Ramblings about Creativity

Creativity and intelligence are friends. It is one of the characteristics of gifted children that they have active imaginations. I joined a Facebook page for parents of gifted children and was recently amazed at the themes children have chosen for birthday parties. One parent was having trouble thinking of activities for an “Eyeball” birthday party. Another child wanted Yellowstone geysers and hot springs. Volcano, King Tut, and even “the toilet” themes have been given for children of these parents. 

While intelligence and creativity are related, views vary widely as to their relationship. On creativesomething.net, Tanner Christensen says an average person only needs the following: “they have more experiences, they think on their experiences more often, and when they start pursuing potential outcomes to problems or projects they simply work more with the ideas they come up with (whereas everyone else gives up after evaluating just one or two possible ideas, or by letting their inner critic prevent them from exploring more).” (4) On the other hand, a study done by Emanel Jauk, Mathias Benedek, Beate Dunst, and Alioscha Neubauer found that a threshold of a 100 IQ was needed for simple creative ideas, but 120 for more complex ideas and tasks. (5)

There are theories on how to make your environment more creative.  The Writing Cooperative lists “20 Ways to Become More Creative With Your Writing,”  (1) and one of my favorite posters for decades was a list of ten ways to squelch creativity. I can’t remember them all, but a few of them were “that’s not our policy,” “what if it doesn’t work,” “that’s not how you do it,” and, my personal favorite, “I guess that’s okay.” My moderately gifted father was prevented from doing a lot of things because he couldn’t do them well enough for his mom. As an adult, he didn’t venture into unknown territory, preferring to do the things he could do well, which were fishing, listening to the radio and TV, and reading newspapers and magazines. (2) In The Creative Spirit, Teresa Amabile lists surveillance, evaluation, rewards, competition, over-control, restricting choice, and pressure as “Creativity Killers.” (3)

Creativity is a skill that can be learned. A short visit with Google will produce hundreds of links and images that will lead you to books or articles on how to enhance creativity. In my own experience, encouragement was a huge factor. The most important factor for me, however, is an element of play. If you have a few minutes, check out a video of two guys hitting jello with a tennis racket.  (6)

1. Michaud, Simone, How to Become More Creative With Your Writing, https://writingcooperative.com/20-ways-to-become-more-creative-with-your-writing-acabeacb571b, accessed 11/11.
2. If only he had accepted help from his professional aunts and uncles.Nevertheless, he knew the importance of education and made sure that all three of his children graduated from college.
3. Goleman, Daniel, Kaufman, Paul and Ray, Michael, The Creative Spirit, copyright 1992. Alan Perlmutter. pgs.61-62.
4. Christensen, Tanner,  https://creativesomething.net/post/41103661291/the-relationship-between-creativity-and, accessed 11/16/18.
5. Jauk, Emanuel, Benedek, Mathias, Dunst, Beate, and Neubauer, Aljoscha C., National Institutes of Health, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3682183/, accessed 11/16/18.
6. Thanks to my daily email from CNN.

Be Open to Everything, But Limit Yourself

While cleaning out my files today, I ran across this: Mathematical Art Galleries. One of those galleries can be accessed HERE. I always cringe when I hear people say they are not good at math. I get it. I don’t really want to learn about cars or circuitry, but that doesn’t mean I have to reject it at the very mention of the subject. I can still enjoy a good discussion about car repair or learn what I need to learn to teach children how to make clothing with electronics that light up. 

To me, creativity is being open to all things. Not at the same time, of course. And that’s what I am working on next month. Clearing out unnecessary books and quilting materials. Here it is, on record. I am making a commitment to clean out books I will never read, fabric I will never use. I want to make room for the new.

Quilter’s often go through this. It takes so long to make a quilt that I frequently get sick of it long before it is made. I have put three quilts away (partially completed) because I have learned that I will like them when I’ve had a break.

I am a hoarder, and I’m not sure what the causes are. Yes, there is a family tendency towards this, but I have made so many changes in my life. Why do I still think I can read another book when I add it to the pile on the floor next to the shelves that are full - two sets of shelves? Why do I think I can make hundreds of quilts in my lifetime when I know they take anywhere from a few months to a couple of years each? 

