Why There Has Never Been a Better Time to Be Creative - Christine Kane

When I speak about creativity – whether I’m at a corporate event, or teaching a group like the Nuclear Regulatory Commission – people look at me a little suspiciously when I first hit the stage.

Maybe they expect me to wave my hemp scarf and flit around saying things like “how very wonderful it is that we are all creative beings in the universe!”

(After all, I’m from Asheville. We can be very floo-floo here.)

Or maybe they think I’m going to make them write songs and finger-paint.  (Though, frankly, I can think of worse ways to spend an afternoon!)

But the true meaning of creativity – at least, as I speak about it – goes like this:

1 – Being Creative means being a Creator.

2 – Being a Creator means you aren’t a Reactor.

3 – Being a Reactor means you allow the outside world (or “reality!”) dictate your every thought, action, and emotion.

4 – Being a Creator means that you create.

5 – Being a Creator, at its deepest level, means that you create your life.

6 – Being a Creator, at its deepest level, means that your life is your work of art.

7 – When your life is your work of art, you get to choose what to put in it. You get to choose what to think about it. You get to choose how to translate each person or thing in it.  You don’t listen to what everyone else calls “Reality!”

Trust me, there is no better way to live than to Live Creative.

So, back to our audience at the conference…

Once I’ve introduced this expansive definition of creativity, I talk about the event they are currently attending. I explain how at conferences or break-out sessions, the focus is often about our relationship to stuff outside of us.  This thing or that thing.  Your co-workers or your supervisors. Your marketplace or your sales prospects.  The HR people or the IT geeks.

Creativity, I tell them, is the exact opposite.

Creativity is about your relationship to yourself.

(I happen to think that the same goes for Leadership.)

So, then, dear reader, I want to ask you something.

What better time than now to choose to Live Creative?

Now”¦

When you can ask yourself, “What am I learning these days about my relationship to myself and my thoughts?”

Now…

When you have the choice to ask every day, “Do I want to believe that everything is going to hell in a hand-basket?

Or do I have something different to create?”

Now”¦

When you have an amazing opportunity to learn exactly how powerful you are.

Now”¦

When you can either shrink or expand, and you can encourage others to do or not do the same.

Now”¦

When it is oh-so tempting to stop investing in yourself and your laughter and in the beauty of this magnificent life you have.

Now”¦

When you can decide whether or not this universe is a place of ever-flowing abundance and prosperity, and remain in that flow or jump out of it.

Now”¦

When you can choose to believe the crusty curmudgeonly rigidity of the talking heads.  Or you can remember the sparkly brilliance of the many adventurers and scientists and artists that have walked this globe for eons.  Surely, they knew of the solutions and resolutions floating around in this vast intelligence and space.  Surely, you do too.

Now”¦

When you can simply ask yourself, “If it’s all an illusion anyway – why wouldn’t I decide to create a great one?”

Rock your world…

Live Creative.

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p.s.  On November 5, I’m launching my new weekly LiveCreative eZine.  You can subscribe by clicking here.

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25 COMMENTS ADD A COMMENT
  • Christine Kane

    Thanks Guinevere and Brandi! It’s good to know you’re both out there. And of course, I am honored to be a part of your expansion!

    Kathy – Actually, my coach and i read through my “good mojo” file – where I keep all the emails I get from people who have read my blog and made extra money – through jobs, raises, taking chances on new business, etc. And we talked about value and the investment people have made when they participate in my eSeminar – and that was the amount we chose. (Truly, it’s kind of an experimental thing.)

  • brandi

    expanding, not shrinking, has been a mantra going over and over in my head these days.

    I can’t thank you enough for the guidance and support you give me and countless others through this blog (and now magazine! OMG! so exciting!).

    I have an intention buddy, thanks to your guidance. 🙂
    I take that step to expand not shrink. even if it’s a small step 🙂
    I move to feel a little bit better when I’m having a bad day. 🙂

    and countless other wonderful enriching life activities.

  • Guinevere

    Hello Christine, I’ve been lurking from time to time reading your blogs, and I wanted to finally take a moment and say “Thank You”. I love your site, your blog, your music. The positive energy and overall enviroment of encouragement are amazing. I wanted to make sure I didn’t let another day go by without saying thank you…

  • Kathy

    Live Creative. I SO try to do that. But sometimes I get bogged down in the muck of the talking heads. Your tips, techniques, wake up calls and musings always help to get me back on the creator path. I enthusiastically signed up for your e-zine and will be telling all my friends and family about it … but I’m dying to know how you figured out that it is worth $197/year.

  • Elaine

    …This is so cool and inspiring! Can’t wait to get the first one! 😉

  • Thom

    thanks for the reminder and putting it into words … it is easy to get busy and forget …

  • Rich Ezzo

    Christine,

    Thanks for your insightful, timely posts! Yes, we are being inundated with negativity, seems now more than ever. One way to “create” a more positive reaction is to look for the opposite. In other words, just say…”hmm, I wonder who is benefiting from this?….and good for them”. You see, when the market goes down, not everybody loses. Some are making money. When it goes up, some are losing. Some businesses are now taking off because of what’s going on. Regarding the environmental changes…ask, “which species are now flourishing due to climate change?” even..”how am I benefiting?”. Any perceived negative has its opposite….positive. It can’t exist otherwise. Any situation that you’ve labeled “negative”….examine it, and you’ll always be able to find that is not 100% true. So, create a better outlook by looking for the sunny side.

