Paul Kaufman, Senior Producer and Writer, The Creative Spirit Television Series writes in the preface of his beautiful book, 'The Creative Spirit' as follows: "Huck Jones, the animator who fathered Wile E.Coyote (one of the stars of the television series on which this book is based), says that in order to draw a coyote "you have to have a coyote inside of you. And you have to get it out .Animation means to invoke life and how do you invoke life? You have to find it within yourself!" Each and every one of us in the world is creative. We have to unlock the creativity hidden within ourselves. Paul Kaufman also quotes that when they were producing The Creative Spirit television series on location in Kyoto, Japan, a carver of Buddhist figures came to them and told them: "When I carve, I look for the Buddha in the wood. And, when I am carving, I need to bring the Buddha out of the wood. I have to be very careful not to cut the Buddha". So something inside you must be brought out. Ned Hermann, President of Applied Creative Services Ltd., has developed, in 1977, the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument after carrying out a series of experiments using biofeed back to measure the electromagnetic wave output in the two cerebral hemispheres. He developed a 120 question survey and contacted 5, 00,000 people including leading chief executive officers. He concluded that the brain profile is divided into four quadrants:
Upper Left: Logical, analyzer, mathematical, technical, problem solver
Lower Left: Controlled, conservative, planner, organizational, administrative
Lower Right: Interpersonal, emotional, musical, spiritual, talker
Upper Right: Imaginative, synthesizer, artistic, holistic, conceptualizer On knowing these details one could understand himself/herself and enhance his/her creativity by acquiring the necessary skills. What makes a person creative? Basically nine similarities are found in creative people. At the same time, the creative people have their own way also, since they are unique. The nine common qualities are:
1) Inherited Sensitivity: A propensity for a greater sensitivity to certain types of experience- mathematical, artistic, musical, mechanical and literary. This appears to be well established by studies of families which exhibit high creativity in certain field over generations.
2) Early Training: The creative person more likely than not, had his childhood in a home atmosphere that encouraged, rather than discouraged, inquisitiveness.
3)Liberal Education: The creative person is more likely to express his creativity if he is exposed to teachers and curricula that place a premium upon questions rather than answers, and which reward curiosity rather than learning by rote and conformity.
4) Asymmetrical ways of thought: The creative person finds an original kind of order in disorder; it is as if he is stared at the reflection of nature in a distorted mirror, where 'ordinary' people are able only to see the image in a plain paper.
5) Personal Courage: The creative person is not afraid of failure or of being laughed at.
6) Sustained Curiosity: The creative person never stops asking questions.
7) Not Time bound: Morning, noon, night are all the same to the creative person. He does not work by clock.
8) Dedication: The creative person has an unswerving desire to do something, whatever it may be and whatever the obstacles to doing it.
9) Willingness to work: The creative person is constantly working for a solution. Except the first two qualities, all the other seven can be acquired by practice by sheer willingness. By developing them, you can unlock your potential. You can bring out all the treasure hidden inside you and you can enhance your creative power also. |
