Podcast Transcript | Ep. 29

Creativity: Unlocking Our Potential

Creativity: Unlocking Our Potential | Ep. 29

[00:00:00]

[00:00:43] Hello and welcome everyone. I'm your host, Brandon Ward. Back with another episode of order within. Episode number 29. Today, we're going to be covering creativity. Unlocking our potential.

[00:00:59] This is a fun subject for me. I feel like all these things that I talk about on this show are fun subjects though. But in particular, Creativity I think is one of those things that's. Often misunderstood and how we apply it in our life and our, and the work and how it can really help us.

[00:01:20] Find fulfillment. And inner peace and get the most out So, if a few things we're going to be covering on today's show. We're gonna look at the definition of creativity. What is creativity? Our creative nature. We're looking at the balance of creation. And consumption.

[00:01:38] Life without creation. How fear stops us.

[00:01:43] The. What self-expression is and how it ties into creativity. And then finally, how do we cultivate creativity?

[00:01:51] First and foremost, let's go ahead and define creativity. So from the Oxford dictionary, creativity is defined as the use of imagination or original ideas, especially in the production of an artistic work. And that leads into. The next piece here, which is universal application of creativity.

[00:02:14] It's something that often is associated with artistic work. As the definition here defines. But creativity has a universal appeal. It has universal application. And when we cultivate it in our lives.

[00:02:32] We can apply it. And. Any areas. Because the key the beginning of that, the use of the imagination or original ideas. It's imagining things, envisioning things that are not yet, there thinking about new ways or different ways to do certain things or anything for that matter. Creativity can be applied in all that we do so we can apply this use of imagination and original ideas to all areas and facets of life.

[00:03:00] And from what I've experienced. And what I've seen with other people.

[00:03:05] Applying our creativity, cultivating our creativity and leveraging it in society and creation and production. Benefits, all of us, not just the individuals creating, but also society as a whole. So this helps both individuals and. The societal aspect.

[00:03:26] Of humanity.

[00:03:27] The next side here though is our creative nature. And so looking at obviously. Creativity can be applied in infinite ways. It's often associated with artistic work, but realizing that it's the use of our imagination, the ability to think outside of the box to see things not yet That allows us to apply creativity.

[00:03:50] To all areas of our lives. And our creative nature, the impulse, the urge to create, to apply creativity. And all that we do is very real.

[00:04:02] Excuse me.

[00:04:05] That urge to create. It's something that lives in all of us and it, it seeks to express itself in an infinite number of ways. But often. Our society, family, friends, all of these things. Can. Suppress can work to. Silence that urge to create. Because ultimately that urge to create and share and express and expand ourselves.

[00:04:35] Is our nature. We live to create, we live to grow. We live to expand, to learn. To evolve to adapt. That's what being human is about. So our creative nature is the very core of who and what we are and why we're in the world. So when we deny our creativity or we suppress our creativity, or we destroy our creativity,

[00:04:57] We're very much destroying parts of who we are and why we're in the world and what makes being human unique. It's the fact that we have the minds, the imagination, the ability to. Envision things that are not yet there. And work to bring them to life. I mean to our knowledge, we're the only species that we know of that can envision something in our mind and then work to bring it into material reality, physical reality. That's an incredible gift.

[00:05:25] That's all possible with our creativity.

[00:05:29] And our nature is creative. The very act of existence is creative. If you observe nature. And how life operates. You will see creation and creativity operating all around us. The dynamic. Powerful way that life exists in ways that. We're still seeking to understand, to grasp. Because it's complex. And it's beautiful.

[00:05:57] And it ties into who we are as a species, as humans, as eternal beings. So when we deny that we are denying parts of ourselves, we're denying our nature. And so leaning into our creativity, embracing our creativity, accepting that. This is a part of who we are. It seeks to find its way in our All the time, watch a child watch kids. They are constantly exploring.

[00:06:24] Thinking about things, testing things out, putting things in there, moving them out, putting them back in there, being there they're testing their creativity. They're applying that creative thinking. And an infant infinite number of ways. It's only when we go through our education systems that becomes.

