Everybody is creative. You may not feel that way sometimes. Maybe you feel like your in a rut, or just can’t come up with a creative idea. Your creativity is in you somewhere. It just may be hard to find. It is something that anyone can cultivate using a variety of methods.There are four core competencies of creative expression. The first is to learn to capture new ideas. How many ideas have been lost because they have not been recorded? Keep paper and pencil handy or have a voice recorder with you (and an extra battery). So when you have an idea you can capture it quickly. I have paper and writing utensils spread all over the house so I can write down ideas as they enter my cluttered head. It may be an idea for this newsletter, something to add to the grocery list, or something to add to my to-do list. You can even get creative during sleep. When I was taking Calculus in college, I was struggling with a problem. No matter how I looked at it, I could not figure it out. My only choice was frustration or sleep. I choose the latter. At about three in the morning, I woke up and knew how to solve the problem. I got out of bed right away, went to my desk and finished the problem. Had I waited until morning, I would have forgotten. Don’t let that idea slip away.

The second competency is surrounding yourself with interesting people and things. Listen to someone in a different field, from a different culture, with a different opinion. Read a different genre of literature. If you normally read mysteries, try reading a biography. I saw a biography of Albert Einstein I would love to dig into. Visit museums and listen to music.

The third competency is challenge, tackling tough problems. Learn new things. I’m learning to play the piano, something I have always wanted to do. I’m past the easy part where I could rely on what I already knew about music and now it’s hard. So I think about the new neural pathways I am developing when I get discouraged. Learning a new skill requires the brain to think differently which, in turn, stimulates creativity.

The last competency is to expand the knowledge you have. Learn more about your job or your hobby, something you are passionate about. I love to read about the brain, which is where I got the information for this article. The more you learn about a subject, the more material your mind has for creativity.

There are also obstacles to creativity. We learn early that creative people are different and odd. Look at Van Gogh. When we go to school we are taught to color inside the lines and our art projects are suppose to be done a certain way. And often times we are criticized for being outside the box. So we must learn to work through criticism and rejection to face our fears

Go ahead and be creative. Think and behave like creative people do. Don’t let criticism stop you from expressing your ideas. Be sure to take breaks and use them for your creative benefit. Daydreams can be a source of new ideas.