Tuesday, March 16, 2010

The Practical Side of Creativity

Recently I’ve mentioned to a few, my decision to be intentionally creative.

I have been fortunate for most of my formative years including going to a performing and visual arts high school, and being a theatre major in college, to be “allowed” to be creative.

Because I am now homeschooling my children, I've been challenged in a way that I haven't been in a long time. And I realized that, while yes I’m still creative, I’ve allowed myself to get in to a bit of a rut. I’ve allowed the distractions of the world, as well as the “musts” and “shoulds” to hinder my creativity.

Then I came across this talk on a website I recently "discovered" TED.com. After seeing this (entertaining) talk by Sir Ken Robinson I realized just how critically important creativity is.
Not for creativity's own sake, but for how it heavily influences the way we view life, the way we view challenges, and the way we navigate through life and through such challenges. There are practical implications to the creative process.

As I watch my two children play, work, rest, eat, everything really, I am captivated by what they discover, how they discover, and then what they do with that information.

Why are more adults not like this? What happens as we grow older that this ability is lost (or greatly reduced)? And how does this affect the world in which we live?

Here is a link to the talk which engagingly addresses these questions. Ken Robinson on TED.com