As changes in my life have occurred, I have been able to change, so I know I will be able to do this, too. By limiting myself, I will free up time to do a few selected things. I will still work on several things at once, to stave off boredom, but I will let go of the ones I started and didn’t like all that much. I’ll be reporting back on my progress next month and let you know.

Enlightenment

In the biography of Buddha, the narrator described his enlightenment: that every moment that had ever existed had led up to this moment. 

Europeans refer to The Enlightenment as a period in history in which reason and individualism drove prevailing thought, with a host of scientific discoveries and developments, leading to democratic governments. Unfortunately, it frowned on "unscientific" methods. If you couldn't measure it, it was invalid. As a species, we are prone to settle in to our comfortable opinions and prejudices until something comes along to disturb our complacency. Invariably, it does.

We are presently faced with the destruction of our planet through greed, ignorance and sheer overpopulation. When there were less than a billion people on earth, our impact was not as noticeable. Today there are 7.4 billion people, most of whom are located in urban areas. The time has come to use our creativity to restore our planet to health.

I read a little known magazine called Minnesota Conservation Volunteer, which had an article about new products being developed from wood. The sustainable forests of northern Minnesota will someday be used to create biodegradable polystyrene-like plastics  because we have realized the hazards of plastic. Wouldn't it be nice to have a plastic bag that decomposes? This shows me that the path is forward, using our creativity, rather than backward into what used to work.

If you think global warming is not caused by humans, you can skip this paragraph. For those who do, there is a great book called How to Change Minds about Changing Climate by two climate experts, Seth Darling and Douglas L. Sisterson. They describe the complexity of our planet's ecosystem. It will take creative minds to work together on all aspects of this problem. Meanwhile, our government lags behind in policy that would help.

As a teacher, I look to education to help. Education, however, is also a reflexive system. It responds years, perhaps decades after a need is determined. Meanwhile, those who can afford enrichment for their children find that they have placed their children apart from a society that has no idea what they do. Computer science is one such field. If Hillary had known how to get her emails through a computer instead of a Blackberry, if the public had known Facebook could be manipulated, if putting everything online hadn't made us vulnerable to cyberattack, if tech companies hadn't become monopolies, how different would our government be? People! You need to learn everything you can about computers! They are not going away!

I am responsible for my own enlightenment. I have begun to see the power in nonfiction reading, although I still love a good novel or poem. The more information I have, the better the choice I can make.

I am responsible for feeding my creativity. Through quiet days and attention to detail, through creating feedback loops with other people, through reading about creativity and creative people, and through connecting with myself on a regular basis, I hope I am offering the world my best.

Creativity and The Influence of Others

We are each of us a product of our family, community, country, continent and world. My mother was born in 1915, before the telephone, electricity, and hearing aids. She lived on a farm in Southwest Iowa (Red Oak) and had little access to materials that sparked her creativity. Her family struggled to survive the Depression, so there was no encouragement for the arts. She left the farm for the big city of Chicago and became a nurse. Her mother taught her to sew without patterns and also to play the piano. She sang all the time, tried whatever new craft came along, and taught me how to sew. I think she could have been a musician or artist if she had been encouraged. She was a great nurse.

My father turned down uncles that wanted to put him through college, so he worked as a truck driver to support our family. Luckily, he had an uncle that bought a ranch in Colorado, so he learned to love the outdoors, something his grandchildren and great-grandchildren are still enjoying. He read all the time, and could answer any question I had about the world. He taught me to love classical music.

I was lucky enough to be born in the city and grow up in the suburbs, where academics were challenging, music was available, and the arts were valued. As a very young child, I watched black and white television. I learned to play violin in third grade and played until the end of high school. I sang in church and school. The greatest influence on my creativity came from my parents, but it was my grandmother who quilted. I loved her quilts, looking for my favorite fabrics every time we visited. She showed me how to hide a knot and told me the standard which many quilters try to live up to: 10 stitches per inch. My older brother was the only poet in the family until I began in 1996, but a decade ago I met a second cousin that wrote a column for the newspaper.

