Be creative

Natural Health, June, 2004

Here's a concept that has taken some hard knocks of late. Incidents in law, politics, accounting and journalism have somehow turned creativity into a synonym for manipulation and distortion.

Leaving politicians and lawyers aside (please), the true corruptors of creativity are the fears and false modesties that we impose--or allow to be imposed--on us. "The chief enemy of creativity is 'good' taste," declared Pablo Picasso, who was rarely troubled by such a thing. But you don't have to revolutionize the art world to be considered inventive or imaginative. According to author John Updike, "Any activity becomes creative when the doer cares about doing it right, or better."

What is creativity? Stepping into the unknown, listening to your own voice even as you redefine your vision, retaining your convictions while you release your certainties, learning from the mistakes you inevitably make, and keeping success one more try away.

If you can't see yourself being creative. take another look. In fact, that's as good a definition of creativity as any other. "Creativeness often consists of merely turning up what is already there," said Bernice Fitz-Gibbon, once a director of advertising for Macy's. "Did you know that right and left shoes were thought up only a little more than a century ago?"