a creative challenge… yourself! (creativity & inspiration)

Claudia Casal  is starting her new regular guest column today. Claudia is a blogger,  photographer as well as by day being an Organizational Psychologist. With her column, It’s Up to You!, she will focus on topics that are crucial for your leading a creative & happy life.

Before you read Claudia’s 1st post, I’d like to invite you to visit the Regular Guest Contributors’ page to read about all of my new guest bloggers. I’m so excited to be sharing so many new voices here on Indie Fixx! xoxo- jen

Hello there, friends. How are you doing today? I am Claudia from {a place for twiggs} blog and I will join you over the next few months for sharing the column It’s Up to You!. My stories will cover several topics that are crucial for your leading a creative & happy life. Today, I will focus on a particular topic that it might interest you.

But first, a question. Are you feeling creative today? Do you recognize a creative day? Do you ever feel not in a creative mood?

Well, I believe that several answers might be possible to these questions. And in today’s post, {A Creative Challenge… Yourself}, I will share some of those answers.

What is Creativity anyway?

“…the phenomenon whereby a person creates something new (a product, a solution, a work of art etc.) that has some kind of value. What counts as “new” may be in reference to the individual creator, or to the society or domain within which the novelty occurs. What counts as “valuable” is similarly defined in a variety of ways.” – wikiepedia

Have you noticed something in this definition? Creativity has to do with something {new} and {valuable}. That is why being yourself is so important, because being creative also means creating something new for you, for the world… with some kind of value. And how about inspiration?

Can you define inspiration? Inspiration is what leads us to creativity.

“Inspiration refers to an unconscious burst of creativity in a literary, musical, or other artistic endeavor. Literally, the word means “breathed upon.””– wikiepedia

Isn’t this the most refreshing definition ever? Inspiration means breathed upon, like if your mind has received some fresh air… and you had a stunning idea .

This is inspiration… what you do with it is creativity. So, when do these two things happen? And what to do when they occur? And how about when they do not occur?

Well, I will tell you a little story based on a very simple question.

What is your favorite thing to do in the whole world?

One of my favorite things in the whole world is to wander around Lisbon with two cameras, a digital one and a film one. And of course… on a sunny day, which is easy in Lisbon. Why do I love to do this? Because it relaxes me and keeps my mind fresh, without any particular thoughts. Just like the wind, I wander around streets, exploring corners… new ones… old ones… I don’t have a schedule… nor is time  important. I usually get on a tram and just go with it… this helps me to keep my mind relaxed. And this is a crucial thing for feeling inspired.

What inspires you?

If you ask your creative friends, what inspires them, most of them will answer “everything that surrounds me.” Why is this? Because the world is happening before your eyes… every day. And an inspirational mind keeps the heart open to the world that is happening. Feeling inspired means “breathed upon”, means keeping your mind fresh and refreshed… and keeping this in mind will keep your creativity happening more regularly.

Creativity is like Love!

Creativity is not something that you can schedule. This also means that you cannot expect to feel creative at a certain time of the day. But it surely does depends on you. So how to improve your creative days? Feeling relaxed… doing things that you love to do and that make you feel happy and inspired. This is a lot like love. It never happens when we want it to, but when we are least expecting it to. We just need to keep up with our lives, embracing everything that comes along and love will come to us. We just need to keep our hearts open to it. Exactly like creativity…you just need to keep your heart and mind open to it. Forcing it, will perhaps,  be a mistake.

But there something else to keep in mind. Just like love that happens when you are not expecting, inspiration also comes when you are not expecting it . And like love, you need to do something, when it appears. So… my little piece of advice… get a notebook and a pencil. And write or draw your ideas exactly in the moment they arrive.

Inspiration or copy?

And when inspiration comes from other artists? That is so common, right? We all admire certain artists that inspire us. But then again, we need to be true to ourselves. They inspire us and they may lead us to do something creative with that inspiration. But how may I know that this is my work and not some inspired copy of someone’s work? Well… I will tell you something… only you can know that. But in order to be successful and a relaxed mind and heart, you also need to be true to yourself. So, when you look at your work, what do you see?

And with this, I mean that inspiration may come from other artists, but only I can take that inspiration and do something creative with it if  it has my name written on it. You will not want to have someone saying “oh this really looks like that lady’s work!” You want to stand out for yourself, right? So… feel inspired to do something new… to stand out in the world. There is a place for all of us… if we just keep our work fresh and true. So… challenge yourself to feel inspired… to be a creative person.