Creativity

Elizabeth Gilbert muses on the impossible things we expect from artists and geniuses — and shares the radical idea that, instead of the rare person “being” a genius, all of us “have” a genius. It’s a funny, personal and surprisingly moving talk.

Creativity [originality, ingenuity]: Thinking of novel and productive ways to conceptualize and do things; includes artistic achievement but is not limited to it. Personified for example by Albert Einstein (Source: VIA Institue)

There are two essential components to Creativity- originality and adaptiveness. A creative individual generates ideas or behaviors that are novel or unusual and these make a positive contribution to the individual’s life or the lives of others. Learn more at Via Institute on Character

The Noel Strengths Academy defines it this way:

 A creative person is someone who comes up with ideas that are  (1) original and (2) useful

  • Creativity includes artistic achievement, but is not limited to it
  • People who are creative enjoy thinking of novel and productive ways to describe and do things
  • There is “BIG C” Creativity / “little c” creativity
    • “little c” creativity refers to day-to-day creativity
    • “Big C” creativity is reserved for those who accomplish once-in-lifetime, creative acts
    • “Big C” creators understand that truly original and useful creativity requires  hard work
    • “Big C” creators are usually (eventually) completers
  • Sparks of ingenuity

Source: Noel Strengths Academy

Yes, strengths can be overused and underused

  • Underuse: Conformity
  • Overuse: Eccentricity

Key Research:

  • Rank order of Creativity in populations from:
    • US : 14;
    • European: 12
    • Asia: 15
    • Latin America: 11
    • Sub-Saharan Africa: 11
    • Middle east: 11
  • The character strengths least related to life satisfaction (weak association) are modesty/humility, creativity, appreciation of beauty & excellence, judgment, and love of learning (Park, Peterson, & Seligman, 2004).
  • The most prevalent character strengths in very young children are love, kindness, creativity, curiosity, and humor (Park & Peterson, 2006a).
  • Character strengths and character strengths-related person-job fit played a central role in work-related outcomes. Signature strengths fit and the character strengths of creativity and teamwork were the strongest predictors (Harzer et al., 2017).
  • A study of strengths under the virtue of wisdom (creativity, curiosity, judgment, love of learning, and perspective) found them to be related to higher performance on a creative task and negatively related to stress (Avey et al., 2012).

Psychological Impact of Creativity

  1. Creativity is linked to problem-solving skills: Research has shown that individuals who score high on Creativity are better equipped to approach problems from unique angles and find innovative solutions (Finke et al., 1992).
  2. Creativity is associated with cognitive flexibility: People who are creative are more likely to be able to switch between different mental sets and adapt to new information, which can lead to novel insights and solutions (Duncan & McCann, 2007).
  3. Creativity is a key component of innovation: Studies have found that creative individuals are more likely to develop new products, services, and ideas that can drive innovation and growth (Amabile, 1988).
  4. Creativity is linked to emotional intelligence: Research has shown that individuals who are creative are more likely to be emotionally intelligent, which can help them navigate complex social situations and build strong relationships (Goleman, 1995).
  5. Creativity is associated with open-mindedness: People who are creative are more likely to be open to new ideas and perspectives, and are less likely to be closed-minded or dogmatic (Kashdan & Ciarrochi, 2013).
  6. Creativity is a key factor in personal growth: Research has found that engaging in creative activities can lead to increased self-awareness, self-acceptance, and self-improvement (Hennessey & Amabile, 1988).
  7. Creativity is linked to mental health: Studies have shown that engaging in creative activities can reduce stress, anxiety, and depression, and can even help to prevent mental health issues (Kashdan & Ciarrochi, 2013).
  8. Creativity is associated with social connections: Research has found that creative individuals are more likely to form and maintain strong social connections, and are better equipped to navigate complex social situations (Gilliland & Dunn, 2003).
  9. Creativity is a key component of flow experiences: Studies have found that creative activities can lead to flow experiences, which are characterized by complete absorption and engagement in an activity (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990).
  10. Creativity can be developed and strengthened: VIA’s research has shown that creativity can be developed and strengthened through practice, training, and experience, and that individuals can improve their creativity over time (VIA Institute on Character, 2015).

Put into action the recommendations from  the Authentic Happiness Coaching Newsletter on Creativity

Tayyab Rashid and Afroze Anjum offer 340 Ways to Use VIA Character Strengths including these four for Creativity:

  1. Do at least one assignment weekly in a different and creative manner. If your assignments don’t leave much room for creativity, work on them in a new and different environment.
  2. Work on an article, essay, short story, poem, drawing, or painting in relation to your passion once a week. When you finish, look for a way to share your work with others who share your interest.
  3. Take a pottery, photography, stained glass, sculpture or painting class. If you have skills in one of these areas, consider teaching a class. 11. Learn about an exotic and creative art such as Feng-shui or Ikebana. Get advice on where to start from friends from different cultural backgrounds.
  4. Read about famous creative people and identify what made them unique. Think about the unique aspects of your own life and how you could channel them for creative purposes.