[00:06:44] Problematic. That it gets. Ruined out of us, it gets ruled out of us. So we have to work to reactivate that cultivate again, build Much of what I talk about on this show, are effectively muscles? Creativity is a muscle. Just like grit, just like self-esteem. Just like confidence. All of these things are muscles that can be leveraged.

[00:07:09] And. Exercised and strengthened. Through practice and process. It's committing to that. And that ties into our next piece, which is the balance of creation and consumption. Now we all have to consume to live. We need food, we need water. We need air. We need shelter. We need clothes to survive. So we have to consume.

[00:07:29] To exist. Consumption is a natural part of life. It can be a very enjoyable part of life. It can be very pleasurable too, and we've really expanded on the consumption side here as humans, which has been incredible. There's a lot of beautiful things that have come from that process. There's a lot of beautiful things that have come from.

[00:07:46] The power of creativity.

[00:07:48] But when we don't balance creation and consumption, we get out of whack. We find a lot of. Unhappiness. We're not at peace. We are not at ease.

[00:08:01] We feel restless. We feel dissatisfied.

[00:08:05] And that's most likely because we are not expressing our creative powers. We are not creating and sharing what lives within us. We not expressing ourselves in whatever form that may be. The limitation of creative ideas is usually limited to art. That's what I'm hoping to disrupt here because ultimately creativity can be applied to all things and including science and medicine and engineering.

[00:08:27] Writing business. Education government, all of these things. Energy can benefit from the power of creativity. But if we don't express. And balance our consumption and creation. We can lose ourselves because we need both Most of us though, are in very much a consumption state. That's all we do the majority of the time. Most people fully consume.

[00:08:55] They rarely create anything. And they're often going through the motions. They're living very routinely. Routines are nice. Having structure is nice, but if there's nothing else outside of that, what I found is that routine consistency and structures gives us freedom to be creative. It gives us freedom to open up, but if we're only doing these things and we're only interested in doing the same thing over and over creativity is going to be very hard to cultivate and develop because we're simply going through the motions.

[00:09:27] That's what a lot of us do. We find ourselves in the consuming position and we're not creating much of anything. And we were not very happy because of it. There's a reason that a lot of people are very unhappy and dissatisfied in the world today. Because so much of what we've been told is built around the idea of consumption, presenting an image to the world, success, money, material goods, where this look like that have this live here.

[00:09:51] Then you'll be happy.

[00:09:54] Those things certainly matter. We need food, we need a place to live. We want to have things that are nice and reliable and help us live better lives. But ultimately they're not going to bring us the fulfillment that we're seeking. That's where creation and creativity come in to play.

[00:10:12] When we don't live lives of creation and simply consume, we can become very vapid, very materialistic, very empty on the inside, which is what a lot of people do. And then it creates a problem where you. It's a vicious cycle. Of. Consumption consumption, consumption. And you need more and more and more to fill the void that we feel within.

[00:10:35] So we go through more consumption, we consume more and more and more. We need more things to fill that void.

[00:10:44] When we create, we become our own source. We fill ourselves up. We interact with consuming differently. Our perspective on life begins to change because we understand that there's a dynamic exchange of giving and creating or giving and receiving, creating, and consuming. If we're only receiving it for only taking it's natural, that we're not going to be fulfilled. Humans are meant to give, to serve, to outpour, to create.

[00:11:13] Consumption is a one-way street. It's inward creation is outward. Creation can be very private, but it's something that we share that we express, even if we don't share it with other people. It doesn't mean it can't be applied and leveraged.

[00:11:29] It benefits us to, to leverage creativity and think creatively and applied in all of our, in our, in all areas of our lives. We can find ways to use it in the simplest and smallest things.

[00:11:41] Because. Without creation.

[00:11:46] We live only for consumption we're living for that social perspective that I was talking about. That perception, that status.

[00:11:55] And we come, we become very much like stone. We've become very rigid.

[00:12:02] Very fixed. Very fearful. We cling to things because we only think and see things in a taking manner A. Uh, consuming manner. We only believe that. We have to go out into the world and find things and bring it to us instead of realizing that we can create, we can use our creativity. To build abundance, to build finances, to build services, to build.