I had three children, all of whom learned to sing and play instruments. My oldest son became interested in computers and has not pursued the arts. My middle son, however, has continued to use musical and theatrical talent in his church. My youngest, a daughter, pursued photography, painting, singing, and playing several instruments. Her work as a speech (voice) therapist helps singers in opera and on Broadway. Each of my children has been influenced by the same suburban school district I was. They attended different universities, which also had profound influence on them. The advent of computers, social media, and cell phones strengthened the connections that could be maintained over a great distance.

This is the story of my family’s creative influences, but what about the great musicians and artists? Gaugin and Van Gogh tried living together in France. Pablo Picasso changed the course of art forever. German composers profoundly changed the course of music, but so did England, France, and Poland (to mention only a few of the greatest composers’ countries). 

When I get together with my friends at “Poetic Lights,” we share a common background. We read and study one poem, then write five different poems in response to it. Each of us is unique, although we share the common human values and experiences. We influence each other by pointing out things others may not have seen.

When mentors find us and encourage us, their influence extends into generations. Have you found a mentor yet? This can be one of the most important influences you will ever have. You may have one in more than one area of your life. Many of us have spiritual advisors, academic advisors and counselors. Psychologists and Psychiatrists help us understand the workings of our mind. Friends give us gifts, both material and emotional. Who do you look to for emotional support? Do you have a hidden talent you would like to develop? I salute you.

Brainstorms

In my sewing room I have a cornucopia pincushion spilling the letters C-R-E-A-T-E. That’s how I feel about sewing. It’s also how I feel about writing. In fact, creativity is something that is limitless and it doesn’t cost much, either. Almost every day, something new is written about creativity. For example, I once used The Artist’s Way to improve my writing. The method is good for any artistic endeavor, but it required writing three pages a day. Some days those three pages would take an hour. (This is not possible with three kids and two jobs, so this had to take place at a latter decade in my life.) Almost invariably, when I got the junk out of my brain by writing it down, other ideas were able to flow more freely. Often on the second page, something significant would jump out at me. I began to see that writing every day makes my writing better and reveals to me some hidden aspects of my psyche. I think the best art is a partnership between the id and the ego.  

A new book by Michael Pollan describes his experiences with psychedelic drugs, which he calls medicine. He described his hallucinations as the melting away of the ego. Used with those facing death or experiencing depression, there has been some success in helping those people achieve peace. His book is called Change Your Mind. You can hear Timothy Leary describe a psychedelic experience on YouTube.

It is possible, though, to change your mind without the aid of such drugs. I learned meditation in a yoga class in Urbana, Illinois. Getting quiet and clearing your mind of all clutter often allows ideas to float up into consciousness. Choosing an object and focusing on it can also help clear the mind. One meditation I still remember is to stare at a candle flame. When you close your eyes, the flame is still there. Trying harder to see it makes it disappear. Relaxing and allowing it to shine will help the image last longer. Getting sidetracked by an idea makes it disappear immediately. Brain training.

Lumosity is described as a brain-training program. It works on attention, long- and short-term memory, auditory processing, processing speed, and/or logic & reasoning. Creativity is not listed. It is harder to encourage a skill when there are many answers. Brainstorming is a skill that can be taught, however, and it essential to the creative process. Some simple brainstorm rules are (1)

• Defer judgement.
• Encourage wild ideas.
• Build on the ideas of others.
• Stay focused on the topic.
• One conversation at a time.
• Be visual.
• Go for quantity.

You know you are in a group of creative people when they listen to your ideas and don’t criticize them immediately. If you’ve had the frustrating experience of “brainstorming” with people who don’t know how, you’ll know how limiting it is. I have heard that early Apple Computer pioneers were to take two unrelated objects and find the connections between them —hence the mouse.

How can an individual brainstorm? 

1.Take an idea. Make a word web (2). Which words are important to you? Which ones can you leave out without changing the main thrust of the idea? Which ones are ideas you hadn’t thought of before? 

2. Take two objects. Describe what they have in common and what is different about them. What do you know about them and their history, i.e., scissors and Rubric cubes? How have they impacted your life? What will the scissors of the future look like? The Rubric cubes?

3. Dig out three pictures of yourself at other ages. What was most important to you then? What is most important to you now?

4. Make a list of everything in one room of your house. How do those objects reflect your personality?

5. Type in a word in a search engine and then choose the Images link.

(1) Effective Brainstorming Techniques, 2018, https://www.ideou.com/pages/brainstorming, accessed 5/18/18.

