The Un-Creative Cultivating Creativity

“Creativity is the power to connect the seemingly unconnected." William Plomer

I don't see myself as creative. I actually label myself as "uncreative". I used to be creative as a kid just like my own kids are. In fact, in 2nd grade I won first place at a state fair for one of my oil paintings. I still have the 1st Place ribbon tucked away somewhere in storage.

Much like my 1st Place ribbon, I seem to have stuffed away my creativity as I got older. I don't know where they went, but my creative endeavors have been hidden away somewhere in the recesses of my brain. Recently I have been asking myself two questions: How do I develop creativity again? Is cultivating my creativity even important?

Brene Brown talks about the important role creativity plays in a persons life in her book "The Gifts of Imperfection". Brene provides these 3 key insights she learned about creativity:

Everyone has creativity that is either used or unused.
The only unique contribution that we will ever make in this world will be born of our creativity.
If we want to make meaning, we need to make art. Whatever art is to you, you are creating and that is cultivating meaning.

I now have the answer to my question about the importance of creativity:

We all need to use creativity to apply our unique print on the world.

Now come the next questions: how am I contributing uniquely to the world through my creativity? What am I doing to intentionally cultivate creativity? I am still processing these questions and will share in future posts.

What are you doing to cultivate creativity?