You Can Be Creative

You Can Be Creative
by Glenn White

Creativity is elusive and can avoid you seemingly without any reason. Some days it’s difficult writing and putting down one understandable sentence on the page. It is a wrestling match where you struggle to pin down each word. And just when you think you’ve made the pin…that one little word gets up and walks away.

So, you pour another cup of coffee and stare at the computer screen waiting for inspiration. But it doesn’t come. Ah, you remember the article you read about writer’s block.

You rummage through a leaning tower of magazines and yank out a two-year-old issue of Writer’s Digest. You read it and become convinced about one of two things. The first article says when you have writer’s block then you need to write through your block. You think, obviously the lady writing the article didn’t know what she was talking about because writer’s block means you can’t write. And after all, she did write the article. A guy saying there isn’t any such thing as writer’s block writes a second article. Which seems to make more sense since because, after all, he is writing. You read the articles but…you still can’t cough up one measly, lousy sentence. You take a sip of cold, gritty coffee filtered through a leaky Melitta and cough up something, anyway. It only lasts one sentence and you start all over again staring at white space.

Welcome to wonderful world of writing! A world where creativity ebbs and flows like an inky tide. There are three simple steps, however, to preserve and enhance creativity.

Stay out of the Negative

A guaranteed method to dampen the fires of creativity is immersing your mind in the negative side of life. Watch the television news, gobble up every newspaper in town, listen to talk radio, and by the end of the day your creativity fire will die down to a flickering ember. The news media thrives on disaster, controversy, and the misfortunes of men.

Experiment and go twenty-four hours, one whole day, without listening, reading, or watching the news. Take a vacation from the media and see if your writing isn’t more creative.

Watch Your Focus

It is true that “what you see is what you get.” Even if you stay away from the news media you may find your thoughts drifting toward the negative anyway. But you can change your thoughts by focusing on the goodness in life. The negative stuff of life is obvious and undeniable so you will have to train your mind to focus on the good.

Experiment and make an intentional effort to discard the negative thoughts that float through your thinking. Martin Luther said, “Thoughts are like birds, they will fly and get in your hair but you don’t have to let them nest.”

Practice Gratitude

Some people talk about having “an attitude of gratitude” and that is a perfect way to develop and maintain creativity. Complaining kills creativity. There is not any better way to slaughter creativity than by complaining. Don’t believe it? Look around and listen to people who carp and complain and you will notice they maximize the problems and minimize creative solutions. Gratitude is a great creativity enhancer. Not only that people just may hang around you more and tell you their stories.

Experiment and practice saying, “Thank you,” to anyone and everyone who does anything for you. Practice maintaining an attitude of gratitude for one day and see if the fires of creativity don’t burn brightly.

Try these three steps and you will make a difference in this world as you write to inspire!