[00:12:25] To help others. Our creativity unlocks that it opens up the dynamic exchange of the universe of giving and taking. Giving and receiving, I should say. So it, it creates an exchange with the universe and ourselves in a way that, which changes our relationship with consumption. But when we only consume.

[00:12:48] We're almost guaranteeing a slow and steady decline. Into a materialistic. Anxiety-driven fear-driven way of life. And that's what often happens is. You define yourself by all the things that you're consuming, all the things that you purchase. And then you go out in that anxiety builds and it just creates more tension, more rigidity.

[00:13:09] That's what I was meaning when we say we become like a stone, because over time we become so rigid and fixed. And clinging to our consumption that we become like a stone.

[00:13:20] Immovable. And shattered. Something that can be shattered. If we're not careful.

[00:13:29] And what that does when we only live that way is it allows fear to rule us instead of our creation. And fear stops us. Fear stops the creative process. It locks everything down and it activates the stress. Response in our bodies. Cortisol is produced in our body. Anxiety's increased our confidence lowers.

[00:13:53] We're not thinking clearly and freely. We literally become smaller. More rigid as I was saying

[00:14:02] Creativity allows us to open up and expand. To live with expression and not fear. Fear will shut us down. The fear of being judged by others. The fear of failing. The fear of not being enough. The fear of what others will think about us, what they may perceive us as, how they'll view the work, how they'll view our path, how they'll view us.

[00:14:26] It really allows others to dictate how we live when we value, fear more. Over our own creation. And this Often built around the fact that we just don't have a lot of love and appreciation for ourselves. We don't have a strong relationship with who we are from within. Therefore we're easier to push over. We're easier to leverage fear with.

[00:14:48] To use to, to stop us.

[00:14:51] So creativity and activating our creativity can allow us to become stronger from within. And that allows us to build that inner relationship because creativity comes from within us. It outpours, it's an outpouring.

[00:15:05] So when we allow fear to stop us, Through the fear of judgment to the fear of what others will say about us, what they may do, how they will think about us, how they will view us. We live smaller. We shrink. It becomes the repression of ourselves when we allow fear to dictate us like We live in a very repressed state we're repressing our true authenticity, our true selves.

[00:15:32] And that way of living creates a lot of pain.

[00:15:36] It creates a lot of pain when we repress ourselves, when we don't express who we are, when we don't live truthfully to who we are, it creates a lot of pain.

[00:15:49] The counter to that is expressing who we are courageously. It takes a lot of courage to do that. But when we repress ourselves, a lot of bad things can happen. Abuse can happen. Tragedies happen. There's this explosion sometimes of energy that's trying to get out because what ends up happening is all that creative energy that would normally be expressed to a creative process of some kind.

[00:16:14] Is stifled and stuck within It stagnates and it has to express itself in some way, because all energy must move.

[00:16:22] And oftentimes that's some sort of tragic explosion or some sort of violent event or negative happening. That that repression creates. And then there's the explosion because you've got to get it out at some point.

[00:16:38] So we counter that repression of self through our creativity.

[00:16:43] And creativity is tied right into our self-expression. It's who we are. And there's an infinite ways to share our vision, whatever that may be. That's the thing. There is no limit on this. There's not something that says this is creative and that is not, if you're using your mind, your imagination, if you're thinking about things, whatever it is.

[00:17:06] Creativity can be applied. It doesn't matter. Sciences, math, economics, engineering politics, medicine. Whatever. Obviously art music and those things that are more traditionally tied to creativity can benefit as well.

[00:17:24] But our self-expression depends upon that. Creativity, our creativity and our self expression go hand Our creativity is the means to express ourselves and who we And what lives within us. It's the way to bring about. Our gifts, our vision to the world and make them material, tangible things by bringing them to life through our expression, through our creative expression.

[00:17:49] So there's an infinite number of ways that we can express ourselves, leveraging creativity in whatever ways we're drawn to whatever, whatever pulls us forward.

[00:17:59] And that's where our fulfillment lies. Our fulfillment lies in our creative processes, in our creation.

[00:18:07] It is incredibly fulfilling to leverage the power of creation to build, create, and problem, solve something on our own and bring it into the world. It's something that we should feel proud of and feel good about. And it's a beautiful thing. It's a very beautiful thing.

