Creativity ...
Is there a central preoccupation in your life, a melodic thread that runs through its entire symphony? If you can name it right now, you have much reason to be grateful. But even if you cannot name it, this guiding theme may be woven into the music of your days, and you need only listen more carefully.

Welcome to the Creativity message board
- Daniel Uvanovic, Webmaster   19 Jul 2003

I'm grateful to be able to write the first comment on this message board! My supervisor at work has told me many times that I'm not creative enough. I even attended a workshop on creativity to try to enhance that quality. I finally decided that I am creative every day. Even though he may not see it, I am creative at work. I'm grateful also that I made the decision to leave my job to pursue my own business in which I can use my own creativity without judgment. Tomorrow is my last day at work and the first day of the rest of my life!
- PM, California   23 Jul 2003

one preoccupation that has ran throughout my life is the lives of people. i have always been intrigued by learning about others lives, perceptions, abilities, struggles, triumphs, experiences, and connections. i have always been drawn to the philosophical questions: who are we (as humans), and what is the meaning of our lives on this earth. there is something profound to me in the simplicity of being. i am always searching for more on our human connections.
- jen, california   25 Jul 2003

MUSIC.
- sem, Seattle   25 Jul 2003

I show love. Everything that I have done over the past 30 years of my life has related in some way to offering me the opportunity to love others and learn to love more others more effectively and in better, less judgmental ways. It has been a difficult process sometimes, but it is creating a Me that I like and that I enjoy being. Writing, speaking, training, counseling, designing programs, writing grants, raising children, and growing up myself (which is a process that has been rather longer than I anticipated)--all are manifestations of the creativity inherent within us as humans reflecting God to each other and the universe in which we live. I feel so frustrated sometimes when I think that I should be The Creator rather than creative, but then I come to gratefulness.org and remember that it's not about what I think. It's about how I can practice being Love. The Creation Story is a continual evolution of discovery and I am so grateful for that.
- Rebecca, Tampa, Florida, USA   29 Jul 2003

When I tried out the creativity practice offered here and clicked to the photos of snowflakes presented, one of them riveted my attention. It really wasn't the prettiest flake; it looked a bit ragged around the edges, as though it'd been caught during a thaw. But I noticed that at its heart a perfect six-petaled flower could still be seen. And it seemed that a lovely light was shining through even the most frazzled parts of the crystal. It suddenly seemed that I was contemplating myself. As a sober alcoholic, I've been around the block more than a few times; my edges are as beat up as the snowflake's. And this snowflake shared its frame with another flake. So perhaps my creativity is best expressed in relation to other people. It's inspiring to think that the light of the divine can shine even through my rough places and imperfections.
- JP, Michigan   29 Jul 2003

In studying creativity within a hobby of photography it occurred to me that there is creativity in each of us. We each respond to the moments of life with which we are gifted, and in that response is our own brand of creativity. It is not limited to a work of art, but is a moment by moment response to life. And in that process, some get very creative.
- ekv, Glendora, Ca   19 Aug 2003

Sitting on a beach watching the ocean's movements always brings me peace. When I am grieving that is the place for me. When I am happy that is the place for me.
- Daisy, Waihi NewZealand   19 Aug 2003

I think creativity in our culture is often seen as something "extra" but not necessary--I care to differ, it is creation itself that is the core of all aspects of life, nature (my thread), science, mathmatics, contruction, landscaping, and on and on. We each have a "creativity" within us but it may not be the normally accepted kind (like art, music) but I've seen people be incredibly creative in a mutitude of areas like fixing an engine for one...
- mattie, Hawaii   19 Aug 2003

Coming to me, guiding children and adult to themselves, discover the plenty of my soul, the dark and the lightful parts, being with me and living through this world to heaven ... all that fascinates me ... in words, pictures, creatures ... and so much more.
- el, Baden near Vienna, Austria   22 Aug 2003

My creativity blooms when I sit at my terminal every morning at 5:50 am, sip my coffee, and open my mind, still dew fresh from sleep, to let whatever 'is' flow through me. A word, a phrase, or sometimes a line will come to me. At that moment I know nothing beyond that line, but as I write it down, more words seem to parade behind it, as if that solitary beginning line were connected to a world I'm about to enter. I like the image of sea anemones, barnacles and other small creatures who open to the flowing sea waters and are fed by them. I also believe in disipline and study, but all the discipline in the world without that soft sighing yes to what is, will not result in a poem or a song. A friend of mine says, "if you are a lover, everything you do is what a lover does". I agree. You could paraphrase this to, "If you are creative, everything you do is what a creative person does."
- Zen, Florida   1 Sep 2003

I have always searched for and been fascinated by connections: those that bind each of us humans to one another, and those that bind everything in the Cosmos to every other thing. A quote from Meister Eckart: "God is the gound substance of all Being." This sums up my feeling about the omnipresence of the divine. Echart also said, "The eye with which I see God and the eye with which God sees me ARE THE SAME EYE." To me, this means that when we are actively searching for the divine in life, we are an agent of the divine. I remember looking into a tiny flower in a moutain meadow as a 6 year old child, and how a rain drop struck the flower at that moment. As I watched that small event, I suddenly became absorbed into everything around me: I was the clouds, the drop, the flower, the watching trees, the child, the grass. It was a moment of joy so immense it was almost terrifying, and it seemed that I saw the true nature of the world. This moment has become my touchstone. Peace and thanks, L.
- LKC, Central Coast, California   9 Sep 2003