
Eat lunch at the same time…pick a different time.
Change the time you go to bed, the time you get up.
Before bed, change your nighttime routine.
Be daring.
Consciously choose to switch up your routine in a way that’s sensible for you. No need to get up at the crack of dawn if you don’t get to bed till 3 in the morning.
Begin to see a new way of living and live it.
3. What do you see right now?
We all see our assumptions about the world, in our world.
We see things that we’ve accepted as true, without even investigating.
For many of us, our assumptions are so deeply entrenched that it doesn’t occur to us to question them, or look further afield. Let’s challenge ourselves to look deeper.
Good job the most innovative people on our planet throughout the centuries were willing to challenge the assumptions of their day.
Otherwise we might be without our planes and trains and automobiles and all the technology that today we take for granted.
The day we begin to look more closely at what we’ve simply assumed to be so, is the moment we move onto a new path of creativity.
Challenging what we’ve assumed to be the reality in front of us is inviting the spark of creativity to become a flame, since it forces us to look beyond the appearance of things or beyond what appears to be obvious.
People tend to see only what they think to see. Every time we look at something in our world, we make assumptions about the reality in front of us.
Funnily enough those assumptions don’t even have to be true, but that seeming reality gets perpetuated through our daily life.
Our life is based on the assumptions we make and once we’ve made up our minds that they’re valid, well look out, because we’ll live our lives by them.
But they’re only assumptions, not set in stone, and to live creatively it’s necessary for us to recognize that. Because without being willing to check our assumptions at the door, the way to unleashing new creative ways to live and be, are blocked.
And there we are stifling all that innate creative brilliance that can lead to breakthroughs and new and novel ways to view and live in our world.
Give yourself the gift of seeing with fresh eyes how wonderful life is. Repeat after me, I am blessed I am blessed…because you truly are. And you are a blessing dear One. Never forget that.
What one thing are you ready to do to jumpstart your creativity? Maybe you have something you’re up to right now that could help kick our creativity into a new phase. We’d love it if you’d share your thoughts in the comments below.
And as always thanks for reading and sharing and rocking us with your own words of wisdom.
Encourage one another.
Love Elle
29 Comments
Dear Elle-
It’s always a pleasure to see one of my friends discussing a subject that is so dear to my heart. Once folks desire more creativity in their life, open up to the possibility and understand that small, step by step changes, when followed with intent, will lead to significant changes, their creative ‘you’ comes out of hiding and starts taking center stage ~ And then the fun begins. 🙂
Oooh what a wonderful phrase Fran – you come out of hiding – love that. It’s always lovely to have you stop by and share your inspirational insights. 🙂
Elle;
This post was simply and profoundly brilliant. Thank you.
Awww Brian, thank you…you bless my life…and are such an encourager. 🙂
Thanks for the tips Elle. I often find myself in a rut because I’m get so comfortable. I’ve been contemplating creativity lately. We often don’t think we’re creative but everyone has something if they look closely enough. It could be cooking or gardening even.
Thanks for these reminders!
Hi Betsy, it’s so true that for many of us we have such a fixed idea of what creativity is, and yet we all have plenty of it in spades. Sometimes a little shake up is all that’s needed for the creativity sparkles to flow. I think cooks and gardeners are fantastically creative too. As are mums and teachers! 🙂
Dear Elle,
What a magnificent post!
Years ago I too thought I wasn’t creative. I thought that working in finance meant I was “practical and disciplined” but surely not creative. I had such a yearning to write though so I joined a writer’s group and rediscovered that I had been creative all along. You are right – we have to believe we are creative in order to be creative as much as we have to believe we are successful in order to be a success.
Big hug to you,
Angela
Hi Angela, how lovely to have you share your experiences…funny how we see ourselves sometimes isn’t it? Was it the writers group that confirmed your creativity for you, or were you beginning to have inklings because your intuition is so incredibly powerful. 😀
Good question.
I identified much to much with my job when I was younger.
I think going to the writer’s group reminded me that I didn’t have to believe that just because I was a banker I couldn’t also create and have other valid interests. I had been a very creative child….it just got buried under a lot of nonsense.
That’s so interesting Angela…being reminded you didn’t have to accept the general consensus of how things were. The triggers that lead us to a greater awareness of who we truly are can be so varied and easily missed. Kudos to you for saying ‘yes’ to your creative self. 😀
I can soooo relate to Angela’s comment. I’ve been in finance forever and never thought of myself as a writer (negative and distorted feedback in childhood). When I started my career in public accounting, I always thought it was odd that I received “excellent” ratings in the “creativity” category on my performance reviews. I used to wonder how one could be creative in public accounting. I guess it was my constant yearning for finding a better way to accomplish anything.
It wasn’t until I started writing to help others when I started my blog that I discovered that I loved to write (and could write fairly well). Resurrecting my creative energies has changed my life in amazing ways (including meeting amazing people like everyone here!).
I’m so happy you began your blog Paige. It’s a wonderful place to visit and be inspired. Did you start a financial career because you were guided by your parents in that direction? And what happened to create this wonderful shift in you? Enquiring minds! 🙂
Thank you Elle! I don’t remember anyone guiding me in any direction. In high school I was very involved in Junior Achievement (was appointed vs. elected president of my companies and went to national conferences) and loved business. Many of my friends were artists so I thought I might be a business manager for artists or musicians. (Turns out I realized that since my husband is an artist and I’m his business manager. Ha!) In college things “clicked” in my accounting classes (it was easy and I enjoyed it) so I followed that path and became a CPA.