[00:18:23] So it brings about fulfillment in our lives. When we leverage the power of creation. And creativity. Without it, we often feel a lack of fulfillment. It's no wonder. Many of us are not happy because we're consuming almost all the time and we're not creating and sharing and expressing. If you're someone who typically does create already.

[00:18:46] Take stop for a week or so, and see what happens. You're probably gonna feel kind of terrible. I have a lot of friends who are creatives, creators, or creative types. And they talk about that frequently. When they stop creating, they fill out of whack. They fill out of balance, they feel unfulfilled.

[00:19:03] It's like there's a lull or an emptiness in their life. That's the void that creativity can create when we're not leveraging it. So leaning into it allows us to find fulfillment in our lives.

[00:19:15] But how. Okay. So the last piece here is, is how do we cultivate creativity then? And I think part of it is. Start small.

[00:19:26] Be explore, be open. Be curious. Curiosity is a very powerful perspective and can take us to many places. When we're curious about things. We allow us and life to lead us to places. So starting small. Being curious about things that may interest you.

[00:19:50] It could seriously be something as simple as creatively doing a dinner differently than the way that you always do it or reorganizing your closet or re organizing your car. Or how you get ready in the morning. Like you can do it in goofy ways. It doesn't have to be these big, massive changes. So my suggestion is to always start small, to cultivate the creative pool by starting small and just opening yourself to that creative.

[00:20:20] Pull because a lot of what ends up happening. Is when we open ourselves to it, things that we remember or maybe have suppressed throughout our lives begin to surface again, because we are saying, Hey, you know what? I'm open to new things. Now I'm open to creativity in the way it may seek expression in my life.

[00:20:38] And I'm going to allow it to lead me and guide me where that may be.

[00:20:43] So you can do that by starting small trying new things. Do something you've never done before eat somewhere. You've never eaten go somewhere. You've never gone do something that you haven't done before. Whatever it is. Go take an art class. The cool thing about art is it is a great way to cultivate creativity. So do a wine and painting class, try a writing class.

[00:21:05] There are so many things that we can do now. Really it's endless the way that we can. Explore and try new things, particularly with the internet. There's so much work and things that we can try. So try new things, try things that you haven't done before. Starting small. Be open, be curious, allow that curiosity to lead you.

[00:21:27] And. Think about the things that have stuck with you throughout your

[00:21:33] What has stayed with you for a very long time? For me. Writing expressing sharing, talking about spirituality, talking about meaning fulfillment. Passion purpose God, all of these things have always been things that I'm interested in. It's always been something that's been a thread in my life. At times I went away from it. I suppressed it. I pushed away. I denied

[00:21:58] And as I've gotten older, I'm obviously cultivating it, embracing it more and leaning into So when we look at the things that have stuck with us for a long period of time, explore them. There's probably something there. If something is sticking with you, that you can't seem to shake some sort of interest urge desire.

[00:22:17] Explore Let it lead you, no matter what it is. It doesn't matter. If you find yourself judging whatever it is that you're interested in, remind yourself. That's not you that judgment. Isn't you that's society. That's family. All well-meaning for the most part. But it's not, you, you don't have to listen to that. You can say, you know what? I hear the judgment. I hear you. I get it. I understand. It's risky. It's weird.

[00:22:51] I'm doing it anyway. Do it anyway. Courage is acting in spite of our fear, not without fear in spite of our fear. So when you feel that judgment, when you hear that judgment for whatever may come Acknowledge it and say, ah, that's fine. That's fine. I'm going to I hear it. I hear the judgment.

[00:23:10] I'm doing any way. I'm acknowledging the judgment, but I'm doing it anyway. And I'm exploring, I'm being open. I'm being curious. There is no end, other than the fact that I'm being open. And exploring there is no goal. There is no in-state, it is only my curiosity and my openness to explore. That's it. You can be mindful of it. You can be aware of that judgment, but don't let it stop. You do it. Despite the judgment. But be aware of it and lean into it. Embrace it. Turn into it and push through it. That's the key.