(2)Reading Horizons, How to Make a Word Web, https://www.readinghorizons.com/documents/community/vocab-word-webs.pdf, accessed 5/18/18.

The Library of Congress

Have you discovered the Library of Congress yet? This poem is the poem for today, “Aunties” by Kevin Young.   

This is an immigrant boat:  

Creativity can be spurred by any item, but the Library of Congress has an abundance of resources based on history. The list of formats has fifteen types of historical artifacts, including interviews, books, films/videos, legislation, and, well, you get the idea.

It is a compilation of information on what we’ve done as a country. People have spent their careers studying some aspect of life in this country and others, and the repository is available to everyone. Choose a topic, choose a format, and you have your choice of what material you want to use. I once wrote a poem about immigrants from a picture of some great blizzard that piled snow up to the corrugated roof. Now that had to be cold. Yet the women stand in the snow with no jackets, so it must have been relatively warm. If you’ve read Pioneer Women by Joanna Stratton, you have some idea of the struggles people went through when they left their homeland in abject poverty with the hope of a better life. You could even write a story about it.

The next time you are stumped for ideas, just take a digital stroll through these resources — a marketplace of ideas.

Creative Individuals and Creative Environments

While searching for information on creativity, I ran across a two-hour lecture by Dr. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi at Exploratorium Video (A). He is the author of the book, Flow (1991). He lectures on creativity, and begins with a point many of us might find difficult to accept. Attention plays a crucial role in creativity. We all have pictures of the “Mad Scientist” or “Crazy Artist” as stereotypes of creative people, but it really starts with paying attention to something. Something catches our eye, and we begin to wonder. That wonder turns to fascination and we are hooked on creating something. As many writers know, it is impossible to be productive if you can’t focus for a long time. Creativity may drive one to start a creation, but actually sustaining that creative process is much more rare. Multitasking is actually very inefficient. (B)

Dr. Csikszentmihalyi claims “small c” creativity enriches everyday life, and can lead to “big C” creativity or the work of geniuses. Only 5% of the people in any field do the best work. Price’s Law says that the square root of those contributing to a field will produce half of the work of the entire group, but as the percent of people goes up, the number of contributors goes down. (A)

Certain aspects of interaction in a social system determine whether a person’s ideas will be accepted by our cultures:

Domains, “…which make up a culture, are ways of doing things, recipes, laws, belief systems, values that, taken together, create a symbolic environment.” A person must immerse the self in one domain to refine abilities. For example, the great chefs in Chicago first have become focused on cooking and learned everything they could about it. Then they were able to take those skills to create new combinations of food.

Ninety nine percent of people are glad to learn how things are done, and just reproduce it. “There is a small subset of people” who try to do something new that is a transformation of a domain.

The second aspect of the interactions is the field. There is a gatekeeper who insures that the good ideas are transmitted. A firm’s management transmits ideas to the industry culture which is picked up by the individual workers. The selection mechanism is very important. In  industry, management hasn’t always been trained in how to select good ideas. If there are too many people doing this, it is easy to become overwhelmed; i.e., one of five hundred new patents get approved.

The domain or field may stagnate because it doesn’t accept new ideas. Csikszentmihalyi used the example of the movie industry and twelve thousand people who worked on films. If half of the creators came from the center of the field and half came from the periphery, the movies were better quality. Those who have a vested interest in avoiding change can inhibit new ideas.

Creative people have the ability to lose themselves in their work, whether they are poets, cell biologists, or professors. Csikszentmihalyi calls this process flow, because creative people have described it to him as being carried along. “Flow is necessary for creativity, but it is not sufficient.” 

They also have the ability to switch to convergent thinking easily. They may organize their time differently to accommodate their need to work. The drive to create takes precedence over other commitments. 

