Linda N. Edelstein, Ph.D.

What Is Creativity?

by | Aug 3, 2012 | Writing and Editing | 0 comments

I enjoy reading and writing about creativity but nothing is as much fun as being involved in some creative project, whether it is writing a new book, planning a vacation, or choosing the paint color for my dining room.

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People have always had conflicting ideas about creativity – what is it?

Two common prevailing views of creativity are:

1. The magic view – Creativity springs complete from the unconscious; only special people are creative, the process cannot be explained.

or

2. Nothing is truly creative because nothing is new view – Creativity is simply generalizing old responses to new situations or it is accidental. This means that no products are really new and novel ideas/outcomes are produced by accident.

I go with something in the middle of the two ideas (which seem rather extreme) I don’t buy either the notion of unexplained genius or nothing is new. I don’t believe that creativity is as mysterious as a visitation but it is not trivial, either.

We can all add creativity to our lives. How?

Try responding to a situation in a novel way rather than simply repeating your old ways. Whether it is a response to a person or to a situation, do something unlike the ways you have used in the past. What is the saying that seems to be all the rage

these days? “Do the things you have always done and get the results you have always gotten !”

 

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