Thursday, September 25, 2008

When are you creative?

When do creative ideas come to you?

I am a minister, and I am intrigued about how Christians view a creative moment versus a non-Christian. Often I will hear a non-Christian artist talk about how creative ideas come to them. For example, Kid Rock's said his hit song, All Summer Long, came to him in the middle of the night. I've heard various artists in different genre's say similar scenarios. The creative moment came at odd times. The moment came while talking on the phone, in the shower, in the middle of the night, a dream, driving in the car. In a sense the creativity came in the margins of life.

When I hear Christians talk about creative moments in the margins of time I hear the phenomenon described as a coming from God. God talked to them. God gave them a word and the like. To me it sounds like a creative spark that many non-Christians describe happens to them.

While I believe creativity is from God (that's another post), I don't believe God has limited creativity to us Christians. I think it is a gift he has given to all mankind. He has given all of us the ability to be creative. The point I'm making is the sun shines down on all of us.

I digress.

You need to keep track of when your creative thoughts come to you. If they come to you in the shower then get some soap crayons and write in on the wall. if they come to you in the car get a voice recorder to record your thoughts. If they come to you in the middle of the night then have some index cards on the nightstand.

Pay attention to when you are creative and have a method of recording your thoughts. You will find out that you might be more creative than you thought. Plus, in order for you to be more creative youneed to create margins in your life where you can have unprocessed thought. Creativity seems to come in moments of non-productivity, loose concentration, and pondering. In fact, research has shown that the greatest leaders carved out time to just think about things. This carved out time is what gave them opportunity to solve problems and catch visions.

1 comment:

Melina said...

Hi! I'm a fellow Suffolk blogger and your profile caught my attention. I love that bicycle pic!

I'm hoping to raise some awareness in our community about the upcoming Mayoral elections (the first one ever for Suffolk). I think you'll find my interview with Tom Powell interesting.

Lovely to e-meet you, and I am looking forward to future posts on your blog.