Cultivating your creativity is more than spending time with a hobby or performing and displaying your work. Cultivating your creativity takes time, awareness and deliberate action. Creativity like any other skill, needs to be nurtured and affirmed, as well as directed, in order to expand throughout your life. Creativity crosses all barriers,cultures,even when styles differ and philosophies change. Creativity never changes. It's time to put away those past negative influences, including no more starving artist scenarios. Let's explore what creativity really is.

REASON ONE: Creativity is born in movement, be it physical, intellectual, enmotional or spiritual or any combination thereof. When you perceive change going on in your life , some part of the creative process is on the move.

REASON TWO: Training yourself to create art regularly contributes significantly to making an idea work by exploring, expanding, building, performing or sharing it.

REASON THREE The creative process takes time. However, it can be structured and directed. You can finish your creative projects on or before your deadline.

REASON FOUR: Creativity stretches your comfort zone. Practicing a creative skill, takes time, concentrated effort and consistent work. I know that I feel angry as I progress through the first phrase of the creativity process. I struggle to admit that I need to practice, that I don't know everything, that I don't need help and that in spite of these thoughts, I can still make progress using my skills. I am not comfortable when I fail to meet my expectations. When I complete one creative project. I know that I've done a good job. My next challenge is to patiently repeat the first phase of mechanical learning for as long as it takes, to complete my next job. My reward is to become more comfortable using my creative skills ,over and over again.

REASON FIVE: Creativty is fun. I love looking at numerous possibilities. It's wonderful to be able to freely interpret and produce a creative product.

Copyright 2005 Writer's Eye Advisory Service

Lael Johnson, owner of Writer's Eye Advisory Service, offers creativity coaching services and additional writing resources. For more information visit: http://www.writerseye.com