Our creativity

Creativity is simply the energy of
making something where there was
nothing before.  We do this every day,
in so many unmarked ways.
-Fran Sorin


"He's so creative," I often hear.  Unfortunately, I often hear those words followed by something like, "I could never do anything like that!"  And it's often young people who are making this claim, who are saying that they've already given up on creativity, that they feel that they aren't at all creative themselves, that creativity is somehow reserved for "special" people who have some sort of gift.

They're wrong, though.  They are creative.  They may not be painting landscapes that are hung in galleries, and they may not be making music that's played all over the world, but they have creative gifts that they can share with the world on many different levels, if they would only look and see what they're doing and how they're doing it.

I'm creative when I bake or cook dinner, when I play Scrabble with a friend, when I compliment someone, when I come up with a way to fix something, when I help a kid with a project, when I plan a menu for a dinner with friends.  I can even be creative in the ways that I show kindness and compassion to others, in the way that I write a letter or an email to a friend.  Simply smiling at someone and wishing them well can create a good feeling in that other person, a feeling that wasn't there before, and that's definitely a creative contribution to the world in a positive way.

Not all creativity is meant to be shared with others on a wide scale.  Much of our creativity is what we use to contribute to our world in small but important ways, and we're all creative.  Not all of the time, of course, but much more often than we give ourselves credit for.