Creativity: Basic Principles

I discovered these “principles of creativity” on a handout I made for a workshop I led ten years ago (yikes.) In any case, I believe they still hold up:

• Creativity comes from the heart. Our hearts are what inspire our creativity. Listening to the heart’s wisdom, we have the courage to do something different, try out new directions and explore new terrain. Creativity happens when our heart is moved and inspired.
• Creativity needs space, both internal and external. One of the biggest blocks to creativity is having our psyches clogged with unfinished business. A simple walk or time spent in nature can give us space and a fresh perspective, or simply stopping to close our eyes and take a few deep breaths.
• Your creative spirit needs a big vision. When we make things too small and focus on the mundane and trivial, we lose juice and life becomes boring. We can focus on problems, or we can focus on our big vision. We have a choice.
• Creativity is nourished and fed by beauty. Nurturing environments and nurturing people.
• Creativity is centered in you. The creative ground that you stand on is outside of the institution that you work for. Your own creative ground is comprised of your loves and passions, those things that you value and hold most dear.
• Creativity is unique. Your response to any situation is unique. Your perspective is unique. And your creative expression is unique.
• Creativity is bigger than you are. In the midst of a creative project, you don’t know what the end result is going to look like. It’s a lesson in letting go, to let your creativity take you in a different direction than you expected.
• Creativity comes with “Beginner’s Mind.” Beginner’s Mind means not acting out of habit. It means having an open mind and perceiving what is happening with fresh eyes. Be willing to not know.
• Creativity means having a relationship with the world. Creativity requires participation–stepping out of our “bubbles,” engaging with whatever it is that we are passionate about.
• The movement of your life is toward learning and creative growth. Life presents us with continual opportunities to learn and create.