While the characteristics of creative people were discussed, I found a simpler list on the web page:The Second Principle The work of Leslie Owen Wilson, Ed. D.(C)

1. Genuinely values intellectual and cognitive matters.
2. Values own independence and autonomy.
3. Is verbally fluent; can express ideas well.
4. Enjoys aesthetic impressions; is aesthetically reactive.
5. Is productive; gets things done.
6. Is concerned with philosophical problems, for example, religion, values, the meaning of life.
7. Has high aspiration level for self.
8. Has wide range of interests.
9. Thinks and associates ideas in unusual ways; has unconventional thought processes; can make unusual connections to unrelated ideas or things.
10. Is an interesting, arresting person.
11. Appears straightforward, forthright and candid in dealings with others.
12. Behaves in an ethically consistent manner; has consistent personal standards.

They can also move from one end of characteristics easily to another.

What kind of environment fosters creativity? I found another list on this web site: Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life, by Steven Aitchison (E)

1. Creative environments celebrate risk.
2. Creative environments tolerate uncertainty and leave space for the unexpected.
3. Creative environments embrace failure and leave plenty of room for mistakes.
4. Creative environments are chaotic.
5. Creative environments are diverse and interdisciplinary.
6. Creative environments are active.
7. Creative environments are comprised of weak ties.
8. Creative environments have high levels of trust and intimacy.
9. Creative environments offer attentive, discerning audiences.
10. Creative environments strike a balance of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.

If your creativity is being stifled, perhaps it is your environment.

1. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, The Creative Person and The Creative Context, Lecture of 2008-3-12, Exploratorium Video, https://www.exploratorium.edu/video/dr-mihaly-csikszentmihalyi-lectures-creative-person-creative-context, accessed 2/16/18.
2. The average human is able to process 114 bits of info per second. Processing language is 60 bits per second. Half of all we process is taken up by one person talking. 
3. Wilson, Leslie Owen, Ed.D., Characteristics of Highly Creative People, The Second Principle, https://thesecondprinciple.com/creativity/creativetraits/, accessed 4/11/18
4. Aitchison, Steve, Ten Characteristics of Highly Creative Environments, Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life, https://www.stevenaitchison.co.uk/10-characteristics-highly-creative-environments/, accessed 4/12/18
5. Anthony, Whitney, https://www.stevenaitchison.co.uk/10-characteristics-highly-creative-environments/

Inspiration

Where does creativity come from? Where do ideas come from?

When I sat down to write this month’s blog, I was really stumped for a topic. I had attempted to define creativity and show how writing is affected by it in previous posts. Where did I go from there? A week went by and I had no answer. Then, a good friend talked about Pinterest. She said that while some people say it’s a waste of time, she gets ideas there. That was the inspiration for the topic this month: inspiration.

Most writers know that you may have an idea of what you are going to write about, but once you sit down to write, ideas come to you unbidden. Is there a pot somewhere inside of you where ideas are stored, or is the idea bubbling up from all human consciousness? Or some other source that no one really knows about?

One of my quilts used a pattern I had gotten in 2002, when visiting my daughter at Lawrence University. I began cutting the background squares in January, several years ago. I put it away when spring came, and inadvertently put the pattern between the pages of a book. The next January, I got the squares out, but could not find the pattern. I decided to go to Pinterest to create my own snowmen. I was amazed at the number of different snowmen available. A snowman is from one to three white balls and some odds and ends, yet I saved 31 distinct links, ignoring hundreds of others. I then found the original pattern and used it instead of creating my own. Halfway through the quilt I decided it was boring, so I added more interesting fabric and changed half of the snowmen's orientation and facial features.

Inspiration can be trivial, as with the snowmen, or vital, as with great thinkers of our time. Some of my favorites are Jesus Christ, the Buddha, Muhammad, Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Thomas Merton, and many poets and writers. It can come from friends discussing fart spray in a book group (The Righteous Mind), or strangers on the train.

Inspiration can come from outside. In my annual examination for prevention of melanoma, my dermatologist told me I have a normal geography of the skin, listing the bumps and moles as she examined them. This is a great idea for a poem, which would be different for each person who chose to write about it.

In my summer school classes, gifted children are taught a basic skill such as programming or sewing. They seldom need encouragement to come up with ideas for projects. In fact, their ideas are usually far beyond their ability. They all love Strandbeests and art quilts. 

I once wrote a poem using a dream. I was living on a farm, and in the dream I was driving on a dirt road in the country near the ocean. Ahead was a shining city, and a traveler stood by the side of the road. I said, “That’s where I’m going.” The reply was, “Don’t forget to enjoy yourself along the way.” I have since found my way to the big city, but that dream is a fond memory.

