Creativity Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity.
Charles Mingus
Creativity is the lifeblood of gifted, talented and creative people of all ages.
Creativity may be the most defining characteristic of gifted adults because no matter what they are doing, the multi-talented gifted person is always utilizing their uniqueness, originality and creativity in everything they do.
Yes, multi-talented gifted adults exhibit highly creative thinking and behaviors. Gifted and creative adults just can’t help it, they are original in the way they do things—no one can change that.
Curving back upon my own nature, I create again and again. Bhagavad-Gita
Gifted adults are very creative in many areas, not just in the arts. Gifted adults are intellectually, emotionally, sensually, imaginationally, and physically creative and creating all the time. Gifted adults also enjoy many distinctly creative and artistic pursuits, but are not limited to them
In the intellectual domain, creativity is referred to as divergent thinking. In business, creativity is looked upon as productivity, leadership, innovation or vision. In the arts, creativity is looked upon as talent, vision and skill.
In education, creativity is looked upon as variety and spirit. In psychology creativity is looked upon as variation, innovation, emergence and sometimes madness.
In sports, creativity is looked upon as talent and skill. In entertainment, creativity, when the population responds to it in a big way, means success, big money, and paparazzi. These are just a few examples.
Everyone and every field or business does not look upon creativity, creative ideas or creative people as positive forces—even when they benefit greatly from them.
Most of the time creative ideas and people are misjudged, mistreated, unappreciated and just plain misunderstood-- not to mention mislabeled and misdiagnosed as crazy, stupid, etc.
It always takes time, sometimes many years, for others to catch up to where a truly original and creative mind lives, breathes, works and plays.
This is always a great source of stress, sorrow, consternation, conflict and often lack of funds for the creative person. But still, that doesn’t stop or keep creative people from creating.
Jack Kerouac alluded to this lack of appreciation, understanding and valuing of creative and original people in his book, On The Road:
“Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The trouble-makers. The round heads in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status-quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify, or vilify them. But the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”
So let’s celebrate the creative, the gifted and the original in all of us.
Here are some articles, links and words of inspiration to celebrate and encourage creative ideas, spirit, life, people and productions. Many of these resources are those I’ve used myself and have also given to my coaching, consulting and psychotherapy clients who have found them useful for support, information, inspiration and sharing.
I hope you will find these creativity articles, links and words of inspiration useful in your journey, too.
Enjoy.
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