And in the continuous interaction between life and death the destruction of the old brings forth the birth of the new.

For without destruction there would be no creation.  Without death there would be no life.

Together, creation and destruction form the complete picture of life in all its nobility and ephemeral beauty.

We would not look at the fragile beauty of a rose with such poignancy if we thought that it would last forever.

Its beauty is enriched by its evanescent moment in time; its loveliness enhanced because we know it will decay.

The beauty of a sunset or the loveliness of a rainbow would be diminished if we thought they would last forever.

And life is more poignant because it is fleeting like a beautiful butterfly on a summer’s day.

In a way, perfectionism is the fear of making mistakes.  It’s a fear of failure.

For example, what is writer’s block if not a form of perfectionism where you get paralyzed because you are too afraid to make a mistake?

Mistakes are an important part of the creative process. If you want to create  something you have to be prepared to make mistakes and stick your neck out. Creativity is not for the faint of heart.  It’s for the bold and brave in spirit!

How often have you seen a child painting with joyful abandon, completely unconcerned about the outcome?  Ask that child what she is painting and after a brief moment of thought she will come up with a precise answer.

“I’m painting a rainbow and a house and a little dog,” she will tell you.  And if you can’t see it that’s your shortcoming not hers. In her mind, the painting is perfect.

But tell her that she is painting it all wrong and you will soon see the momentum of her creativity disappear.

Here is a case in point.

Sally was only 9 when she decided that she wanted to be an artist. Already a perfectionist, she loved drawing and made a neat little book of fine, penciled sketches.

Then some well-meaning friends introduced her to a professional artist who showed her into his studio and overwhelmed her with his larger than life canvases and colourful, bold paintings.

Back at home she took out her meticulous little drawings and careful sketches and looked at them with dismay.

They now seemed so insipid and insignificant that she could only regard them as evidence of her own inadequacies rather than the fine sketches that they really were.

She soon lost heart and after that no one could persuade her to put pen to paper again.

Another child might have been inspired to see the artist’s studio but Sally, being a perfectionist, had a fear of not being able to reach the standards she had set herself.

A sad little story

I think it’s a very sad little story and a classic example of the destructive influence of a fear of failure – perfectionism.

And if you think it only happens to children – just think of the last time you had writer’s block; or left that painting half done. Or gave up playing the piano or – - I don’t really have to remind you do I?

The bottom line is – create with abandon.  Create with passion.  But don’t set such high standards that prevent you from ever starting.

See also Perfectionism can ruin your relationship

In most cases, yes!  They aren’t deterred by public opinion and they aren’t scared of flouting convention.

Convention is a stifler.  It kills creativity and no creative person can function in a restrictive environment.

As a creative thinker you have to be willing to kick over the traces. To be able to challenge well-established boundaries you cannot concern yourself with what other people think.

To break new ground you have to be able to think freely.  And to create new ideas without worrying about maintaining the old conventions you have to be fearless.

It’s well known that societies that are too predictive stifle their artists. Even so, there have been many brave thinkers who were not stifled by the conventions of the societies in which they moved.

Scientists like Galileo, artists like Picasso and writers like Salman Rushdie today are good examples of fearless, creative thinkers.  They were not only intellectually fearless – that goes without saying – but with regard to Galileo and Rushdie their physical liberties were also severely compromised.

People like these have independent spirits. They are the creative thinkers who are able to crack open the old moulds and set free new, exciting or even revolutionary ideas.

We don’t all have such independent spirits but we all have some latent form of creativity. What we need to do is learn to respect our own creativity and above all, act on it.

But before I get diverted, there is one type of craft that I think is far more important than any of the others and I would like to spend a few minutes discussing it because it is so all encompassing.

I am talking about crafting your own life.

So many of us go through life from day to day at half mast! We get through the boredom of our daily tasks and sigh with relief as we tick them off our “to do” lists.

But what we don’t always realize is that our thoughts and actions contribute hugely towards creating the circumstances of our lives.  Just by our attitudes alone we can lift our lives from the mundane and boring to the heights of creativity and passion.

Of course it helps a lot if you have a craft or creative pursuit that you enjoy.

But to be truly creative, you have to be fired up.

No truly creative work can be accomplished in a mood of boredom. A lacklustre attitude will permeate your craft. You have to be passionate about what you do.  You have to be in a state of fired creativity.

Your Deepest Desires

There is only one way to reach that level of passion.  You have to get in touch with your deepest desires.

Your deepest desires are the things you absolutely crave to do.  The things that give you that magical sense of flow when you don’t even realize that time has passed while you were working.

Only your deepest desires can motivate you to reach your greatest achievements.

So if you find your heart’s desire – something you’ve always wanted to do and you have the opportunity to do it – don’t hesitate and deliberate till you lose the impetus.

Go out there and craft you life!

There is no doubt that being creative requires a certain amount of discipline, a sense of direction and focus.

