Marcel Legros - Play the Game of Life

We’re Crazy and We Have a Gift

Every human being on this planet is creative. The very life within your body, is creativity itself. Yet most people struggle with the idea that they can be creative - society has created a myth and most people believe it to be fact. The myth of creativity consists of four beliefs, all rolled up into one great mistake:

1. Creativity is reserved for an elite small group of people.
2. It is an inborn talent and those that possess it, ‘have a gift’.
3. You need to have a high IQ or be a great thinker to be creative.
4. Most creative people are also a little insane. If they aren’t insane, they certainly must have a borderline personality disorder, alcohol or drug problem, or be reclusive.

The first three beliefs have the effect of neutralizing you from thinking for yourself. You stop asking questions. You are told at an early age that you aren’t creative, and you believe it. “I haven’t got a creative bone in my body. I can’t even draw a stickman!” Does this sound familiar? The fourth belief is that creative people are unbalanced. A creative person is flaky, new-age, or self-destructive. That’s the belief on both sides of the creative fence.
But just because people believe something, it doesn’t make it true. You are creative and this is how you find it…

Still Your Mind and Allow Life to Enter

All creativity comes from life itself. It doesn’t come from your thoughts or thinking. It does not belong to you. When you allow your mind get quiet, you are allowing life to enter. Alcohol and certain drugs have a similar effect of quieting the mind but at a heavy cost - depression, disease, addiction, poverty, and death. You don’t need that kind of help!

Question Authority - Especially Your Own

When you believe you know something and you’re sure of it, you’re shutting the door on creativity. The next time you think you have the answer to a question - stop. Ask yourself, “Are you sure?” Take a moment to allow other possible answers into your mind. Have you ever seen a new invention and said to yourself, “That’s so simple! I could have thought of that?” Of course you could have. The greatest solutions are simple, intuitive, and obvious - but overlooked because we think we have all the answers.

Be a Creative Accountant

You can be creative doing anything at all. You don’t have to be a painter, writer, or musician to be an artist either. I’ve known creative chefs, businessmen, gardeners, panhandlers, and yes, creative accountants. If you’re not sure where to start, make a list of three to five things that you’re really interested in. Creative passion is always found in the people or things you care about.

What Can I Do to Be Creative?

There is nothing you can do. Don’t try to think about it. Creativity comes from the silent awareness inside you that exists outside thought. Still your mind through meditation, pay close attention to the silent awareness underneath your thoughts. Life is creative.

Authors Note: While writing this article, I spent some time thinking about great, simple inventions. The thought occurred that whoever invented the can must have also invented the can opener. Which idea came first? It’s almost as good as ‘which came first, the chicken or the egg?’ Either invention would have been useless without the other! Wow, I’m going to have to look that up…