Strange, wacky, absurd, out of the box, outrageous, exciting, contrary, brilliant, different – are some of the adjectives that we use to define people whom we feel are creative. These are people who can see a pattern where most of the others fail to do, people who can catch your attention with their speech, process or work for that much longer. These are the people who have the power to change the world!
But then what exactly is creativity ?
The English word creativity comes from a latin word called Creo which means to create or make. The traditional view of creativity in western culture was an act of divine inspiration or inspiring gift from God. But this view remained dominant only till renaissance in Europe When term creativity began to be commonly linked with the concept of Imagination. However Creativity as matter of subject and research began to emerge towards early 20th century. The definition of creativity according to Concise Oxford dictionary is “Inventive, Imaginative, being able to create.” According to noted psychologist Robert Sternberg “Creativity is the ability to produce ideas that are both Novel (Original, unexpected) and appropriate ( useful and adaptive concerning task constraints)”. Thus for an idea to qualify as creative it should be both original and useful. Thus creativity gives the power to adjust to changing circumstances and solve problems that enter our lives without knocking.
Famous psychologist and management scholar Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi firmly believes creativity consists of three main parts-The first of these is the domain, which consists of set of symbolic rules and procedures.Second component of creativity is the field- which is set of all people who act as gate keepers to the domain. They decide whether a new idea can be accepted.
These people decide what set of new ideas can be recognized, preserved and remembered.The third component of creativity is the individual who using givensymbols of the domain comes out with new ideas or see new patterns. His or her thoughts or actions change the domain or create or establish a new domain. Creativity to me means Chaos, freedom, intermingled and half baked thoughts, restlessness, passion, energy, anxiety, fear, excitement, dreams, risk, self belief magic and much more. Resetting my room, creating an ingenious and productive daily routine, discovering a new traffic free route from work place to home, exploring new dishes at restaurants, risking new music on my way to work- even these are Creative indulgences.
Creativity not only means changing the world with revolutionary new ideas it also means first changing oneself and being receptive to new thoughts, events, Places and feelings. All of us are blessed with the gift of creativity. Each one of us is unique in mind and body. It is only that we don’t bother to look within. And when we begin looking within we discover a bigger world. World of possibilities, of dreams, of wonders- a world of tomorrow.
It is because of creativity that human race has reached today and now it is time for us as individuals and as a race to take a giant leap and go far beyond.