Cultivating Creativity (Last series)

"Creativity doesn't wait for that perfect moment. It fashions its own perfect moments out of ordinary ones."

- Bruce Garrabrandt

Happy Easter to all my Christian brothers and sisters. I hope we are getting ready to celebrate the day with our families and moreover with the joy that Christ is risen from the dead? How great it is to enjoy the grace from God who sacrificed His son to die for our sins and gave us life in abundance.

So, without much intro into the Easter period, we shall continue our series on the best things in life that are free. I hope you are enjoying them? If you already missed the first two parts of the series, you can find them by clicking the links below.

Nurturing Friendships

Practicing Hospitality

CULTIVATING CREATIVITY

Many of us are born to be creative while some developed it in many ways. We all go out to shop at the mall, cook the best meal, and we find these things easy. Going to the mall, cooking your best meal, buying what we want does not require any imagination or innovation whatsoever. We buy what we see in front of us just because we see it there, being placed in the show glass or on the table. But the funny thing about being creative is that it is borne out of limitations, rather than in abundance. You cannot be creative with the surplus in your possession. Let me cite an example for us to get the gist.

You are hungry and you need to eat food to have strength but the little cash on you cannot go anywhere. There are just little ingredients in the house and perhaps the cash is what would take you for an interview. What do you do? At this moment, you are being restrained and limited to the little ingredients in the house because you don't want to spend the cash on something else. At that moment, you activate your creativity by preparing some food with the ingredients you have in the house.

Just like me, most times when I have tomato paste and dried grind pepper in the house and with some rice at home. I must use my creativity to prepare rice either white or concoction rice with what I have in the house. That is creativity, isn't it?

The less we have, the more creative we must be because we must learn how to cultivate our creativity by learning how to embrace our restraints and boundaries.

We must never mistake craftiness for creativity because many people take both to mean the same thing. Just like you wanting to become a writer, you must use your creativity in building your content rather than going online to copy and paste other's content to make yours.

The Bible in Ephesians 2:10 makes us know that we are God's handiwork and we are expected to be creative because God has created us with the brain and we all have the capacity to creatively use the gift He has given to us so we may glorify Him.

Creativity isn't about going on a trip to the mall or a craft shop, but being able to think outside the box in order to use the resources you have to make new things in innovative ways. Creativity is all about the willingness to try and sometimes fail because not everyone is creative but we can never know our areas unless we try it.

Being a writer requires you to be creative and not trying to maneuver things in your favor because the truth is you are not helping yourself to develop.

Here are some tips to help us to be creative

READ BOOKS: Have you ever seen the magic it does when you actually read? I will never have known many things I know today if I do not read. Readers are leaders. When you read, you get ideas you can develop with. Writing this article was inspired by the books I read and having to develop it into my own originality makes me a creative person.

When we read, we engage our brains and make it work better. I have developed the habit of reading every day, especially at night before going to bed and the more I read, the more I know. So, cultivate the habit of reading daily if you want to be creative because it is through reading, we get ideas and inspirations to come up with.

REFLECT: How well do you observe people around you? Events and happenings? Reflecting is like thinking to analyze in the best possible way. Always keep a journal or even have an app on your phone where you are free to be introspective and to self-reflect what is happening around you and observe current circumstances.

ASK QUESTIONS: If you want to know more, don't be ignorant but ask questions for answers. There are people around you who know more than you and if you do not make efforts in asking questions, you will never get answers to many things and that would leave you in a poor state and make you ignorant. Ask questions from people and also the internet is a fast place to go to with your phone. Do not just assume things but take things deeper to know more.

PAY ATTENTION: The best place to get ideas and contribute creatively is when you listen to people talk, focus on what they say and pick some things from what they say. Paying attention to them will enable you to speak wisely and creatively. When you listen to people, especially to things that are happening in the world, you will learn more about the world you live in instead of being numb.

PLAY: Do you know we can get ideas from children? When was the last time you played with kids or your own children? No knowledge is small and to tell you the fact that children reason in a logical way sometimes leaves one to wonder if they are adults. Take time to play with children and also act like a child sometimes too. I love bringing myself down to a child and I still play some childhood play too. In this way, you will be inspired and learn to be creative especially watching children acting in a different way. Don't think because you are grown up, you shouldn't play. Sometimes when we play, we learn and be creative.

BRAINSTORM: When you read and play, you should be ready to record your thoughts when inspiration comes. How do you get your ideas? For me, when I relax or take a shower, I get inspiration and instantly, I jot them down so I won't forget them in case I need to write something more on it. Brainstorm your ideas and be creative to spend time building it up.

RELAX: It is important to relax our brains by getting enough sleep. Our brains need enough time to recharge and refresh and the only way is through sleep.

ENJOY THE CREATIVITY OF PEOPLE AROUND YOU: Watch people as they do things, listen to them when they speak. In this way, you can be creative too. Do not be jealous seeing others exhibiting creativity, instead be happy and enjoy being in their company because you will learn from them. Pay attention when they teach you so you can learn too. If you find something your friends or people around you are good at, don't be envious but consider asking them to teach you or let them share little of their knowledge with you.

For someone who is new to writing and doesn't know how to start, find someone who is good at it to give you tips on how to go about writing and from there, you develop yourself. Inspiration can come from anywhere and so, we must be attentive and focused to bring out our creativity into action.

So, we have come to the end of the three best things in life that are free which are;

Nurturing friendships

Practicing Hospitality

Cultivating Creativity

I hope you enjoy reading all? Thank you for always stopping by with your beautiful comments.

I would also like to appreciate my sponsors who recently renewed their sponsorships. @Jane @Ellehcim and @FashTioluwa

God bless you always.

Images from Amy and JrKorpa

[April 17, 2022] (No 107 article for the year)