Creativity - where does it come from?

Being a creative person myself, and a visual learner I am attracted to images rather than text. I will pick up a magazine and find the photos or illustrations to find the meaning of the text instead of reading the article or story. This is the way I like to interpret the world around me.

(Do you know what type of learner you are? Some people are Auditory, readers and writers or kin-esthetic; and some of us are a combination).

Can you remember what it was like to play, draw, and create as a child? It was hopefully a joyful experience, one filled with curiosity and imagination. We may have dreamed that one day we were going to be astronauts, doctors, scientists and so on... as a child we have a developing brain and we consume as much as we can from the world around us. Some say our early childhood years lead us into creativity as we grow and develop.

Creativity involves developing new ideas around a problem, question or issue and then finding the right solution and delivering on this. And it isn't just artists who are doing this. In our modern workforce there is a need to have critical thinking and problem solving skills. It helps us become adaptive and generate changes for improvement, and to understand particular issues.

In my years as a creative, design and technology teacher I have worked across a range of age groups, with people from diverse backgrounds and taught a number of subjects such as life drawing, communication and business skills, to simple coding (many years ago). I have seen all kinds of creative people at different stages of their growth and have enjoyed watching the progress of each and every one of them.

I personally believe that we are all creative and that we all express it in our own unique way. Some people do it in jobs that may not be typically considered 'Creative', such as a dentist, a mechanic, engineer or a solicitor. However, if we consider the above concept of what creativity is each and every one of these jobs requires us to use our creative brain to solve problems, find a solution using the best approach using the available resources.

From my own experiences as a child I loved to draw and colour in. I loved filling pages in my school books with drawings, and took pride in the work I did. When I got to high school and learnt more skills and knowledge, so here began my love affair with visual art. It was my happy place, it just made me feel really good. Some say that people are born creative, but I also believe that has to be practiced, a bit like sport or public speaking. We need to practice to get better at it, and remember that it is OK to make mistakes, as they help us learn and grow and find ways to improve.

So lovely humans thanks for reading, I am off to be creative and finish designing this website. I have some fresh ideas on the look and feel of it.

Stay Awesome everyone!