Great music, conversations overheard, and hooves on pavement create powerful stimuli to open our minds. Christine Swanberg recently reminded Poets and Patrons that a simple phrase, such as, “Whenever I hear…” can take us out of our routine and open our minds to new ideas.

Perhaps the strongest sense for memories is smell. When I moved back to the Chicago area, I went into my mother’s bedroom for something. I opened the bottle of Wind Song perfume and smelled it. I was instantly taken back in memory to my childhood. The bushes in the back yard were smaller and there was no fence as I stood there, transported back decades. I will always associate that smell with her, just as I will always associate Chanel No. 5 with my first husband. I had never had such expensive perfume.

Inspiration can be visual, auditory, or intrapersonal in nature, Where does creativity originate? I don’t think anyone really knows. That may take another blog post. Meanwhile, pay attention to the inspiration in your life. It’s free and abundant.

Creativity in Writing

Since writing is my new career (very part time), I have really become interested in creativity in writing. When I woke up this morning, I had no clear idea of what I wanted to write except for the topic. I knew that I would have ideas and that I would write something of value, to me if to no one else. I was singing a beautiful arrangement of  "True Light" which reminded me that I don’t have to solve all of the problems of the world today. My mom used to say, “Just be yourself,” as if I could be something other than self,  as if I could figure out which self to be. You can see how busy it is in my head most of the time.

I don’t usually have trouble thinking of things to write about (see first paragraph) but I do have trouble writing freely while the “editor” in my head is working. I missed “whole language” in school. Ours was the time of diagramming sentences and correcting spelling and grammar. Logical, clear, but not especially creative. I began writing term papers in high school and got pretty good at it in college. In graduate school, I was blessed with education projects for the classroom which were much more interesting to me. I did write lesson plans which were published in a curriculum my program director copyrighted. My Certificate in Technology in Education required classroom technology projects. Lots of fun! 

Creativity consisted of needlework projects and craft projects that decorated my house, but were not especially valued by society. It was not until I began to keep a journal that I began to accrue poems. If you had told me you were a poet, I would have considered you pompous. Poetry began to sneak into my life unbeknownst to me. It wasn’t until my oldest left the nest and struggled with life, that I began to find solace in poetry. My first poem, written at 5 in the morning over a period of 6 months, won a prize in a local contest (Poets & Patrons) and I was hooked. 

Last month, I posted why we need creativity in the world today. Years ago, I read The Bridge at the Edge of the World: Capitalism, the Environment, and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability by James Gustave Speth, that pointed out how limited our search for solutions is. We frequently only choose from ideas which are available in our culture at the present time. Reading The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt I am reminded how much our culture influences our choices. Creativity is the ability to alter the perceptions which have been inculcated throughout our lifetime. Writing with creativity we can show others our viewpoint without insisting they change theirs. We can exhibit the emotions we feel in certain circumstances which may lead them to better understand another person’s viewpoint. 

According to Education World (1), January is Creativity Month, and they had some suggestions for creative writing for teachers.

Daily Writing Prompts are easy to find on the Internet, open a book and choose a word or sentence, or just choose objects around the room and start writing.

More Than Meets the Eye means using visual images to stimulate your mind. Optical illusions or word webs can help stimulate and/or organize.

Video Projects are a way to create short skits or plays and show them to the world on YouTube.

In the News suggests finding an interesting news item/s, such as news from the country of your ancestors, a new development in technology or an art exhibit. 

"What If?" This can go anywhere, from what if you could talk to anyone past or present, to what if you could travel for free?

For those of you who are closet writers, please do take the time to send your writing out into the world, even if it is only on a lowly blog. The world needs your ideas and you are the only one in the world that has your viewpoint. Show us worlds we haven’t thought of, like Ursula LeGuin or Madeleine L’Engle. Share your solutions to sustainability, global warming or income inequality. Tell us how we can lift our spirits to think about possibilities when we are depressed or oppressed. Help us find a way to feed, water and care for the population of the earth. Let’s put an end to poverty and war!

(1) Five Ways to Celebrate Creativity Month,
http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/creativity-month-classroom-activities.shtml, accessed 1/12/18.

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