Creative People 

by Gail Balentine

Who is a creative person?   According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, creative means “marked by the ability or power to bring (something) into existence”. Other words for creative include: “gifted, clever, imaginative, innovative, inspired, or inventive.”

Over the years, I’ve come to realize that each of us is creative in our own way and often in more ways than one. However, many of us do not give ourselves credit for being creative - we think creative is a word only to describe artists. It isn’t.

Creative people:
… find innovative solutions for difficult problems.

… inspire people with poetry.

… provide a warm, welcoming atmosphere for their guests.

… write stories so entertaining you can get lost in them on a rainy afternoon.

… create new recipes by combining unusual ingredients.

… build practical pieces of furniture that are also lovely to look at.

… practice a swing over and over until the club behaves like an extension of the hand.

… raise children to be thoughtful, caring people in an ever-changing, challenging world.

Why are people creative?  People are creative to accomplish goals, to produce something aesthetically pleasing, to share their thoughts and feelings, to solve problems, to overcome physical limits, to use their intellect, to improve their lives, to invent something new, and more.

What stops us from creating? There are as many answers as there are people to that question but a frequent one seems to be that we stop ourselves.

The right side of our brain is the creative, emotional, intuitive side, while the left side is the logical, scientific, and often critical side. The left side should override the right when there is danger, when gathering knowledge, when a procedure must be followed; but, for creativity, it is best when they work in tandem. How?

You will develop your own method, but some of the steps to include may be:

… thinking about what you want to do and why it appeals to you (right brain);

… determining what information or materials you need (left brain);

… identifying the steps you need to take (left brain);

… giving whatever it is a try, taking it out of the “I’d love to …” phase and actually doing it (pure right brain). … then looking it over and tweaking it, if needed.

What if people don’t use their creativity? Well, then, the world loses some beauty, entertainment, unique expressions of thought, innovative solutions to problems, or positive inspiration. And what about us? When we are not letting our creativity free, we lose some of the joy with which life has gifted us, we lose that sense of something well-done, we don’t encourage others and we will not reach our full potential. Everybody loses.

So, why not do something fun/creative that you’ve been wanting to do but held back? As the saying goes, try it - you might like it. Take dancing lessons, learn to cook Hungarian Goulash, look at a problem as a challenge rather than an obstacle, write that book, map out that dream vacation, book a whole day at a spa with a friend, learn to play golf or take up chess. Enjoy, share, but most of all, be your creative self.