Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we were all born with that spark of creativity we all admire so much?

Well guess what! We have all been given that creative capacity – for free. Each and every one of us has some form of creativity within us. It’s really just a matter of degree.

Unfortunately most of us don’t know it.

What a waste! 

With some people a particular creative talent is so strong that it shows up very early in life.  Others go through life never ever realizing that they had creative potential and through lack of use it eventually disappears altogether.

Who knows what wondrous paths of excitement and stimulation we could have trodden – if only we had known and worked with our natural creativity.

The actual fact is that there are many different types and degrees of creativity. But it is up to us to discover which of these we have.

It’s quite easy to check for creativity with handwriting – which is one way to do it. There are other ways too, of  course.  But the bottom line is that we need to become more aware of our creativity so that it doesn’t go to waste.

Craft and Create - The Creative Route to Personal Development

Here is a remarkable video of a 6 year old child genius playing the piano at Carnegie.

I’ve often wondered if Mozart really composed music at the age of 5. I always thought it was a bit of an exaggeration that people liked to believe. And no harm in that. We need our dreams.

But I realize that it really must have been true. It is indeed possible to find a child genius with extraordinary musical talent. Talent like this does in fact exist. And what is more, it exists today!

Take a look at this video and you too will be dumbstruck by this amazing little 6 year old boy, Yoav Levanon , who won the Pnina Saltzman competition.  Here he is playing the piano at Carnegie. It’s goose pimple worthy!

 Child Genius Plays the Piano

Craft and Create - The Creative Route to Personal Development

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!

There are ways to make your pressed flowers and foliage look vibrantly alive.

You don’t need to put up with dull browns and greys either.  With a bit of know-how you can make your pressed flower pictures look as if they have just come from an artist’s palette.

And the colours will remain bright for years and years to come.

If this craft interests you, you will find some valuable tips and hints at how to press flowers

And by the way it is my very favourite hobby! If you would like some help to get started I will be happy to oblige! Just put your  questions into the comment section below and I’ll get back to you.

Craft and Create - The Creative Route to Personal Development

Creativity is one of our highest forms of self-expression.

It is also the stamp of our individuality; the very mark of our existence.

Because the things we create are the embodiment of our thoughts and ideas.

No matter how big or how small, our own type of creativity is our personal contribution to the world around us.

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.

Creativity in Nature

In nature, creativity is an ongoing phenomenon on an infinite scale of immensity. But it also takes place on an infinite scale of minuteness.

Creativity is at play whenever a spider spins a web or a coral insect builds a reef at the bottom of the sea. A bird’s nest, an oyster’s pearl, the silver trail left by a snail in the grass -  they all bear the stamp of creativity.

Creativity covers a gradation of phenomena that extends from the silken lid of a trapdoor spider or the honeycomb in a beehive – to great galaxies and nebulae in the outer reaches of the universe.

It is present when a caveman paints a rock or when a philosopher develops a new or inspired idea.

The Hallmarks of  Creativity

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.”

It is the purpose of every culture to preserve all the manifestations of its creativity.  And the ability of a culture to preserve its own forms of creativity is an indication of its significance in history.

The Colosseum - a landmark of creativity

When our creations endure permanently in the form of concrete works of art or even if they are stamped into the minds of generations in the shape of lasting ideas, they become the landmarks of our cultures and our creativity.

The buildings of ancient Greece and Rome, The Bible of the Hebrews, the library in Alexandria, the ziggurats of ancient Babylonia, buildings and carvings of India, the works of art of the grand masters of Europe, great works of literature and music – all these are the tangible results of creativity, bequeathed to us, the inheritors of culture.

Whenever one of our creations lives on in the form of a painting, a piece of music or a poem it is our interpretation of the process of life.  It is a living testimony to our thoughts and ideas.

But the evidence of our creativity is not always long- lasting.  Many of our creations are evanescent and as brief as the song of a bird that fades swiftly on the air.

Even so, they will remain a part of creativity and will continue to live on in the memory of the universe.

Craft and Create - The Creative Route to Personal Development

Over the years goal setting in our family has turned into a rather scary tradition. It takes place at the very first family dinner in the New Year when each person sitting around the table has to commit to at least one new goal for the coming year.

It can be somewhat daunting because if you haven’t set any goals you can be absolutely sure that the rest of the family are ready and waiting to pounce on you.

Funnily enough, there’s method in this rather bizarre tradition.  Because once you’ve announced your new year’s resolution you are saddled with a commitment that you are forced to take seriously.

Obviously any resolution can be made during any time of the year. But somehow it carries more weight at the beginning of the year; the time for new beginnings when we start with a clean new slate.

Top Ten New Year’s Resolutions

If you haven’t yet decided on a goal for the year, here is a list of the top ten New Year’s resolutions for 2011.  It may just help you.

It isn’t a definitive list – it’s simply the most popular list made up of resolutions that people seem to make year after year.

They are hardy perennials because they come up every year.  So here they are in no particular order.

1. Stop Smoking
2. Get  Fitter
3. Lose Weight
4. Enjoy Life More.
5. Quit Drinking
6. Get better organized
7. Learn Something New
8. Save more
9. Spend More Time With Family and friends
10. Find a Soul Mate

Many of us prefer to keep our resolutions to ourselves. It makes sense in a way because we don’t always follow through with them.

But the advantage of making your resolution public is that it forces you to take it more seriously.

I can vouch for that personally.

My own resolution

Years ago, when it was my turn to talk about my new year’s resolution at our family dinner, I announced that my goal would be to learn something new. (No 7 on the list above!)

That something new was going to be Graphology!

Well, at the time it was just a whim.  But it was the beginning of my long love affair with graphology.

It has been an awesome learning experience for me. And the learning never stops because the mysteries of human nature are never ending.

The moral of my story is: be careful about the goals you commit to because they have a habit of taking over.

If you have chosen your goal for the following year I invite you to make your commitment right here and now! It may just kick start a new beginning for you.


Craft and Create - The Creative Route to Personal Development

The entire universe is shot through with elements of creation and destruction, with making and breaking, with living and dying.

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.

Craft and Create - The Creative Route to Personal Development

You may disagree with me but I think that perfectionism can ruin creativity. I’ve seen it happen many times.

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

Craft and Create - The Creative Route to Personal Development

Are creative thinkers truly fearless people?

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.

Craft and Create - The Creative Route to Personal Development

I have discussed several types of crafts in these posts where I have introduced some of my own interests and many others.   Of course there are many more crafts that I have not yet touched upon.  But I do have plans to do so!

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!

Craft and Create - The Creative Route to Personal Development

Is it possible to be both creative and organized at the same time? Or does being organized cancel out your ability to be creative?

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.

Craft and Create - The Creative Route to Personal Development