Creative confidence is not something we acquire with age; initially, it's  a natural quality that we all too early surrender to common sense and cynicism. Ask for the artists within a classroom of small children to raise their hands; you'll likely see every child, without hesitation, thrust his or her arm into the air. Ask the same group thirty years later; you may get nary a response, save for a wistful glance between former classmates.

 

The innate, but often repressed, longing to be creative and to create meaningful things reflects the nature of the one who created us in his own image. When we, in turn, create in our own image or after our own imagination, we partake of his divine nature, we perpetuate his creative legacy. The creative longing--in us, as in the divine--reflects a desire to know and to be known, of this and of future generations.

 

Creativity, be assured, is not restricted to the artist and the bohemian; creativity can be practiced by the accountant and the conventional. For if you remove the romantic veneer, creativity is simply, profoundly, problem solving. For the artist, the problem to be solved is an empty canvas; for the accountant, the problem to be solved may be an unbalanced budget.

        

Creativity is not generally regarded as available on call. It's often misattributed to a happy accident, a mysterious muse, a wayward thunderbolt--and gifted only upon the lucky and the anointed. In reality, however, creativity is the gift to any who remain curious, ask questions, explore connections. These are the essential pieces of the first of three phases of the creative process: Investigate.

 

In time and with practice, it just might be possible to reconnect with the artist of our childhood.


Where and when and how and with whom are you at your most creative?

What would it take for you to recover your creative confidence?