Peanut butter and jelly creativity: Stepping beyond academia to unlock creativity

Yesterday, I stumbled upon something I wrote back in 2000, a pivotal time when I was opening up my creative channels. It was a few years after completing my Ph.D. in 1996 and spending some time teaching. But by then, I felt the need to step away from the “Ph.D.” identity entirely and explore a broader range of experiences. It was a time of walking away from everything I’d built to see what else life had to offer.

This period was deeply important to me. My lifelong passion has been understanding how adults learn in everyday life—a subject I explored in depth for my Ph.D. dissertation. But after finishing my academic journey, I realized I needed to leave the confines of academia to truly experience and understand adult learning.

During this exploration, I wrote a playful piece called “Peanut Butter and Jelly Creativity.” It’s written in a child-like voice that reminds me of Sark’s work—simple, fresh, and full of wonder. Some of the ideas I touched on in that piece, especially around the relationship between critical thinking and creativity, are explored more fully in my upcoming book, Getting Messy.

Looking back, there are things I might revise now, but I’ve decided to share the original version. It brings me back to the energy, curiosity, and wisdom of that transformative time in my life. There’s something special about revisiting those moments when we stepped into the unknown to find our authentic selves.

Stay tuned for Getting Messy, where I dive deeper into these concepts and the messy, beautiful process of learning and creativity.

I never thought I was creative because my mom always said
she wasn’t.
No one else in my family was either.
My friend Angela thought she wasn’t creative because her father
was an artist
and she thought there could only be one in the family.
We were both wrong.
Everyone is creative.
(You are creative.)

You just need to find your particular path, your particular voice.
What grabs you?
What juices you?
What do you love?

These questions are harder than they appear.
Why?
Because creativity always leads us in surprising ways.

It’s scary to trust that voice.
It’s much easier to trust other people’s voices.
Those voices that instruct you, telling you what to do and how
to do it.

When you go with your creativity, you go against the norm…

I need space to let my creativity flourish.
Lots and lots and lots of space.

Beautiful space.

I moved to Montana to find more space.

Space can include a lot of different things.
It’s kind of like “breathing room.”

Sometimes it’s breathing room from people.

My friend Angela wants me to be her friend always and forever.
That makes me feel like I’m in prison.
To be creative, I need freedom in my relationships too.

Sometimes it’s breathing room from too many ideas
weighing me down.
I especially suffered from this in graduate school.
**INFORMATION OVERLOAD**

Now, when I read too much I feel ill.
I know when I’m “too full” and need to quit.

We need room to breathe, space to think, and freedom
from the ideas of others.
We need to discover our own ideas.

Everyone says critical thinking is important.
The other day a Ph.D. Astrophysicist from Princeton was on National Public Radio. (*WOW@!)
He spent an hour talking about how he was trying to get people to think critically.

For example, he wanted people to know that they were at the same risk of dying from an asteroid hitting the earth as dying from an airplane crash. And that days actually grow shorter in the summer, not longer. (The longest day of the year is the first day of summer.)

But this is simply inserting a different (“more correct”) set of information into our heads.
To me, critical thinking is more like creativity—
Going underneath the information he provided and pondering it.
Putting new thoughts together…
I wonder…
What would it feel like if an asteroid hit the earth?
Would it make a loud bang?
Would I lose my hearing immediately?

Creativity can happen in any subject.

There are creative mothers, creative gardeners, creative builders.
There are creative engineers, and maybe even creative politicians.

Can you think of any?

Some subjects are heavier than others
but all subjects can be made heavy.
How?

By giving us too much information to swallow.
Information is heavy.
Creativity is light.
Critical thinking requires space just like creativity does.

I need lightness and space to think creatively.

What else do I need?
Fun
Humor
Beauty

But mostly, not being afraid to be a fool.

Have you noticed that many creative things are childlike?

Think of Picasso’s art, Robin Williams, the Beatles (“Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da” “We all live in a yellow submarine” $@#!)

Creativity needs play.

What is play to you?

I like rolling down hills, wrestling with my friends, exploring new city neighborhoods.

When I lived in Chicago I would stand in front of Grant Fountain and fantasize about climbing in.

Creativity requires paying attention and noticing.
It requires trusting yourself.

It’s taken me many years to notice that
pushing myself to “work hard” stops my creative flow.
Lots of breaks are good.

And if something comes up,
I need to follow it.
Even if I’m driving, or standing in line at the grocery, or trying to sleep.

Creativity is a gift, And it’s our job to put it out there into the world.

Even if people think it’s silly