Creativity is a language which is often unsaid but when you see it and use it, you begin to see its impact.
It wasn’t something that I had thought about until I worked with Space to Breathe. But now, when I think about it, of course creativity is a language.
It’s the moments when we have no words to express something but then someone paints a picture or captures a photo that perfectly expresses our thoughts or emotions.
It’s in every metaphor we use.
‘I feel like I’m juggling so many balls right now.’
As someone says that we totally understand how they feel because in our mind’s eye we can picture the juggler, either successfully juggling many balls whilst happily unicycling his way through the streets or frantically running around trying to make sure none of the balls drop. It communicates something about our life to someone else.
It’s in a breathtaking view that stops us in our tracks. Or a star filled sky on a clear night.
It speaks to us of something that resonates with our soul. A feeling of being part of something bigger.
It’s in the way people express themselves through protest, whether it be a sign, a bent knee, a spoken word.
Creativity gives word to our emotions, our thoughts, our hurts, our joys. Without creativity our language is limited. Creativity makes it limitless.
Right now, our world needs a whole heap of creativity. The future will not be changed if we don’t allow creativity to have a voice in the midst of what is happening in the world in June 2020.
Without creativity, we will not find a vaccine for Coronavirus.
Without creativity, our laws and our opinions and our systems will not change to allow black lives to matter.
Which is ironic when creativity can feel so bounded. The question ‘Are you creative?’ invokes a sense of being in or out. People often believe they’re not creative, when in reality we all are.
We define creativity and make it narrow – art, music, pottery, craftsmanship – when creativity is broad. It is ideas, problem solving, innovation, sport, cooking, planning our day.
Each day each one of us communicates something as we create what we look like.
As we make our dinner, we communicate something about the foods we enjoy.
We spend our days snapping photos of us, our friends, something that grabs our eye, a precious moment.
We make a spreadsheet at work or help our colleague to figure out a solution to a task.
In our everyday activities we create, and we communicate through what we create. As we communicate we begin to share a bit more of ourselves. As we communicate creatively we give voice to things within us, and we do it in our way because it’s our creativity that’s at work. All these things build our wellbeing.
As you go through today, take a few moments to notice your creativity. Note it. Share it. If you did this for a week, I wonder what you would begin to believe about how creative you are?