I love the emphasis in the QOLTC book’s chapter on creativity not being the exclusive province of any particular group, that we all have the capacity for some sort of creativity in us. “Creativity is most simply creative or original problem solving in any or all spheres of life.” So creativity can mean figuring out how to make coffee with the fewest dirty utensils. It can mean figuring out how to arrange a kitchen so that what you need is always close to hand. It can mean being a confirmed foodie who is always in search of ways to cook or present food that increase the pleasure of the eaters.
It can be tied up in activities that take a lot of repetitive steps, such as knitting a sweater or making a Rya rug. The 4ft by 2ft Rya rug pictured to the right is one that I made last year. My husband figured out the overall pattern in the shape of my business logo, given a collection of materials my mother had bought 15 years ago and never used. I did the knotting and made a lot of small decisions about how to make it work. So he was macro-creative and I was micro-creative in this case.
Creativity can mean learning to understand the signals of mood changes in the people around you and figuring out how to respond in ways that ease tension and restore hope. It can mean knowing how to give criticism in a way that the other can take in. It can mean figuring out how to run a conference call so that everybody gets a chance to voice his/her opinion and be heard (now that’s a challenge!)
When I was growing up, I somehow got the message that I was smart — but not creative. What a limited view I must have had of creativity!
2 responses so far ↓
Michael B. Frisch // September 2, 2007 at 9:53 pm
Kathryn,
Thanks for getting us thinking before class and for sharing your experience. I love your examples, including responding to the cues of others to give them what they need/want and not necessarily what you think they need (platinum rule). An organized kitchen, a very laudable goal but chimerical for me.
Mike
Michael B. Frisch // September 2, 2007 at 9:59 pm
by chimerical, I mean:
Oxford English Dictionary online:
An unreal creature of the imagination, a mere wild fancy; an unfounded conception. (The ordinary modern use.)
quotes:
1587 GOLDING De Mornay xxv. 379 How could that Chymera haue come in any mans minde? c1645 HOWELL Lett. I. I. iv, That golden myne is proved a meer Chymera, an imaginary airy myne. 1712 ARBUTHNOT John Bull II. iii, Exploded chimera’s, the perpetuum mobile..philosopher’s stone, etc.. 1796 MORSE Amer. Geog. II. 18 The sea-snake, or serpent of the ocean, is no longer counted a chimera. 1835 SIR J. ROSS N.W. Pass. xv. 237 The ‘chimera of a north-west passage’, as it has been termed.