About Creativity

Creativity isnt a big deal. Its like our breath. Its just a part of who we are. Some of us dont realize this. People who say, Oh, Im not creative, or I dont have a creative bone in my body, sound to me like theyre trying to convince themselves of something, rather than telling themselves the truth. They make the idea of creativity a BIG DEAL because then it will stay safely at arms length out of reach and require nothing of them.
Again, creativity isnt a big deal. Its not an event. It doesnt so much happen, as it is allowed. It comes out slowly.
When I found my dog, she had been badly abused. I was walking in the countryside, and she was watching me from a mound of dirt in an old church yard where she had been dumped. She started to follow me. If I turned around, shed stop. If I tried to walk towards her, shed tuck her tail under her butt and walk away from me. But if I moved along on my own way, shed follow me. She eventually got closer and closer, and ultimately she followed me home.
This is how I experience creativity. Anytime I try to turn around and catch it, it turns away. Its not about willing it. It rarely takes to announcements like, Today Im going to be creative! Im going to write a whole song!
In my experience, its a process. It is slow. Creativity is a way of being, and though it cant be forced, it can be cultivated and allowed. It happens when Im already open and my mind is receptive and quiet. Theres almost a joyful laziness to it. Kind of a Hmm, well, what if I tried this?
There is definitely happiness to it. A deep happiness and peace. My theory is that when we cling to our vices, when we do unhealthy things that we adamantly say we deserve, what were really trying to do is give ourselves what we keep denying ourselves - a fully creative and artful life. Once we start allowing more creativity in, we might find some of those old habits and vices just fall away. After all, they are not a substitute for the real thing.