Inspiration, Craft, Tools Part III

Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. 

Art is knowing which ones to keep. Scott Adams

Although I've written about tools and craft first, I think for me creativity and inspiration did come first-- long before I had the means to share what I was feeling and thinking. I believe we are all born creative beings.  The natural instinct, even for a small child, is to make things.  

From those first impulses there can be those who encourage and uplift us. This might be friends, teachers, parents, etc. Inspiration also is encouraged from within. It is the small, still voice that says we can do it. It does more than that though as it leads us to see coincidences, serendipitous experiences, and recognize what that can mean. I call it the Muse. Is it a real spiritual entity, it might be or simply be part of our DNA, our ancestry, our brain.  What it is I cannot explain logically.  I just know that the more I listen to the Muse, the more it is accessible.

There is another strong influencer from within. While parents, friends and society can help or stifle our development of creativity, it is what comes from within that is most effective in shutting us down with doubts.  At our first creative impulse, the Inner Critic begins with-- worthless idea.  You can never do anything with it.  

This negativity is even stronger when it's an original idea - -something that has never been done before.  The Inner Critic has some impact on our use of tools and craft but far less.  It might suggest spending money on a new tool is foolishness.  It might try to argue us out of taking a self-improvement class.  The attacks, however, are not at our own worth so much as limiting our effectiveness. It can do far more damage where it comes to inspiration.

These two inner voices compete where it comes to using our creativity. The Muse encourages us, while the Inner Critic blocks.  How well these two can work together probably determines the likelihood that we will involve ourselves in creative endeavors like writing, painting, or so many other places where inspiration lives.

Interestingly, my earlier concern over the changing technologies hurting my creativity may have some grounds. A story goes with this.  

There is a painter whose work I have admired.  She had great success as a wildlife artist with fairly realistic paintings of wild animals.  A car accident led to a broken arm.  She could not paint with her dominant hand.  When she painted with the other hand, her work became more colorful and abstract.  She had not expected this to happen.  Was it right brain/left brain?  It is hard to say, but it is interesting in how inspiration and creativity work. 

Now, I won't say this would happen to a writer, but I think when I use voice recognition I write in shorter sentences.  Some of that might change when editing, using a keyboard, happens.  The thing that I have come to believe is that we can be impacted by the tools we use.  This is probably why some writers still write their rough drafts in longhand.

Many people, and I have been one, keep their creative work to themselves.  They do this out of a sense of self-preservation.  There is a price, however, that they may not know. To not put your creations out into the world, not to offer them for sale, and not to open yourself to reviews by others, can be a major block to having more creativity, i.e. inspiration, come into your life.  

This might seem hard to believe if you haven't been engaged in creative work, but as I have said, the more you write the better you get at writing, this is also true of inspiration. 

Get past the Inner Critic, close off listening to anything that is not intended to improve your work, take your work to the world-- or as much of it as the world wants.  Using your inspirations will lead you to seeing them everywhere. The more you open yourself up, the more there will be. Learning to think outside the box.

This is part of the philosophy of abundance and understanding what that means. We live in a bountiful world where we need to look for how we can use what is there, which sometimes means sharing it with others. This doesn't mean necessarily material riches. It means a creative lifestyle with an openness to all that is-- within and without. An abundant lifestyle is not about taking everything, it's about using wisely what we are given, knowing that the more we do this, the more there will be.

Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep. Scott Adams
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