Creativity is our birth right. Remember when you were a kid and would sing songs loudly and draw pictures with abandon? That is your creative self.
Where did she go? What happened to her. There is something about growing up that can stifle our natural born creativity.
Maybe we were told to sing quietly or that we were off key. Maybe someone said they liked our horse when it was clearly a dog. Or maybe we just compared our drawing to the other kids and saw that we clearly didn’t have as much talent as they did.
Whatever the experience, our creativity got stifled. Well, we’re gonna let it out. Knock knock knock (in a little kids voice) “Hi, can Suzie’s creativity come out and play?”
The challenge becomes dealing with our inner critic. You know him (and I say him because mine is male). Here is what he says:
- You’re not creative
- You can’t draw
- You’ve never even had any training
- Remember when you tried to do that thing and it was awful?
The key to unlocking your creativity is to recognize the inner critic. He does have a function. He helps us recognize beauty and helps guide us in our approach to a project.
But it is not helpful when he uses shame or embarrassment. The key is to recognize when he shows up. “Oh, there’s my critic telling me my art isn’t good enough. I think I’ll ignore it and continue on.”
The more practice you get recognizing when the critic shows up, the better you’ll get at sweeping him away.
So let’s try a little creativity exercise. Remember a childhood song you used to sing like Ring Around the Rosie, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, or even the ABC Song. Why don’t you belt out one round. C’mon, close your eyes and try one verse.
Now doesn’t that bring a smile to your face? You are creative. Sign up for my newsletter and discover more ways to tap into your creativity.
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_b.png?x-id=8486d481-e1b0-4488-a869-bd31462d3c77)
More From Invisible Heartstrings
Invisible Heartstrings Recommends
- Banish Your Inner Critic (LivingYourLifeToday)
- The Long Goodbye (High Road Artist)
Twitter
Youtube
Facebook
GooglePlus
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m always saying that I’m not creative! But, truth is that if I search deep enough, I can find ways that I’m creative every day…especially around my daughter.
.-= Melanie (ModernMami)´s last blog ..3 Tips To Help You Manage Your Social Media Presence =-.
I think creativity feeds the soul and noticing how your creative, brings more creativity to you.
Twitter: ImAHotMom
April 1, 2010 at 4:46 pm
I read an article before saying that children are the most creative because they are still in touch with their higher self. It’s when they decide to grow up that they lose this connection. With all the restrictions that’s imposed to us when we were still kids, no wonder we shut this connection down. Makes me sometimes wonder why did we ever have to grow up?
.-= Young And Fabulous´s last blog ..iZumba On My Mom Time =-.
I really believe the key to happiness is unlocking that creativity we had as children. I’ve found as an adult that creativity does help me tap into my higher self. And by doing that, it makes my path clear.
My critic is in the form of a 6 yr old! She tells me I’m weird when I do that! Ok, I do have an inner critic that stops me from doing most things. I’m not smart enough, pretty enough, good enough, blah blah blah. I really enjoy the days when she’s on vacay!
.-= Kim @ Mentally Inked´s last blog ..Throwin My Hat Into the Ring: My Mamavation Application =-.
I recently did a Creative Experience where we dialogued with our inner critic. Then we created some art to help transform the critic into something we could work with. It was a great experience.
{ 1 trackback }