Written by: Jeanne Savelle, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
This month, in Part 4 of Re-Awaken Your Creativity to Live a Better Life, I share what I’ve learned about the effortless nature of creativity.
Creativity Is Naturally Easy
Creativity is the natural way of life. When you look at nature, you see the magnificence of life’s effortless creative power. This same power resides in you, in all of us. You only need to reconnect with your inner creative power to unleash it into the world.
When you don’t connect with your creative power, you build an internal wall of isolation that shuts down and rejects your essential nature. When you resist or reject any effort, urge, or desire to create or to think creatively, you stop allowing life’s expression from emerging through you.
Creativity benefits from sustained work but not from struggle. Struggle arises from fear; fear that you won’t get it right, do it well or will fail.
But nothing about creativity is right or wrong, good or bad, of success or failure, or a mistake. Creativity is only about exploration and expression.
Shakespeare’s Hamlet said:
“… for there is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.”
The key is to let go of assumptions, opinions, concerns about the outcome, and judgments. Stop resisting and surrender to the joy of creation. When you explore with curiosity, you’ll find creativity comes easily and naturally.
You’ll still meet challenges, but you’ll learn, improve, and grow as long as you keep exploring. You are not in control of what someone thinks about your work, but you don’t have to show it to anyone. What you create belongs wholly to you, so treat your creations with love and respect.
Creativity Is A Feeling
When you embrace creativity, you’ll realize how effortless it arises and how naturally it flows. Feeling resistance, heaviness, or struggle, indicates you are moving away from it. Because these feelings block creativity, walk away and start again later.
Your feelings are your guides, so pay attention. When you stay in the positive feelings with your project, keep going. When your feelings shift, check to see what’s going on. You might want to make changes, take a break, or try another idea.
You can always stop, pivot, or move on to another idea. When you stay open with curiosity, new ideas will come. Pick an intriguing idea to play with until you don’t want to play with it any longer. Don’t try to pick the “best” idea because there isn’t one. Every idea is the same. Play with the ones that attract you.
Negative feelings indicate you are straying from the creative path. Wait for a new feeling to emerge then follow where it leads.
My Journey
Most of my life, I associated creativity with the arts. I was astounded when I learned that life itself is pure creativity. I never associated the creative abundance of nature with human creativity.
Once I started to see this, I began to understand creativity in a broader context. For example, the development of the COVID-19 vaccine was an enormous example of creative thinking. But even developing a better way to clean your bathroom is an exercise in creative thinking.
When I retired and stepped into an unknown future, I entered a creative space without realizing it. By exploring various ideas, reading about and learning new things, trying new activities, and developing additional skills, I was connecting with my inner creativity.
I started making new connections with people who thought and did things differently and challenged me to look at life in uncommon ways.
For example, I took a bold step one day by signing up for a short video class, which I NEVER would have done before. I learned to make 1-minute videos on my phone without regard to how I dressed or did my hair.
These videos were only for me and I didn’t show them to anyone. But by being curious to see how it worked, I realized I could be on camera without throwing up!
So, don’t worry about what anyone thinks, create for yourself, just for the joy of it.
Effortless Creativity
Creativity is effortless when you tap into your internal creative power and experience this deep truth. You were made to create. It is your nature.
For too long we have separated ourselves from our innate creativity and denied ourselves the experience of natural living.
So, stop thinking about your talent and what your friends think, and allow yourself the freedom to bring ideas to the surface and see what they show you.
When it gets hard, you’ve moved away from the source. Give yourself space to reconnect and try again.
Don’t quit on the verge of your breakthrough.
If you had no expectations, what could you create just for the fun of it?
Follow me on LinkedIn for more info!
Jeanne Savelle, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Jeanne is a Gentle Guide and Transformation Agent living in the Atlanta, GA, area. After 30 years as an international corporate finance executive, she chucked that life to reinvent herself. She is now a transformational coach guiding older adults to living life through their inner creativity. She is a writer and author, writing about transformation, creativity, retirement, and wine. She's earned certifications from The Retirement Coaches Association, The Life Coach School, and Modern Elder Academy. Her previous life included a Masters in International Management from The Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University.
