creativity

All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.

- Pablo Picasso

I was once an artist. It was always my favorite subject in school. I was constantly writing stories + doodling. My bedroom was a giant stain -- paint on the carpet, marker on my bedspread, magazine clippings everywhere. My room was my studio. I could entertain myself for hours just creating.

I no longer feel like an artist. Perhaps that is what piqued my interest in Sir Ken Robinson's TED Talk titled "Do Schools Kill Creativity?" Robinson believes that all children are creative but that public (+ I can argue private) education squanders that. He says that schools teach from the waist up. Then they focus on the head. And then they focus on one side of it. We are all programmed to be left brained through the prioritization of math and language arts.

Robinson believes that the secret to creativity is fearlessness. Children are not afraid to take chances and be wrong but as they go further + further down the path of education they are taught that mistakes are wrong. He says that if you're not prepared to be wrong then you'll never come up with anything original. I tend to agree.

I remember being a Freshman at DePaul + still being undecided on my major. I always wanted to do something creative but I also wanted to make money. Because that's what we're taught + that is what is expected. I ended up down the path of communication which I have no real complaints about. I got a good job + I make a decent living. At the time I graduated many were not so lucky.

Still though, I feel less creative than I once was + that makes me sad. I still love the arts -- I go to concerts, I visit museums, I watch independent films -- but I don't do much to contribute to it (even if it is only my personal collection). I don't really have a solution just yet as to how I'm going to change that but I would eventually like to take some classes. At the top of my list are wood working (I've always said that if I could do it all over again I'd be a carpenter), calligraphy, + belly dance lessons. I guess I'd also argue that yoga is an expression of creativity. The purpose is to push your body to it's limits. If you fail, you forgive yourself + try again. Maybe that's why I enjoy it so much.

18 Things Highly Creative People Do Differently

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