[00:23:44] Last, this kind of ties together, though, with the thing that stuck with you, like what are things that others have tried to discourage you from doing? This might be the same thing. It might be tied to that thing that stuck with you throughout your life. But what are some things that others have tried to discourage you?

[00:23:59] From doing.

[00:24:01] Explore them. Test the waters. Whatever it is. But anything that society or your family or friends has tried to limit you doing or out of fear or from protection, they want to protect you from. Disappointment. People mean well, but they don't know what's best for you only, you know, what's best for

[00:24:25] So explore those things, make note of what it is that people have discouraged you from doing, make a list and then commit to that list. Trying one thing a week from it or a month, even depending on how. This isn't some timeline thing. There's no strict rules to this.

[00:24:43] It's about being open and free and curious. That's just keep coming back to reminding yourself that open, free and curious, open, free and curious. That's the aim. That's the goal at the end of the day, that's what you're seeking to do. Find freedom and expression through exploring your creativity. It's a beautiful process and there's no rules for this. Don't let anyone.

[00:25:08] Shift your process, change your mind, interfere with it. Truthfully. These things tend to stick more when we just do it in silence. When we do it with ourselves, when we explore within not to seek approval, but to do it for ourselves. Do it for yourself, explore it for you. Not for approval. Don't even share with people that you're doing this. Maybe do it for a month or so, and then share what you've learned. That's fine, but don't share the permission side of it. Don't do that before you get into the activity.

[00:25:39] Let the activity lead you. And then share about your experience. If you want to share anything. Because that will reduce the chance of someone trying to discourage you from doing it again, because that's the problem here a lot of times is when we seek to do things creatively, we're excited about We share them with our friends or family and they discourage us from doing it because they're wanting to protect us from getting

[00:26:02] Or failing or whatever it may be. But that stops us from doing the thing often. So doing it within ourselves and doing it for ourselves allows us to be creative and open and free in that creative exploration.

[00:26:17] And most of all have some fun. Lighten up live. Enjoy, right. We all live. We all perish. That's true for every one of us. So life is, is very fragile, very short. Very limited. Enjoy it. Enjoy this process. Let it lead. You. Have fun with it. Be light as you can. Lightness can really help. Get us through some dark times and sometimes when we're struggling and in dark places.

[00:26:52] The best thing we can do is just to have a little fun, let go, and just be creative. Maybe that's literally coloring books. It doesn't matter. I'm serious, guys. Just do whatever you want and whatever feels, right. Whatever is whatever your curious about and let those things lead. You don't let others stop that.

[00:27:13] Urge that desire to create.

[00:27:16] That's what the world does too much of already. So when we activate our creativity, when we explore our creativity, though, We allow ourselves to truly begin unlocking our potential because our potential lies in those creative powers. Us living. Our aligned fulfilled lives is wrapped up in our ability to leverage our creativity.

[00:27:38] And turn that into usable skills. That's really the aim here is leveraging creativity. So that we can use those skills to support ourselves in the visions that we carry within us. Creativity allows us to express those visions and bring them to life. Which ultimately unlocks our potential. And allows us to live our highest and most fullest lives.

[00:28:01] At the end of the day. That's what it's about. All these things that we talk about on this show are about living our highest lives. Being the best version of ourself. And impacting the world in a positive way, leaving the world a better place than it was when we arrived That's what we're doing this for.

[00:28:20] So remember that remind yourself of that, that that's what this is about. That we're here to live our best lives. We're here to make the most impact we're here to leave the planet better than when it was. Before we arrived.

[00:28:33] So with that being said, y'all. I'm going to wrap the episode. Looking forward to doing this next week. I've got a long list of episodes. Getting the website up to WordPress is live Brandon Lee, ward.com. If you want to check it out I got a long way to go still. I've been putting all my Twitter threads on there, though. I'm going to eventually get all my podcast transcripts up.

[00:28:53] And. A few other things that I'm working on. But give me a shout out on Twitter. If you'd like at Brandon Lee ward, you can hit me up at brandonleeward.com.

[00:29:04] I'm also on all the platforms here for my podcast. So if you can like rate, subscribe, all that stuff. So I appreciate you guys. Hopefully you have a good rest of your week and I will catch you next week. Until next time y'all.

[00:29:17]