Creativity and Living with the Virus

Like many people out there and in lock down, I am starting to accept the situation that we are currently living in.

My first reaction from the last few weeks was to catch up with life online.  My teaching had to be moved to the virtual world in the space of two days.   

I initially struggled with the online platforms that are on offer (zoom, MS teams). The workplace had not fully set them up and it took sometime for all of us to learn to share their use.  

Still things can be improved, and now we have a full examination period coming up online.

At home I had to become more patient.  Combining work with just spending idle time has not been easy for me.  And as a creative person, I am supposed to make the best of the situation.  

But I am also an anxious one, so my creativity needs to accept that the adjustment is to take some time.  

Cooking, gardening, reading crime novels, video-conferencing, writing a new book, shopping, going for runs, more gardening, cleaning, more cooking, stopped writing the book (it is with my proofreader now), restarted writing old papers and new papers.   And a good support group with bit more of mindfulness practice have become the activities of my week.  

I thought I was not doing much, but on the whole and looking at the above list, it is quite a lot!

Creativity is still here with me, with my family, with neighbors, with key workers in supermarkets and in hospitals, with the self-employed.  It is not the old creativity we used to know.  Rather, and like the virus, she has mutated for good.  She is asking us to focus on the important things, to rest, to chat with loved ones, to make things simpler, to stop unnecessary shopping, to consider how we are going to make the best of the online world, to be more compassionate with ourselves and others.  

For me this would mean being bit more patient, pray again, meditate again, enjoy my slow writing, my close family, my cycling (when possible), and my garden.  

And for you?  

Try to rediscover your creativity, welcome her back to your home and your souls, don't ask her for the impossible.  And enjoy her company.  

A toast to silent creativity

I propose a toast to silent creativity,

that muse that comes uninvited, when we give her the chance.

That creativity that encourages us not to boast but to work diligently,

to be honest with ourselves and ask:  Why is it that we do what we do?

If we are seeking fame, money or ego aggrandizement, she will walk away in the same way she came in. And we will not notice.  

She will wait 'outside', patiently, for us to prepare our hearts,  to find ourselves in our work.

She will visit us in our dreams, whispering a word, an idea, a feeling,

for us to wake up and get back to work, now with humility, zeal and passion.

If we are lucky, she will keep doing this, and when we feel we are ready, we can defend her in court.

The prosecutors will argue that she is passive, useless and mystical.  

The public will get impressed by the lack of evidence.  

Most of them perhaps will ask for a refund, they thought this was a show! 

What shall we do as her only friends in the room? 

Just listen to what she whispers:  

I am with you, do not worry, just keep doing what you love doing. 

Retreat if you must, but remember your dreams, my dreams, who you are.

Seek solitude, seek friends, seek your old diaries, I will be around... 

Cheers!  

Our inner creativity

The idea of someone being creative is now common place in our societies.  From children to artists or entrepreneurs, we labelled ourselves or other as creative when we notice that we do something different, unconventional, appealing.  The field of creativity has also specific attributes for a creative product, idea or process:  novelty and value.  

What is also common place, in many cases, is that we see those who we labelled as creators, with a special appreciation.  As if they had some inner trait, talent or personality that shines through in their work or aspects of their life.  As if they finally found themselves and do not care much if their  effort is acknowledged.  

We have inherited the idea that we can look within ourselves and discover or rediscover some kind of truth or insight.  It is said that with practice and patience, many creators learn to train their inner selves to distinguish those ideas or thoughts that could become creativity 'winners' from those which would not.  It is as if they would educate that part of themselves that can forget about the exterior world by incorporating it.  Or as if they would be able to connect with something larger than themselves (their aura, the universe) and reflect such connections in what they do. 

For creativity to be acknowledged as such, it needs to be revealed, brought forth, unearthed from our inner quarters and displayed.  My six year old daughter Sofía recently drew a picture of her school food menu.  The drawing was then taken to a children's exhibition and we were sent a congratulatory message.  Lovely thing to do.  

Sofía keeps asking me if I am proud of her, and I keep saying to her:  I am always proud of you, no matter what.  

Linked to this revealing requirement of our inner creativity is its potential to help us 'move on' in life as Anna Craft says (I presented her work in a previous post).  Creativity as potential personal and (later on) economic development  or survival seems to be the next stop for our inner creativity.  But where will this stop?  Is it necessary for creativity to 'come out' and then keep moving?  

This revealing seems to assume that creativity is a source of life.  And I wonder if we are confusing creativity with life.  Maybe we are trying to tame life, the life of our universe, with our own nets, with our own biological survival.

Maybe instead of treating inner creativity as a source or as an origin, we could treat it as a destination, one which could help us connect with our universe here and now...Maybe it is time to stop and reverse.