Photo of the Eagle Nebula’s Pillars of Creation taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope
We were born creative and clever. We were born awesome.
Everything we learn for the first years of our lives we teach ourselves: through experimentation, through putting two and two together and seeing the results, through wondering “what if?” During this time we teach ourselves a language; some people teach themselves more than one.
We then get told to sit still, be quiet, colour in between the lines. Most of us, for whatever reason, start to develop beliefs about ourselves that are unhelpful; beliefs that are contrary to this reality.
“You aren’t creative, you’re not that bright, you’re not as good as…”
I heard twenty years ago about some research that was done with engineers at a car manufacturer. They were trying to establish what made the creative ones that bit more creative. Were they born that way? The answer was this; the creative ones believed that they were creative. That’s it, the only difference that they found. So yes they were born creative; we all are.
I don’t know whether this story is true (and if anyone could find me the research I would be very grateful) but I have been exploring this ever since. I was someone who believed that I wasn’t creative. And yet I:
- could dance from the moment I could walk
- was musical
- was good at creative writing
- genetically speaking, should have been creative since both of my parents were
And yet!
It has taken some time for me to say “yes, I’m creative.” What a waste!
So what is stopping you? What beliefs have been holding you still, when you could have been dancing, drawing, singing, writing, learning?
You were born awesome – you still are; let it shine.