On Creativity and Writing

The ability to allow yourself to be creative is as important as breathing. It keeps you alive. Creativity is as necessary to personal vitality as water, as air, as beauty. Right now I'm thinking about the art of writing a diary, but it could be anything from creating table decorations to making music to tweaking that brownie recipe. Mmm…. 

Something about sitting down and letting your thoughts pour out onto paper creates new space in your head- clears out the cobwebs and spring-cleans the thought-mechanisms. Writing things down- letting out those long, rambling, often worried, sometimes scared, but always free-flowing thoughts is as important as eating to stay alive. Keeping your brain alive. Keeping your spirit alive. 

In this instant-access, multiple-choice, buy-one-get-one-free culture we forget to value our own inner workings. You have to feed your mind. Not fast food that goes in and sits like a blob of cement in your stomach, but nourishment that makes your body HUM with energy. 

So what is creativity, what does it mean to be creative? I suppose for me it is the ability to amuse myself, to create my own entertainment whether its through written words, melodies, picture drawing, making up stories about the people I see, imagining new color schemes for the living room,  the Best Pair of High Heeled Shoes Ever, the Most Scrumptious Chocolate Cake on the Planet, etc. 

I suppose some people (many people?) find creativity dangerous. The element of the unknown, the risky nature of not knowing quite what's going to happen when you start whatever the project is. The essential nature of creativity -  the acceptance of imagination and free thought - should be nurtured from early childhood, not starved. But that's more for another post... 

But really - when do we ever really know what's going to happen when we start something? We can plan, we can visualise, we can make model drawing and aim for a certain goal, yes. But life gets in the way- the ideas change, the value of whatever the project is changes, we, as people, change. 

So what is there, really, to be afraid of? 

Get out the paint set. Scribble down that rhyme. Rip up the carpet and polish those boards. Why not? What are you afraid of?