3 Ways to Revive Creativity in Your Life

Creativity is a powerful force. It exists in the heart of every human being. Some thrive on its power. Some make a living off of the creativity in them. Some musicians, writers, painters, singers, composers, actors, and dancers find joy in allowing the force to move through their lives.   Some delight mostly at watching others express it.   Some even feel it is a force that is not in them.   Some feel the very force of creativity has eluded them.  You may be one who marvels at the creativity of others, but never feel creative.  If you are this person, then it’s time to start marveling at your own creativity.  We were born to create.

Creativity is force that is inside of all of us whether we feel it or not. To create is to bring something into existence, or to form something out of nothing. It is to transform something that is maybe plain, boring, unappealing, or mundane and make it beautiful, interesting, or attractive.  Creativity is to believe the impossible.  It is to see beyond the very moment and into the next moment of what “could be.  It is to bring out the colors of the world into the view of natural eye.  If you do not consider yourself an artist, and you do not feel like you are very creative, then please read on.  If you are an artist, but you feel like creativity it lacking outside of your works of art, then read on, too.  How can you revive the creativity in your life?

1. Remember creative things you used to do that you haven’t done in long time and start doing them again.

Even though you may feel like you have never been creative, let me just say that “creative” doesn’t necessarily mean you produce skilled works of art.  When you were a child before you grew to know the troubles of the world and adulthood, you were creative. You drew pictures in school, even if they weren’t “good”.  You colored in coloring books.  You came up with new games on the playground to play with your friends.  You created excuses to your parents for your mistakes. You created study methods to succeed in school.  You created sandcastles at the beach.  You created forts in the woods.   You drew with colorful sidewalk chalk on the pavement.   You created outfits to get attention. You imagined what clouds were in the sky. You did so many creative activities!

Here’s the challenge…come up with a list of at least 20 creative things that you haven’t done in a long time that you used to love doing (even if they were in your childhood).  Do one of those creative activities a day for at least 5 – 15 minutes.

2. Start a dream journal.

Cultivating creativity in yourself has a lot to do with giving yourself the chance to dream.  When we stop allowing ourselves to dream, we stop the creative force in our soul. We are the ones who literally block it. There are many reasons why you may have stopped dreaming. It could be because of hardship and heartaches, emotional and physical pains of all kinds. One way we can pursue healing our souls from wounds is by allowing ourselves to dream again.

I challenge you to start writing at least one journal entry a week by starting with one of these phrases (or you can come up with your own):

Some day I would like to….

If I had all the time and money in the world I would…

If I could have the perfect career it would look like…

Heaven is…

If I could go to any place in the world right now, I would go to….

If I could meet anyone in the world it would be…

If I could have my own business it would be…

I will have my own family someday and we will….

My dream home will look like….

My dream job would be…

If you don’t like to write a lot, try cutting out pictures and gluing them to a picture album page, poster board, or cork board to create a dream collage.  You might do a new collage for each dream like: dream home, dream job, dream vacation, dream business, dreams for family, etc.  Or you could just put them all on one big board.   Make it your own.  If you do a dream board, I recommend putting it up for you to walk by every day, so you help keep hope alive in your heart for your dreams to come true.   At this stage in the game, this is not a vision board really that has to do with goals on how to reach them.  Another blog will deal with the issue of setting goals, but this is just about starting to dream big again.

3. Create an idea board or page for your job.

You may be tired of your job. You may tired of the people at your job. You may be tired of the endless new stressful challenges. You may just be tired, period.  It may not be a job that is your passion.  What if you added a little creativity on a daily basis in the job?!  Perhaps the job is so tiring because you are approaching and performing tasks the same way pretty much every time.

I challenge you to start an idea board or page for your job either on your office wall or in a journal.  You can write, tack up post-it notes, or put cut-out pictures on it.   What kind of ideas could go on it?   Here’s a few ideas to get you started:

1. How to re-decorate your office or cubicle
2. Better and more efficient ways of doing the same activities you do every day
3. People you need to get to know on the job whom you haven’t made an effort to get to know yet….and maybe how and when to talk to them
4. Needs that you see not being met that maybe you could meet in your time on the job that will help your company grow
5. People you noticed doing a great job at some activity whom you don’t want to forget to compliment
6. People on the job who basically do what you do and seem like they need a little help because they are newer on the job than you
7. Ways you change up the order of your daily routine – to help you escape boredom

As you tackle these creative challenges, let “you” be “you.”  There may be part of “you” that you have stifled and kept inside for way too long, so you might feel awkward at moments.     Don’t criticize what you do creatively at all right now.  Don’t look at what you do as if someone is judging it.   Don’t even judge it yourself.  I promise you will start feeling more alive than ever.

Creativity is a life force that makes us different than any other created being on the planet.  Reviving creativity in your life can revive joy, passion, and peace in your soul!   It can also help your heart and soul to heal, too.  Allow yourself to be okay with expressing the creativity in you, even if you might think others might look at it and think it is odd.   Your creativity is unique to you, and it represents a one-of-a-kind person.  You might just be surprised at how your creativity will put a smile on other people’s faces, and improve the quality of your life in amazing ways!