We all need to use a certain amount of organization in order to produce creative work. Without these things we would produce nothing. A writer can draw on many sources of inspiration but without discipline the page would remain blank.

I suppose it depends a lot on an artist’s make up and attitude. But I know that I would get a mental block or at least a feeling of sterility if I was faced with too much discipline and perfection. I would certainly get artist’s block if I had to work in a highly organized studio where paint brushes were neatly arranged according to size and the atmosphere was too clean and clinical.

Imagination thrives on unusual mixes and combinations. Putting together unusual textures, colours and shapes leads to an explosion of possibilities. These are the germs of creativity.

All kinds of possibilities can arise from a chaotic soup. In fact, the world itself arose from chaos.

A little bit of wildness and disarray is good for the soul.

Most of us don’t realize how much we are already engaged in the process of creating. Often you will hear someone say; “I’m just not creative.” But creativity is not about artwork alone. It covers a very wide spectrum and if you look carefully, you’ll begin to recognize all the wonderful areas of creativity that you are already involved in.

Creativity is one of the noblest activities in which we can participate. Even the tiniest act of creation is a significant part of the bigger picture.  Creation is a part of life and the more we create, the more we affirm our existence.

Everywhere we look we see the signs of creativity around us. They’re present in nature from the constantly evolving stars above us to the smallest insects on earth.

Just think of bees.  They are among the most creative creatures in the insect world. Do we ever stop to wonder how they create each hexagonal cell of a honeycomb to align perfectly with every other hexagonal cell of a perfectly designed honeycomb? And by the way, we have copied their honeycomb patterns in our aircraft and building industries.

Do we ever stop to marvel at the expertise of birds as they build their intricate nests from carefully selected materials?

In human terms, our civilizations are the result of the combined creativity of the peoples of the world.  Our cities, our aeroplanes and our technology are the end products of our creativity.

But even more important than the structures that we have created around us is the ability to think creatively.  That is where it all started for us. We have reached our present level of civilization by building on the creative ideas of previous generations.

Everything we have ever done or continue to do involves creativity. No matter how large or small, our various crafts, activities and creative ideas are a valuable contribution to the greater world of creativity. We are participating in the ongoing process of our planet’s evolution.

And so when we are actively involved in our various interests and hobbies; in our various arts and crafts, no matter how small, we are doing on our own personal level what we were always meant to be doing.  We are crafting and creating along with the rest of the world!

A good hobby gives us something to escape to in the midst of tension and turmoil. It isn’t possible to over-estimate the importance of a satisfying hobby. It can even sow the seeds of a future career.

But mostly, a great hobby is something that we enjoy doing. It gives us something to look forward to and gives us happiness and peace of mind.

Signs of creativity are all around us – if only we can see them. The intricacy of a bird’s nest, an oyster’s pearl, the silver trail left by a snail in the grass – all these are signs of creativity.

We are all involved in the act of doing and it is the evidence that we leave behind us as a result of our “doing” that is the mark of our creativity – our own works of creation.

Great books, music, the pyramids, magnificent bridges and buildings – these are the hallmarks of our creativity.

They are the evidence left by our lives saying; “we were here; we passed this way and this is what we left for you.

photo credit: epineda94702

Now I’ll introduce you to my craft of flower pressing. Here is a little pressed flower collage which is very easy to design when you have a few pressed flowers in stock.

There are many more pictures like this at my website, where you can find out for yourself how easy it is to press flowers.

It’s a very satisfying craft or hobby and I highly recommend it. Mainly because it keeps you out of doors and away from the computer.  And that’s a very valuable thing these days!

The biggest creative experiment ever attempted surely has to be the Large Hadron Collider. With its 27 kilometres of underground tunnel between Switzerland and France the Hadron Collider is like some huge monster waiting to come to life.

Scientists are understandably very excited about its potential for scientific discovery.

What exactly are they hoping to find?

They’re hoping to find the holy grail of science that even escaped Einstein – the theory of everything.

They hope to get an understanding of the link between spinning atoms and revolving galaxies.  They hope to find an unseen particle called the Higgs Boson that presumably provides mass and recognizable shapes to everything we see. And then there’s that mysterious dark matter floating around that no-one has yet set eyes on.

That’s an awful lot to hope for!  But then they spent 10 years and probably just as many billions of dollars in the making of this experiment.  Can they be blamed for hoping for some major insights?

It all started off well with some wildly successful moments – a sort of successful “bang” – but it soon became a sad whimper when a sudden glitch set the experiment back by many months.

Some people will be nodding their heads wisely recalling the biblical story of the Tower of Babel. Could this be another lesson of presumptuousness? Remember those frightening YouTube depictions of possible ways that our planet could meet its demise?

Well, unless our planet spirals down a black hole when the Hadron Collider comes alive, here are some other crafts and creations of a somewhat lesser kind!

If you have any special information about the Hadron Collider please add your comments.  Every crafter needs to learn!