Creativity
and its Enemies
Some of us think that creativity is this strange power that some of us just have, and some just don’t. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Creativity can be built, enriched, and if left unattended, die, but still be recoverable.
Let’s give it a quick definition: Creativity is the capability to produce original, good ideas.
That sounds hard. Original? It feels like creativity is the ability to play god, to come up with something out of nothing, with no will of our own. But that suggests that our creativity and our ability to sharpen it is out of our hands, which is wrong.
Originality isn’t to create something from nothing, but putting the old together in a new way, and maybe, adding our personal touch in the process.
“Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But since no one was listening, everything must be said again.” — André Gide.
I like to think of the brain as a food mixer, or a computer, that doesn't need your help to put ideas together but needs your help acquiring them. Let’s put it this way: A computer needs input, to give output. If you give it nothing, then it will return nothing.
Creativity isn’t a gift, but a reward for allowing our minds to constantly absorb new information and interact with them to see what else is possible. The more varied the ideas we absorb, the more original the ideas that come out.
And limiting what enters your mind is limiting what comes out of it.
Limitations
I strongly believe that limitations in terms of what can and can’t enter the mind can be the death of an artist. Love and tragedy gave us Romeo and Juliet. Gorge. R. R. Martin is a historian who loves fantasy, so he gave us A Song of Ice and Fire. George Lucas had a passion for Japanese culture, and with a bit of inspiration from the Dune series, gave us Star Wars.
If we want to be creative, we shouldn’t limit ourselves by liking only one thing. We can’t only like one kind of music, one genre of novels, one genre of movies, one form of art. We should gather ideas from everywhere, and use them to write what we love. We should observe and absorb everything in an artist mindset, all the while asking the question: what do we get if we put this and this together?
Unsurprisingly, the days I was too busy or not in the mood to watch anything, were the days I felt least inspired. We get the joy of creating and the push to create when we interact with the creations of others.
And so as soon as I feel like this. I would watch something different, something good. I would listen to some new music or watch an old movie or an anime or anything that I wouldn’t usually watch. I would put myself in an observer’s shoes again and take new stuff in, knowing that everything going in will eventually come out.
However, our minds need one more thing to thrive: peace of mind. And so, the second killer of inspiration:
Stress
You’ve got the ideas in your brain. But that’s not enough. Our mind will have a hard time doing something with those ideas if it was constantly anxious about this or that. There’s a reason that a lot of writers advise us not to leave our day job until our income from writing can satisfy all of our needs and more.
While our mind is thinking about our financial situation, or a fight we had a month ago, or this or that problem in work, it’s not making use of all the elements we’ve provided him with. Our mind needs its space to wonder. I think it’s no surprise that most people have their most inspiring ideas either while they’re going to sleep, or taking a shower or a walk while listening to music.
These are the times when we’re most relaxed and our minds are free of all the fears and doubts and worries, and are free to interact with their ideas and provide us with something new.
I realize that for a lot of us, this can be hard to accomplish, as the sources of stress can’t be easily removed, especially when it’s financial or family-related. But I think taking time off of the day, just to relax will go a long way in inspiring us. It can be as simple as a twenty-minute walk while listening to some music. Whatever can take one’s mind off of one’s life, and not be complicated enough to occupy it.
Our minds are beautiful this way, give them the creations of other people, give them the space and peace of mind to actually do something with it, then wait. Ideas will start popping into your head. They’ll be original, and good, and you’ll have no idea where they came from.
