Creativity is a Combination of 3Es

Energy, emotion and experience may just be the winning formula to keep your creative juices flowing…

Like your body that trembles, as you try to stay firm and aligned in a yoga pose, or your wandering ‘monkey mind’, that almost chases away the imaginary flickering flame of the lamp at the centre of your eyebrows, when you try to meditate — creativity can also elude you.

My blog writing frequency has dropped considerably… As a regular blogger that can be a cause of concern…

And, I wonder what am I doing less of… Do I not have enough time and energy, have I run out of ideas — the famous writer’s block, or has nothing triggered me emotionally to write about?

The answers could be all of the above and more… But,

A writer’s mind is one that seeks, and hence looks for answers within herself and outside of herself.

After much introspection, and plenty of reading — which is the best antidote for a creative dry spell— I came to the conclusion that perhaps, these three factors underlie all creative activities...

The 3Es — Energy, Emotion, and Experience.

These 3Es not only aid the creative process, but also determine at what level you will be able to create and how consistently.

Every other factor, like self-discipline, focus, complete involvement and flow, emerge as by-products of these 3Es.

Let’s take a deeper look at the 3Es and how they impact our creativity…

1. Energy

Creation is an act. Action takes energy. — Ursula K. Le Guin

Undoubtedly, every act, be it creative or otherwise involves energy. But, perhaps, creative acts require more energy than usual… Simply because any craft or creative activity requires not just your time, but hours of concentration and focus.

Creative energy, moreover, does not depend only on our stamina to flex our creative muscles — for instance, in the case of writing, to create a message that is beautiful, engaging and informative all at the same time — but also depends on the ability to stretch your imagination, and explore the unusual and even bizarre.

For this, the writer’s mind needs to be agile, open and adventurous to receiving ideas, and must also have enough staying power, to hold the idea long enough to give it life, or metaphorical wings.

But, all energy needs a source, and what are the probable energy sources for a creative?

Sometimes, the most basic things like a good night’s rest, a fitness regime, a meditation practice, and even great food and company can enhance your creative energy and effectiveness. Entertainment in healthy doses also provides an opportunity for the mind to de-stress and expand.

Of course, a lot of energy can also be gained from merely working on your craft, for a specified period of time, day after day… No progress, creatively or otherwise, can be achieved without consistency and self-discipline.

A regular creative discipline helps you test your energy threshold and exceed it.

2. Emotion

In Indian philosophy, there are nine emotions, or the navarasa. They include — shringara (love), hasya (laughter), karuna (kind-heartedness or compassion), raudra (anger), veera ( courage), bhayanaka (terror), bheebhatsya (disgust), adbutha (surprise), and shantha (peace or tranquility).

These nine emotions became an integral part of various Indian arts like dance and theatre. And, not just the performing arts, even other creative forms like poetry, painting and design, have the quality to reflect these various moods and emotions.

But where do these moods or emotions depicted in art originate from?

Emotions already exist within us…

In fact, they are in plenty and may need to be identified, streamlined, analysed, and accepted, for us to create something useful and creative from them.

All emotion comes to give us a particular message, or inform us about how we perceive a situation or event. When we can combine that emotion with an idea, or with our imagination, and give it a form, it becomes creative.

Thus, emotion forms the basis of all creative effort, and giving that emotion its rightful direction, or setting it in motion, is what allows for heightened creativity.

3. Experience

You may have plenty of energy and a smorgasbord of emotions, waiting to express themselves in some creative form, but until you don’t have the necessary skill and insight to create something from them, they will fade away into oblivion.

Experience is not just a function of putting hours of work into your craft…it is the will to experiment and fail, to create and tear apart, to put out work that you may cringe upon years later, but will still proudly say it is yours.

Creativity is for the bravehearted and for the insightful…

For those who are willing to put together two diverse thoughts and make it one… For those who have enough insight to join the dots, and see patterns where none exist.

Creativity is the courage to experiment with new realities created from your imagination…

But it is only the experienced who can do so…because only after working your imaginative and intuitive muscles consistently, and for long spells will insight come easily…

Beginner’s luck may exist with the initial few ideas striking easily, but to be able to work with imagination on demand, requires years of research, skill, and discipline.

The only way to gain more experience in creativity is by creating more, and having the courage to stand by your creation…

This requires resilience, fortitude and commitment. But, more than anything, it requires maturity — a trait derived from experience!

Creativity is undoubtedly a complex phenomenon…something that has no clear formula, and no predetermined rule book…

Everyone creates with a different set of rules, that are designed to work for them.

But all creative enterprises will have some combination of the 3Es… So, understand how you can work with and enhance the 3Es to boost the creative process!

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