"Oh Rachel, you are so lucky, I don’t have a creative bone in my body”. The famous familiar words that are given to me with the best intentions. Honestly, no offence but, that sentence seriously winds me up. The humans motive behind the statement are kind, don’t get me wrong, the thing is... its just not true.
What does being creative even mean.? According to Mr Google, creativity is the ability to perceive the world in new ways. To find find hidden patterns, make connections and find solutions. So here it is, creativity is by definition having an original idea and turning that idea into a reality.
Have a think back to when you were a child, or look at your 3 year old. Does a child have the ability to pretend, to create an imaginary world, to figure out how to get ice cream before dinner, or get a whole rooms attention by just singing a made up song. Children dont ask if they are clever or creative... they just are. It’s not until we grow and absorb others limitations and fears that we swallow the lie that we are not creative. It is true that there are different ways to be creative, and the brain processes these ideas differently in the left and the right sides of the brain.This I have always found to be flipping fascinating.
When I was a child, Mums Nutrimetics consultancy bag was strictly out of bounds. (A lesson not easily forgotten oops sorry Mum). So being the lady I am, I remember chopping up flowers petals and smearing the juice on my face to make me pink and rubbing lavender stalks on my skin to make green perfume. A young brain that made something out of her imagination. Yet at 50years old I struggle to remember my cell phone number or what 12 x4 equals. One of my life long friends is my opposite. She is organised, memory like an elephant , super intelligent and one of the most creative people I know. She has a way of squeezing time out of no time, money out of no money, opportunities out of dead ends. She works from predominantly the other side of the brain than me... We are completely chalk and cheese, yet we equally as creative.
I recently sat in my accountants office whilst he informatitively explained how my accounts could be simply set out. My brain began to hard core panic as I attempted comprehension or at least fake it. Focus dissolved into fog and a yawn threatened to make me look like a dork. Brain strain default converted to observation and ..... My head tilted in wonder and intrigue at how effortlessly this stuff flowed out of him with such obvious, logical order. He could take all my messy receipts and scribbled ramblings and create a system that fitted my business perfectly. Tell me thats not creativity...
So my friends, did you realise that your words are powerful and can influence your reality. Please stop telling yourself something that comes from a cows bottom. Whether you can cook, juggle 15 after school activities, blitz the ikea instruction Manuel... or memorise the periodic table backwards. You are creative... It all depends on your perception of what that even means. And I promise you, when you start looking for these areas in your life, when you think back to what you already discovered when you were a child... You will discover that you have stacks of creative bones in your body. All jingling around waiting to be celebrated. Cheers Rachel
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