Honor Your Creativity
Many years ago, I saw a movie entitled 'The Last of Sheila',
starring James Coburn, Dyan Cannon, James Mason, to name just a
few. I love mysteries and I still remember this as one of the
best I've ever seen. The overall mystery was very enjoyable and
the individual puzzles were finely crafted and quite ingenious.
What really struck me about this movie, however, is the fact
that it was written by Stephen Sondheim and Anthony Perkins.
Sondheim is a composer, famous for the score to 'West Side
Story'. Anthony Perkins was an actor, famous for his role in
'Psycho'. It seemed to me that these two were very lucky. Not
only were they creative to the point of celebrity in one area,
here they were exhibiting genius in a whole other arena.
I was also awed on a recent trip to San Francisco. Across the
street from our hotel was an art gallery that was displaying the
work of actors Anthony Quinn and Tony Curtis. Much of the work
in this gallery was done in the past ten years or so and was
incredibly bold. If both of these individuals had focused on
their art, they still would have become famous. Again, I was
struck by how creative some people allow themselves to be. They
didn't put stoppers on their creativity, allowing it to spill
over into an entirely different sphere.
Between these two events I realized that I have come to a
different understanding about creativity. When I first saw 'The
Last of Shiela', I thought creativity was something of a 'have
or have-not' situation. Either you had it (and then you had a
LOT of it), or you didn't have any at all. Indeed, for many
years, I was positive I fit into the 'none at all' category. I
also thought it was restricted to the 'creative' arts such as
drawing, painting, sculpture, etc.
Today I know that creativity is something that everyone has,
just like the ability to run. Both are on a continuum of
expression and excellence. If creativity is a straight line with
going from Point A to Point Z, we all fall somewhere along that
line. Mozart, Michaelangelo and Olympic gold medalist Michael
Johnson might have ended up at Point Z, but that was because
they recognized their talent and did a lot of work to develop
their skill.
According to Linda Naiman, of www.creativityatwork.com, the
belief that only special, talented people are creative -- and
you have to be born that way -- diminishes our confidence in our
own creative abilities. She goes on to say that the notion that
geniuses such as Shakespeare, Picasso and Mozart were `gifted'
is a myth.
In a study Naiman references, conducted at Exeter University,
researchers examined outstanding performances in the arts,
mathematics and sports, to find out if the widespread belief
that to reach high levels of ability a person must possess an
innate potential called talent. The study concludes that
excellence is determined by opportunities, encouragement,
training, motivation, and most of all, practice.
According to Webster's Dictionary, creativity is 'marked by the
ability or power to create - to bring into existence, to invest
with a new form, to produce through imaginative skill, to make
or bring into existence something new.' So, where do you allow
your creativity and excellence to come through? Where do you
find yourself saying 'Let's try to put this with that and see
what happens?' What activities bring you joy? What activities
make you feel connected to lots of other pieces of yourself and
others? What activities bring you a strong sense of
accomplishment and achievement? These are most likely the areas
where we express our creativity.
It is vital that each one of us recognize that spark of
creativity, nurture it and allow it to grow. You are creative;
you just might not have figured out where yet. Honor your
creativity. It is a critical component in achieving the life of
your dreams.