Friday, October 16, 2009

creativity


when i first picked up "the joy diet," i randomly flipped to a few pages and one of the main things that grabbed my attention was on the chapter of creativity. it was "uncomfortable truth #1: you are always responsible for creating your life, whether you like it or not." (i couldn't agree more!!)

i also love how martha beck explained that "criticism is an alluring substitute for creation, because tearing things down, unlike building them up, really is as easy as falling off a stump." i think that in general, we humans criticize because we are upset that someone else has thought of our idea first. we should congratulate them on their achievements and try to work on another idea. martha said "before you make negative comments about other people's creations, require yourself to do a better job than they did, under similar conditions."

"The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." ~albert einstein

find out what other creative people are saying about the creativity chapter.

image credit ici

13 comments:

Vienna said...

Interesting thoughts. I find that sometimes criticism is not only towards the other's work. It's also towards ourselves and that completely hinders our creativity. Thanks for sharing.

Sherry said...

This is a great perspective on the chapter Melita, one I hadn't taken in. I agree about critcism and that we are always creating our lives...I just didn't get into the whole process of how we can discover our heart's desire with some of the exercises.

gma said...

Hi! Oh Yes! We all create our own lives. If we don't like where we are at...then it's up to us to create a better circumstance.
:-)

Karen D said...

Thanks for sharing your week with creativity this week. I also agree that we are responsible for creating our live, people can influence us but ultimately it is up to us to make the best choices for ourselves.

Lucy Ladham-Dyment said...

thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Jean said...

The whole idea that we create our own lives is a tough pill to swallow sometimes, as true as it is. I wonder if that is the basis for some of the struggles we have with being creative, with seeing other perspectives, with reading this book.

Thanks for sharing! Well said, as always. :)

Angie said...

To be open to creativity in our daily life can be difficult, especially when we become so serious all the time! That's why I really enjoyed 'do one thing different' played a lot and had fun with it.Need more of that!:)

Lisa @sacred circle said...

The fact that we are responsible for our own lives has helped me see life as an adventure, and in many ways, has given me wings. Woohoo!

Paula - Buenos Aires said...

I really like the image you used for this chapter.

Globetrotting Cacti said...

Thanks for sharing. I have not read this book yet but like your views on this chapter and I love the quotes too. Thank you.

Sarah said...

Very interesting way of looking at and thinking about criticism. There is far too much criticism in this world, and it is a fresh approach to considering how it affects us and how to change it.

Jessica said...

Ohhhh sounds interesting!
I will have to pick this book up!

Serena Lewis said...

I so agree...we do create our own lives and this gives us the power to change what we don't like. It's not always easy though because we've been brought up to fit in with a conditioned society. I haven't posted about the Creativity topic this week because I've been quite sick though I did read the chapter and have read a few of the Joy group posts. Thanks for your insight ~