This is a very creative prompt, Arjan! And a great tie in to your previous post. I also want to send you a deep bow of respect for your unfailing clarity and courtesy in this post's Comments section.
I will check back later in the week and see if anyone has posted photographs! Hoping.... :-)
Oh, I do hope people share their results, but I guess it takes some confidence. Anyway, this series is really intended as a service to inspire people to rediscover their creativity.
Thank you for the kind words, friend. They are very much appreciated.
Good article, Arjan. I loved the video. I have lived a creative life and yet I experienced those who have criticized my creative work. In first grade I remember loving to draw fish, but someone must have told me to stop because I did not attempt to draw again until I was in my fifties. In the sixth grade I volunteered to write articles about our class for the local newspaper. The message that I received back was what I wrote was not journalism. It was advertising. I did not write again until I was a junior in high school when I started writing poetry. Fortunately, I have overcome the comments of others and let my creativity blossom.
I remember taking taking one of those personality tests at work. The person who taught the class told my boss that I was a person who could come up with 10 creative ideas but only one would be any good. People don't appreciate creativity as a skill.
These days I teach classes in abstract art to cancer patients. The most common comment I hear is: "I am not creative." Everyone is creative if they allow themselves to be, but most have had it drummed out of them.
One of my favorite songs is Flowers are Red by Harry Chapin.
Awesome Harley! It's always good to see your thoughts. Very happy and thankful that you are sharing your story here. This is indeed precisely the point. And what a wonderful thing you are doing teaching abstract art classes to cancer patients. Wonderful.
Hello John Charles, thank you for taking the time to read and to leave your thoughts here. Much appreciated.
Not sure why you are so intent to point out this bit to be subjective and false. The first I mostly agree with. It's my personal experience, and I found others who have either had or witnessed the same thing: losing creative confidence when growing up. So, that it is a false statement, I do not agree with. We could have an argument about who precisely is meant by the 'we' in the statement, which might lead us to the conclusion it may not be universally true or false, but true for some and false for others.
In any case, it seems we agree that promoting creativity is a good thing. And I hope we can find eachother there.
Thank you for the compliment on my style and flow, and rest assured I am not under contract by Substack or any other organisation.
By the way, I thought that this part of your comment:
"Hopefully you are not one of the writers under contract by substack."
came across as rather mean. It threw me off, and set a tone I do not intend to use in this part of Substack. Maybe it was intended to be unkind, but if it wasn't, you may want to take that into consideration.
Indeed, John. I was referring to the term "creative confidence" as it is used by David Kelley in the video. It is indeed not about losing creativity. I firmly believe we do not lose that. It's about losing the confidence to let that creativity speak. Which you in a way could also refer to as "uninhibited nature" indeed.
The other things you mention I certainly do not contest. Very much my experience as well.
And yes, my viewpoint is often subjective. I think that is the whole point of viewpoints.
The point of this post, and the new series of my newsletter it is part of, is to help ignite that confidence, and to tap into all this creativity we have in us.
This is a very creative prompt, Arjan! And a great tie in to your previous post. I also want to send you a deep bow of respect for your unfailing clarity and courtesy in this post's Comments section.
I will check back later in the week and see if anyone has posted photographs! Hoping.... :-)
Oh, I do hope people share their results, but I guess it takes some confidence. Anyway, this series is really intended as a service to inspire people to rediscover their creativity.
Thank you for the kind words, friend. They are very much appreciated.
Good article, Arjan. I loved the video. I have lived a creative life and yet I experienced those who have criticized my creative work. In first grade I remember loving to draw fish, but someone must have told me to stop because I did not attempt to draw again until I was in my fifties. In the sixth grade I volunteered to write articles about our class for the local newspaper. The message that I received back was what I wrote was not journalism. It was advertising. I did not write again until I was a junior in high school when I started writing poetry. Fortunately, I have overcome the comments of others and let my creativity blossom.
I remember taking taking one of those personality tests at work. The person who taught the class told my boss that I was a person who could come up with 10 creative ideas but only one would be any good. People don't appreciate creativity as a skill.
These days I teach classes in abstract art to cancer patients. The most common comment I hear is: "I am not creative." Everyone is creative if they allow themselves to be, but most have had it drummed out of them.
One of my favorite songs is Flowers are Red by Harry Chapin.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cVpkzZpDBA
I do agree with John Charles that the older I get the more creative I feel. I have lived a life of creativity.
Awesome Harley! It's always good to see your thoughts. Very happy and thankful that you are sharing your story here. This is indeed precisely the point. And what a wonderful thing you are doing teaching abstract art classes to cancer patients. Wonderful.
Hello John Charles, thank you for taking the time to read and to leave your thoughts here. Much appreciated.
Not sure why you are so intent to point out this bit to be subjective and false. The first I mostly agree with. It's my personal experience, and I found others who have either had or witnessed the same thing: losing creative confidence when growing up. So, that it is a false statement, I do not agree with. We could have an argument about who precisely is meant by the 'we' in the statement, which might lead us to the conclusion it may not be universally true or false, but true for some and false for others.
In any case, it seems we agree that promoting creativity is a good thing. And I hope we can find eachother there.
Thank you for the compliment on my style and flow, and rest assured I am not under contract by Substack or any other organisation.
By the way, I thought that this part of your comment:
"Hopefully you are not one of the writers under contract by substack."
came across as rather mean. It threw me off, and set a tone I do not intend to use in this part of Substack. Maybe it was intended to be unkind, but if it wasn't, you may want to take that into consideration.
Indeed, John. I was referring to the term "creative confidence" as it is used by David Kelley in the video. It is indeed not about losing creativity. I firmly believe we do not lose that. It's about losing the confidence to let that creativity speak. Which you in a way could also refer to as "uninhibited nature" indeed.
The other things you mention I certainly do not contest. Very much my experience as well.
And yes, my viewpoint is often subjective. I think that is the whole point of viewpoints.
The point of this post, and the new series of my newsletter it is part of, is to help ignite that confidence, and to tap into all this creativity we have in us.
Improvisation, also in comedy, is a wonderful tool.
Thank you for spending so much time in this conversation, John.