A Tip From ‘Ol Blue Eyes

A surprising gift from the year of building birdhouses is this blog about creativity.  The title “Creativity For the Rest Of Us” came to me about three years ago – the summer I got a pair of binoculars and took up bird watching in my garden. (It’s amazing the insights that come in stillness.)  I didn’t understand what the title meant at first.  It stayed with me and I played around with it from time to time.  Eventually, I thought it might be a book.

Since I don’t know how to write a book, not much happened – at least externally – for a while.  My creative process doesn’t jive with how I imagine writers’ work – clear, articulate thoughts pouring out as they spend long hours at a keyboard.

What I have learned about my own creative process is it is most vibrant and alive when I walk alone in the woods or at the ocean.  Thoughts, ideas and wonderings come to me while I’m walking.  Those musings lead to ideas I’m curious to explore more deeply – usually for my own amusement.  That exploration often becomes a blog post.  The blog posts might eventually become a book – at least that’s the view I’m aware of at the moment.

So if someone were to ask me how I write, my answer is that I write by walking and by exploring my own curiosity  within the constraints of 250-300 words.

The point is that your creative process is your creative process.  It’s easy to compare ourselves to others.  Rather than be inspired by them, we use our envy either to judge or as an excuse to do nothing.  My best friend in high school was a natural and gifted artist. Working next to her in art class I remember deciding that she would always be better than me so why bother.  It took about twenty years to come back around and befriend my own artistry.

Natural creativity is about doing what you enjoy doing, in whatever way and medium you enjoy doing it, and simply for the joy of doing it.  The only person you need to please is yourself.

PRACTICE

Take a trip down memory lane.  Recall activities, hobbies, things you enjoyed when you were young – whether you thought you were good at them or not.  If you have any artifacts from that time, dust them off and bring them out into the light.  Appreciate the youthful artistry you expressed at the time.  Take one step toward befriending that artistry back into your life.

3 Responses to “A Tip From ‘Ol Blue Eyes”

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   January 31, 2012 at 5:50 pm

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2. Meridith Granath says:

   July 31, 2012 at 3:11 am

   I really love to have some Blue eyes. Blue eyes are great because it has the same color as the sky. ,`:,`

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3. Minh Couchenour says:

   November 29, 2012 at 8:41 pm

   For me, blue eyes are the prettiest. I wish i had blue eyes though. :

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