Are you one of those people who claim ‘not to have a creative bone in your body?’ If so, you’re going to love this newsflash: Yes, you ARE creative!

Why am I so confident in telling you this? For the simple fact that I’ve observed countless people in my life— friends, family, and co-workers — make this same claim only to later realize how wrong they were! Oh, and guess what? I used to be one of those “I’m not creative” people too.

I’ll tell you what. If you still don’t believe my claim that, Yes, you ARE Creative!, I challenge you with the following exercise.

I’m a firm believer that you can easily tap into your creativity by expressing yourself through creative arts, crafts, or writing. I want you to choose any one of these mediums for this exercise.

Next, I’m going to prompt you with a project idea that you must agree to spend at least 15-30 minutes of your time on.

Okay, are you ready? Here goes...

If you choose:

ART

Draw, sketch, paint, or collage a picture that incorporates these five elements (realistically or abstractly):

• Door
• Water
• Animal
• Time
• Currency

CRAFTS

Using craft sticks, papers, yarns, fabrics, or found objects, do one of the following:

• Design an easy craft project for a pre-school class.
• Pretend you’re a world famous artist and build a 3D sculpture for an upcoming gallery show. (Keep in mind that anything you create will be adored and snatched up by your fans, even if you think it looks like junk.)
• Create an abstract ornament to be auctioned off at your favorite charity.

WRITING

Using up to 100 words, write about the following:

• Your autobiography.
• A major event that altered your life course.
• Give advice to your ten-year-old self.

Now I’m going to sit here and wait until you get back from doing one of these creativity-inducing exercises. Once you finish, read on...

(ah, ah — no looking ahead!)

What Happened?

Did you really do it? Did you sincerely put forth the time and effort (15-30 minutes) on one of the creativity exercises I prompted you with above? What happened when you did? Did you have fun? Did you create something new and unusual? Did you come away from it thinking, “Wow, I didn’t know I had it in me!”

Chances are that the process was positive and you gained some interesting insight into your ability to be creative. See what happens when your mind is focused and you’re open to new creative experiences? Amazing things take place once you stop believing that you aren’t creative, and start practicing new ways to allow your creativity to surface.

So now what? Well, after you stop jumping up and down for joy, this new insight into your creative self should encourage you to keep moving forward to discovering your true creative potential. Revisit some of my creativity exercises if you need more prompts to keep you going.

I guarantee that the more attention you put towards your creativity, the more amazing results you’ll get in return. No ‘bones’ about it! •

© Chris Dunmire 2005 www.chrisdunmire.com. All rights reserved.