Chapter One — What is Creativity?

“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.”
Pablo Picasso

What is your most heartfelt desire? Do you know that you have the power within you to grant any and all of your wishes? Humans are natural creators. It is our birthright to be the creative architects of our lives, not just be a leaf in the wind, torn between our duties and our desires.

Most of my lessons about how to live come from my practice as an artist: I have learned to apply the simplicity and directness of these ideas and found that they work to create anything I want in my life.

Beyond this sense of personal power and control that comes with the practice of art, the fringe benefit is a life filled to the brim with riches. It is impossible to be bored when the world is a playground filled with toys and tools for you to play with and use. Everything is potentially interesting and useful; every event is a launching pad for a learning experience — a spark for a responsive, playful intellect.

I would like to share some of these tools I have discovered with you, so you will be inspired to seek and find your own tools to gain the life you desire.

BUILDING BLOCKS

Just what is this talent we call creativity? Is creativity natural to all humans, or do only some people have it?

Within the context of this book I define two types of creativity: innate and conscious. Innate creativity is something that every human on earth has naturally; it operates at an unconscious level. An artist starts with innate creativity and, through the practice of art, develops a keen awareness that I call conscious creativity. Conscious or released creativity is a matter of learning a particular kind of attention or focus; the resultant mood or feeling is the essence of being an artist. This book is about how to awaken, nurture and mature the innate creativity that we all possess into full conscious expression.

— excerpt from the book Parallel Mind by Aliyah Marr
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copyright 2007 Aliyah Marr