  • Mary Miller

    Christine, I am sending you a GREAT BIG SMILEY HEART thank you for all the WONDERFUL inspiration! Congratulations on this new opportunity to raise awareness of the creative possibilities within us all. This is soooooo exciting!

  • Joy (your Joy)

    gawd, this is an especially good post.

    when i saw your ezine cover i puffed up with pride…even though i’m not a two.

  • Melanie Dilday

    Wonderful stuff Christine. This is the first time I’ve commented although I’m always giving you a high five in my mind as every post is a winner! But this one in particular is such a breath of fresh air compared to all the negative hype that the media is having an absolutely field day with, that I just wanted to say thanks!
    It’s very weird…I hear all this stuff on the news and see all the red arrows on the stock market…and yet…my own world doesn’t reflect this. I’m still in my studio almost every day creating or sharing what I know. I’m still watering the garden and picking flowers. I’m still taking the dog to the beach a few times a week. The sun still rises like the big beautiful orb that it is. If money gets tight, as it’s done before and not necessarily because of the ‘market’, then who cares that I can’t have that holiday or buy those Berkies I want. I don’t. I still have me…cuddles with my dog…artful adventures…flowers…friends…endless love…creativity…

  • Tracy

    I know all of this, but have been having a harder time than usual really being in that space of creator lately, with all the “evidence” that the world IS going to hell in a handbasket. I usually don’t buy into it too much, but it’s been quite an onslaughht the past month, between the ecomonomy, the environment and the elections. Thanks for the reminder that I have a choice here; I have resumed breathing!

    Tracy

  • Sue

    Great post! It helps to put it out there as you did here. And like Lance said, love how you used ‘now’…makes me think, “Ooohhh, like NOW”. Can’t be reminded of now too much! Though my favorite line might be, “rock your world”. Love that. 🙂

  • m

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/crazyauntpurl/sets/72157603242675105/

    cat knitting… but what better way to spend such dark times ?

  • Caren

    Moozart wrote Don Guernseyvani and Cowi fan Tutte.

  • Jannie Funster

    Thank you Christine but are you sure this post wan’t written by Moozart, Beethoven or Einstien?

    Sriously, I know when I lift teh self-imposed pressure to create off me, my creativity flows best.

    (Sorry, newly reformed on correctin blog comment typos.)

  • Christine Kane

    Thanks for the additional inspiration, everybody! Especially now, we need to keep reminding each other of this message. So I appreciate the insights!

  • Mike Wagner

    Thanks for pulling back the curtain on what you see when you stand to speak about creativity. To some degree I can relate when I stand to speak on “creative organizational branding”.

    I yelled “yes” especially loud when I read, “your life is your work of art.”

    Looking forward to the first edition of “Live Creative”.

    Keep creating…a masterpiece,
    Mike

  • Deb

    I love this post. I have been doing so much work differentiating between reacting and creating recently.

    I created a new resume and reference list so I can get a job to support the new life I am creating.

    I am creating a “new” quilt for my new place-to-be. (grandmother pieced it but died before it was quilted)

    I am off this morning to get a demi-perm color (I know hair color is not considered green) because the stress of the past year has taken a toll and now that I am starting to recover on the inside I don’t think I’m required to look like I’m dying on the outside.

    Gotta run.

  • Lance

    Now…is the time! Wonderful use of that word, Christine! Now, really, is all we are guaranteed to have. The future holds no guarantees. And, if now is all we can be sure of – why not make it everything we desire. I feel the last couple of years have really taken me in that direction, and especially the last few months. Creating the life I want! I love this post Christine!!

  • Emily

    I like this. Helps remind me that anything I do can be creative (even writing the much dreaded treatment plans at work!). Makes life a lot more fun 🙂 Thanks!

  • P Marek

    Relationship was my word for this year. One of the aspects I explored was relating to myself and my conclusion was the same as yours, I needed to create. Of course it took me much longer to figure it out…

  • sheista

    Just yesterday I realized I was being reactive regarding something in my life and in the process creating exactly what I want to avoid! This is a timely post for me, thank you!
    I’m knitting a prayer shawl for a friend and made a “Sunday” dinner for my family last night~us readers are birds of a feather!
    Looking forward to the ezine! Signed up for my subscription this morning.

  • Petra

    I needed this, Christine! I’ve let myself get into “reactor mode” anxiety and even last night I was bemoaning how I used to be so imaginative and creative. It hit me that I wasn’t giving enough attention to the Creator in me. So, I created a wonderful meal and a great playlist (petra’s inner DJ’s still got it, I’m pleased to report!)

    I love how you expand the “traditional” definition of creativity. I think too many folks have this rigidly defined version of creativity, based on the fine arts (honestly, lots of people don’t realize that science, for example, is actually an avenue for creativity). Every act can be a creative one!

  • m

    This should be handed out on flyers – put up on billboards ! I’m so evangelical about being creative. I’m knitting a baby blanket for one of bosses right now. It sounds so simple and retro but the pleasure from actually creating something versus just buying and consuming is incalculable.