Untapped Resource: Mining Creative Power

Creativity is a superpower, but most people think it ordinary because it can be accessed by so many. And yet, legions of us humans never truly tap into that creative power that resides around us and within us, at least, not to its full potential. In a world that is burning, at a time when resources are fiercely protected, let's unleash the true power of creativity by sharing this resource and mining it in our own lives each and every day. 

Author of We Need Your Art Amie McNee, the artist and creativity coach behind @inspiredtowrite and @unpublished.podcast along with James Winestock - Which releases today people! - has spoken about creativity being the missing pillar in self development. To which I would add it is the missing pillar in self development and self care. That is not to say we should all be engaged in art therapy or creative coaching sessions necessarily, however, there is merit to unlocking the power of creativity by engaging with it to understand who we are and connect with fellow humans around the world or in our own family. We were meant to be expressive beings. Creativity is the vehicle for self expression, and through self expression we become more aware, more developed, more whole. 

I have not yet read We Need Your Art by Amie McNee, though I have purchased it and it sits in my kindle library waiting to be read and highlighted, yet I believe there will be something about creativity and self development within its pages. My own thoughts on the matter are gathered below - the founding principle being that true creative power is manifested, is gained through the following five Ps.

Firstly, I must address what I mean when I say creativity is a resource. Yes, it is a resource for self development, connection, and expression. Beyond that, I believe creativity as a resource is not finite. It is not something we must hide the location of or tax for access. Creativity is a resource well we all have within us. The more readily accessible it seems to be indicates the level of cultivation, or mining of that resource that has taken place within that individual. Creativity is the raw resource, the action, the thing we choose to do to harness said creative energy. The five Ps are the power of the refining process when we engage with our creative activity. Creative power is not in the thing you do or even the connection or expression you wrought through the process, it is in the alchemization of development through the engagement of creativity. 

Creativity breeds Purpose

Sometimes we can feel directionless, rudderless, unimportant, silenced. Creativity gives us a purpose, a point, an aim, a voice, a place to simply be. It can give us a reason to get out of bed when we really don’t see the point. Creativity is a call to action when we otherwise would sit and watch our day, our life, slip by, a passive presence in our own life story. That purpose can be as simple as doing the activity, or as grand as forging a connection. The greatest purpose we have as humans is to create, to leave a mark on the world even if that mark only extends to our small patch of the world. The purpose of creativity is not to male an impact or do anything really; the purpose of creativity is to create, the purpose it gives us is to exist, to show up, and that is purpose enough.   

Creativity fosters Passion

I am of a generation that was told to find their passion because if you love what you do you’ll never work a day in your life, and let me tell you, what bullshit that was. Even if you do what you love for a living there will be days where it feels very pedestrian, it feels mired in paperwork and red tape, it feels like a job. AND THAT IS OKAY. THAT IS NORMAL. It is unreasonable to expect every person to live their passion at work. That doesn't mean they can’t find value or meaning in what they do as a profession. The key here is you don’t have to find passion or meaning or integral value in your job other than it allows you financial compensation to engage in things you do love. That is where creativity comes in. Creativity fills that wound up with passion. It gives you a chance to indulge in something you love and feel strongly about, something you enjoy. The best part is, you get to enjoy your passion without pressure or expectation.   

Creativity promotes Play

Play is so important for neuroplasticity and yet we stop playing in our teens (often). Adults need to play too. Do you remember the excitement you had playing tag in the schoolyard? Or the delight in playing make believe even on your own? That feeling isn’t exclusive to the carefree days of childhood. That is a feeling creativity can unlock; it beckons you to play. Colour, finger paint, have a dance party in your kitchen, make a new recipe for dinner, play some ad-libs or charades. Whatever you want to do with creativity allow yourself to play, to forget to take yourself so seriously. Creativity gives you space to stretch your imagination. Creativity gives you a respectable guise under which to delight in play again. Relating back to creativity as a pillar of self development, play allows you to expand your possibilities and grow into new ways of thinking, strategizing, and existing in the world.  

Creativity generates Progress

We all have days where we feel like we’ve accomplished absolutely nothing. Some days it can feel like we’ve accomplished less than nothing even when we go to work, take care of our families, and feed ourselves. Creativity affords us the chance to make progress; on a project or on ourselves, with our communities or in advancing a skill. Creativity is a thing you do, therefore it is a thing that generates progress, real actionable, acknowledged progress. Creativity is a force we exert in the world. It is not anyone else, it is not a thing that simply exists; we are the catalyst, we are the momentum, we are the engine that creates. Anytime we create, even if it's a single world on a blank page or one stitch in a knitting project we have put something out into the world that was not there previously. We might even learn something about ourselves while we do it.  

Creativity changes Perspective

The power of a different perspective can make all the difference in anyone’s life. It certainly could make a huge difference in the world today. Creativity not only allows us to share our perspective, giving us a voice, a vehicle to communicate who we are and where we stand on what we see, but it affords us the opportunity to shift our own perspective as well. We cannot grow if we never change. Creativity is a force that makes us face who we are and who we want to be. It also gives us the chance to get there. Perspectives are powerful. The more flexibility we can build into our perspectives allows us to be more compassionate, more kind, more understanding, and stronger for it. We become elastic. Rigidity leads to fragility, to being brittle, where opposing ideas or perspectives could shatter our reality. Creativity trains us to be robust, to be expansive, to hold fast to where we are yet appreciate that others are on different journeys and at different stages. 

Mining creative power through the five Ps makes us less threatened, more threatening because we can stand in our power and make room for the power of others. Creativity is a resource that can heal the world, but first we must heal ourselves, we must harness ourselves. Creativity can get us there.