Man is Creative by Design

I always thought of myself as a non-creative person. I have imposed this limiting belief onto myself for years on. Time to shed this paradigm and reconnect with my sense of creation and imagination, which are so important to lead a happy and successful life 

Imagination and creativity are constitutive of the human mind. Our ability to invent, adapt and imagine are what differentiate us from the rest of the animal world. These faculties are evident in children, who use and develop them with ease. However, as we grow into adulthood, the constraints of society and its social norms start to limit them. Education, while good at providing tools and concepts, is not a great catalyst of creativity, being based on an antiquated industrial-age reality and needs. Education strives to maintain a status quo based on knowledge. Society at large, in addition, wants you to focus on entertainment or on consuming goods, not on developing your creativity!

The main issue with creativity hereby comes from your own self-censoring habit. Fear of failure, or fear of others’ opinion, forces you to reject any idea that seems “odd”, or non-conformative, thereby avoiding risk.

It is actually quite easy to renew with one’s creativity. It is as easy as allowing your mind to wonder and make new neural connections in the process. Being curious, actively engaged with the world around you matters a great deal. The main objective is to let your mind work without imposing any barriers. If nourished with data (being curious about things, experiencing something new, reading a great book, etc), your brain will automatically and unconsciously select, organize, develop ideas and solutions, not unlike working on a puzzle where your only responsibility is to put the pieces of the puzzle on the table, leaving your mind to decide what’s next. Don’t try to go too fast, like good cooking, creativity takes time 

I may not still not be the most creative person I know, but in my experience, the process of writing this article - and the few ones I worked on for the past few months – is part of my creative process. And I guarantee you: it works (event though I still have the fight the urge to criticise every single one of my articles).

Onwards and Upwards,

Bertrand Petyt