Where is it?

It’s right there. Creativity is one of those things that people think you either have  or you don’t. You have it, you just don’t use it or nurture it. The truth of the matter, people who are the most creative use it all the time and the more they use it the faster they get to creative solutions. They know how to focus, edit and present ideas almost instantly. They don’t fear the possibility of failure. They go for it all the time. The elephant in the room is whether or not the solution is relevant. This is where experience comes in.  When we were working fast on an assignment because of a deadline and we needed a creative answer,I would jokingly say “Not to worry…we’ll catch the concept in the finish.” We can rationalize any concept or reason for a solution, but the truth or right answer is what you are really hoping to find.

It’s not there if you over think it.

Having the knack or letting your spontaneity take over is the answer to “where is it?” If you have built a mind full of great stuff, you’ll get great answers from it. You won’t have to stop and think about it. The thinking part is determining whether the answer is relevant and possibly arresting. As I have said in the past, a lot of the first answers you come up with are clichés, but it’s a great place to start.

Mother Nature is “organic” creativity.

It’s all around us. I go to the beach and stand at the edge of the ocean. If I let it, my mind will start to flip through hundreds of thoughts that I had forgotten about. Edited pictures from my dreams will start to appear in the morning and if I don’t write them down they are gone just like a butterfly. I asked a friend many years ago, who was a professor of English and a poet, how do you write a poem?  He asked me to lie down in the grass and close my eyes. He continued, “don’t speak or move till you can hear the blades of grass scratching against each other in the wind.”

Creativity is everywhere.

One has to be in the world, the same way that you would be in a museum. Make everything on your journey through life a possible source of art, an emotional experience, or interesting tableaux of irony. Look everywhere as you walk. Some inspirations will be very small. Imagine, every face you meet has a story behind it.

When the time comes, it will be there.