Learn more and here for Roger’s excellent website.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 From the bestselling author of How We Decide comes a sparkling and revelatory look at the new science of creativity. Shattering the myth of muses, higher powers, even creative “types,” Jonah Lehrer demonstrates that creativity is not a single “gift” possessed by the lucky few. It’s a variety of distinct thought processes that we can all learn to use more effectively. Lehrer reveals the importance of embracing the rut, thinking like a child, and daydreaming productively, then he takes us out of our own heads to show how we can make our neighborhoods more vibrant, our companies more productive, and our schools more effective. We’ll learn about Bob Dylan’s writing habits and the drug addiction of poets. We’ll meet a bartender who thinks like a chemist, and an autistic surfer who invented an entirely new surfing move. We’ll see why Elizabethan England experienced a creative explosion, and how Pixar designed its office space to get the most out of its talent. Collapsing the layers separating the neuron from the finished symphony, Imagine reveals the deep inventiveness of the human mind, and its essential role in our increasingly complex world. from Johah Lehrer’s website.

 

From Kirkus Reviews, 04/15/96:

A mostly fascinating look at what makes creative people who they are, gleaned largely from interviews with 91 individuals from a wide variety of fields. Despite the subtitle, social psychologist Csikszentmihalyi, who invented the idea of “flow” and authored a book with that title, writes relatively little about the enjoyable, ego-and time- transcending absorption in a task that is conducive to creativity and high achievement. Rather, he focuses on the interplay creative person, and the “domain” (sociologese for “field”), including the receptivity of experts to new ideas and inventions. He quotes extensively–too much so–from the subjects he and his research team interviewed, but there are some gems among these passages, such as writer Madeleine L’Engle’s observation that to produce good literature, “your intuition and your intellect should be working together . . . making love.” Csikszentmihalyi’s weakest section consists of detailing ten personality polarities that supposedly distinguish creative individuals, but that are also applicable to “balanced” or “fulfilled” individuals. His best sections consist of longer profiles of individuals as varied as poet Anthony Hecht, ecologist Barry Commoner, and astronomer Vera Rubin. Also valuable is a concluding prescriptive section with some helpful advice to the average person on how to make his or her thinking and way of living more creative, particularly a passage on how to rethink and use a disappointing experiences, such as being passed over for a promotion. Unfortunately, redundancies make the work too long by at least a third, and some meaningless or fatuous generalizations alsomar the presentation (e.g., “Recent studies suggest that the amount of dalliance, marital infidelity and sexual experimentation [among creative people studied] is much less than earlier estimates had suggested”). Still, the rich anecdotal material Csikszentmihalyi has mined and analyzed make this an important study of a vital topic. ($40,000 ad/promo) — Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Elizabeth Gilbert muses on the impossible things we expect from artists and geniuses — and shares the radical idea that, instead of the rare person “being” a genius, all of us “have” a genius. It’s a funny, personal and surprisingly moving talk.

 

Novelist Amy Tan digs deep into the creative process, looking for hints of how hers evolved.

How do creative people come up with great ideas? Organizational psychologist Adam Grant studies “originals”: thinkers who dream up new ideas and take action to put them into the world. In this talk, learn three unexpected habits of originals — including embracing failure. “The greatest originals are the ones who fail the most, because they’re the ones who try the most,” Grant says. “You need a lot of bad ideas in order to get a few good ones.”

 

 Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining and profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity.

        • The Moment with Brian Koppelman The Moment is a fascinating podcast featuring interviews with all kinds of creatives from very different industries, discussing the moment that sparked their career. It’s insightful, interesting, and great proof that you never know what moment will change your life.
        • The 99% Invisible podcast is about things you don’t think about—the unseen process of design and architecture that goes into the stuff we interact with every day. From the inflatable men at used car dealerships, to the classic design of mailboxes with red flags, 99% Invisible covers a huge range of subjects.
        • “Where Do Great Ideas Come From?” (Hidden Brain)
        • “Unmuting the Mind” – The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish
        • “Fostering Everyday Creativity” – The Science of Happiness (UC Berkeley)
        • Podcast: “The Accidental Creative” Episode: “Unlocking Your Creative Potential” – This episode explores practical strategies and insights for fostering creativity in various aspects of life, featuring interviews with creative professionals and thought leaders.

 

Your Creativity

More on meditation:

Quotations on creativity

Passion is one great force that unleashes creativity, because if you’re passionate about something, then you’re more willing to take risks. Yo-Yo Ma

 

 

 

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