Live Only as You Can

Let's talk about creativity. Or rather the process and fulfillment that comes from never losing sight of our imagination.

Creativity is a beautiful and powerful aspect in our lives, and it’s absolutely incredible!! It has the potential to drive us towards leading an ultimate, fulfilling life. It connects us towards being inspired daily, changes our vision of the world around us, and creates ingenuity.

Albert Vincent Van Gogh describes a life without creativity as a normality that becomes a paved road, “It's comfortable to walk, but no flowers grow on it." Einstein describes creativity as intelligence having fun, while Thomas Edison wisely states that “When you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this: You haven’t.” If you haven’t found a hobby or past time that initiates this life changing intellection, or feel inspiration less, self-reflect and find out what it is that you need to do to tap into that creativity in your life today. To help you guys out, as well as myself, I have found this list below that simply talks about what causes creativity:

What Causes Creativity

 

1. Confidence: ability to question without fear
2. Observation: seeing problems/ideas
3. Mindfulness: thinking on how you think
4. Humility: kowing you don't know everything
5. Curiosity: exploring and experimenting
6. Resourcefulnss: something to tinker with
7. Energy: to explore and tinker
8. Action: not just thinking but doing

Personally, I have found in my life that what drives my personal creativity as a busy and working college student is in the way that I take the time to appreciate the world around me as I’m driving, trying out new things and hobbies, dancing in my free time, writing, or creating a tailored artistry work for my lash extensions and skin care clients. I’ve even one day took the challenge from Vincent Van Gogh that says, “If you hear a voice within you say, ‘You cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.”

I definitely had never painted a day in my life when I took this challenge upon myself. So I called one of my childhood best friends and convinced her to come aboard my plan. We drove over to a nearby Hobby Lobby and bought all of the needed essentials; easels, a variety of paints, and brushes. As we were brainstorming on what to paint, we decided to try and re-create a rather famous painting by using our non-existent brush strokes techniques and mixing our own colors to make it our very own. It was definitely a messy experience and my appreciation for artists and talented painters has grown profusely. We did a take of A Starry Night Sky while listening to some sweet jams.

Don’t laugh if you know anything about art… but this is how they turned out:

Not too shabby for a first time painter (: It was so fun and they both turned out so uniquely different! Mine is the one to the right.

Okay and I know that we have all heard the food for thought question of, “Can you remember who you were before the world told you who you should be?” Personally that question crosses my mind almost everyday, and if I earned a nickel for every time that someone brought it to my attention,  I'd be rich and eating chocolate macaroons on a beach right now! But there is so much truth and depth behind it. The world transforms us into conformation by building a routine of daily habits and tasks, which then becomes what ultimately drives us into a mediocre life. We lose sight of our potential and creativity when we don’t take a step back, self-reflect. What are the ways that we become inspired? Is it through dance? Finger painting? Reading a book for fun? Or is it even discovering a new hobby that pushes us into developing our talents? Sometimes we need to be willing to try new things out and simply just enjoy the journey. 

I love how Kyle Cease makes a point about this in his video below about “Why People’s Opinions Don’t Really Matter.” (Warning: This video may contain two swear words, but it is rather inspiring and definitely worth the watch) The last few minutes of this video is incredibly powerful.

I believe that the worst enemy to that creativity is self-doubt. Creativity takes courage and a realization that it's not just about creativity itself. It is more about the person you are becoming through that creative and intellectual development of your mind.  There's also a sense of fulfillment that comes from never losing sight of our imagination. One of my all-time favorite quotes is from the stunning Lupita Nyongo based on her wisdom and journey for her own self-actualization and process of creativity. She states, "You can't rely on how you look to sustain you. What is fundamentally beautiful is compassion for yourself and for those around you. That kind of beauty enflames the heart and enchants the soul."

Your life only gets better when you do. The struggle is real.... but so is God. He will help us to develop our talents and inspire us to find a way to lead a creative and imagination filled life. President Dieter Uchtdorf from the Church of Latter Day Saints enlightens us with the powerful truth of how, "The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul."

It takes guts to be gentle and kind and becomes rather easy to conform to the world around us. So work on yourself. Go out there! Be inspired by something new today. Build your identity. Follow you heart and intuition. Be confident about yourself and who you are becoming. The rest will simply follow because the one thing that you have that nobody else has is you. Your own voice, your own mind, your own story, experiences, memories, your own vision. Take time to do what makes your soul happy. I promise that it will be worth it! So go write and draw and build and play and dance and live only as you can.

xoxo,

PaTricia T.