Cultivating Creativity

In September, I attended Fiber Fun in the 'Sip, a fiber festival that featured a multitude of classes in Vicksburg, Mississippi.  The sessions ranged in time, prices, materials, skills, etc.  There was more than adequate time to really learn the new skill taught, to practice it for awhile to make sure that you had learned it, and to learn how to fix mistakes during that process.  I really enjoyed them, the length was perfect for us to learn, do, and socialize.

The ONE thing that I noticed was the stumbling block for folks, if indeed there was one, was the incredible pressure they put on themselves by comparing their work to the ideal.  First, let me also say that not everyone had that stumbling block, some folks had no obstacle to their enjoyment of being creative and learning.  The folks who were dissatisfied, frustrated, and unhappy were upset with themselves for not creating a perfect piece first time out of the gate.

Sometimes, I'd remind folks that they are learning a new skill; that they might remember when they first learned to crochet, knit, embroider, or even just write the alphabet, chances are it took time, effort, and some practice before they were able to turn out even stitches, stay within the lines, or be consistent.  When I did point this out, most people agreed and most relaxed a little, being kinder to themselves, and hopefully enjoying themselves more.

For most creative endeavors as adults, we do feel we need to learn the rules and get good at doing whatever, before we can break them and be creative with confidence and self assurance.  When you compare you newly acquired skill's end product to the teacher's, who has been doing whatever the craft, skill, art is, you are setting yourself up for an automatic fail.

But why compare at all?  It is your work, your creation, and if you are enjoying the process, then what does it matter how that compares to someone else's, let alone the teacher's?  We've become so accustomed to striving for perfection, an unobtainable goal, that we place incredible amount of pressure and criticism on ourselves.

In part we do this so that no one else can put us down more so than we are putting ourselves down.

Here's the thing tho:  when we put ourselves down, we cannot hope to develop our self worth, we cannot love ourselves, we cannot learn to accept ourselves, we are not living and loving with wholehearted nature.

If we do have a deep sense of self worth, believing ourselves to be worthy of love and acceptance, because we love and accept ourselves; then if someone puts us down, it might hurt, but we KNOW and BELIEVE that we are worth love and acceptance so we don't internalize that criticism.  It doesn't affect our sense of self worth.

In other words, if we have an intact good sense of self worth, we might think, "wow, that was really harsh of them to say that about my first attempt" or something similar.  If we do not have a good sense of self worth, we might think, "wow, they are right, I suck." and then that tiny spark of creativity dies, fizzling out before we can even breathe life into it.

As adults, we might have a tough time accessing our creativity, thinking "well, I am NOT a creative person".  We all have the capacity to be creative.  Ev.ree.sing.gal.one.of.us.

Here's something worth thinking about now, I'll discuss it next:

Unused creativity metastasizes into rage, grief, shame, & judgment.