Tea with Linda - Creativity
Tea with Linda - Creativity
Contributor: Linda Kavelin Popov, Co-Founder of TVP
Dan and I bought a looping racetrack toy (made in China) for the island children who often visited us, the message on the box was “Up baby imagination!” The kids loved figuring it out, which took some skill. According to Albert Einstein, one of the great scientific minds of humanity, imagination is more important than knowledge because knowledge is about what already exists while imagination is creative, opening new worlds and possibilities for the future. I’ve come to appreciate that Creativity is a companion to many other virtues. It takes Confidence and Courage to dare to discover and grow our individual gifts, especially at the beginning of something new we’ve never tried before. It also requires Detachment from judgment and perfectionism about making mistakes, because experimenting necessitates trying different things along with inevitable missteps.
Creativity is also a portal to Joy. The discovery of our own special gifts is deeply satisfying, especially if we resist the self-doubt of questioning, “Who am I to…paint a painting, write a book, cook for a dinner party, fix a car, run a marathon, start a project?”
One of the ways to nurture our Creativity is to suspend our doubts and free our minds to enter the flow of inspiration. Amazing things result when we dare to step out of our known, familiar world into new creative possibilities and trust that we can be channels for originality and Grace. Creativity is a dance with the unknown, requiring deep trust in our intuition, our bodies, and our souls to know with a different level of knowing what ingredients, words, designs are meant to take shape in the moment. Creativity is leaning into the Infinite.
Consider the possibility that creative souls in the spiritual realm are keen to inspire us earthlings, and open your mind and heart to their secrets. Engage in it as sacred play.
We helped to raise our island granddaughter from the age of two. Cook Islands Maori culture values and celebrates competitions. We had many, many drawing contests, and she almost always won. I am not a visual artist at all. Finally, we decided she would draw and I would write a poem about her subject. Now, at fourteen, she is a talented, whimsical and excellent illustrator, and we are collaborating on a book of virtues stories for children, some of which she co-authored. Coming soon!
Creativity is also thinking outside the box, opening to originality, finding a new way to solve a problem. It thrives on the synergy of brainstorming. There is always, always a way forward, a way to practice Justice for all who are involved if the collective will is there, and all parties are invested in finding a fresh path to resolution and restorative justice. The Five Strategies are deeply helpful as a template for restoration and innovation. When combined with Self-Discipline to practice, to focus, to work away at our dreams, to “up our imagination,” there’s no telling what beauty and meaning will arise.