“The truly creative mind in any field is no more than this: A human creature born abnormally, inhumanely sensitive. To them… a touch is a blow, a sound is a noise, a misfortune is a tragedy, a joy is an ecstasy, a friend is a lover, a lover is a god, and failure is death. Add to this cruelly delicate organism the overpowering necessity to create, create, and create. So that without the creating of music or poetry or books or buildings or something of meaning, their very breath is cut off… They must create, must pour out creation. By some strange, unknown, inward urgency they are not really alive unless they are creating.” – Pearl Buck
Creativity & Innovation seem to be buzzwords today, not just in the world of design, but in education as well. Creativity and innovation have been identified as a key of “21th century skills“.
Most of people consider the importance of creativity they have to think only in the context of art. Though important, art is only a small part of creativity. We use creativity in every aspect of our lives, everyday.
Our ability to express our deepest feelings is at the core of the importance of creativity. As humans, we have a very strong need to express ourselves and we will happier when other people understand what we are trying to get across to them. We always try to find all kinds of ways to do this.
Words are probably the first and foremost means we use to communicate what we want others to know. In common, it is simple and very straight forward. Yet when we want to get something specific across we know we have to put a little ‘more’ into it. Even the most intelligence-spoken person takes the time to consider his words and actions when there is something specific he wants others to know. He knows a word can be a gold and the exact right one will definetely change the prospective of the people that he or she try to reach. It is when we taps into our creativity to find a way to say what we wants, in a way that will get everyone’s attention.
It’s the same for all of us when we want to reveal something from deep inside ourselves. This is when the importance of creativity becomes most evident. We think of endless ways to say something when we want to say it ‘more’.
The simple yet absolutely profound ‘I love you‘ is the topic of most books that we had read or simply know it. The rose has been the symbol of this declaration since forever. Have you ever thought, “Every man gives rose to his beloved one, I want to say it ‘more’ than other man does,”? I’ve certainly believe that most of the men have ever thought about it for many times.
We use our creativity and find a way to express exactly the depth of our feelings. We search for something unique and meaningful that ties us and the other person together in a way that is singular to the two of
Perhaps when a man firstly met with a woman, he had just holding a lily, which the other one happened to bump. It was a disaster which a man turned into a special moment, which turned into many special moments after that.
Looking back at that time in the future, the man doesn’t want to say “I love you,” he want to say “I love you more than anybody else, have you still remember how special our first meeting was?” Instead of a simply red rose, the man choose a bucket of white lily set in a crystal vase in the shape of love, because it was the expression of his feeling in that special and memorable time in his life. It’s really important to us for expressing our selves in a different yet special way, otherwise we just simply say it.
The importance of creativity can easily be seen in the different ways of expression they have shown to the others. People have already used their creativity to come up with endless ways to get their messages across, and we’re still thinking of a new one. And don’t let anything limit our creativity.
It is important to be able to express our feelings when words aren’t enough to be expressed fully about our feeling. We can express ourselves in the form of writings, paintings, music, pictures, or even just a simple picture. Each of them means to get something across to others and they satisfy us because we feel we’ve gotten our message out to others.
Art would seem to be the most obvious way to express ourselves in certain situations. Although, don’t limit ourselves just in the world of art.
Our creativity expressed in the clothes we wear, the style of our hair, the cars we drive. Whole industries have been built in order to give people the outlet of expressing themselves in their everyday daily lives. Nowadays, people in business do research and development for knowing their customer needs and against their competitor. Creativity and innovation have a big portion to be success in this mission.
We gather things that mean something to us, things that ‘say’ something about us. And almost everything we acquire, we add a touch of ourselves to it. Even if it is only the way we display our daily stuffs, in some form we mark them as specifically ours.
And we use our creativity to do all those things in just the way we are.
We don’t always want people to know exactly what is at the deepest core of our selves, but there is still a need to get them. How is the best done? Again the importance of creativity is at the forefront. We have to find ways to express what I want to get out through our creativity.
In this context it isn’t necessarily important to get our message out crystal clear. Sometimes it is enough that we know what we really mean, and in that context often it is vitally important that only we know what we are truly expressing. That is the beauty of creativity, which can be expressed into any form that we need to take.
Our expression can be loud and out in the open, or it can be in silence, and only be an evidence for ourselves. Creativity can be entertaining or relaxing. It can be an outlet for feelings whether we are happy or sad, angry or content and anything in between. Creativity can be used in business, a form of therapy, or just for fun and as simply work or play.
Creativity can just be a natural part of our life that we don’t bother sticking a label on. We may not even be consciously aware that we are bringing it into practice. It should be encouraged and nurtured from the moment we take our first breath.
Even as babes we begin to take in the world around us and strive to communicate with it, to draw things from it that we need or want. We should continue to explore it with enthusiasm till we take our last breath. It has so much to offer that to ignore our creativity, in whatever form we use it, is to lose out to a deeper extent than we can imagine. Our lives are enriched by creativity and how we can be optimal in using and implementing it in our life.
There are so many aspects of our lives that creativity touches that the importance of creativity defies logic. We are humans, than we need to express ourselves as much as we need the air we breathe.
Creativity isn’t just an art. It is our very essence. It is our unique and special things that we have to be nurtured and becoming a useful part in our life.
— Rike Giri Cahyadi–
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