Over the years I’ve done a lot of soul searching, always giving myself permission to try new things. You never really know if something will work out – no matter how crazy it sounds – until you try it. And there’s never anything lost for trying. You just learn more about yourself in the process and are better able to fine tune things in the next thing you try. If you never try, you’ll never know what greatness you have locked inside you.
While I gladly continue in my corporate finance career, I’ve found ways to bring the “whole me” into everything I do and into every interaction I have with the people around me. Being OK with who I am, quirks and all, openly sharing that with others and always looking for ways to help makes life much more fulfilling and happy, regardless of what you’re doing.
You have the greatest attitude Paige. Isn’t it just wonderful when we follow our inner guidance all manner of things ‘pop’ up. As a fellow seeker and soul searcher I know how we are all so much more amazing than we ever seem to know. You are indeed awesome Paige and a true blessing as my internet friend. 🙂
Awww. Thank you so much Elle! You’re pretty darn amazing yourself. I’m always learning from you and your beautiful writing and love to share. Big hugs to you!!
Hi Elle
The best way to kick start our creativity is to challenge ourselves in testing situations,testing interactions with others,difficult moments.We can ask ourselves to come up with positive responses to the trying situations of life.At least that way we can build our “moral muscles”.When we do this exercise we automatically construct a repertoire of behavior that helps tide over great challenging occasions.Eventually this also helps us achieve big goals in life,because of the strength generated.
Thanks
Mona
Hello there Mona…isn’t it interesting how there are so many ways we can light those inner fires of creativity or move them from a smolder to a huge burning flame? And thanks for your, as always, interesting take on the subject.
I’d be interested in hearing any experiences you’ve had that you’d be willing to share with building those ‘moral muscles’ you mentioned. 😀
Hi Elle
Great words today.
I think at times we get into a big rut and seem to live life on auto-pilot.
We are also inclined to worry about what if, and “the if” we have no control over. What happens, we may not be able to change, other than our attitudes of adjusting to the change we are reluctant to accept.
Sometimes we get into a struggle of trying to be our own pilot and that is not always the easiest task, unless you happen to have a fortune lying around. But working towards what we can little by little take control of our own lives is a step of changing how we live.
Yes being creative to live the life of our dreams is something to definitely strive for, it would be nice though when one is on a roll, if things wouldn’t keep coming up to slow the process down.
Mary
Great points Mary, as always you have something so valuable to share. I think the stuff that shows up to slow the process down are no more and no less than some old beliefs we’ve got hanging on…from which some old inner conversation stems. In many respects it’s not a bad thing…our old stuff, all that stops us from really moving into our new state of being, is just being revealed.
I’ve started to see it as a great reminder of where I need to up my game a little and it’s amazing how with that perspective the slow down doesn’t seem to last as long. 😀
Hi Elle
Since you asked me about specifics there is another secret winning tactic and that is also a secret to massive success.That is purpose-driven effort and faith in your outcome. In fact, for the truly persistent,the effort itself is pleasure enough to propel them further. Success cannot hide behind any more curtains under the onslaught of such zeal. Hard work and persistence is the common denominator for all successful people. They do not hesitate in their effort to go that extra mile.
Thanks
Mona
I like your point Mona. Persistence is absolutely key…it’s how we were all programmed with our beliefs and assumptions from the get-go. And if we can’t belief, or have faith in our happy outcomes that means we continue to have inner conversations from our old premises and then nothing changes. 😀
I have a bad habit of entertaining way too many ideas when I first start. I think it is because I am a creative person at heart, but when I fail at something I kind of recede back to apathy and inaction. Which is a terrible habit, I know.
One of my favorite things to tell people is “challenge your perception”, so I am definitely on board on your last point. Sometimes you don’t even realize how many untrue or even damaging beliefs you have about the world, the people around you and even yourself. Breaking free is a process, but it’s well worth the investment. You can make new best friends, find your true passion and discover a myriad of new things.that you actually like, but just thought you didn’t
You are spot on Ragnar…love the way you put it. Do you have any special techniques you use to ‘break free’? Would love to hear about them. 🙂
Good tips here on how to spark our creativity Elle. I like the concept of entertaining new ideas and I’m regularly open to other fields, industries and even the business world to help me come up with creativity ideas. Once we see how people do something in a different field, we can use that as inspiration in our day to day work.
One of my creative endeavors is writing so I can appreciate shaking things up. I think I’ve been doingthat but not by choice:) Life kind of shook me up the last couple of year. I’ve been turning the shake-ups and thinking of them as blessings and been using the shakeups to inspire my writing. The shakeups have led to new insights, new understanding and more creativity. The time to master one’s art or really pursue is during a period of intense shakeups:)
Isn’t that key Vishnu? Being open…remembering that whatever one person can do so can we? And the perspective we bring to our life, be it of the joy or the tribulations makes all the difference to life’s experience.
Your comments are honest and insightful, as always. You rock Vishnu! 😀
Wonderful as usual, Elle! I am so inspired by you!
Hi Cher, thanks, as always for stopping by and leaving such encouraging comments. You know you’re my DIY hero don’t you? 🙂
Great thoughts Elle. This may sound crazy, but I like to lay on the floor or sit on something that gives me a totally different view of my house. It’s like you’re suddenly thrown out of the room into somewhere else. Just makes your brain think differently.
Oooh Tammy, not crazy at all, in fact brilliant. What an easy and creative way to shake up your world. Love it. 🙂