Have you ever wished you were more creative. Well, you likely already are, you just don’t realize it yet! Spiritual leader and eductor Adina Allen says we’re all creative, and today she kindly contributes a guest post on maximizing your creative potential.
What creativity is
“I’m not creative.”
Have you heard someone say this? Have you said it yourself?
I’m here to tell you – as a rabbi and a facilitator who has worked with thousands of people – it’s simply not true. And at this moment, it’s a dangerous posture. One need only glance at the news to see: the world is rife with problems in need of solutions. To close the gap between the world as it is and the world as it could be, we need to tap into our creativity.
We must unlearn what we have been taught about what creativity means.
Unlearning lesson #1: We are all created creative.
Creativity is a capacity that exists in everyone. It is the sparking of new energy and fresh insight; it is inspiration and imagination; it is resilience; it is the ability to move with, and through, challenge and change with openness, curiosity, and courage. As a rabbi and facilitator, I often remind my students that Jewish tradition teaches that we are created in the image of God – the ultimate Creator. How better to emulate than to create?
Unlearning lesson #2: “Creativity” is not the same thing as “Art.”
“Art” with a capital “A” is a word we tend to associate with galleries, museums, and the rarefied world of “artistic genius,” people with special talents or highly developed craft. Creativity, on the other hand, is available to us all — it is a basic human capacity that does not need to be earned. We might say that creativity is the ordinary — and extraordinary — process of noticing what’s on hand and finding magic and beauty in whatever is in front of us.
Unlearning lesson #3: “Creativity” is not just a quality, it’s a process.
The creative process is a way to work with that which is overwhelming, challenging, or unknown; a way to bring forth whatever is needed in the moment. To live from our creativity is to find abundance in the limitations of our life at any given moment, and to engage using whatever tools we have at our disposal.
Unlearning lesson #4: “Creativity” is not indulgent, it is essential.
“What purpose does the creative process serve when there is so much pain and suffering in the world?” you may ask.
Reticence to engage in the creative process often comes from my deep knowledge that it will take us into a truth, a struggle, or a question that is begging for our attention, but that we might want to avoid. When we do choose to engage in the creative process, despite lingering doubts and judgments, it helps us understand and tend to this resistance with courage and care.
We need creativity now more than ever
We all want the world to be a better place. In our creative practice, our defenses can come down and the place of all possibility opens to us. When we use the creative process to befriend, shift, or transform challenges in our lives, we become more available and make the changes we seek to make in the world.
About today’s writer
Rabbi Adina Allen is a spiritual leader, writer, and educator. She is cofounder and creative director of Jewish Studio Project (JSP), an organization that is seeding a future in which every person is connected to their creativity as a force for healing, liberation and social transformation. Additionally, she is the author of The Place of All Possibility: Cultivating Creativity Through Ancient Jewish Wisdom.