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!
