The actual belief that each and every one of us is a creative human being can be very challenging to most people. One of the things that amazed me when I first started teaching art and creativity classes many years ago, was the fact that most people do not feel that they are creative. They also feel the need for permission to be so. I have known some of the most talented and creative people come to me with the statement, “But I’m not creative.”  I have also noticed a sigh or tone of regret….like the creative gene had for some reason been left out of their gene pool by mistake at birth. Nothing could be more opposite from the truth. Pablo Picasso stated,  “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.”

The fact is, we are all creative beings and have been so since birth. The human race today would not be in existence without the ability of humans as a species to be creative and adaptable to their changing environments and survival needs. Creativity is being misperceived as strictly an artistic pursuit defined by limiting beliefs. There appears to be a universal misperception of the word and what the process truly means.

The definition of Create, according to Webster, is “to bring into existence, bring about” or “of original mind, inventive”.  Nowhere does it say that one needs to paint like Leonardo daVinci, sculpt like Michelangelo, or compose music like Mozart or Beethoven. These are obviously extreme examples of amazingly accomplished artists. But we don’t have to feel that to be “an artist” we have to achieve their status. I love the saying, “How quiet the forest would be if only the most musically accomplished birds sang”.

Every aspect of your life has creativity existing within it. Our bodies have the capacity to grow additional arteries in an effort to correct a blockage. Our brain is capable of growing additional synapses so our minds keep functioning more effectively. Our bodies are working, independent of our conscious thoughts, to serve us to the best of our capabilities. Why would one doubt the ability of our minds to form new pathways to creative thought?