Creative people are courageous and take risks. When life hits them hard, they don’t react by falling. They act innovative and find opportunities. They listen to their intuition to find original answers.
Live a creative life and stop reacting
When you stop reacting and start living a creative life, it can be a big challenge at first. Above all, it means being able to break old patterns and habits. Creativity is synonymous with self-discovery and boldness. Both can help you build a freer life.
When people talk about innovation and the importance of using your creative mind, they assume it means coming up with new and different ideas. But if you think that’s all there is to it, you’ll probably be disappointed. Because creativity is more than your cognitive abilities. It’s also about taking action.
That was the conclusion reached by experts at the recent international conference on creativity at the Marconi Institute for Creativity in Bologna, Italy. An idea isn’t worth much if it doesn’t come to fruition. A project will never be completed if you don’t bring commitment, responsibility and boldness.
Let’s take a closer look at this with some examples. For example, there would be no Sherlock Holmes if Arthur Conan Doyle had not worked meticulously on his writing. He even put aside his career as a doctor to do so. Beethoven is another good example. He composed his Ninth Symphony when he was almost deaf.
These examples show that creativity is much more than imagination. It takes persistence and, in many cases, sacrifice.
“If you hear a voice inside you that says you can’t paint, then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.”
Vincent van Gogh
When you turn creativity into action, you find it easier to leave negative patterns of behavior in the past.
Stop reacting: Take action, dare to do things, and live a creative life.
Many people are content to react to life. Things happen and the actions they take as a result are like leaves blowing in the wind. They forget that there is a period of time between an event and their reaction, and that this is the key to everything. You can use this period of time and free yourself. This gives you the opportunity to act in a different, individual and innovative way.
The American Psychological Association (APA), in collaboration with the University of Amsterdam, has produced a study that shows that you can really improve your well-being if you start living a creative life.
When you turn creativity into action, you find it easier to leave negative behaviors in the past. From there, you can then build a better relationship with yourself. In the end, desire and behavior always go hand in hand.
This is also important because it also gives you more options when a problem arises. Ultimately, it is creative people who move the world forward.
But how can we start living a creative life? How do you do that when your daily reality is full of rigid, inflexible structures and routines? Here are some of the most important things we need to work on.
Lateral thinking
Lateral or lateral thinking is a concept introduced by Edward de Bono in his 1967 book The Use of Lateral Thinking. He helped people understand the fundamentals of creativity.
Here’s what he said about lateral thinking:
For one thing, it can help you see problems from new angles.
Lateral thinking also means going beyond logic. It means playing with reality, making combinations, finding connections, and breaking old patterns.
This skill can also stimulate your thought processes and help you find new, unexplored paths.
It means overcoming the comfort of logic.
In fact, you can change much more than you think you can
Your mind is probably full of I should and I must. These are two powerful enemies that do nothing but make you live a life dominated by obligations, stress, and the fear of never being able to meet these internal demands.
You must therefore eliminate these thoughts and create new thought patterns. Of course, we must take responsibility and do what needs to be done. However, if we really analyze every branch of these mental forests, we find that many of these responsibilities do not help us. They prevent us from growing and thriving. So don’t hesitate to prune anything that causes pointless anxiety.
How do I start living a creative life?
Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman, director of the Imagination Institute at the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania, offers tips for living a more creative life. To live a creative life, you have to be willing to try new things. Creativity is not based on high-pressure situations. Routine kills motivation, dreams, intuition and innovation.
Sometimes you have no choice but to take a step back and gain perspective on things. If you can get out of the bubble of your daily life, you can find new ways of looking at things.
Throwing yourself into new experiences can mean many things. It leads you to open your mind, learn to read everything that falls into your hands, meet people, and connect with your reality on a different level.
When you live a creative life, you can stop just reacting to the things that happen to you. When something hits you hard, don’t react from a place of inertia. Do it in innovative ways to better adapt to the situation and become more courageous and resilient. Because that’s the only way you can create a better reality that matches your values and desires.